Displaying items by tag: Bill Hunt

We’ve got a bunch of new disc reviews for you to check out today, including…

Tim’s take on Charlie Chaplin’s A Woman of Paris (1923) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection, Taylor Wong’s Buddha’s Palm (1982) on Blu-ray from Arrow’s Shawscope: Volume Three box, and J. Lee Thompson’s 10 to Midnight (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stephen’s thoughts on Robert Wise’s The Haunting (1963) in 4K Ultra HD from Scream Factory, John “Bud” Cardos’ Mutant (1984) in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome, and Clive Barker’s Nightbreed (1990) in 4K from Arrow Video.

Todd’s review of Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest (2025) on Blu-ray from A24, Timur Bekmambetov’s Mercy (2026) on Blu-ray from Amazon MGM, and Tony Scott’s The Fan (1996) and David Greene’s Hard Country (1981) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

Stuart’s look at Hobart Henley’s Night World (1932), Anthony Mann’s Bend of the River (1952), Allen Smithee’s Death of a Gunfighter (1969 – actually directed by Robert Totten and Don Siegel), and Christian-Jaque’s The Second Twin (1966) all on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Dennis’ thoughts on William Keighley’s The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Also today, be sure to check out my recent special feature articles on Apple TV’s For All Mankind and Star City series, as well as Warner’s remastering the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) in 4K Ultra HD! [Read on here...]

John Daro is a highly experienced Lead Digital Intermediate colorist with Warner Post Production Creative Services, someone I first met late last year while attending a Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) event on the Burbank lot on the latest developments in Filmmaker Mode.

It was clear to me then that John is extremely good at what he does, and it just so happens that he’s a great guy—someone who’s very enthusiastic about his work, and who ensures that the 4K HDR images we see on Ultra HD releases look as good as they possibly can.

As it also turns out, like me, he’s a huge fan of the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) and the original 1960s Speed Racer anime as well. So I was thrilled to have the chance recently to speak with John about his work on the new 4K remaster of the film. Here’s a transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity…

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Bill Hunt (The Digital Bits): First of all, let me just say: I’ve had the Speed Racer disc for about a week now, and I love it. You guys absolutely nailed it. I first saw this film in the Ross Theatre on the Warner lot back in 2008, and I walked out of it thinking I’d just seen a masterpiece. But it seemed like I was the only person who felt that way.

John Daro (Warner Bros.): Well, you know, I’ll stand behind this. I think it was a little too… probably five years ahead of its time. I don’t think the world was ready for that kind of style.

BH: Yeah, that’s exactly right. And yet more recently, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Everything Everywhere All at Once… even Barbie… they all follow in its footsteps.

But back in 2008, when the film first came out on Blu-ray, it was only on a BD-25 disc. So the image was compressed and the film didn’t have lossless audio. Unless you saw Speed Racer in a theater, you really missed out on the best possible experience.

JD: Well, that’s the through line, right? It’s the technology of the time. In many ways, even just the visual effects of the film, that is what you could do at the time. Now, we get to breathe a little bit more life into it. And with the technology today, it’s gonna be as good as it can get. [Read on here...]

I’ve said many times now here on The Digital Bits how much I appreciate Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D. Moore’s For All Mankind.

As the series completes its fifth and penultimate season, the Apple TV Original has quietly become one of my all-time TV favorites, equaling Moore’s own rebooted Battlestar Galactica and even Star Trek, a franchise I love dearly but that—over the decades—has proven wildly uneven, and more recently has lost its way.

When I say this out loud, I’m typically greeted with two reactions. The first is surprise, as many viewers still either haven’t heard of the show, or haven’t yet given it serious consideration. But they should.

The second reaction—which I’m pleased to say is much more common today than in 2019, when the show first aired—is a kind of quiet understanding. Because if you know about the series… you know.

For All Mankind is, of course, an alt-history, science fiction ensemble drama that asks a simple question: What if the Soviet Union had beaten America to the Moon in 1969?

More broadly, it’s a series that attempts to realistically depict humanity’s slow, difficult, but hopefully inevitable climb out of Earth’s gravity well to become a spacefaring civilization.

Now… when I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, that outcome seemed like a foregone conclusion.

The first human spaceflight, Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1, happened six years before my birth. NASA’s Apollo 11 astronauts walked on the Moon two years after it, which means I’m just old enough to remember watching the Apollo 17 astronauts leaving the Moon for the last time on TV in 1972—one of my earliest memories.

Soon after this, I discovered the original Star Trek, a series that fed my young imagination exactly what it craved at exactly the right time. And I watched each new NASA mission that followed with eager intensity: Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and the early Space Shuttle flights. [Read on here...]

This is just a quick post here at The Bits this morning to share an amazing piece of news…

Our friends at Lionsgate have finally joined the Movies Anywhere “digital movie locker” service, joining Universal, Disney, Sony, and Warner Bros. who are already there!

In the initial phase of Lionsgate joining, some 225 of their biggest titles will apparently be added, and the studio expects to add as many as 100 additional films per month through the rest of the year and into 2027.

What this means, of course, is that forthcoming Lionsgate 4K releases should finally come with Movies Anywhere Digital codes.

And it’s very likely that if you already own Lionsgate movies on other Movies Anywhere-linked services (like Apple TV and Amazon Prime), they could be upgraded in your Movies Anywhere library as well.

This is great news indeed, and you can read more about it here today at Deadline.

Huzzah!

Back later with more! Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter/X, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)

Good afternoon, disc fans!

After yesterday’s big release news of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair in 4K from Lionsgate, it’s time to start catching up on news that dropped while we were grappling with our AI bot-scraping issue.

To start with today, we’ve got a number of new disc reviews to share with you, and—on that very note—we also have a nice surprise announcement as well…

Our old friend Todd Doogan is returning to The Digital Bits as a review contributor!

Longtime Bits readers will know that Doogan was a founding member of The Bits team, not only reviewing DVD and Blu-ray discs here for many years, but also writing his own Doogan’s Views and Gripe Soda columns here at the site.

Since we have so many great disc releases that need covering, Doogan has offered to revive Doogan’s Views as a new “quick” review format—these will feature the Doogan’s Views banner at the top of the review. And while the reviews won’t be as detailed as our regular review work, they’ll include enough information to highlight discs worth your attention and help you make buying decisions. These are the kinds of titles that would otherwise fall through the cracks, but that deserve some love from fans—indie and boutique deep cuts, genre oddballs, and more.

Todd’s first new Doogan’s Views reviews this afternoon include Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks (2025) on Blu-ray from Decal Releasing and Johannes Roberts’ Primate (2025) on Blu-ray from Paramount via Alliance.

We’re all thrilled here to have Todd on The Bits team again, and I’m personally very happy to have my friend calling videodisc balls and strikes once more as only he can.

So welcome back, Todd, and watch for more Doogan’s Views reviews in the days and weeks ahead!

Meanwhile today, we have a bunch of new disc reviews from the rest of The Bits review team too, including... [Read on here...]

All right, here’s another quick post to let you all know that—just as predicted—Lionsgate is officially releasing Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on 7/28!

The SRP for the wide release SKU, which is available for pre-order now via this link on Amazon (click here) is $49.99.

The package will include the extended film on 2 UHD discs and 2 Blu-rays. Note that the film was spread over two discs to ensure the highest possible image quality, but it’s presented exactly as the director intended with a built-in intermission. And when you put the second disc in your player, it resumes playback automatically.

The 4K presentation will include Dolby Vision HDR. Audio will be lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

Also note: The Lionsgate Limited website will have a special Collector’s Edition 4K + BD version available for pre-order later today (at this link) that includes exclusive packaging and swag.

This packaging will include a special “veil” cover that you lift to open the box. You can see that at left and also below. [Read on here...]

Hope you’re all enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend, folks—at least those of you who live here in the States!

And for the rest of you around the world, I hope your work week has gotten off to a good start.

I’ve got four pieces of 4K Ultra HD catalog news to share with you today, and I think most of you disc fans out there are going to very happy about each of them.

The first is a tease about an upcoming title, and this is one I’m very pleased to say is not only coming, but it’s yet another film we love here at The Bits and have long been looking forward to for a long time. It’s also a film that spaceflight fans appreciate, so they’ll be happy too…

Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff (1983) is coming to 4K Ultra HD in 2026!

We expect it to be released on disc right around the end of the year, and we’ll share more details when the time is right.

But for now, suffice it to say that this is yet another great Warner Bros. catalog title that’s finally coming to the 4K format. And there are going to be a lot of those to talk about in the next 12-24 months, so start saving your money now, disc fans! [Read on here...]

We’ve got a few great new disc reviews for you to enjoy here at the site today as we continue our efforts to get things back to normal here. And a couple of them are significant titles…

First, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on David Fincher’s newly remastered Fight Club (1999) in 4K Ultra HD from 20th Century Studios via Disney and Sony. Stephen has also taken a look at Luis Llosa’s Anaconda (1997) in 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Next, Tim has offered his take on Ralph Bakshi’s animated Fire and Ice (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Blue Underground.

And Dennis has shared his look at Jack Conway’s Honky Tonk (1941) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

More reviews are forthcoming, and again there should be a lot more over the next week or so as we return to something like normal operations here at The Bits after our efforts to stabilize the first from intensive AI bot scraping and higher-than-ever site traffic.

Also, we’ve got a new update of the Release Dates and Artwork section for you all to enjoy as well.

So we really appreciate your patience as we’ve dealt with that over the last 6-8 weeks or so.

In terms of announcement news this week, our friends at the Criterion Collection have revealed their August slate, which includes Todd Haynes’ Safe (1995) (Spine #739 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) on 8/4, Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de torchon (1981) (Spine #106 – Blu-ray) on 8/11, and Barbara Koppe’s Harlan County USA (1976) (Spine #334 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) and American Dream (1990) (Spine #1324 – Blu-ray), and James Gray’s Little Odessa (1994) (Spine #1323 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) on 8/25. Also coming on 8/25 is Eclipse Series 49: Five Radical Documentaries by Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi (1972-2016) on Blu-ray. [Read on here...]

All right, I wanted to check in here today with one more update.

I believe we finally have the site stable, but just quick note: If you see a message that says “Performing Security Verification…” that is 100% normal. We’re using Cloudflare to verify actual human Bits readers from AI bots trying to scrape the site.

The good news is that it’s definitely helping—the site is much more stable now.

And we have a couple things to share with you all here today.

First, we have more new disc reviews, including…

My take on the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. as well as Ric Roman Waugh’s Greenland (2020) in 4K Ultra HD from Lionsgate.

Tim’s looks at Richard Fleischer’s Red Sonja (1985) in 4K from Arrow Video, as well as John Binder’s UFOria (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, and Kuei Chih-Hung’s Killer Constable (1980) on Blu-ray from Arrow’s Shawscope: Volume 3 box set.

Dennis’ take on Ira Sachs’ The Delta (1996) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection and Vincente Minnelli’s Tea and Sympathy (1956) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Stuart’s look at The Magnificent Seven Collection on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

And Stephen’s thoughts on John Woo and Tsui Hark’s A Better Tomorrow Trilogy (1986-1989) in 4K Ultra HD from both Shout! Studios and also Imprint Films!

More reviews are also on the way next week, including our review of David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999) in 4K and more! So be sure to check back then. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, Bits readers!

If you’re seeing this, it’s a good sign that we’re making progress in stabilizing the site in the face of relentless efforts by AI companies to scrape our content.

Fingers crossed, we’re getting a handle on this. Chalk it up to a problem none of us foresaw thirty twenty-eight years ago when we started this website.

All right, we do have some good 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray announcements for you today, so let’s get right into it…

First, our friends at the Warner Archive Collection have just unveiled their June slate of deep catalog Blu-ray classics, which is set to include Clarence Brown’s Letty Lynton (1932), W.S. Van Dyke’s Rose-Marie (1936), Frank Borzage’s Strange Cargo (1940), Clarence Brown’s Come Live with Me (1941), Mervyn LeRoy’s Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Michael Curtiz’s Night and Day (1946), Frank Perry’s Last Summer (1969), Hanna-Barbera’s Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machine: The Complete Series (1969-70), Bud Yorkin’s Start the Revolution Without Me (1970), and Roger Vadim’s Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971). The street date for all of these is 6/30.

Keep in mind, the Warner Archive also has a number of great 4K catalog titles coming, which we expect to be announced in the next few months. [Read on here...]