Alice Sweet Alice 4K (1976/aka Communion/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray*)/The Cat (1988/Radiance Blu-ray/*all MVD)/House M.D.: The Complete Series (2004-2012/Universal Blu-ray Set)/Juror #2 (2024/Eastwood/Warner Blu-ray)

4K Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B/B/B-/B Sound: B-/B/B-/B Extras: C+/B/B-/D Main Programs: C+/B-/B-/B

The next group of releases offer mystery, suspense and sometimes, murder!...

Alfred Sole's Alice Sweet Alice 4K (1976 aka Communion aka Holy Terror) first suggests it might be about demonological possession, devil worship or any deadly combination thereof from the promo campaigns of the time, but it was when one of the child actors of the film (Brooke Shields in her first feature film) started having hit movies (plus that hit jeans campaign) that the underseen film was reissued for bigger profits and (pre home video, streaming, etc.) its sudden curio value could be cashed in on.

Shields (very young here) is the younger of two sisters, the older one of which (Alice) starts to pick on her and even torment her. When some deadly turns start to happen as they go to church, et al, it is obvious a killer is (or killers are) on the loose. As it becomes a mystery with some shock moments, the film becomes too reliant on its Psycho-esque music score and becomes stuck too often to be as fully effective as promised. Still, even with some predictability and it also plays as an unintended time capsule, it only goes so far, but deserves to be fully restored and presented as well as it is here. Not a classic, as serious film fans should see it once, especially fi they can catch it in 4K.

Extras in both format editions include a brand new feature length audio commentary track with Richard Harland Smith

• Archival audio commentary with co-writer/director Alfred Sole and editor M. Edward Salier

• First Communion: Alfred Sole Remembers Alice, Sweet Alice - director Alfred Sole looks back on his 1976 classic

• Alice on My Mind - a brand new interview with composer Stephen Lawrence

• In the Name of the Father

• brand new interview with actor Niles McMaster

• Sweet Memories: Dante Tomaselli on Alice, Sweet Alice - filmmaker Dante Tomaselli, cousin of Alfred Sole, discusses his longtime connection to the film

• Lost Childhood: The Locations of Alice, Sweet Alice

• a tour of the original Alice, Sweet Alice shooting locations hosted by author Michael Gingold

• Deleted scenes

• and a split-screen version comparison of all three versions in how they were cut and released.

Dominik Graf's The Cat (1988) is a complicated German heist film, though it opens with a sex scene (of sorts) between an involved couple who soon turn out to be more than just a little invested in each other. He (major German movie star Gotz George) has a makeshift communications set-up in a dark hotel room near a bank he is going to rob and has two guys (Heinz Hoenig, Ralf Richter) going into it to help him out, while she (Gudrun Landgrebe) is the wife of the man (Ulrich Gebauer) who helps run the bank.

We don't know all this in the beginning, but I like how the screenplay lets it rollout as well as how well this is edited, paced, cast, acted and builds suspense. Also interesting is how it is a late analog technology thriller, though we get to see some early digital tech in the mix, but this is character driven enough, the actors have chemistry and it is amazing this was never remade in English or by Hollywood. Works like the old Hollywood thrilelrs Hollywood used to make, fans of such films will really enjoy this one. Eric Burdon even cut a solo version of his Animals song ''Good Times'' for the film.

Extras include...

• Interview with Dominik Graf (2024, 62 31 minutes)

• Interview with screenwriter Christoph Fromm (2024, 31 31 minutes)

• Interview with producer Georg Feil (2024, 31 minutes)

• Select-scene commentary by Dominik Graf (2024)

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow

• and Limited Edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

House M.D.: The Complete Series (2004 - 2012) has finally reached the Blu-ray format in its entirety after its last three seasons made the format a while ago. Here is our coverage of the following DVD seasons:

Two

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4536/HOUSE+M.D.+-+Season+Two

Three

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5926/HOUSE+M.D.+%E2%80%93+Season+Three+(DVD-

Four

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7377/HOUSE+M.D.+%E2%80%93+Season+Four+(DVD-V

No doubt the show is one of the major medical shows, not just a tired medical procedural, but one with wit and new ideas, some of which come with newer technology not available to shows like it in the past from Marcus Welby, to M*A*S*H, to Quincy, M.E. to E.R. To Nurse Jackie, with Hugh Laurie being an excellent choice for the title character.

For decades, Laurie had been in an extremely successful comedy duo with Stephen Fry in the U.K. and elsewhere overseas that never made it to the U.S. like it should have. Despite all their success, their own hit show and more, they were great and a national treasure. That Laurie could take this on and pull it off so convincingly, helped in 'the states' by people hardly knowing him here was a great surprise to many, but it worked. Maybe slightly restricted by its set-up and maybe running into limits, it still survived the weekly TV grind long enough to work for many and even I have to admit it holds up a bit better than even I expected. I like it, but never loved it, with St. Elsewhere being the gold standard for me. This show does take some of its realism from that classic, though, to its credit.

Cheers to to the supporting cast that includes Robert Sean Leonard, Omar Epps, Jessie Spencer, Peter Jacobson, Jennifer Morrison and Olivia Wilde that helps this still to be one of the better shows in its genre. Those older reviews show the love of the fans everywhere on this one, but nice this is finally on Blu-ray in a regular collection.

Extras repeat all the previous DVD and Blu-ray single-season releases and include...

• Bloopers

• Alternate Takes

• An Original Short

• Various Episodes Commentaries with Writers and Producers

• Audition Tapes

• A Set Tour

• An Evening with HOUSE

• Comedic Alternate Takes

• House Soundtrack Session with Band from TV

• a look into the HOUSE prop department featurette

• Production Office featurette

• House's Scoop: Prescription Passion

• New Beginnings

• Meet the Writers

• The Visual Effects of House

• Anatomy of a Scene: The Bus Crash, My Favorite Episode So Far…

• Behind-the-Scenes Content

• and more.

Clint Eastwood's Juror #2 (2024) is one of last year's best films, but despite being shot for a wide screen movie theater, it was sent to streaming and home video for some odd, inexplicable reason by Warner Bros. when I heard this, I thought maybe something was wrong with the film, discovering instead that Warner (once again?) did not seem to know what they had and they need all the hits they can get like any other studio.

Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Current War, Renfeld, Nosferatu (2024,) Superman (2025)) is married father to be Justin, who was alone at a bar one night when he witnesses a couple having a serious fight. When she turns up dead the next day, he is not certain at first, but might he accidentally be responsible for her death instead of the boyfriend? It gets worse when the boyfriend is accused of her murder and even worse when he becomes the title character at that very murder trial.

He tries to talk himself out of being ion the jury, but the judge declines, so he has to endure the trial where he is not 100% certain if he is actually guilty. Toni Collette is the prosecutor who sincerely believes the boyfriend is guilty and intends to go all the way on this as she runs for the seat of District Attorney, while Chris Messina plays council for the defense. This could have gone bad early, but the Jonathan Abrams screenplay is very through and leaves nothing hanging as the story just builds and builds and builds.

Also key to this working is the great supporting cast including J.K. Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb, Gabriel Basso, Amy Aquino, Hedy Nasser, Drew Scheid, Cedric Yarbrough and many other new faces I expect we'll see again and hopefully soon. As much a drama and a mystery as a character study, this is Eastwood's best film since underrated 2019 Richard Jewell film and there is a much huger audience for this one that people would land up really enjoying this one, so I hope it finally finds the huge audience it deserves. This is absolutely the kind of smart film we are not seeing enough of anymore. Definitely recommended!

Save Digital Copy, this film inexplicably has no extras!

Now for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Alice Sweet Alice 4K is the best performer on the list offering some fine color and a solid look throughout, no matter the grain or age of the film itself, meaning the original camera negative was in great shape and the 4K scan worked out. I have seen this film over the years and it has never looked better. The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on the regular Blu-ray is good for what it is, but no match for the 4K edition and just not as involving, something this film needs al the help it can get with. Both have PCM 1.0 Mono tracks that are about as good as this film will ever sound, though a 2.0 Mono track might have helped a littler bit more.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on The Cat also looks really good, the color impresses, the locales look good and the the director-supervised transfer rarely shows its age. I was impressed, especially since not all films from 1988 look this good. The film was originally issued in Dolby older A-type Dolby System analog stereo noise reduction system with monophonic surrounds, but the sound has been upgraded to both German DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1

and German DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes and are not bad. Sure, they still show their age, but as compared to similar Dolby releases of the era (The Living Daylights, Monster Squad, Superman 4, The Presidio, Carpenter's They Live and other feature films in regular Dolby with no 70mm soundtracks) sounds pretty good. I'll give a slight edge to the 5.1 and this is as good as this film will ever sound.

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on House M.D. is decent for the first seasons, as the first six seasons were shot on 35mm color negative film, though there are still some minor flaws here and there, while the last few seasons switched to Sony's HDCAM digital high definition format and the quality suffers despite the makers keeping as much of the same look as possible. The regular, older HD might stop this show from ever coming out in 4K as a result, unless they can really upscale things well. The show was issued on Blu-ray in a long-gone box set a while ago and these are highly, highly likely the same transfers. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mies on all the episodes work in reverse as the early seasons are good-sounding if limited, while the sonics on the show get better as it goes along. In all cases, all eight seasons look and sound better than their old DVD counterparts, so fans should be happy enough.

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Juror #2 looks really good and consistent, using the scope framing very effectively. Color, detail and depth are very pleasant and consistent, while the Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) sound mix is very good considering this is often dialogue-based. The combination is one of the best of the year for a drama.

- Nicholas Sheffo