New to View: Nov. 8
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Nov. 8, unless otherwise noted:
Escape From Alcatraz (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)
Details: 1979, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: PG, violence, language
The lowdown: Clint Eastwood stars and Don Siegel directs this taut prison escape thriller about Frank Morris (Eastwood), a career criminal with a history of prison breaks, who is transferred to Alcatraz to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
Very soon, Morris clashing with the prison’s ever-suspicious warden, played by Patrick McGoohan.
Morris and two other inmates, brothers played by Fred Ward and Jack Thibeau, decide to escape and begin an elaborate plan to do so.
The movie, the fifth and final collaboration between Eastwood and Siegel, is based on a true story, adapted by screenwriter Richard Tuggle.
The cast also includes Roberts Blossom, Paul Benjamin and Larry Hankin. The movie received a 97 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 4K UHD: 2160p ultra high definition 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include interviews with Tuggle and Hankin and a commentary track with film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson.
Top Gun: Maverick (4K Ultra HD + digital)
Release date: Nov. 1
Details: 2022, Paramount Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, sequences of intense action, language
The lowdown: The fiercest enemy dogging Navy aviator Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is time.
That is the crux of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the long-awaited — and delayed — sequel to 1986’s “Top Gun.”
After more than 30 years in the Navy, Maverick remains a captain, tossed around like a jetfighter caught in turbulence.
He is considered a dinosaur in a new age in which machines — not pilots — will fly new and highly sophisticated aircraft.
But Maverick has one more mission. He must teach all he knows to a group of Top Gun graduates chosen for a mission with a high probability that many of them won’t survive.
Maverick is a lost soul, disdained by superiors as an insubordinate relic. He is still haunted by the death of his friend “Goose.” But Maverick has a guardian angel, Adm. Thomas “Iceman” Kazansky, his one-time rival at the Top Gun school.
Kazansky orders Maverick’s return to Fightertown USA he will train the latest “best of the best” for their near-suicidal mission.
Among the pilots is Lt. Bradley Bradshaw, call sign “Rooster,” the son of his late friend, who still blames Maverick for his father’s death.
To succeed, Maverick must confront his ghosts and make peace with his past.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is a supersonic thrill ride with dazzling aerial cinematography and a strong emotional core.
Critics embrace the movie, awarding it a 96 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2160p ultra high definition, 2.39:1 and 1.90:1 widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English audio description; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Among the more than 80 minutes of bonus features are featurettes on the awesome aviation sequences and the filming process; looks at Cruise’s love of aviation and the aircraft in the movie; a conversation with Cruise at the Cannes Film Festival; and two music videos.
Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul (Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: Nov. 1
Details: 2022, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, language, sexual content
The lowdown: Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown star in this satire about the leaders of a Southern Baptist megachurch who, after a scandal temporary closed its doors, seek to reopen the church and make a comeback.
Hall portrays Trinitie Childs and Brown is her husband, Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs. The movie, which originally aired on Peacock, is more about the dynamics of the couple, who are trying to rebuild their spiritual empire.
The satire, at times, is obvious — especially when it deals with the moral hypocrisy of a megachurch more interested in saving money than saving souls — with Hall’s Trinitie relegated to a smart woman who is forced to play second-fiddle to her disgraced husband.
Nonetheless, the film earned a 71 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 DTS digital surround and English 2.0 Dolby digital DVS; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include an alternate opening, a gag reel and deleted, extended and alternate scenes.
The Witch 2: The Other One (Blu-ray)
Details: 2022, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A Korean sci-fi sequel that moves from the laboratory confines of 2018’s “The Witch: Subversion” to the outside world.
A mysterious girl emerges after a bloody raid on the research facility behind The Witch Program. The girl is rescued by two civilians who soon realize that the girl is very powerful and also is in very grave danger.
The assassins tasked with finding and silencing the girl steadily move closer to their target, the lives of everyone around the girl become more and more perilous.
This action film, earned a 69 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Korean and English (dubbed) 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A behind-the-scenes featurette is the main extra.
Bedtime for Bonzo (Blu-ray)
Details: 1951, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Ronald Reagan went from second-string leading man at Warner Bros. to playing second banana to a chimp in this comedy that somehow defined the later 40th president’s movie career.
Reagan plays Professor Peter Boyd who tests the theory of evolution to win the approval of his boss and the hand of his daughter. He sets out to prove that right and wrong are learned, not inherited. He hires a young nursemaid, played by Diana Lynn, to mother Bonzo, a chimp.
This is a modest comedy that is better than it sounds, earning a 64 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
The movie costars Walter Slezak and Jesse White.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by film historian Eddy Von Mueller is the main extra.
Audrey Rose (Blu-ray)
Details: 1977, Arrow Video
Rated: PG, violence
The lowdown: A rather tepid thriller with supernatural overtones directed by Robert Wise and starring Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins and John Beck.
Mason and Beck portray Jane and Bill Templeton who are leading an uneventful life with their daughter, Ivy (Susan Swift).
However, their lives are disrupted by the strange Elliott Hoover (Hopkins) who arrives and tells the Templetons that Ivy is the reincarnated spirit of his daughter, who died years earlier.
The Templetons, of course, scoff at Hoover’s contention, but then supernatural events begin to occur, turning their lives upside down.
Wise’s understated direction offers enough suspense to keep the audience interested, even though the drawn-out movie begins to outwear its welcome.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include a featurette on the movie’s score, an interview with “Audrey Rose” author and scriptwriter Frank De Felitta, an archival interview with Mason, a visual essay looking at reincarnation in movies, a look at the movie’s New York locations, an interview with magician Adam Cardone about reincarnation and the belief in it and a commentary track.
Incredible But True (Blu-ray)
Details: 2022, Arrow Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: In this short — 73 minutes — absurdist French comedy, Alain and Marie move to the house of their dreams, despite a warning from the real estate agent that what they find in the basement may change their lives.
Visiting the basement, the couple find a mysterious tunnel that turns their lives upside down.
The film by director Quentin Dupieux, who delights in such comedies, has echoes of such moviemakers as Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.
The premise may be far-fetched, working because the characters treating even the most outrageous of circumstances with deadpan seriousness.
The movie earned a 96 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: An appreciation of the movie and cast and filmmaker interviews comprise the bonus options.
The Nun and the Devil (Blu-ray)
Details: 1973, Twilight Time
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This is one of those “nunsploitation” movies made in the wake of Ken Russell’s “The Devils,” with hints of lesbianism and power plays in a convent in which various sisters seek to become the Mother Abbess.
Anne Heywood stars as a senior sister, while Ornella Muti is an aristocrat sequestered into religious service.
Also along is Luc Merenda as a righteous cleric investigating the convent’s sexual and heretical improprieties.
The story is set in a 16th-century Neopolitan nunnery.
The production design in quite lush, and the direction by Domenico Palella, who also coauthored the screenplay, is quite good.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Italian and English 2.0 LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a commentary track with author-critic Kim Newman and Italian cinema expert Barry Forshaw, an interview with cast member Luc Merenda, a documentary about Paolella and an explanation about the “nunsploitation” genre.
It Takes Three (DVD)
Details: 2021, Gunpowder & Sky-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This romantic comedy is a John Hughes-like twist of the classic, “Cyrano de Bergerac” story.
Chris is the coolest guy in school who discovers that Roxy sees through his popularity and chiseled features.
To help him win her, Chris enlists the nerdish Cy to reverse catfish her — allowing Cy to take over his social media accounts to add substance to his profile.
Of course, nothing turns out as expected in this story with familiar characters and situations.
The movie earned a 67 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English closed-captioned subtitles.
Don’t miss: Deleted scenes comprise the extras.
Solo (DVD)
Details: 2021, Studio Mao-MVD Visual Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that follows six individuals who use the art of dancing as their tool to battle such issues as pain, incomprehension and the obstacles that prevent their happiness through self-expression.
The artists belong to different styles — classical ballet, contemporary dance, vogue, krump, pole dancing and experimental hip-hop. They represent a new generation of Russian artists who are free from preconceptions and cliches and are ready to be part of a revolution in dance.
Technical aspects: 16:9 widescreen picture; Russian 5.1 Dolby digital; English subtitles.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Blood-Red Ox (DVD & digital) (Breaking Glass Pictures)
Devil’s Workshop (Blu-ray & DVD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Dig (Blu-ray + digital & DVD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Earth Girls Are Easy (Blu-ray) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Heartland of Darkness (Blu-ray) (Visual Vengeance)
I Love My Dad (Blu-ray & DVD & VOD) (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
Lost Illusions (Blu-ray & DVD) (Music Box Films)
Wicked Ones (Blu-ray) (Wild Eye Releasing)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Shadow Master (Saban Films)
NOV. 9
The D’Amelio Show: Season 2, Episode 8 (Hulu)
The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 5, Episode 10 (Hulu)
NOV. 11
Acapulco: Episode 5 (Apple TV+)
Being Thunder (Film Movement)
The Castle (Terror Films)
Central Park: Episode 12 (Apple TV+)
Circuit Breakers (Apple TV+)
The Mosquito Coast: Season 2, Episode 2 (Apple TV+)
MVP (FilmRise)
Mystic Quest: Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
Paradise City (Saban Films-Lionsgate)
The Pay Day (Vertical Entertainment)
Residents of Arcadia (Cranked Up)
Resistance: 1942 (Quiver Distribution)
Shantaram: Episode 7 (Apple TV+)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.