Arrow sets The Last Emperor for 4K (in the UK only), plus Young Sherlock Holmes goes Blu, KLSC brings Staying Alive to Ultra HD & Albert Pyun RIP

Monday, 28 November 2022 17:47

Arrow sets The Last Emperor for 4K (in the UK only), plus Young Sherlock Holmes goes Blu, KLSC brings Staying Alive to Ultra HD & Albert Pyun RIP

by Bill Hunt

Well, today is Cyber Monday, which means there are still a number of good deals to be had on things around the Internet. So rather than repeating my comments from last week about Black Friday, I’ll just remind you that if you go looking for deals on Amazon today, please be sure to use one of our affiliate links (if you’d care to support our work here at The Bits in the process).

Now then, our own holiday was lovely here in SoCal. My wife’s cousin joined us for Thanksgiving, which involved eating some great food (both the usual turkey and stuffing, as well as mighty fine barbecue the day after), watching a lot of football as well as some terrific movies (including revisiting David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water and James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari) and a few TV series too (the season finale of Andor is fantastic—I haven’t enjoyed Star Wars this much since 1983). I also did a little bit of actual shopping, which amounted to picking up a hooded vest to wear in the office when it gets chilly and upgrading my old Pixel 3a phone to a new 6a thanks to an offer from Google that was too good to refuse. Finally, we got our Christmas tree up and decorated. So all in all, it was an enjoyable long weekend. And I certainly hope you all had a good one as well!

We’re starting today with a pair of new disc reviews for you to enjoy this afternoon...

Tim has posted his thoughts on the Terry Jones comedy Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Universal, as well as John Badham’s Saturday Night Fever (1977) in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount. Sadly, that latter is something of a disappointment. But I’ll let Tim explain that to you.

Again, watch for more new disc reviews all this week here on The Digital Bits. [Read on here...]

In announcement news this afternoon, our friends at Arrow Video have revealed their February 2023 release slate, which is set to include a pair of big UK-only 4K Ultra HD (and Blu-ray) releases... Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) on 2/13 (with both the original and extended versions in their proper 2.39:1 aspect ratio) and Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers (2018) on 2/27.

Also coming on Blu-ray in the US only is Sammo Hung’s Millionares’ Express (1986, in its original artwork cover). Coming to the US and Canada only are Millionares’ Express (in wide release artwork) and Chris Walas’ The Vagrant (1992). And coming to the US, UK, and Canada are Nico Mastorakis’ .com for Murder (2001) and Gaillo Essentials (which includes The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, and The Suspicious Death of a Minor). You can check the Arrow Video website here for the specific February street dates in your region.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just revealed that they’re bringing Sylvester Stallone’s Staying Alive (1983) to 4K Ultra HD next year, just in time for the film’s 40th Anniversary. It will feature a new 4K scan from the original camera negative and Dolby Vision HDR.

Cinedigm is releasing Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/27, along with 4K Ultra HD that same day only at Best Buy stores.

And Shout! Factory has hinted that they’re working on a new 4K Ultra HD release of John Sturges’ original The Magnificent Seven (1960) as a Shout! Select title. Look for that to arrive early next year.

We’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits with all of the new 4K titles accordingly.

Meanwhile, Paramount is finally releasing Barry Levinson’s Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) on Blu-ray as a Limited Edition Steelbook on 1/31/23. This is the title’s first appearance on disc in HD.

Also coming that day on Blu-ray from Paramount are Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Big Night, and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. And look for a Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Blu-ray in Steelbook packaging on 1/10/23. I believe Gallipoli is also a first for US Blu-ray release.

Lionsgate and AMC will release Fear the Walking Dead: The Complete Seventh Season on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/10/23.

And MVD will release Men at Work (1980) as the next MVD Rewind Collection title on 1/24/23.

Finally today, we have some sad news to report: The longtime cult filmmaker Albert Pyun has died. Genre fans will certainly recognize the name, but for the rest of you his works include The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), the Jean-Claude van Damme cyberpunk kicker Cyborg (1989), the original Captain America (1990), a couple of the Kickboxer sequels, Omega Doom (1996) with Rutgar Hauer, and many more. Pyun died on Saturday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 69. You can read more via Variety and The L.A. Times.

We’ll leave you with a look at the cover artwork for a few of the titles mentioned above and more (with Amazon and Amazon UK pre-order links)...

Stay tuned...

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

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Arrow sets The Last Emperor for 4K (in the UK only), plus Young Sherlock Holmes goes Blu, KLSC brings Staying Alive to Ultra HD & Albert Pyun RIP

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