DVD Talk Forum - DVD Talk reviews for Tuesday, January 29th, 2019

<div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:15px">DVD Talk Collector Series</div><blockquote><table><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73618"><img src="http://images.dvdtalk.com/covers/B07J34LYMP.jpg" border="0" style="margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px" align="left" /></a><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73618">Mikey and Nicky: Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)</a> by Justin Remer<hr /> <a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73618"> </a>The Movie: <center> </center>Mikey and Nicky stars John Cassavetes and Peter Falk as low-level gangsters in the Philadelphia mob. Released in 1976, this rough-and-tumble, character-driven film has the potential to be mistaken for one of actor-director Cassavetes's auteur projects. Closer examination makes it clear that this is an Elaine May flick through and through. Although her directing output is relatively tiny, her hallmarks are obvious. A fascination with betrayal, coupled with a cynical but clear-eyed depiction of male behavior, is as evident here as it is in her first film, <a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72682/new-leaf-olive-signature-a/" target="_blank">A New Leaf</a>, or in her last film to date, <a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/6...<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73618">Read the entire review »</a> </td></tr></table></blockquote> <div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:15px">Highly Recommended</div><blockquote><table><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73622"><img src="http://images.dvdtalk.com/covers/B07J34NT7P.jpg" border="0" style="margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px" align="left" /></a><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73622">The Bounty (Blu-ray)</a> by Olie Coen<hr /> <a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73622"> </a><center> </center> Director: Roger Donaldson Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Mel Gibson, Liam Neeson Year: 1984One of my favorite movies of the last 20 years is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which came out when I was 20 and stunned me with its dramatic perfection and utter awesomeness. I didn't know then how much it owed to The Bounty, a film that came out a year after I was born and which I had never seen, despite its amazing cast and my fascination with British history. Peter Weir's swashbuckling tale is an action-packed version of this classic nautical adventure, the two sharing many similarities, and credit should be given where credit is due; obviously Master and Commander owes much to The Bounty ...<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73622">Read the entire review »</a> </td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73619"><img src="http://images.dvdtalk.com/covers/B07J3KHJ4R.jpg" border="0" style="margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px" align="left" /></a><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73619">Howling III: The Marsupials (Blu-ray)</a> by Adam Tyner<hr /> <a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73619"> </a>A sentient werewolf skeleton going for the jugular. A superfluity of lycanthropic nuns hunting down a runaway. A Russian ballerina transforming mid-pirouette into a hairy behemoth. A soldier who just happens to be clutching a bazooka when a Tasmanian wolf-god storms into his tent. A mouse in a werewolf costume fumbling its way towards his mother's pouch...because, y'know, Australian werewolves are marsupials. Dame Edna. <div align="center"><table width="95%" class="leadImg" border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="2" style="max-width:1790px;margin:8px;background-color:#a4a4a4"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="javascript:;" onclick="imgPopup('1548721244_4.jpg')"> </a></td><td align="center"><a href="javascript:;" onclick="imgPopup('15487212...<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73619">Read the entire review »</a> </td></tr></table></blockquote> <div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:15px">Recommended</div><blockquote><table><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73621"><img src="http://images.dvdtalk.com/covers/B07KLCRW8C.jpg" border="0" style="margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px" align="left" /></a><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73621">The Cloverfield 3-Movie Collection (Blu-ray)</a> by William Harrison<hr /> <a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73621"> </a>THE FILMS:The original <a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72846/cloverfield/">Cloverfield</a> blew me away when I saw it in theaters back in 2008. This found-footage horror film was shrouded in mystery before its release, and turned out to be a lean, intense science fiction-tinged thriller. Written by Drew Goddard, produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Matt Reeves, Cloverfield benefitted from genre talent behind the camera, and up-and-coming actors Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas and T.J. Miller gave committed performances on screen. This is how you do a found-footage movie, and it inspired numerous imitators. Cloverfield unspools as footage from a camcorder recovered by the United States Department of Defense in an area "formerly known as Central Park." Contained within is an 85-minute, nonstop rush, as several friends go from attending a farewell ...<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73621">Read the entire review »</a> </td></tr></table></blockquote> <div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:15px">Rent It</div><blockquote><table><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73623"><img src="http://images.dvdtalk.com/covers/B07GGBNB51.jpg" border="0" style="margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px" align="left" /></a><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73623">Brutal (Blu-ray)</a> by Kurt Dahlke<hr /> <a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73623"> </a>Brutal: Unearthed Films delivers this short/not-sweet slab of insanity from Japan, a movie that seemingly could only come from the realms of horror-lunacy that Japanese extreme-horror-makers and fans inhabit. Mixing sex and violence in a way few others would dare try, director Takashi Hirose leaves it all and then-some on floor, for you to pick up and marvel at. We start this latest trip to hell in the apartment of a stunted man having his way with a few bound and gagged women. Eschewing any form of set-up, Hirose sets his Man (Butch) loose, battering and beating his victims while he asks them if they understand what he's doing. Too late, and despite much hysterical begging and pleading, they learn what he's doing is stabbing them repeatedly in the groin. Blood flows copiously, and a few intestines are wallowed in for good measure. Meanwhile, in another nearby neighborhood, a Woman (Ay...<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73623">Read the entire review »</a> </td></tr></table></blockquote> <div style="font-weight:bold;font-size:15px">Skip It</div><blockquote><table><tr><td valign="top"><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73620"><img src="http://images.dvdtalk.com/covers/B07KLPTPFT.jpg" border="0" style="margin-right:5px;margin-bottom:5px" align="left" /></a><a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73620">The Cloverfield Paradox (Blu-ray)</a> by William Harrison<hr /> <a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73620"> </a>THE FILM:Netflix stunned the world during Super Bowl LII when they debuted a surprise, buzzy trailer for a movie few people knew existed: The Cloverfield Paradox. What Netflix actually did was pretty crafty and duplicitous, and Paramount Pictures was in on the subterfuge. Conceived and shot in 2016 under titles "The God Particle" and "Clean Pass," the film was originally going to be released as an original, standalone science-fiction thriller. Following the success of <a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72770/10-cloverfield-lane-4k/">10 Cloverfield Lane</a>, a delayed, unexpected sequel of sorts to the 2008 Matt Reeves thriller <a href="https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/72846/cloverfield/">Cloverfield</a>, film executives realized they could make this project much more marketable by tying it to the Cloverfield Universe. This happened during la...<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=73620">Read the entire review »</a> </td></tr></table></blockquote>