Displaying items by tag: Bluray

While all the talk about digital and the implosion of some of the most high-profile streamers purging content from their services faster than Stalin and his politburo, it’s worth spotlighting the fact that it was still a fairly impressive year for physical media whose death, much like Mark Twain, has been greatly exaggerated.

While there’s still too many A-list titles that are MIA that haven’t migrated to 4K Ultra HD yet and other films in desperate need of upgraded hi-def masters (including, self-promotion alert, Free Enterprise), several labels have stepped up their games in a big way ranging from Shout to Arrow and, most impressively, Kino-Lorber.

And, of course, as always, Warner Bros has brought it with their classic titles (although I still have to wonder where the hell North By Northwest is). So even though it’s almost March 2023, these are some of the stellar titles of 2022 that will undoubtedly stand the test of time.

If there’s only one vexing trend in the home entertainment market today, it’s how rare it is to find many re-issues featuring compelling new bonus material instead consistently relying on re-purposing old VAM. [Read on here...]

Okay, there’s not a ton of news worth reporting today here at The Bits, but we do have a few quick things for you.

As is often the case, we’ll start with some new disc reviews...

Tim has posted his thoughts on Jim Wynorski’s The Return of the Swamp Thing (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from Lightyear Entertainment. He’s also taken a look at Stuart Barge’s Julius Caesar (1970) on regular Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

And Stephen has given David O. Russell’s Amsterdam (2022) a spin on 4K Ultra HD from 20th Century Studios.

More reviews are forthcoming, so be sure to stay tuned for them.

In terms of actual title announcements, Music Box Films has announced that Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Lenor Will Never Die is now available on Digital and is also coming to Blu-ray and DVD on 3/14. [Read on here...]

While we’re waiting for Warner Bros. to announce their Superman: 5-Film Collection 4K release, which we expect to happen anytime now, we’ve got some more release news for you today and a couple new disc reviews as well.

Starting with the reviews, Stephen has taken a look at Patrice Leconte’s Monsieur Hire (1989) on Blu-ray from Cohen Film Collection.

Stephen has also reviewed Dale Fabrigar’s They Crawl Beneath (2022) on Blu-ray from Well Go USA Entertainment.

Now then, back on the topic of Superman 4K for a moment, it’s starting to look as if there will not be 4K singles of the films in the new collection here in the States, but rather simply the box set in deluxe Steelbook and standard Amaray packaging (you can see the Amazon US listings here and here). There are 4K singles available in the UK if you want them (we have them linked in our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits now, but curiously not Superman: The Movie—just the sequels—which could indicate that the new remaster of Superman: The Movie may be exclusive to the box set for a while. We’ll have to wait for Warner’s official press release to be sure.

As I said, that could drop at anytime, so we’ll be sure to post all the details when it arrives. [Read on here...]

All right, folks—it’s now official! Paramount has finally announced the release of the Star Trek: The Next Generation films in 4K Ultra HD with a street date of 4/4 (right in time to celebrate “Star Trek Day” on 4/5) just as we first revealed here on The Digital Bits back in December. The news comes as always via the official StarTrek.com website.

You’ll be able to purchase the films in a Star Trek: The Next Generation – 4-Movie Collection box set, which includes all the films in 4K UHD and remastered Blu-ray in dual multi-disc Amaray cases with a cardboard slipcover, or 4K UHD + Blu-ray or Blu-ray singles, all with Digital Copy codes.

Again, both the 4K release and the accompanying Blu-ray are fully remastered. So these BDs should look leaps and bounds better than the previous 2009 Blu-rays. Note that the 4Ks will include both Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range, with audio in 7.1 Dolby TrueHD format. [Read on here...]

Well, I forgot that today marks the President’s Day holiday here in the States, so it’s unlikely that there will be any major studio announcements today. But we do have some good release news today and more new disc reviews for you as well...

Tim has posted his take on Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s The House That Screamed (1970) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

Dennis has taken a look at Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle (1987) on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.

And Stuart’s offered his thoughts on Mario Monicelli’s Let’s Hope It’s a Girl (1986) on Blu-ray from Raro Video.

Now then, we’ve confirmed with Disney that the wide-release version of their Cinderella (1950) 4K Ultra HD release is coming on 8/1. And we have the official cover artwork for you, which you can see at left and also below the break. But again, this title will be available first from the Disney Movie Club starting on 3/28. [Read on here...]

We just have a couple reviews for you today, plus a few more pieces of release news to close out the week. And it’s starting to seem likely that next week could see a significant announcement or two. But we’ll get to that in a moment. First, those reviews...

Tim has posted two more new disc reviews of titles in Arrow’s great Shawscope: Volume One Blu-ray box set, including Chang Cheh’s Five Shaolin Masters (aka 5 Masters of Death, 1974) and Shaolin Temple (aka Death Chamber, 1976).

As always, we’ve got a lot more reviews on tap for next week, so be sure to check back for them.

Now then, the big announcement news today is that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has officially set Gerald Johnstone’s M3GAN for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/21, with the Digital release expected on 2/24. Unfortunately, there will not be a physical 4K Ultra HD release, at least for now. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a couple more new disc reviews for you today, and a bit more Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release news as well...

First, Stephen has checked out Synapse Films’ wide-release version of Dario Argento’s Phenomena (1985) in 4K Ultra HD.

He’s also reviewed Michael Stanley’s Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985) on Blu-ray Disc from our friends over at AGFA and Vinegar Syndrome.

And while it’s not a disc review, I posted my non-spoiler thoughts on Star Trek: Picard – Season Three here at The Bits last night (in case you missed them). The first episode of the new season is now available for streaming on Paramount+, and all I can say is that there had better be a 4K Ultra HD release forthcoming from Paramount Home Entertainment. (Because I want it!) Enjoy!

Now then, Disney sources have officially confirmed that Cinderella (1950) will be released on 4K Ultra HD widely in stores and from online retailers on 8/1. However, note that the title will be also available as a limited Disney Movie Club exclusive for a few months starting on 3/28. So if you want to get your hands on it earlier, DMC is your ticket. [Read on here...]

As I mentioned at the end of today’s early My Two Cents update here at The Bits, I wanted to take a few moments this afternoon to talk about Star Trek: Picard – Season Three.

I had the good fortunate and great pleasure of attending Paramount’s official premiere screening event (last Thursday evening) for the new season at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Nearly the entire cast of the series was on hand, along with many crew members, Star Trek luminaries, and frankly scores of industry-insider Trekkies, many of whom I’m known for twenty-five years. At this event—following in-person introductions by Patrick Stewart, series co-creator Alex Kurtzman, and Season Three showrunner Terry Matalas—the first two episodes of the new season were shown to an overwhelmingly positive reaction. This was followed by an off-the-hook after party at the Roosevelt Hotel, where everyone got well-lubed while discussing what they’d just seen.

My original plan, after taking in all of this, was to come back here on The Bits the following morning to tell you all about it. But the experience of seeing those two episodes on the big screen was frankly kind of overwhelming. And I really needed to process what I’d seen for a bit first. Then, I was offered press access to screen more episodes and naturally I dropped everything to do just that. So not only have I now seen six of the season’s ten episodes, I have a much better handle on the quality of this new season, and what it means for Star Trek fans. [Read on here...]

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...]

All right, we’ve got a bunch of interesting release news to report here at The Bits this afternoon...

First, CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment have set Cheers: The Complete Series for release on Blu-ray Disc on 4/25 (SRP $129.99). This will be a 33-disc box set that includes all 270 episode of the series’ 11 seasons. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.

While we’re on the subject of Paramount, retail and distributor sources are confirming that the studio will be releasing Mimi Leder’s Deep Impact (1998) on 4K Ultra HD in the coming months. This is in addition to The Italian Job (2003) and Shooter (2007), which we’ve mentioned previously. We believe the street date for Deep Impact will be sometime in May, but that’s still TBD.

Fans of classic Western TV series will also be pleased to know that CBS and Paramount are finally planning to release Bonanza: The Complete Twelfth Season and a Bonanza: The Complete Series box set soon, all on DVD. Street dates for those are TBA as well, but both are already listed in some online retailer databases. We would assume that The Complete Thirteenth Season and The Complete Fourteenth Season will follow on DVD eventually too. [Read on here...]