Displaying items by tag: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

All right, I’ve finally got my review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on Blu-ray for you to check out. The movie is fun – better than the first go-round for those keeping score – and the Blu-ray itself delivers all the quality and extras you’d expect from the Theatrical Cut BD release. The disc streets today, so check out the review… then pick up your copy and enjoy! [Read on here…]

We’ve got a new Blu-ray Disc review for you today. Dr. Jahnke has given Twilight Time’s new Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Blu-ray a spin – a Sam Peckinpah classic. The film is great and it sounds as though Twilight’s done a very nice job on the disc’s A/V quality and extras too. Don’t miss it.

Just to let you know, I’ll be back early tomorrow morning with my review of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on Blu-ray – the theatrical edition that arrives in stores tomorrow.

Also here at The Bits today, our own Russell Hammond has updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray and DVD cover art and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, anything you order from them in the same session after clicking through our links helps support our work here at The Bits and we surely do appreciate it. [Read on here…]

We’ve got a BIG release news update for you all today. But before we get going on that, we wanted to let you know that Warner’s newly announced The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Release date is 4/8. Click on the links to pre-order.

The big news today is from Criterion: As expected, their May release slate officially includes Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole (Spine #396) on 5/6, Stuart Cooper’s Overlord (#382) on 5/13, and Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone in Love (#708) on 5/20, and Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (#300) and Howard Hawks’ classic Red River (#709) on 5/27. As you can see the anticipated street dates have shifted around a little, but otherwise the line-up is exactly what we expected. SRP for all is $39.95 each except for Red River which is $49.95. You can see the official cover art for all below. Here’s a rundown of the extras to expect... [Read on here...]

Big release news today: Warner Home Video has just officially announced the Blu-ray and DVD release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on 4/8. There’s a Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack (SRP $35.99), a Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack (SRP $44.95) and a rental DVD version (priced at $22.97). This is of course the theatrical version of the film. Extras on both Blu-ray versions will include Production Videos, New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth, Part 2 and something called Peter Jackson Invites You to the Set. There’s no word yet on the forthcoming BD and BD3D release of the Extended Edition of the film, but if the past is any predictor (and it usually is) look for those to street on either 11/4 or 11/11. Meanwhile, you’ll find the cover artwork below.  [Read on here...]

All right, obviously with New Year’s falling mid-week, many people aren’t headed back to work until after the weekend.  But still, we’ve got a little something for you to check out today.  Specifically, we have some new Blu-ray cover art for you to look at.

Some of what you see here is official U.K. artwork and the rest of it is studio temp art, but the final U.S. covers are likely to be very similar to what you see below.  [Read on here…]

So it turns out The Desolation of Smaug is pretty good.  I mustered up the energy to catch a double-feature screening last night with a friend, and it was a fine evening’s entertainment.  If you enjoyed the first Hobbit film, I think you’ll like this one a great deal more.  The pacing is much more engaging.  Fans of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy will definitely feel more at home here, as in this film the prequel trilogy really begins to reveal its connections to the previous films more strongly… and not just in the fact that Legolas (Orlando Bloom) features prominently.  As one would hope, Smaug himself is wonderfully realized.

Smaug aside, with any luck you have a good art house theater in your neck of the woods, because there are a number of fine indie films worth seeing this holiday season: American Hustle, the Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, All Is Lost, Nebraska, Her, 12 Years a Slave and many more.  This is the time of year when all the great dramas get dumped into limited theatrical distribution so they quality for Oscar nominations, so be sure to head out to your local theater over the next 2 or 3 weeks.  [Read on here…]

Well… tonight’s the big night for your Tolkien fans.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens tonight at Midnight at theaters around the world, so I’m guessing there will be at least a few people standing in lines over the coming hours.

In announcement news today, Universal will release Closed Circuit on Blu-ray Combo and DVD on 1/7.

Kino Lorber has set Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/21.

Music Box Films has The Returned: The Complete First Season coming on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/21 as well.  [Read on here…]