History, Legacy & Showmanship

Items filtered by date: July 2013

All right, first up today, our own Russell Hammond has posted the Release Dates & Artwork update for this week, including all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links.  As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon after clicking through to them from our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we surely do appreciate it.  We’d also like to send out a special nod to Russell this afternoon, as he became a proud papa again last night.  Congratulations to the whole family!

Also here at The Bits today, our own Dr. Adam Jahnke has turned in a new installment of Burnt Offerings covering all the latest MOD DVD-R release news for the week.  As part of the fun, he’s also reviewed Warner Archive’s awesome new DVD release, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels: The Complete Series – classic Saturday morning fare if ever there was such.  I can hear his club-raised battle cry now.  Enjoy!

Now then, in announcement news today…  […]

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Before we get to this week’s new releases, I’d like to draw your attention to a worthwhile documentary project on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo.  If you’re reading this column, you probably have some interest in classic Hollywood and the history of Los Angeles.  If so, check out After 68, a documentary on the rise and fall of L.A.’s historic Ambassador Hotel.

The Ambassador and its adjacent nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove, was one of the key hot spots in Los Angeles, particularly throughout the 30s and 40s.  It hosted two Academy Award ceremonies, was frequented by pretty much every major star you can think of, and was used as a filming location for everything from The Graduate to Tobe Hooper’s Toolbox Murders, which is how I was able to visit it.  [...]

Okay, apparently we’re not done yet today...

Warner Home Video has just officially announced the Blu-ray 3D Combo, Blu-ray Combo and DVD release of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel on 11/12 (SRP $44.95, $35.99 and $29.98).  There will also be a 3D Limited Collector’s Edition (SRP $59.99) that includes the Blu-ray 3D Combo along with a limited release metal “S” glyph with lucite glass stand.

Here’s a look at the final official cover artwork for all four versions, which (except the box set) are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com by clicking on the covers…  […]

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Afternoon, folks!  Let’s run down some today’s announcement news...

Lionsgate has officially announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of Mad Men: Season Six on 11/5 (SRP $49.97 and $49.98).  Extras will include 6 featurettes (Design of a Decade, Recreating an Era, Gay Power!, Gay Pride!, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out and Summer of Love Archives) and more TBA.  Love the cover artwork – you can see it below.

Also CBS has announced that they’ll release Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Five on Blu-ray Disc on 11/19 (SRP $129.99).  It will include all 26 episodes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, episode promos and all the previous DVD features, another multi-part documentary (Requiem: A Remembrance of Star Trek: The Next Generation) and the In Conversation: The Klingons and What He Left Behind: The Roddenberry Legacy featurettes.

Also coming from CBS on 11/19 is Star Trek: The Next Generation – Unification (SRP $28.28), which (as was the case with The Best of Both Worlds and Redemption) will feature the 2-part episode edited into a movie version along with a new exclusive documentary called From One Generation to the Next.  You’ll find the cover art for both of these titles below as well.  [...]

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Well… it goes without saying that there’s nothing we could reveal here today that would be nearly as exciting as yesterday’s announcement by Criterion that they’re delivering a whopping 25-film Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman Blu-ray box set in November.  Our collective heads are still reeling from that awesome news here at The Bits today!

But we do have a couple release news odds and ends to report today… […]

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Holey Moley! This is just about the greatest piece of announcement news we’ve EVER heard here at The Digital Bits. It should go without saying, to those of you who have been reading this site for any length of time, that we’re huge fans of the Japanese Zatoichi films.  In fact, we published one of the first guides to this classic samurai series on DVD here on The Bits back in 2003. Well, now Criterion has just announced a massive 27-disc/25-film Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman dual format Blu-ray/DVD box set for release on 11/26 (SRP $224.95)!  [...]

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We’ve got two more Blu-ray Disc reviews for you this afternoon.  Our own Tim Salmons has checked out a pair of recent titles from Shout! and Scream Factory, including Dark Angel (a.k.a. I Come in Peace) and the double feature of X-Ray / Schizoid.  Enjoy!

In announcement news today, Disney has officially set the Mary Poppins: 50th Anniversary Edition for release on Blu-ray Combo on 12/10.  The film has received an “all-new digital restoration” for this release.  Newly-produced extras will include Mary-OKE (a sing-along feature to 4 songs from the film) and the Becoming Mr. Sherman featurette featuring actor Jason Schwartzman and Richard Sherman (designed to promote the new film Saving Mr. Banks).  One hopes all the vintage bonus material will also carry over, but the press release doesn’t indicate.  You’ll find the final cover artwork below (and the title is now available for pre-order on Amazon by clicking on the cover).  […]

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We’ve got a new column and a couple more Blu-ray Disc reviews for you today…

First, Dr. Jahnke has turned in a new installment of his Burnt Offerings column with a look at the latest MOD DVD offerings for this week.  Don’t miss it!

Doogan has checked in with a look at Kino Lorber’s Requiem for a Vampire, a classic Jean Rollin title from 1982 that’s been released as part of their Redemption Films label.  Be sure to give it a look.

Also, Tim Salmons has delivered a review of Shout! Factory’s recent Blu-ray release of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, a classic comedy if ever there was one.  Enjoy!

And our own Russell Hammond will have the weekly Release Dates & Artwork update available soon here.  As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon in the same session after clicking through to them from our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we surely do appreciate it.

Now then, we’ve got some interesting release news for you this afternoon… […]

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This will be a quick one, updating you all on the week’s newest releases from Warner Archive, so let’s dive right on in.

The Frozen Dead (1966) – An early JET’s Most Wanted pick finally makes its official DVD debut!  Mad scientist Dana Andrews had the forethought to cryogenically freeze the heads of some of the top Nazi leaders of WWII.  Now it’s time to bring them back and get the old Third Reich going again.  Your Nazi Zombie collection isn’t complete without this one, folks.  [...]

All right, this is just a quick post this afternoon.  I journeyed out to Joshua Tree National Park last night to see the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.  I have to say, it was pretty spectacular – in four hours of viewing I managed to take in some 363 meteors, including some really big bright ones.  Lovely show.  If you’ve got clear skies this evening, do yourself a favor and take a peek out at the sky tonight – the shower’s still going for the next couple nights.

Meanwhile today, I’ve got a Blu-ray review double-feature for you Star Trek fans, featuring my take on CBS’ recent Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Four and also the new Star Trek: Enterprise – Season Two, which streets next Tuesday (8/20).  Both are good, but I have to say you Enterprise fans are going to be really blown away by the extras on Season Two.  Check out the reviews for all the details.  I’ll tell you, it’s sure a good time to be a fan of TV Trek[…]

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