Displaying items by tag: Warner Archive Collection

We’ve got several interesting things to report today here at The Bits, but first some more new disc reviews...

As promised, I posted my review of Hayao Miyazaki’s Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro on 4K Ultra HD from Discotek on Friday night.

Tim has also posted his thoughts on Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), Rudy De Luca’s Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), and Rene Cardona Jr’s Tintorera (1977) all on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics (and, in the last case, with Scorpion Releasing).

And Dennis has checked in with his comments on Sidney J. Furie’s Lady Sings the Blues (1972) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics as well. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a couple odds and ends for you today...

First, the big news... Shout! Factory has just reached a multi-year distribution agreement with the Portland-based Laika animation studio. The deal gives Shout! the U.S. packaged media distribution rights to the studio’s first four films: Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012), and Coraline (2009). According to the report on The Hollywood Reporter, new bonus content is already in development for these films. Not only are new Blu-rays obviously in the offing, we can’t help thinking how great these titles would look again on Blu-ray 3D and for the first time on 4K Ultra HD as well.

Also today, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just announced Supernatural: The Fifteenth and Final Season and Supernatural: The Complete Series for Blu-ray and DVD release on 5/25. The Fifteenth Season set includes 2 new featurettes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and more (SRP $49.99 for Blu-ray and $44.98 for DVD). The Complete Series set includes all 327 episodes and all the previous bonus content, plus a 68-page book (SRP $359.99 for Blu-ray and $329.99 for DVD). [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a few new reviews for you today...

I’ve taken a look at Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium (2013) coming to 4K Ultra on 2/9 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It’s a nice upgrade of the existing Blu-ray release. You’ll find that here.

Also, Tim has reviewed Park Chan-wook’s JSA: Joint Security Area (2000) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

And Dennis has given Robert Siodmak’s The Suspect (1944) a look on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

More reviews are on the way this week, including 2012 and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro both in 4K, plus more new and catalog Blu-rays, so be sure to watch for them.

Let’s start with some 4K Ultra HD news... [Read on here...]

All right, we have a few interesting news items for you today. But first, another review...

Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Robert Siodmak’s 1944 film noir The Suspect, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Now for the most surprising piece of news... Engadget has confirmed that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has now completed a six-year effort to upgrade the classic 1990s J. Michael Straczynski science fiction TV series Babylon 5 for the digital age. Babylon 5 Remastered is now available for viewing on HBO Max, and it’s also available for download on iTunes and Amazon. The new HD presentation includes all five seasons of the show with live action film elements scanned in 4K from the original camera negative, digitally cleaned and properly color graded, with VFX upsampled from the original SD. The entire series is available in its original 4x3 broadcast format. The 1998 version of the series’ original pilot film, The Gathering, has also been included, though it’s unremastered and so in 16x9 (as the original film elements were lost during the Northridge earthquake in 1994). [Read on here...]

We have some new release news, announcements, and an interesting rumor to report on today. But first, we’ve got some new disc reviews here at The Bits for you, including...

Tim’s look at Terence Fisher’s 1962 Hammer Studios production of The Phantom of the Opera, available now as a new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from our friends at Scream Factory. He’s also taken a look at John Harrison’s Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, also available on Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream.

[Editor’s Note: While you’re listening to the audio commentary with Harrison and George Romero on that disc, know that I was in the booth as it was being recorded back in November of 2001. You can see my coverage of the day here on The Bits, complete with pictures. John’s become a friend over the years, and let me tell you, George was every bit as warm and lovely a human being as you’d hope. It makes me very happy to see this film and commentary get another appearance on disc for fans to rediscover.]

Not done yet with reviews... I’ve just posted my thoughts on David Twohy’s Pitch Black, soon to arrive on 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Arrow Video. The film really does benefit from both the new 4K scan of the original camera negative and the HDR grade, though the audio is the same 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix found on the previous Blu-ray. The disc is also loaded with extras, including nearly all the legacy content and new material too. It’s a worthy upgrade for fans. Note however that the title shipped without a slipcover due to a production problem. So if you happen to be surprised that your copy doesn’t have a slipcover, that’s why. [Read on here...]

All right, it’s been a few days since my last news update and there are a variety of reasons for that which I’ll get into in tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, let’s get caught up...

First, we’ve got some new reviews for you all to enjoy. Tim has posted no less than four Blu-ray reviews since last week, including his thoughts on Terence Fisher’s 1961 Hammer Films classic The Curse of the Werewolf from Scream Factory, Fritz Bottger’s Horrors of Spider Island (1960) from Severin Films, James Signorelli’s Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) from Arrow Video, finally Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th (1980) in a new 40th Anniversary Steelbook Edition from Paramount. Enjoy!

Now then, there’s not a lot of major announcement news to report at the moment, but we do have some interesting odds and ends...

Let’s start on the 4K front: Arrow Video has announced the release of Giuseppe Tornatore’s beloved Cinema Paradiso (1988) on both 4K Ultra HD and regular Blu-ray on 9/28. [Read on here...]

All right, today’s post will be quick, because we’re working on some new reviews for you. To that effect...

I’ve just posted my in-depth thoughts on Roland Emmerich’s Midway (2019), new on 4K Ultra HD from Lionsgate.

I’ve also posted a full review of the Warner Archive Collection’s amazing new Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-ray, which is worth every penny.

And Tim has added his thoughts on Scream Factory’s My Bloody Valentine: Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray.

All three of those title street in the next two weeks, so we hope you enjoy them. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, Bits readers! Hope you’re all well. We’ve spent the weekend doing necessary updates to our website software and server here and things seem to be running smoothly. So let’s have a release news update...

First, Dennis has posted his thoughts on Ed Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn, coming soon to Blu-ray from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Also today, we’ve updated our Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.rom pre-order links, so be sure to give it a look.

Now then... here’s some great news: Netflix has revealed on social media that their Netflix Original films The Irishman, Marriage Story, American Factory, and Atlantics are all coming to Blu-ray later in 2020 from The Criterion Collection. As you know, The Irishman and Marriage Story are currently nominated for Best Picture in this year’s Academy Awards. Release dates and other details are still TBA. [Read on here...]

Before we begin today, a quick note: Our own Tim Salmons has just posted his in-depth review of Warner’s new Batman Beyond: The Complete Series Blu-ray box set. And it sounds like the set is quite good, very much in keeping with their recent Batman: The Animated Series BD set. So here’s the review and we hope you enjoy!

All right, I’ve now had a good solid day to play with Disney+ and I have to say that I’ve been very impressed, in principle, with what I’m seeing and experiencing. I’ll have some more comments later this week on how I think streaming services (and specifically Disney+) will impact the home video market. But I certainly do like what I’m seeing. (Note that I’m viewing via the Disney+ app on the Roku Ultra 4K, running through the Oppo UDP-203 to two different display devices—a flat panel and a projector).

One of the best aspects of Disney+ are the surprises: The chance to see deep catalog Disney live action and animated films like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Sword and the Stone, and The Black Cauldron in native 4K with HDR is absolutely tremendous. And the more of this kind of experience Disney+ (and other streaming services) can give us, the better. [Read on here...]

All right, thanks for your patience while I was away at the end of last week. My father-in-law passed away, so my wife and I flew across the country to attend his memorial and see family.

But there’s a good deal to catch up on today news-wise, so let’s get right to it. First things first...

Yes, we are aware of the rumors that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is planning to bring The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films to 4K Ultra HD. They originated on the excellent 4K Filme.de website, which (I’m told) found the titles briefly listed on a Warner B2B website for German retailers. All six films were indicated for release on UHD (with the Extended Editions included) and with a tentative street date given of June 25, 2020. All right, now let’s put this in context...

First of all, there’s no doubt that Warner Bros. is going to release these films on physical 4K Ultra HD. These are literally their most demanded catalog titles on the format. Also, 2021 is the 20th anniversary of Fellowship of the Ring. And Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings prequel series, which reportedly begins production next month and will apparently be in production for two years, is likely to debut on Amazon Prime in late 2022. So the studio is certainly going to want to get those films ready for 4K release by then. [Read on here...]