Displaying items by tag: 4K Ultra HD

We’ve got a little bit of news for you today, as well as some new Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD reviews...

First, I’ve just posted a review of Jon Favreau’s original Iron Man in 4K Ultra HD, from Marvel (distributed by Paramount and now Disney). For you guys, I bit the bullet and picked up a copy myself. The new Atmos mix is pretty great, but the 4K image quality is a bit disappointing. Click here for the details. The title streets today.

And Tim has just posted his thoughts on Gordon Hessler’s Scream and Scream Again from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Riccardo Freda’s Double Face from Arrow Video, both on regular Blu-ray. [Read on here...]

All right, a quick update today...

First, we’ve just posted a trio of new Blu-ray reviews, including my thoughts on Dome Karukoski’s Tolkien from Fox, Tim’s take on Leszek Burzynski’s Trapped Alive from Arrow Video, and Dennis’ look at Michael Chaves’ The Curse of La Llorona from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

And I’m just finishing a review of Zhang Yimou’s Shadow in 4K Ultra HD from Well Go USA and should have that up before the end of the day.

Speaking of reviews, several of you have asked if we’re going to cover the new Disney and Marvel MCU titles that street tomorrow in 4K, including Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Thor, and Thor: The Dark World. We would love to, but unfortunately Disney isn’t making them available to reviewers, which means we’d have to go out and buy them. That puts indie sites like The Bits in a pickle. So the answer is, I don’t know. Maybe. [Read on here...]

All right, today’s update is a quickie, but it’s a good one.

All of those re-issued Star Wars Blu-rays from Disney we mentioned yesterday are now up for pre-order on Amazon with a street date of 9/22 (that’s not a Tuesday, so it could be just a “week of” placeholder date until the announcement is made).

The SRP is $34.99, but Amazon’s usual sale price should kick in soon. All of them are up now except Episode IV: A New Hope, which should go live soon. In any case, you can see the cover art – now with pre-order links – below.

In 4K catalog news today, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is now official for release on 4K Ultra HD by Universal on 10/15. You can see the cover artwork and pre-order it below. It will have DTS:X audio and HDR10 high dynamic range. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today, so bear with us.

First, very quickly, we’re currently working on those disc reviews we mentioned the other day, so watch for those starting tomorrow. But breaking news – and the need to dig into it – has keep us busy yesterday and today.

Let’s get some regular announcement news out of the way first...

CBS Home Entertainment has set Star Trek: Discovery – Season Two for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/12. The 4-disc Blu-ray release will include audio commentary on 4 episodes (with various combinations of Sonequa Martin-Green, Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Alex Kurtzman, Jonathan Peck, and Olatunde Onsunanmi), promos, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and 8 featurettes (Star Trek: Discovery: The Voyage of Season Two, Enter the Enterprise, The Red Angel, Designing Discovery: Season Two, Prop Me Up: Season Two, Dress for Success: Season Two, Creature Comforts: Season Two, and Creating Space). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

Today’s new update is a quickie, as we’re in full Blu-ray and 4K review mode here at the site, trying to catch up on a backlog titles worthy of our attention. As such, we’ve just posted my thoughts on the Russos’ Avengers: Endgame in 4K Ultra HD from Marvel and Disney, along with a tag-team review by Tim and myself of Duncan Jones’ Moon in 4K from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Both are well worth a look, and Endgame in particular really shines in 4K with HDR, with a great Dolby Atmos mix to boot. So don’t miss them.

And we’re working on more, including Jonny Quest: The Complete Series, Alita: Battle Angel (4K) and much more.

Now then, the big news today is that Paramount has finally relented to releasing its beloved holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life on physical 4K Ultra HD. Look for it on 10/29, months after it first became available digitally in 4K. The good news is that the film has been completely restored and scanned in full native 4K from the original nitrate camera negative (along with two fine grain masters made in the 1940s), so it should look and sound fantastic. Extras will include the colorized version of the film on Blu-ray along with the classic extras. You can see the cover artwork at the left. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a few items for you guys today here at The Bits...

First up, I know some of you guys are big fans of the Fast and Furious franchise, so you might be interested in this: Amazon is now taking pre-orders on Universal’s Fast & Furious and Fast Five on 4K Ultra HD. Each will feature DTS-X object based audio. Street date is 6/11. I’ve included cover artwork at below (and you’ll find the Amazon pre-order links down there too.

I’ve also posted the artwork for Universal’s The Scorpion King, which streets on 4K on 6/18 and is also available for pre-order.

Now then, the big news today is that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced a new Ghostbusters & Ghostbusters II Steelbook 4K Ultra HD release on 6/11 that will include a new special features disc with more than two hours of “long-requested and rare archival elements—including never-before-seen deleted scenes from the first film—along with returning interviews, effects breakdowns, multi-angle explorations and much more! Both films also feature brand new commentaries, featuring the filmmakers on Ghostbusters II and passionate fans with deep-cut insights on Ghostbusters.” You can see the cover artwork to the left. [Read on here...]

Today is a day many of us in the cinephile community have been eagerly awaiting: Criterion has finally launched their streaming replacement for FilmStruck, better known as The Criterion Channel.

It officially launched this morning with apps on AppleTV, Amazon Fire, Roku, iOS and Android. You can also view it via web browser.

The good news is, the launch seems to have gone nearly flawlessly. I checked for the Roku download shortly after midnight. Finding it not yet available, I figured it was more likely to launch early AM on the East Coast, where Criterion’s offices are located. So I went to bed and checked again when I woke up here in California. [Read on here...]

Today’s Bits postings are a double-header, and this first one will be pretty substantial. I’ve unfortunately come down with the flu, so the last few days my functionality has been limited. But, I’m going to do a couple posts today to make up for it.

Before we begin, though, we’ve posted 4 new Blu-ray reviews here at The Bits in the last few days, including... Tim’s look at The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires from Scream Factory, Ecco and The Forbidden from Severin Films, and the Region B release of Dragonwyck (1946) from Powerhouse Films and Indicator. We also have Dennis’ look at Stan & Ollie on Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Enjoy!

So... first things first: We’ve confirmed with Warner Bros. that their new Burton/Schumacher Batman 4K releases will feature new Dolby Atmos audio mixes on both the 4K and the Blu-rays in the package. Those Blu-rays will be remastered too. High dynamic range will be HDR10 only on the 4Ks. And the Blu-rays will carry over all of the previous BD extras with one exception: Don’t expect to find the Batman: The Birth of a Modern Blockbuster featurette from the recent Batman: Diamond Luxe Blu-ray. Beyond that, most everything should be there. (Thanks to Bits reader Anthony DiPaola for spotting that). [Read on here...]

We mentioned this title a few days ago, but now we can officially confirm that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Neon will be releasing Todd Douglas Miller’s acclaimed large format documentary, Apollo 11, on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on May 14th.

From the studio’s press release:

“Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, Apollo 11 takes us straight to the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission—the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names. Immersed in the perspectives of the astronauts, the team in Mission Control, and the millions of spectators on the ground, we vividly experience those momentous days and hours in 1969 when humankind took a giant leap into the future ” [Read on here...]

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just officially confirmed information we’ve had in our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits for a while now, which is this…

Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) and Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997) are officially coming to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Digital on 6/4. You’ll be able to buy them as single SKU editions that day, and then a 4K Batman Anthology box set will follow on 9/17.

The films have been scanned from the original camera negatives in native 4K, fully remastered, and graded for high dynamic range in HDR10 (there is no mention of Dolby Vision but we’ll try to confirm its inclusion). They’ll also feature new Dolby Atmos audio mixes. [Read on here...]