Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

From acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron, Titanic is an epic tale of forbidden love and courage set against the ill-fated maiden voyage of the R.M.S. Titanic, which carried over 1,500 people to their death in the ice cold waters of the North Atlantic in the early hours of April 15, 1912. Epic in scope, grandiose in execution, it is a trans-generational film that is haunting, tragic, and engaging — especially in this special 4K Blu-ray release.

One of my favorite movies from the 1980s, Top Gun stars Tom Cruise as Lt. Peter Mitchell, call sign "Maverick," a young hot-shot pilot picked to attend the prestigious "Top Gun" flight school and hone his air-to-air combat skills. Also appearing are Val Kilmer as "Iceman," Anthony Edwards as Maverick's RIO (radar intercept officer) "Goose," and Tim Robbins as "Merlin." Rounding out the cast is Kelly McGillis as Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood, a civilian instructor who is an expert on Russian aviation.

Total Recall is a near-perfect mix of sci-fi action, plot twists, and the kind of warped tongue-in-cheek humor we expect from director Paul Verhoeven, delivered here with gusto by Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Douglas Quaid, a construction worker. More correctly, Schwarzenegger is Carl Hauser, a secret operative for the "Agency" who believes he is Quaid due to a memory implant. After being attacked by agents from the "Agency," Quaid escapes to Mars to aid the rebel independence movement and discover his true identity.

Hang on for a wild ride through ‘90s Scotland as Trainspotting returns, nastier than ever. Adapted from the book by Irvine Welsh, it traces the ups and downs of a group of working-class young friends, most of whom are habitual intravenous drug users. The movie gets right to the heroin and not in the way audiences of the era likely expected, proclaiming narrator Mark Renton’s (Ewan McGregor) love for the stuff even as it sends his life out of control.

Beyond his unique and powerful visual sense, honed largely on an eclectic mix of music videos, director David Fincher also has a knack for choosing compelling scripts, resulting in several of the boldest, most original and memorable movies of the past three decades. He certainly hasn’t been rushing to make them all available on 4K disc, but two more titles from his catalog have recently dropped, which was apparently reason enough to revisit a third (which remains one of his best).

These days you're not likely to see a Quentin Tarantino script directed by someone else, but there was a time when the young filmmaker-cum-video-store-clerk was raising funds to make his directorial debut (Reservoir Dogs) and sold True Romance, which was ultimately helmed by Top Gun's Tony Scott. The movie took a few years to find its audience—and current cult status—but is now hard to see it as anything but inspired and uniquely entertaining.

The sequel that no one asked for but seemingly everybody enjoyed, Twisters takes advantage of decades of advances in meteorology and special effects technology to bring us a modern take on feisty storm chasers in the American Midwest.