My Two Cents
Wednesday, 15 February 2023 13:50

Criterion’s May slate includes Thelma & Louise, plus Paramount bows Flashdance in 4K, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Robot Monster 3D & more!

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We’ve got several new disc reviews for you to kick things off this morning...

Tim has taken a look at Daniel Haller’s HP Lovecraft adaptation The Dunwich Horror (1970), which is new on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

Stuart has checked out Hugo Fregonese and Piero Pierotti’s Marco Polo (1962) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Dennis has reviewed Richard Wilson’s Raw Wind in Eden (1958) on Blu-ray, also from KLSC.

And Stephen has offered his thoughts on Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges (2008) on 4K Ultra HD from KLSC, as well as Robert Eggers’ The Northman (2022) in 4K UHD from Universal.

We’ve also got some great release news for you today, starting with this: The good folks at the Criterion Collection have just unveiled their May release slate, which is set to include upgrades of Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (Spine #490 – 4K UHD) on 5/2 and Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill (Spine #39 – 4K UHD) on 5/9, Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets (Spine #1179 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/18, Céline Sciamma’s Petite maman (Spine #1181 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/23, and Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise (Spine #1180 – 4K UHD and Blu-ray) on 5/30.

You can read more about all these here, and you can see the cover art below. Our Criterion Spines Project pages here at The Bits have been updated accordingly. [Read on here...]

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Meanwhile, Paramount has just made their 4K Ultra HD release of Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance (1983) official for release on 4/11. The package will include a remastered Blu-ray in addition to the UHD, along with a new Filmmaker Focus: Director Adrian Lyne discusses Flashdance featurette, a pair of legacy featurettes (The Look of Flashdance and Releasing the Flashdance Phenomenon), and the film’s theatrical trailer. You can see the artwork below.

Lionsgate has just set Jean-François Richet’s Gerard Butler actioner Plane (2023) for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/28.

Lionsgate has also set Gracie Otto’s romantic comedy Seriously Red (2022) for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on 3/21.

Second Sight in the UK has revealed that they’re working on a new 4-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray release of Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Details will be announced later this week.

And Universal and DreamWorks have just made the animated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish official for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release on 2/28, with the Digital release expected on 2/21.

Also today, our friends at the 3-D Film Archive have announced that they’re working with Bayview Entertainment on a 70th anniversary restoration of Phil Tucker’s Robot Monster (1953) that will include a Blu-ray 3D and DVD release! The Blu-ray will include both standard BD3D plus a red/cyan anaglyph version. Here’s a look at the official cover art...

Robot Monster: 70th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray 3D)

Synapse Films has also just made their wide-release 4K Ultra HD version of Dario Argento’s Phenomena (1985) official to street on 3/14 (a limited edition version was released last year). The package will include all three versions of the film newly restored in 4K with Dolby Vision HDR, along with tons of bonus features.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has moved the street date for their 12 Angry Men (1957) 4K UHD from 3/21 to 4/18. Adjust your plans accordingly.

And we’ve confirmed that Warner’s Superman: 5-Film Collection (1978-1987) will indeed street on 4/18 as expected. It will include the theatrical cuts of Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman III, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, along with the Superman II: Richard Donner Cut, all in 4K Ultra HD. Our friend Jim Bowers of the excellent Caped Wonder website has also confirmed that Superman: The Movie has been newly remastered, so this presentation should be improved over the studio’s original 2018 4K release.

FYI, we expect the actual studio announcements for the Superman: 5-Film Collection and also the Star Trek: The Next Generation feature film 4K releases to happen sometime in the next week or two. We’ll certainly post the official details as soon as they’re available.

Note that our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits has also been updated with all of the relevant titles and information above.

And we’ll leave you this morning with a look at the cover artwork for the new May Criterion titles along with Flashdance 4K. Amazon.com pre-order links will be added as they go live… [Update: All the links are now active and included below.]

Thelma & Louise (Criterion 4K Ultra HD) Branded to Kill (Criterion 4K Ultra HD) Wings of Desire (Criterion 4K Ultra HD)

Targets (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Petite maman (Criterion Blu-ray Disc) Flashdance (4K Ultra HD)

Now then… I’ll be back later this afternoon with my thoughts on the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard , which is set to debut tomorrow on Paramount+. If you’re a Trek fan, trust me… you won’t want to miss what I have to say about it.

See you then!

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

 

 

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