Displaying items by tag: Tim Salmons

All right, today’s a bit of a catch-up day here at The Bits...

First, Tim has reviewed a trio of Blu-ray titles for you, including Kino’s Moving Violations, Grindhouse Releasing’s Gone with the Pope, and Arrow Academy’s Terror in a Texas Town. Do give them a look.

Now then... this will be our last post until Monday, as I’m headed down to Comic-Con in San Diego tomorrow. For the record, I’m scheduled to be on TWO panels at the Con this weekend.

First, I’m moderating the Breaking News from Shout! Factory and Scream Factory panel tomorrow (Friday) at 8-9 PM in Room 4 at the San Diego Convention Center (details here):

“Join Shout! Factory’s Jeremy Whitham (Development Director), Brian Ward (Senior Director of Blu-ray and DVD Production), and Jeff Nelson (Senior Marketing Director) as they make special announcements and unveil exclusive sneak peeks. Moderated by Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits.” [Read on here…]

All right, we’ve a LOT of ground to cover today: Tons of news and announcements, plus some good stuff here at The Bits for you too. Let’s start with the latter...

Tim has turned in new reviews of Meteor (1979) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and also Dave Parker’s It Watches on DVD from Uncork’d Entertainment. Both are worth your time. And if you like It Watches, be sure to check out Dave’s Sweet Tooth from Tales of Halloween, as well The Hills Run Red and The Dead Reborn too.

Also today, in honor of the late George Romero, I wanted to share a special feature we did here at The Bits way back in 2001: Telling Tales with John and George. I had the honor of spending an afternoon with George and filmmaker John Harrison (Frank Herbert’s Dune) while they recorded the audio commentary for Paramount’s Tales from the Darkside: The Movie DVD. It really gives you a good sense, I think, of who George was as a person: Truly one of the kindest, warmest, and most engaging people I’ve had the pleasure to meet in my 30+ years in this industry. I hope you’ll enjoy it. [Read on here…]

All right, there’s a lot going on here today, so today’s update will be relatively quick...

First up, Tim has posted a new Blu-ray review, shared today in honor of the passing of George A. Romero. It’s Knightriders, available on BD via our friends at Shout! Factory. We hope you enjoy, and more on George in a moment.

Also, Michael Coate has posted a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column in which he celebrates the 30th anniversary of director Paul Verhoeven’s original RoboCop. The piece features another great retrospective look at the film’s original theatrical release and also an interview with author Calum Waddell. Don’t miss it. [Read on here…]

All right, no official update yet from Disney on the HDR on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 4K. There are reports that Dolby is claiming Dolby Vision will only be on the 4K streaming version, but we haven’t been able to confirm that yet. So stay tuned.

Disney has however, officially just announced (at D23) that they’re releasing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 10/3, with the Digital release due on 9/19. We know that it will have HDR (so HDR-10, no word specifically of Dolby Vision) and that it will include Dolby Atmos audio. “Bonus material includes a collection of behind-the-scenes, making-of stories, including a conversation with directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg; a sit-down with the two young newcomers who play Henry and Carina; the secrets behind the menacing new villain, Salazar, and his ferocious ghost sharks; an on-set visit with Jack’s first mate from all five films; a chat with Sir Paul McCartney who appears as Uncle Jack; and a discussion about the franchise’s legacy; along with hilarious bloopers, deleted scenes and memories from producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s photo diary.” No other details are yet available. You can see the cover art at left.

Meanwhile, we have two new Blu-ray reviews for you today: Tim has checked out Vinegar Syndrome’s Psycho Cop Returns and Psychic Killer, both worth your time if you’re a fan of the genre. Do check them out. [Read on here…]

All right, let’s get this out of the way right off the top: Yesterday, when Disney finally made the official announcement that James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will arrive on 4K Ultra HD (as well as Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD) on 8/22, we made a point to contact the studio to confirm that the 4K Ultra HD disc would include Dolby Vision HDR. And we were assured that it would. So we added that update to our report.

Some context here: Our sources within the studio and around the industry have long told us that one of the reasons Disney has taken their time embracing the 4K format was that they’re bullish about Dolby Vision, and wanted to wait until more hardware manufacturers and consumers had embraced it. They wanted more Dolby Vision-capable displays and players out there in the hands of consumers. [Read on here…]

Afternoon, folks! All right, a couple things today...

First, today is Prime Day on Amazon. If you’re a Prime member, there are supposed to be some good deals on various things over there, reportedly including 4K Ultra HD displays. Now, I haven’t had time to go over there and check myself, so that may or may not be, but if you do purchase anything, here’s our Amazon link to take you there (we appreciate the support!): Bits Amazon Link.

Now then... Tim has turned in a pair of new Blu-ray reviews, featuring Scream Factory’s terrific new Species: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and also a recent release from Australian distributor Umbrella Entertainment. The title in question is The Punisher (1989), and it’s an all region release for those who may be interested. Enjoy! [Read on here…]

All right, it’s been an exciting few days for Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release news, with the latest being director James Gunn’s confirmation that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is soon to be announced for Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD (see our post from early this morning). We expect Disney’s official announcement in the next two weeks.

Before we get started today, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be moderating the official Breaking News from Shout! Factory and Scream Factory panel at Comic-Con in San Diego later this month! Here’s the official write-up from Shout:

“Genre and horror film buffs, collectors and pop culture enthusiasts alike won’t want to miss Breaking News from Shout! Factory and Scream Factory. At 8 pm on Friday, July 21st in Room 4, join Jeremy Whitham (Development Director), Brian Ward (Sr. Director of Blu-ray and DVD Production) and Jeff Nelson (Sr. Marketing Director) as they make special announcements and unveil exclusive sneak peeks of upcoming Blu-ray collector’s editions and new movies coming to theaters this fall. A fan-driven insider’s event filled with lively discussion and a few surprises, this panel discussion and Q&A will be moderated by Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits.”

It should be a lot of fun, so if you’re going to be attending the Con, please be sure to drop in for it. I’ll be a panelist on another panel at the Con as well, which I’ll tell you more about next week. [Read on here…]

We have just an interesting Friday post for you today, with some new Blu-ray and 4K release news…

First though, we have two new Blu-ray reviews from our own Tim Salmons, who’s taken a look at Scream Factory’s Alienator and The Angry Red Planet, both newly released in HD. Do give them a look.

Also, since we have a bit of a long holiday weekend here in the States, we’re uploading next week’s Release Dates & Artwork section today, featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD news and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, anything you order from Amazon after clicking through to them from any of our links helps to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

Now then… back to that release news… [Read on here…]

The 43rd Annual Saturn Awards were held last night in Burbank, California, and we got the list of winners for you today. More on that in a moment.

First though, Tim has turned in a look at George Bowers’ horror film The Hearse (1980) on Blu-ray, newly released by Vinegar Syndrome.

Also, in a brief bit of announcement news, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has just set unveiled a big slate of catalog 4K Ultra HD titles due for release in September. On 9/5, Minions will arrive on the format, followed on 9/12 by Jordan Peel’s Get Out , single-film 4K editions of The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, The Purge: Three-Movie Collection, Van Helsing, and Dracula Untold. We’ll post additional details and cover artwork as soon as its available. [Read on here…]

All right, we have a few new reviews for you today...

Tim has checked in with his looks at Shout! Factory’s Road House: Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray and Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume V on DVD, as well as Vinegar Syndrome’s Nurse Sherri, and Severin Films’ Blackenstein, classics of the grindhouse and blaxploitation genres respectively, both newly released on Blu-ray.

Also, I’ve posted a review of Lionsgate’s Power Rangers on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. You may or may not be a fan of the film, but the disc features reference quality full 4K video (with Dolby Vision HDR) and Dolby Atmos audio. It also has an epic 140-minute making of documentary produced by our old friend Cliff Stephenson. It’s well worth a look if you’re a fan of the 4K format. And I’m working on more 4K reviews this afternoon, so watch for those to be posted tonight and tomorrow here on The Bits. [Read on here…]