Displaying items by tag: Adam Jahnke
One from the Heart is being restored in 4K, plus Event Horizon on Ultra HD, and my one-episode take on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
All right, this is just another quick news update here at The Bits as we continue to work on our back-end software upgrade. We’ll start as usual with new disc reviews...
Tim has posted his thoughts on Walter Hill’s 48 Hours (1982) from Paramount and Paul Donovan and Maura O’Connell’s Siege (1983) from Severin Films, both on Blu-ray, as well as Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania 3 (2018) on Blu-ray 3D from Random Space Media.
Also, Dennis has checked out Danton Trumbo’s Johnny’s Got His Gun (1971) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.
And Stephen has reviewed Erie C. Kenton’s You’re Telling Me! (1934) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and Miklos Jancso’s Round-Up (1966) and The Red and the White (1967) from Kino Lorber, both on Blu-ray.
More disc reviews are on the way soon, so be sure to check back for them. [Read on here...]
- Lionsgate
- 4K Ultra HD Release List
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- 4K Ultra HD
- Bluray
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
- Paramount+
- One from the Heart 4K
- American Zoetrope
- James Mockoski
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Green Lantern: Beware My Power 4K
- Adam Jahnke
- The Barefoot Executive
- Disney Plus or Minus
- The Red and the White BD review
- Tim Salmons
- Dennis Seuling
- Stephen Bjork
- Hotel Transylvania 3 BD3D review
- 48 Hours BD review
- Siege BD review
- Random Space Media
- Kino Lorber Studio Classics
- Paramount
- Imprint Films
- Johnny’s Got His Gun BD review
- You’re Telling Me! BD review
- RoundUp BD review
- Event Horizon 4K
Vintage Bits Interview: The Enigma of Michael Apted
[Editor’s Note: This interview was originally posted on The Digital Bits on 9/17/02, coinciding with the Columbia TriStar Home Video DVD release of Enough and Enigma. We would like to dedicate it to the memory of Michael Apted.]
There are some directors who find a genre they’re particularly comfortable with or adept at and make an entire career out of it. Think Wes Craven with horror movies or the Farrelly brothers in comedy. Michael Apted is not one of these directors. Apted is a jumper, having tackled everything from courtroom dramas to comedy to rock and roll. When you look at his filmography, the phrase you are most likely to repeat over and over is, “He directed that, too?”
Apted began his career as a researcher and director for British television. In the 1970’s, he crossed over to theatrical films with movies like Stardust, a terrific, criminally underrated movie that traces the rise and fall of a rock group (note to the studios: Stardust needs to be released on DVD and the sooner the better). His major American breakthrough came in 1980 with Coal Miner’s Daughter, for which Sissy Spacek won the Oscar as Best Actress. Since that time, Apted has worked with some of the best actors in recent memory, including Sigourney Weaver (also Oscar nominated for her work in Apted’s Gorillas in the Mist), Jodie Foster (Nell), Val Kilmer (Thunderheart), and Gene Hackman (Class Action and Extreme Measures). Oh yeah, he also helmed one of the most recent adventures of some guy named James Bond (The World is Not Enough). [Read on here...]
Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer tonight, thoughts on Blade Runner: 2049, South Park, Tribulation & more
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…]
- NYCC
- New York ComicCon
- The Warner Archive
- Batman: The Animated Series on Bluray
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi tickets on sale
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi final trailer
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- South Park on Bluray
- Adam Jahnke
- Tribulation
- Tim Salmons
- The Lodger BD review
- Children of the Corn BD review
- Blade Runner: 2049 no spoiler review
- Release Dates & Artwork update
- Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis BD
- Shout! Factory
Fox finally sets Heat: Definitive for BD, plus Despicable Me 4K w/Dolby Vision, Iron Giant BD deal, new columns & more
All right, we’ve got another quick one for you today, as I’m still working on reviews. My look at Warner’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 4K Ultra HD review will be up shortly and I’ll update this link when it’s posted (update: here it is). Meanwhile, we also have a new review from Tim Salmons, who looks at Scream Factory’s new Firestarter: Collector’s Edition on regular Blu-ray.
Also today, we have a couple of great new feature columns... Bud Elder has chimed in with a new View from the Cheap Seats and he’s pretty sure he’s figured out what’s wrong with movies these days. Do give it a look. Not to be outdone, our old friend Dr. Adam Jahnke has turned in new Jahnke’s Electric Theatre Special column today here at The Bits, in which he says something that’s badly needed saying for a while now. You’ll find that in Open Along Edge: Netflix’s DVD Problem. Enjoy! [Read on here…]
- Bluray Disc
- Bill Hunt
- The Digital Bits
- My Two Cents
- Bluray
- Heat: Director's Definitive Edition
- The Iron Giant: Signature Edition deal
- Fifty Shades Darker 4K
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- Tim Salmons
- Firestarter: Collector's Edition
- Adam Jahnke
- Jahnke's Electric Theatre
- Open Along Edge: Netflix's DVD Problem
- Bud Elder
- View from the Cheap Seats
- Here's What's Wrong with Movies
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 4K review
- Despicable Me 1 & 2 4K with Dolby Vision
Open Along Edge: Netflix’s DVD Problem
In the fall of 2015, Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation debuted at the Venice International Film Festival where it was acquired for distribution by Netflix for a whopping $12 million. The film went on to rack up an impressive list of awards and nominations, many singling out Idris Elba’s powerful supporting performance as the Commandant of a battalion of child soldiers. It appeared on several critics’ year-end top ten lists, including, among others, Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, Drew McWeeny (then at HitFix), and Erin Whitney of ScreenCrush. It is “certified fresh” by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with an enviable 91% standing on Ye Olde TomatoMeter. It also made less than a million dollars at the box office, received zero Academy Award nominations, and, as of spring 2017, is not available on Blu-ray or DVD. You probably haven’t thought of it at all in at least a year. [Read on here...]
Scream for a Week – November 7, 2016
Welcome to our newest column addition Scream for a Week!
We here at The Digital Bits are big fans of Shout!’s Scream Factory division and, not unlike Todd Doogan’s Criterion Spines Project, we wanted to cover Scream Factory’s releases by catching up on a bunch that we’ve missed while acknowledging the previous ones. We’ll also be covering new ones here as well. This column will go up on a bi-weekly basis, so be sure to check back in another two weeks for another pile of Scream Factory goodness.
First up is Escape from New York, a title that Bill covered sometime ago. It’s a solid release with a great transfer and extras, and just happens to be one of my favorite movies. New to Blu-ray this week is Bubba Ho-Tep, another personal favorite of mine, with a barrage of terrific extras to check out. Following that up is the great Amityville Horror Trilogy boxed set, which is another older review, but this time from good old Dr. Jahnke. Also new to the chopping block is the Blacula/Scream Blacula Scream double feature Blu-ray release. And last but not least, Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing, one of Scream Factory’s very first releases. [Read on here…]
- Scream for a Week
- Scream Factory
- Shout! Factory
- Tim Salmons
- The Digital Bits
- Bluray
- Bluray Disc
- DVD
- DVD Disc
- review
- reviews
- Escape from New York
- Bubba HoTep
- Amityville Horror
- boxed set
- Blacula
- Scream Blacula Scream
- Double Feature
- Deadly Blessing
- Amityville II The Possession
- Amityville 3D
- Adam Jahnke
- Bill Hunt
Blu-ray News – Celebrating Thunderball, Ghibli’s Only Yesterday coming to BD & RIP Lemmy
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to like TheDigitalBits.com page on Facebook for breaking news, site updates on the go, discussion with our staff and other readers, giveaways and more!]
Our own Michael Coate has just posted a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column here on The Bits, featuring a great look back at the Bond classic Thunderball on the film’s 50th anniversary! Thunderball is certainly one of our favorite films of the series around here, and to celebrate the occasion Michael has moderated a great roundtable discussion of film historians, including Jon Burlingame, Robert A. Caplen, James Chapman, John Cork, Lee Pfeiffer, Steven Jay Rubin, Graham Rye, and Bruce Scivally. It’s a fine piece, as always, so be sure to give it a look this afternoon. [Read on here…]
Blu-ray Review – Scream's new Escape from New York: Collector's Edition
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to like TheDigitalBits.com page on Facebook for breaking news, site updates on the go, discussion with our staff and other readers, giveaways and more!]
We’ve just posted an in-depth review of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, soon to be released on Blu-ray Collector’s Edition from Scream Factory. I wrote the new Blu-ray specific portions, pertaining to the disc’s A/V quality and extras. Adam did a great write-up of the film itself in his 2003 DVD Special Edition review here, so we carried that part over. The new edition streets on April 21st, and it’s well worth your time and money. It improves upon the A/V quality of the previous MGM Blu-ray, preserves the best of the 2003 DVD extras, and adds great new material too. Don’t miss it!
Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt
BD reviews, Nightcrawler, Sony’s Interview on again, plus Merry Christmas from The Digital Bits!
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to like TheDigitalBits.com page on Facebook for breaking news, site updates on the go, discussion with our staff and other readers, giveaways and more!]
Well folks, this is going to be our last post until Monday as we take the rest of the week off to spend the Christmas holiday with our families. But we do have some cool stuff for you…
First, we’ve got a pair of new Blu-ray reviews. Our own Tim Salmons has checked out Scream Factory’s Lord of Illusions and Criterion’s The Innocents, and both are well worth a look. Also, in the spirit of the holiday season, we present my review of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life on Blu-ray, as well as Dr. Jahnke’s look at A Christmas Story, and Barrie Maxwell’s thoughts on White Christmas. While we’re at it, here’s Die Hard too. Because nothing quite says Christmas like “Yippee ki-yay!” Enjoy! [Read on here…]
- Bill Hunt
- The Digital Bits
- My Two Cents
- BD
- Bluray
- Tim Salmons
- Adam Jahnke
- Barrie Maxwell
- The Innocents
- Lord of Illusions
- A Christmas Story
- White Christmas
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Die Hard
- Nightcrawler
- Merry Christmas
- The Captive
- Open Windows
- The Atticus Institute
- By the Gun
- Reach Me
- Downton Abbey: Season 5
- Sony
- The Interview
The Doctor Is Out
On April 7, 2000, we posted my very first piece for The Digital Bits. It was a review of Joe Dante’s Piranha on DVD from New Concorde Home Entertainment. I don’t have that disc today. It’s been upgraded and replaced by Shout! Factory’s Blu-ray. New Concorde’s not even around anymore. Now it’s New Horizons and they’re not in the home entertainment business themselves. Things change. [Read on here...]