Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer tonight, thoughts on Blade Runner: 2049, South Park, Tribulation & more

Monday, 09 October 2017 18:07

Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer tonight, thoughts on Blade Runner: 2049, South Park, Tribulation & more

by Bill Hunt

All right, I hope you guys all had a great weekend. I turned 50 and got a new cat, whose name is Max. So all things considered, I think I came out ahead.

First of all today, we trust you all saw the outstanding news we posted late yesterday, which is that our friends at The Warner Archive have revealed that they’re going to be releasing – due to popular demand, we imagine – the outstanding Batman: The Animated Series on Blu-ray in 2018! It was announced at a New York Comic-Con panel celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary. We don’t have any other information at the moment, but we expect that they’re going to be starting work soon, or have just recently started. We’d guess it’ll be a few months yet before we have significant details, but rest assured we’ll keep you posted. We’ve been lobbying for this for some time now; the show is a big favorite here at The Bits. Thanks to everyone at Warner and Warner Archive for making this possible. Very exciting indeed! [Read on here…]

Here at the site today, Tim has turned in a pair of new Blu-ray reviews, including his thoughts on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger from Criterion and also Children of the Corn from Arrow. And I’m working on several new Blu-ray and 4K reviews which I’ll be starting to post possibly later today and for sure tomorrow.

We’ve also updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always when you order or pre-order titles through our Amazon links you’re helping to support our work here at the site and it REALLY makes a difference, so we appreciate it very much.

Just a quick reminder: The new trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi debuts tonight during Monday Night Football (and also online we’re sure) and tickets for the film officially go on sale tonight as well. So make your plans accordingly.

I happened to see Blade Runner: 2049 on Thursday night, so I thought I would offer my quick non-spoiler review of the film for you: It’s not as good as, nor is it better than the original Blade Runner, but it’s definitely a worthy sequel and a very compelling film in its own right. I’m glad it takes its time. Visually and conceptually, this is one of the most interesting films I’ve seen in a long while. I like the continuation of Deckard’s story and I think Agent K’s story is an interesting addition to the mythology. The cast is all quite good. But personally, I think I don’t want to see too much more of this world. I’m afraid a little afraid that, if this turns into a franchise, future sequels will suffer the same fate as The Matrix sequels and collapse under its own weight. That said, my complements to Denis Villeneuve. He did a man’s job. And there is very little doubt in my mind that cinematographer Roger Deakins will finally get his Oscar, and damn well deserve it. I saw it in 2D in a Dolby Vision/Atmos theater and I’ll looking forward to doing so again.

Now then... a quick title announcement...

Shout! Factory has set Colin Hanks’ Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis for release on Blu-ray on 12/1 as part of their Shout Select line. Another Shout Select title newly revealed is Shakedown on 1/23/18. Additional January titles from Shout and Scream include Rebel in the Rye on 1/2, Macon County Line: Shout Select and Eye of the Cat on 1/16, Rappin’ and Dance Macabre on 1/23, and The Projected Man, Rendel: Dark Vengeance, and Cyborg on 1/30.

Also, our old friend and Bits staffer Dr. Adam Jahnke has, as you may know, been writing a dramatic podcast series called Tribulation and it’s pretty terrific. The first 10 episodes of Book One are now available on iTunes and pretty much anywhere podcasts can be found. He’s hard at work writing Book Two now; which is set to debut in early 2018. Adam’s started a Patreon page for Tribulation if you’ve enjoyed the first episodes and would like to contribute to the project. You can find that here.

All right, we’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for all of Paramount and Comedy Central’s new South Park Blu-ray sets – all of them are now available for pre-order on Amazon...