Displaying items by tag: Blue Underground

We’re working on more new disc reviews here at The Bits today. Specifically, I’ve got District 9 in 4K from Sony, and V for Vendetta in 4K from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. So I’m going to try to get at last one of those up tomorrow. Tim and Dennis have more in progress today as well.

Meanwhile, Tim has a look at Harry Kümel’s 1971 Belgian horror film Daughters of Darkness, now available in 4K Ultra HD from Blue Underground. Tim says the new 4K scan—from the first time taken from the original camera negative—is a revelation. You’ll find his thoughts here.

The big news today is that Discotek Media has just officially announced their long-awaited 4K Ultra HD release of Hayao Miyazaki’s first animated film, Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979). Look for it to street on 1/26/2021. [Read on here...]

All right Bits readers, we’ve got a pretty significant news update for you today...

We’ve been tracking many of these titles, but a few of the 4K catalog titles we’re going to talk about today are breaking news, thanks to our old friends over at Media Play News.

They’ve just issued the September 2020 Digital edition of their magazine, which features an extensive look at the recent surge of 4K Ultra HD catalog releases. The publication’s editor, Stephanie Prange (who, full disclosure, I’ve known for many years), wrote a great longform piece for the issue called 4K Ultra HD: Into the Vaults about the process of preparing classic catalog films for release on the format.

Not only is it informative (and I should note that I was among the people interviewed therein), it includes some great news about forthcoming titles. [Read on here...]

All right, I’m busy working on a review of Studio Canal’s new 4K Ultra HD release of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which is available now (click here). Note however the disc only has 2.0 audio. It’s a release that superfans of the film will certainly want, but for almost everyone else, the terrific Shout! Factory release is still going to be the preferred version (though sadly it’s essentially out of print). I hope to have the review up soon.

Meanwhile, Tim has posted reviews of another pair of 4K titles from our friends at Blue Underground and director Lucio Fulci, the horror/gaillo titles The House by the Cemetery (1981) and The New York Ripper (1982). Looks like both discs are worth your time, if you’re a fan of the filmmaker (though I will confess that graphic horror and gore isn’t really my thing).

In any case, if you’re wondering why we’ve blacked out the cover artwork (save for the title logos), it’s this: Google advertising routinely flags images that are sexually suggestive or violent. Not that either of these is especially bad, but it’s not a person that makes these decision, it’s an AI that tends to flag things randomly. When it does flag something, it turns off advertising and then it’s a whole stupid process of requesting a review. Given our limited resources, we really can’t waste time dealing with it. So there you go.

Yes, it turns out the Internet is just as stupid as everything else in 2020. [Read on here...]

We’re rounding out the last weekday before the 4th of July holiday here in the States with just a little bit more release news.

First, an update: Lionsgate’s Ghost in the Shell (1995) 4K Ultra HD release is officially due on 9/2 (SRP $22.99). And it will include Dolby Vision HDR (along with regular HDR10) and Dolby Atmos audio. Pre-orders are just starting to appear around the Net, so we’ll update you here when we have an Amazon.com link and also final cover artwork.

Also, Blue Underground has announced that they plan to release Harry Kümel’s 1971 erotic vampire film Daughters of Darkness on 4K Ultra HD sometime this fall. The package will include the film in 4K and Blu-ray, along with a soundtrack CD. [Read on here...]

Well... what a fu@%ing year the last week has been here in the States. Here’s hoping the new week fares a little better.

We begin it with a little bit of 4K Ultra HD release news, and some new reviews too.

Let’s get to the reviews first...

Our very own Tim Salmons has checked out Michael Curtiz’s King Creole (1958), a classic Elvis title now on Blu-ray from Paramount. Sounds like this one is a little better than To Catch a Thief was, but it does seem that the Paramount Presents line is off to a bit of a rough start. Here’s hoping the studio gets it together on these.

Tim has also posted reviews of John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles (1984) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video and Norman Z. McLeod’s Alice in Wonderland (1933) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Do give them a look. [Read on here...]

We’ve got some good stuff for you here at the site today! So let’s get right into it.

First of all, we’ve posted a trio of new 4K Ultra HD reviews...

Late last night, I posted my in-depth thoughts on John Landis’ The Blues Brothers, new in 4K Ultra HD from Universal. I love this film and the good news is that it’s never looked and sounded better. Check it out here.

Also today, Tim has posted reviews of Blue Underground’s new 4K Ultra HD editions of William Lustig’s Maniac (1980) and Lucio Fulci’s Zombie (1979). These too have never looked better, but do be aware that the cover artwork pictured here on The Bits is NOT the final artwork.

We have to censor the cover art on some of these horror titles or Google flags them as offensive, which crushes our advertising. And we need advertising to survive, so there it is. Anyway, enjoy the titles! Blue Underground does great work. [Read on here...]

All right, there’s not a whole lot going on today news-wise, so we’re busy working on new disc reviews.

But we did want to check in briefly with a new interesting odds and ends.

To start with, we have a sneak peek at temp cover artwork from our retail sources (in Europe in this case) for Universal’s Spartacus and Jaws on 4K Ultra HD, which are expected to street widely in June or July (street date TBA). You can see Jaws at left and both of them below. This should be close to final, but know that it’s not actually final until the studio officially announces the titles.

Also coming from Universal on 6/2 (only at Best Buy stores in the US) is a new 4K Ultra HD Steelbook version of Ron Howard’s Apollo 13. You also can see that below. [Read on here...]

All right, we’re starting the new week off with a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate, who’s celebrating the 30th anniversary of John McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October with a new film retrospective that features a look back at the original theatrical release, the 70mm engagements, and a new interview with author and film historian Eric Lichtenfeld. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, our friends at Kino Lorber have announced some fun new Studio Classics titles that are coming soon to Blu-ray, including Joe Dante, John Landis, Carl Gottlieb, Robert K. Weiss & Peter Horton’s Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) and Peter Hyams’ Narrow Margin (1990), along with a trio of titles newly announced for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/5—Fred Coe’s A Thousand Clowns (1965) and Me, Natalie (1969—featuring Al Pacino’s first screen role), and Guy Hamilton’s An Inspector Calls (1954). [Read on here...]

To kick things off today here at The Bits, we start with some daily site business: Tim has turned in his thoughts on Shout! Factory’s new Blu-ray release of Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie. It’s certainly worth a look if you’re a fan of the film.

Also here at The Bits today, we’ve got the weekly update of the Release Dates & Artwork section, featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking through any one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at the site and we really do appreciate it.

One last reminder: Be sure to follow Bits editor Bill Hunt (aka, yours truly) on Twitter and Facebook if you’re plugged into social media. I’m trying to be a little more active there, as it’s often a better way to communicate with you guys than e-mail. Social media is also usually the first place I share new BD/4K reviews and breaking industry news before it gets written up into a Bits post. Plus, you’ll get my observations on other areas of interest. Hope to see you there! [Read on here…]

We’ve got another couple of disc reviews for you today. First, I’ve updated Tim Salmons’ Blu-ray review of Alex Garland’s Ex Machina to cover Liongate’s new 4K Ultra HD release, due on 6/6. It’s selling for just $16.77 right now on Amazon.

Tim has also taken a look at Umbrella Entertainment’s Australian but Region Free double feature of Electric Boogaloo & Machete Maidens Unleashed! on Blu-ray. Enjoy!

In release news today, it appears (based on numerous retail sources and pre-order listings) that Warner’s Kong: Skull Island has been set for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 7/18. We’re waiting on official specs, details, and cover artwork from the studio. [Read on here…]