Displaying items by tag: Robert Meyer Burnett

We’ve got a few great new disc reviews for you to enjoy here at the site today as we continue our efforts to get things back to normal here. And a couple of them are significant titles…

First, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on David Fincher’s newly remastered Fight Club (1999) in 4K Ultra HD from 20th Century Studios via Disney and Sony. Stephen has also taken a look at Luis Llosa’s Anaconda (1997) in 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Next, Tim has offered his take on Ralph Bakshi’s animated Fire and Ice (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Blue Underground.

And Dennis has shared his look at Jack Conway’s Honky Tonk (1941) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

More reviews are forthcoming, and again there should be a lot more over the next week or so as we return to something like normal operations here at The Bits after our efforts to stabilize the first from intensive AI bot scraping and higher-than-ever site traffic.

Also, we’ve got a new update of the Release Dates and Artwork section for you all to enjoy as well.

So we really appreciate your patience as we’ve dealt with that over the last 6-8 weeks or so.

In terms of announcement news this week, our friends at the Criterion Collection have revealed their August slate, which includes Todd Haynes’ Safe (1995) (Spine #739 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) on 8/4, Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de torchon (1981) (Spine #106 – Blu-ray) on 8/11, and Barbara Koppe’s Harlan County USA (1976) (Spine #334 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) and American Dream (1990) (Spine #1324 – Blu-ray), and James Gray’s Little Odessa (1994) (Spine #1323 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) on 8/25. Also coming on 8/25 is Eclipse Series 49: Five Radical Documentaries by Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi (1972-2016) on Blu-ray. [Read on here...]

Greetings Bits readers!

So you may have noticed some funkiness going on over the last week or so here at The Digital Bits website.

Back on March 27 (see our post here), I told you that we were fighting the scourge of AI companies relentlessly sending bots to crawl our site to scrape for content to train their LLMs. It got so bad that we essentially have had to move the site and use Cloudflare to block them.

That was frustrating enough, but the process of moving hasn’t been smooth. And we’ve had several other disruptions over the last week, including (currently) to our email. So if you’re trying to reach us and your messages are getting bounced back or not delivered properly, rest assure we’re aware of it and are working to get it sorted.

Thanks for your patience!

All part of the frustrations of trying to run a website in the 21st century… especially in a world of AI, which is probably only going to make things on the Internet worse. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a pretty exciting post today, if I do say so myself. At least, it’s full of things for which we here at The Bits have serious enthusiasm. And really, what’s a life without enthusiasms anyway?

To start, we’ve got two more new disc reviews for you…

Stephen has taken a look at Ben Wheatley’s Kill List (2011) in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Severin Films.

And Tim has offered his thoughts on Martin Campbell’s No Escape: Collector’s Edition (1994) in 4K Ultra HD from Umbrella Entertainment.

Now then… and speaking of 4K Ultra HD… the good folks at Lionsgate have just dropped new titles on their Lionsgate Limited website today!

They include Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate (1999) in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Steelbook, which streets on 4/21. It’s available here for the first time in 4K with Dolby Vision, and includes a new interview with cinematographer Darius Khondji as well as a ton of legacy extras.

Also available on Blu-ray only is the next Vestron Video Collector’s Series title, James Melkonian’s The Stöned Age (1994). Look for that on 4/20 (naturally).

And more new warehouse finds are now available on the Lionsgate Limited website, including Angel Heart, Punisher, Hacksaw Ridge, Ender’s Game, Highlander, and more. [Read on here...]

Greetings folks! I trust all those of you here in the States had a good Thanksgiving holiday, and many of you are now out shopping for Black Friday deals at your local retailers or online.

As always, we ask that if you’re shopping for deals on Amazon today, please consider clicking to them through one of our Affiliate links (like this one) first to help support The Bits! (And thank you!)

Now then... we have a few more new disc reviews today, and also some terrific release news...

Stephen has checked in with a look at Valeri Rubinchik’s The Savage Hunt of King Stakh (1980) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile Films.

Stuart has taken a look at David Hinton’s Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger (2024) documentary on Blu-ray from Cohen Media via Kino Lorber.

And Dennis has reviewed George Sidney’s Bathing Beauty (1944) on Blu-ray, an MGM water extravaganza featuring Ester Williams and Red Skelton from the Warner Archive Collection!

Watch for lots more reviews over the coming days. You might even see one or two drop this weekend. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a bunch of news to run down for you all today...

But before we get to that, we wanted to let you know that we’ve just completed major updates of our Release Dates & Cover Artwork section here at The Bits, as well as our 4K Ultra HD Release List, both of which include all the latest Amazon pre-order links. What’s more, we’ve posted some very cool content over the last couple of weeks on our Digital Bits Patreon. And those of you interested in titles that might be coming to 4K UHD in 2025 will definitely want to check those posts out. Becoming a Patreon subscriber is a great way to support the work we do here at The Bits—it’s affordable and we try to make it worth your while. So please consider joining us over there, and we appreciate it! Now then...

The big news today is that Marvel and Disney have just officially set Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) for release on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on 10/22, with the Digital release expected on 10/1. The 4K disc will include Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio on a 66GB disc. There will be a wide-release 4K version in Amaray packaging, along with dual limited-edition Steelbooks one of which features Deadpool on the cover with a red interior, and the other featuring Wolverine on the cover with a yellow interior. A Walmart-exclusive Amaray version will also include “pop-up” packaging featuring the Deadpool corp. Regardless of which version you buy, the disc will contain audio commentary with Shawn Levy and actor Ryan Reynolds, a gag reel, 4 featurettes (Finding Madonna: Making the Oner, Practical Approach: Celebrating the Art of Ray Chan, Loose Ends: The Legacy of Heroes, and Wolverine), 3 deleted scenes (Elevator Ride, Do Nothing, and Daddy’s in Love), and “Fun Sack” (Dr. Deadpool, Product Review, and Wade is Back). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

We’ve got two more new disc reviews for you to check out today, just as Comic-Con officially gets underway down in San Diego...

Stephen has taken a look at Michael Tuchner’s Fear Is the Key (1972) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

And Dennis has offered his thoughts on Étienne Périer’s When Eight Bells Toll (1971) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

We’ve also got several good new title announcements to report this afternoon here at The Bits...

First, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has revealed that a Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Black & Chrome Edition will be available Digitally on 8/13. The color version is already set to debut on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on 9/24. And you will be able to get the Black & Chrome Editions of both Furiosa and Mad Max: Fury Road in the forthcoming Mad Max 5-Film 4K Collector’s Edition, which is also due on 9/24 (pre-order here). This new Black & Chrome Edition was created by George Miller, who feels that it distills the essence of the film into something more pure and classical (per comments on social media).

Universal will release Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders (2024) on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on 8/13, with the Digital release set for 8/9. The film stars Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Michael Faist, and Norman Reedus. The Blu-ray editions will feature Dolby Atmos audio, and the 4K will boast HDR10 high dynamic range. Extras will include feature commentary with Nichols and 3 featurettes (Johnny, Benny & Kathy, The Era of The Bikeriders, and The Filmmaker’s Eye: Jeff Nichols). You can see the cover artwork below the break. [Read on here...]

All right, first things first today—this is officially Prime Day on Amazon.com, so there are a TON of deals to be had on all kinds of items from Blu-rays, DVDs, and 4Ks, to books, computer stuff and all kinds of household items.

As you know, The Digital Bits is an Amazon Affiliate, so whenever you’re planning on shopping for literally anything from Amazon—particularly on a day like today—we’d sure appreciate it if you started by clicking on one our affiliate links first (like this one, or the logo below).

It makes a huge difference for us in keeping The Bits going, so thank you in advance for your support!

Now then, we’re starting today with three more new disc reviews from our staffers here, including...

Tim’s thoughts on Peter Collinson’s The Italian Job (1969)—a big favorite of ours here at The Bits—in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stuart’s take on Anthony Mann’s The Tin Star (1957)—a great VistaVision Western starring Henry Fonda and Anthony Perkins—on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

And Dennis’ look at Alfred Hitchcock’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)—a classic Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard screwball comedy—on Blu-ray from the good people of the Warner Archive Collection.

More reviews are forthcoming this week, so be sure to check back for them!

Now then, we’ve got some very good release physical media news for you today, starting with this: I’ve confirmed that the new US 4-disc Godzilla Minus One: 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Deluxe Collector’s Edition from Toho is just the latest of multiple planned physical media releases of the film. More editions are apparently “coming soon” in the months ahead. So expect wide-release versions eventually, and probably international SKUs as well. That’s definitely good news for fans around the world, and there are definitely a lot of you out there! [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got quite a bit of ground to cover today here at The Digital Bits. But as always, we’re starting first with some more new disc reviews. And they’re good ones...

Stephen has taken a look at a pair of 4K Ultra HD releases, including Walter Hill’s The Warriors (1979) in 4K from Arrow Video—an absolutely fantastic release—as well as Ishirō Honda’s original Godzilla (1954) in 4K from Toho, a Japanese import disc that has no English subtitles. But read on, because Stephen’s thoughts on it are well worth your time.

Now then, the first big piece of news we have today is that our friends at The Criterion Collection have just announced their April Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD slate, which is set to include an update of Mathieu Kassovitz’s La haine (1995) (Spine #381 – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray) on 4/2, an update or Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) (Spine #29 – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray) on 4/9, Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky’s Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) (Spine #1215 – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD) on 4/16, Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba (1964) (Spine #1214 – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray) on 4/23, and Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight (1991) (Spine #1216 – Blu-ray) on 4/30. Of the 4K titles, La Haine will include Dolby Vision HDR. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, Bits readers and welcome to the new week and, of course, Halloween Eve!

We’ve got a little bit of ground to cover here today, but first I wanted to personally thank all those of you who have signed up to support The Digital Bits via Patreon. Since we first launched our Patreon five days ago, we’re up to 77 backers (and 104 members total), and we really appreciate your support. It means a lot, and it will make a real difference here, let me tell you.

Already, I’ve decided on a couple things: I’m making regular (almost daily) blog posts exclusively for our Patreon supporters that are a little different than the kind of thing I post here and on our social media. For example... my first-take thoughts on things I’m hearing from sources (release news, industry developments, and the like), first impressions on new review discs that I’ve had the chance to look at (before I publish the full in-depth reviews here on the site), and other odds and ends—the kinds of things that offer you a essentially a more personal and candid look behind the scenes here at The Bits. I’m also making the occasional public post for all members there, with information that’s relevant to all our readers—the kind of thing I’m going to share here in a minute today (disc replacement news, a PS5 firmware update of relevance to disc fans, the occasional piece of significant breaking news). And we’ll add more Patreon-exclusive features over time as we get used working there, learning what kinds of perks are possible, and what we can do without dramatically increasing our workload.

Anyway, just know that we really, really appreciate those of you who are willing to support our work with your hard-earned money. Thanks to all 77 paying backers (here’s to reaching 100!) and thanks to all of you who are following us there.

Now then... I’m going to be spending the rest of my day working on a review of Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One in 4K UHD for posting here hopefully tomorrow. But first, there’s some important breaking news... [Read on here...]

Afternoon, Bits readers! We’re back after the long 4th of July holiday here in the States with more reviews and announcements. As always, we’ll start with reviews...

Stuart has reviewed a pair of new Blu-ray titles, including Gregory La Cava’s Lady in a Jam (1942) and also Mervyn LeRoy’s Moment to Moment (1966) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stephen has checked in with his take on William Cameron Menzies’ Invaders from Mars (1953) on 4K Ultra HD from Ignite Films.

And Dennis has offered his look at Vincente Minelli’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Now then, in announcement news today, the big news is that our friends at Shout! and Scream Factory have just unveiled their September Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release slate, and—as always—there are some gems to report. [Read on here...]