My Two Cents
Welcome back from the holiday, Bits readers! We hope and trust that each of you were able to enjoy a great celebration with your family and friends.
Sarah and I have my mother staying here over the holidays, so we’ve been cooking up a storm, enjoying some great food, and watching lots of movies. I also just finished watching the season finale of HBO’s His Dark Materials—more on that in a moment—and I’ve started in on the new season of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. I still need to check out Avatar: The Way of Water at my local IMAX theater, but I’ll get to that soon enough.
We’ve got a new contribution from each member of the Bits reviewing team for you today, including...
Dennis’ look at Robert Mandel’s School Ties (1992) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and Via Vision.
Stephen’s take on James Whale’s By Candlelight (1933) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
My thoughts on the new single-film 4K Ultra HD SKU of Wilson Yip’s Ip Man (2008) from Well Go USA.
And last, but certainly not least, Tim’s in-depth take on Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners: Ultimate Edition (1996) on 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Turbine Media in Germany! This is a pretty spectacular box set release, and Tim will tell you all about it in his review, so you definitely don’t want to miss it. [Read on here...]
Before we get to today’s brief bit of release news, we have two more new disc reviews for you...
Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Ol Parker’s Ticket to Paradise (2022), which is new on Blu-ray from Universal. The film stars Julia Roberts and George Clooney.
And Stephen has delivered a look at Ted Kotcheff’s North Dallas Forty (1979) on Blu-ray from our friends down under at Imprint and Via Vision.
Also here at The Bits today, we’ve just posted a major update of our Upcoming Cover Artwork section, featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover art and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through one of our links (like this one) you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we appreciate it! [Read on here...]
Today’s post is going to be a quick one here at The Bits, but as always we have a few more new disc reviews, and some more good disc release news as well. First the reviews...
Dennis has posted his thoughts on Robert Benton’s Twilight (1998) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
And Stephen has offered his take on León Klimovsky’s The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (1971) in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Vinegar Syndrome.
Now to the news... Kino Lorber Studio Classics will release Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai (1947) on Blu-ray on 1/31. The company has also set Alexander Hall’s Little Miss Marker (1934) and David Greenwalt’s Secret Admirer (1985) for release on Blu-ray on 3/7. Also announced as “coming soon” to Blu-ray from the company are Rouben Mamoulian’s High, Wide and Handsome (1937) and Dave Thomas’ The Experts (1989).
Cult Epics has set Martin Koolhoven’s AmnesiA (2001) for release on Blu-ray on 4/11/23.
ClassicFlix will release Victor Saville’s The Long Wait (1954) on 4K Ultra HD on 3/21/23. [Read on here...]
We’ve got a couple more new disc reviews, some release news, and more big 4K Ultra HD catalog updates for you all this afternoon to start Christmas week off right. First up, the reviews...
I’ve taken a look at Blue Underground’s new wide-release 4K Ultra HD edition of Don Taylor’s The Final Countdown (1980), with a bit of help from our own Tim Salmons.
Dennis has turned in his thoughts on George Seaton’s The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and also Daniel Mann’s The Rose Tattoo (1955) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and Via Vision Entertainment.
And Stephen has delivered a look at Neil Marshall’s Dog Soldiers (2002) in 4K Ultra HD from Scream Factory.
We’ve got a few more new disc reviews on the way this week before the holiday, so be sure to watch for them. [Read on here...]
We’ve got some breaking release news to cover today here at The Bits, so let’s get right to it...
Criterion has just announced their new March 2023 titles, and fans of David Lynch should be very pleased. The slate includes a 4K upgrade of Michael Curtiz’s classic noir Mildred Pierce (Spine #860 – 4K + Blu-ray Combo) on 3/7, John Woo’s Last Hurrah for Chivalry (Spine #1174 – Blu-ray only) on 3/14, David Lynch’s long awaited remaster of Inland Empire (Spine #1175 – Blu-ray only) on 3/21, and Joan Micklin Silver’s Chilly Scenes of Winter (Spine #1176 – Blu-ray only) on 3/28.
We’ve been hoping for an actual 4K UHD release of Lynch’s Inland Empire, but like so many of the other Criterion titles that have been remastered in 4K yet released on Blu-ray first (only to be upgraded later), we suspect that an Ultra HD edition will come in time.
Also coming to 4K Ultra HD from Dark Sky Films on 2/28 is Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Atmos audio, and a new documentary called The Legacy of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. [Read on here...]