Displaying items by tag: The Digital Bits

Morning, folks!  Well… I’m off to the dentist today, so this post is going to be a quick one.  However… we do have a couple fun things for you here at The Bits this morning.

First, our own Tim Salmons has turned in another Criterion Blu-ray Disc review, and this one’s a classic: 1923’s Safety Last! starring Harold Lloyd.  Enjoy!   [Read on here…]

“The Modern Miracle You See Without Glasses!”

The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 60th anniversary of the release of The Robe, the first motion picture produced in CinemaScope.

In addition to a detailed history of the film’s original theatrical release, the article features a roundtable interview with three authorities on widescreen history.

THE ORIGINAL ENGAGEMENTS OF “THE ROBE”

Presented here is a chronological listing of the original first-run theatrical engagements of The Robe for the major and selected secondary markets in the United States and Canada.  The number of weeks the film played has been provided for some of the entries.  [Read on here...]

We’ve got a quick bit of announcement news for you today...

Sony has set Grown Ups 2 for release on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on 11/5 (SRP $40.99 and $30.99).  Extras will include deleted scenes and 4 featurettes (Look Who Stopped By, Set Construction, Mr. Spade’s Wild Ride and Shaq and Dante: Police Force).

Time Life and StarVista have announced a 6-disc The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Collector’s Edition for DVD release on 10/8 (SRP $59.95).  From the press release the set “includes 12 complete and unedited Celebrity Roasts, featuring Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Jimmy Stewart, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Dean Martin, Kirk Douglas, Michael Landon, Jackie Gleason, Don Rickles and Joan Collins.  Appearing as roasters, throwing zingers at the men and women of the hour are: John Wayne, Dom DeLuise, Rich Little, Muhammad Ali, George Burns, Phyllis Diller, Art Carney, Bette Davis, Florence Henderson, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters and many others.  Adding to the mirth and merriment of this set are over two hours of specially-produced bonus features, featurettes and interviews, as well as rare Dean Martin TV specials and home movies!”  [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks!  We’ve got a trio of new Blu-ray Disc reviews for you today...

The good Dr. Jahnke has checked out Warner Archive’s new Gypsy Blu-ray and found it to be pretty darned swell.  Do give it a look.

Also, Tim Salmons has given a pair of great recent Criterion Blu-rays a spin and they’re awfully nice too – David Fincher’s The Game and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.  Enjoy!

In announcement news today...  [Read on here...]

What began as an idea in the Middle East transformed into a visual story on the big screen.  Oblivion took shape inside the mind of director Joe Kosinski, leaped onto the pages of a graphic novel and ended up as a science-fiction movie with Tom Cruise.

THE BIRTH OF OBLIVION

“It came at a time where I was having trouble getting my foot in the door in the commercial music video business,” said Kosinski.  Out of frustration, he wrote the story of a man digging into the past, our present, to find his humanity.  “I had this idea of what would it be like to be the last man on Earth, to be kind of the one looking back at the world we know,” he said. […]

Let us continue the James Bond 50th anniversary celebration, shall we?  Last autumn, around the time Skyfall was being released to theaters, the Blu-ray set was hitting retailers and the anniversary hype was in high gear, I had this idea that it might be interesting if I could round up a few of my James Bond historian friends, turn on a recorder… and talk James Bond, and then perhaps turn that into an article.  It didn’t happen (primarily for logistical reasons).  But a few months later the next best thing did happen. That is, separately-conducted interviews that have been edited into a round-table format.

All right… yesterday’s My Two Cents was a quickie so we’re making it up to you today with a nice long post and lots of news, given that this is (almost) our last post before Memorial Day weekend.  More in a minute.

First up this morning, some disc reviews…

The good Dr. Jahnke has turned in new musings on Twilight Time’s Philadelphia and Scream Factory’s The Town that Dreaded Sundown, both on Blu-ray Disc.  Philadelphia is a limited release of just 3,000 copies, available as always here through Screen Archives Entertainment (SRP $29.95).

Also today, we’ve upgraded more of Tim’s Blu-ray reviews from the old Bits website including Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, the Dumbo: 70th Anniversary Edition, Super, The Host: Collector’s Edition, Brooklyn’s Finest and the American Graffiti: Special Edition.  Enjoy!

Next up… some release news…