Displaying items by tag: Alien
Updates on The Untouchables, The Batman, catalog Batman 4K (in the UK), Panic Room & Marry Me, remembering Alan Ladd Jr. & more
As always, we’re starting the week off today with a few new disc reviews for you all to enjoy...
Stephen has taken a look at Kino Lorber Studio Classics’ new double feature Blu-ray of Robert Mandel’s F/X (1986) and its sequel, Richard Franklin’s F/X2 (1991).
Dennis has offered his thoughts on Bert Gordon’s Village of the Giants (1965) on Blu-ray, an Embassy Pictures title also from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
And Tim has turned in a review of a Spanish-language oldie, Ramon Peon’s La Llorona (1933), which is now available on Blu-ray via Powerhouse Films and their fine Indicator label.
Rest assured, more reviews are forthcoming all this week. [Read on here...]
- Dennis Seuling
- Stephen Bjork
- Bluray
- 4K Ultra HD
- Bill Hunt
- The Digital Bits
- My Two Cents
- 4K Ultra HD Release List
- Tim Salmons
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- F/X BD review
- F/X2 BD review
- La Llorona BD review
- Village of the Giants BD review
- The Batman BD
- The Untouchables 4K
- Batman (1989) 4K
- Batman Returns 4K
- Batman Begins 4K
- The Dark Knight 4K
- The Dark Knight Rises 4K
- Panic Room 4K
- Marry Me BD
- Night Creatures BD
- Hammer Films
- Parallel Mothers
- Pedro Almodovar
- Scream Factory
- William Lustig
- Blue Underground
- Uncle Sam 4K
- RLJ Entertainment
- ViaVision Entertainment
- Alan Ladd Jr
- Star Wars
- Alien
- Blade Runner
Bless the Maker and His water: Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE may actually EXCEED my expectations
All right, we’ll have a bit of additional announcement news for the week tomorrow here at The Bits, and I’ll be spending the afternoon working on a review of Akira Kurosawa’s Ran in 4K UHD, which will be posted then as well.
But today, I want to talk about Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE.
I had the opportunity last night to attend one of Warner and Legendary’s IMAX sneak peek events for the film as a member of the press.
A little background first... I would definitely go so far as to call myself an expert on the subject of science fiction cinema. I’ve been reading literary science fiction my entire life (including DUNE many times), I’m known in some circles to be well-versed on the topic human spaceflight, and I’m a life-long student of science in general. I read physics and astronomy research papers like some people read comic books.
So as I noted in my recent review of Voyagers in 4K, I have certain critical expectations of science fiction films and TV series. Is the story and its science setup plausible, or does it require too many contrivances or conveniences? Is the story logically consistent? Is the world-building credible and convincing? And most importantly, is the story entertaining, engaging, or thought-provoking? The vast majority of genre programming fails on one or more of those criteria. In other words, on both the big and small screen, truly great science fiction is rare. [Read on here...]
- Bluray
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- 4K Ultra HD
- Dune
- Denis Villeneuve
- IMAX Trailer
- Frank Herbert
- David Lynch's DUNE
- John Harrison
- SciFi Channel miniseries
- Legendary
- Warner Bros Entertainment
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Blade Runner
- Blade Runner 2049
- The Matrix
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Alien
- Stanley Kubrick
- Peter Jackson
- Ridley Scott
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
- The Wachowskis
Supergirl: Season 5, new Warner Archive, a True Lies/Abyss recap & more, plus RIP Charles Lippincott
All right, we’re working on FOUR more 4K Ultra HD reviews for the next couple of days, at least of the first of which we hope to have posted later this afternoon.
In the meantime, we’ve just launched our second giveaway on The Digital Bits’ Facebook page, offering readers the chance to win one of Paramount’s three new Tom Cruise 4K Ultra HD titles – Top Gun, Days of Thunder, or War of the Worlds. All you have to do to enter is follow The Bits’ Facebook page and reply to this post (linked here) with your answer to the question you’ll find. Entries will be accepted until 11 AM Pacific tomorrow (Thursday, May 21). The contest is open to US residents only (due to COVID shipping restrictions—sorry!). THREE winners will be selected at random from the list of those who enter and will be announced tomorrow afternoon. Good luck!
Meanwhile today, we have a bit more announcement news... [Read on here...]
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- HBO
- Warner Bros
- Tom Cruise 4K Giveaway
- Supergirl: The Complete Fifth Season BD
- The Warner Archive Collection
- True Lies
- The Abyss
- James Cameron
- RIP Charles Lippincott
- Alien
- Star Wars
- Strike Up the Band
- Cannery Row
- Romance on the High Seas
- House of Wax 3D
- Project Blue Book: Season 2 DVD
- Trolls World Tour 4K and BD
- Via Vision Entertainment
- Film Stories UK
- Simon Brew
Still Screaming in Space: Remembering “Alien” on its 40th Anniversary
“Alien (like other 1970s films such as Jaws, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Godfather, and Star Wars) was a seminal landmark in the upgrade of shopworn B-movie clichés — monsters, comic book characters, flying saucers, gangsters, Saturday afternoon serials — into major A-movie assets.” — Paul M. Sammon, author of Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies
The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of Alien, the sci-fi/horror classic about the five-man, two-woman (and one cat) crew of the Nostromo, who got more than they bargained for after investigating a distress signal from a mysterious planet.
Suspense, atmospheric moodiness and Oscar-winning visual effects were among the highlights of Alien, directed by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator) and starring Tom Skerritt (Top Gun), Veronica Cartwright (The Right Stuff), Harry Dean Stanton (Repo Man), John Hurt (The Elephant Man), Ian Holm (Chariots of Fire), Yaphet Kotto (Live and Let Die), and Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters) as Ellen Ripley. [Read on here...]
- science fiction
- History Legacy & Showmanship
- Michael Coate
- The Digital Bits
- film retrospective
- Mark O’Connell
- Alien
- Ridley Scott
- HR Giger
- Still Screaming in Space
- 40th anniversary
- Chris Barsanti
- The SciFi Movie Guide: The Universe of Film from Alien to Zardoz
- JW Rinzler
- The Making of Alien
- Paul M Sammon
- Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies
- Tom Skerritt
- Jerry Goldsmith
- Veronica Cartwright
- Harry Dean Stanton
- John Hurt
- Ian Holm
- Yaphet Kotto
- Sigourney Weaver
- Nostromo
- Big Chap
Pardon Our Server Issues, Plus LOTS More 4K Titles, Sgt. Pepper, Lion in Winter, a Word on Rogue One Extras & More
All right, first things first: We had a hard drive meltdown at the server farm a couple of days ago, the upshot of which is that The Bits (and several other sites) crashed for about a day. We’re on a newly-built server now and we seem to be back up and running, but it’s likely that there’s going to be some tweaking needed to get back to full stability. So anyway, we appreciate your patience. With a little luck, full normality should be restored by Monday morning.
In the meantime, I posted my in-depth review of Disney and Lucasfilm’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Blu-ray on Tuesday afternoon in case you missed it. I’ll have more to say about that subject in a minute.
Also, our own Tim Salmons has posted a new Pick-Ups review of Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life: 30th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray. And Russell Hammond has posted the weekly update of the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. Don’t forget, you can now sort titles by format in 4K in addition to DVD and Blu-ray. And a portion of anything you order from Amazon, after clicking to them from our links, goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it. [Read on here…]
- Bluray Disc
- Bill Hunt
- The Digital Bits
- My Two Cents
- Bluray
- Rogue One BD review
- Monty Python's Meaning of Life BD review
- Tim Salmons
- Release Dates & Artwork
- The Lion in Winter
- server issues
- Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- The Beatles
- Prometheus 4K Ultra HD
- Life 4K Ultra HD
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes 4K Ultra HD
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 4K Ultra HD
- Ridley Scott
- Alien
- Ghost in the Shell 4K Ultra HD
- Boss Baby 4K Ultra HD
- T2 Trainspotting 4K Ultra HD
- Shin Godzilla 4K Ultra HD
- Speed Racer: The Complete Series BD
- The Godfather 4K
- The Bridge on the River Kwai 4K
- The Night of the Sorcerers
- The Loreley's Grasp
- Species: Collector's Edition
- The Mercenary
Some pictures from The Bits at Comic-Con 2014!
Okay – how’s your Saturday going? The Bits crew has been down at San Diego Comic-Con the last couple days checking out all the BD-related stuff going on and we’re going to have a full report for you on Monday morning wrapping up all the details. There weren’t a ton of major announcements, and there was no sign of Abyss, True Lies, or The X-Files (though we will have updated information on those titles for you), but Shout! and Scream Factory certainly announced some impressive titles. We have posted a little bit of news on The Bits Facebook page, so be sure to check that out now if you’re interested.
Meanwhile, we thought you guys might enjoy a look at some pictures from the show floor, including your first good look at a number of upcoming (and in a few cases limited or exclusive) Blu-ray releases that were on display there, including Fox’s Comic-Con deluxe catalog BD sci-fi/fantasy title packaging, their X-Men “Cerebro” BD box set, the WETA-designed Planet of the Apes: Caesar Warrior box set, the Halloween Complete Collection, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and more. So here’s the gallery. [Read on here…]
New columns, lots of cover art & pre-orders, a new BD review, plus H.R. Giger RIP
All right, here at The Bits today, our own Tim Salmons has checked in with a review of Eric Weston’s Evilspeak (1981) now available on Blu-ray from our friends at Scream Factory.
Meanwhile, Dr. Jahnke has turned in his weekly Burnt Offerings: MOD DVD column, covering this week’s latest small batch Manufactured on Demand catalog DVDs from Warner Archive and the Fox Cinema Archive. Enjoy! [Read on here…]
- Bluray Disc
- Bluray
- BD
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- Tim Salmons
- Evilspeak
- Adam Jahnke
- Burnt Offerings: MOD DVD
- Doogan's Queue
- Todd Doogan
- Release Dates & Artwork
- Russell Hammond
- Jarhead 2: Field of Fire
- Alien
- HRGiger
- Boardwalk Empire: Season Four
- Flatliners
- Donnie Brasco
- Appleseed: Alpha
- Orphan Black: Season Two
- Le WeekEnd
- Cannibal Holocaust
- 300: Rise of an Empire