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
