All right, we have more new disc reviews for you today... and we’ll have a few more tomorrow as well. On tap this afternoon are...

My thoughts on Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 on 4K Ultra HD from Marvel and Disney. (And yes, I am working on Iron Man3, and I’ll be reviewing Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the original Ant-Man in 4K when they street early next month too.)

Dennis’ take on Jim Jarmusch’s zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die on Blu-ray from Focus Films and Universal.

And Tim’s look at Aldo Lado’s 1972 giallo film Who Saw Her Die? from Arrow Video.

Enjoy, and be sure to check back tomorrow for more disc reviews! And now for some release news... [Read on here...]

So I spent a couple hours up in Hollywood yesterday afternoon to cover something pretty interesting…

At a press event at the Screen Actors Guild, members of the UHD Alliance, three major consumer electronics manufacturers, and leading Hollywood filmmakers officially announced a new partnership effort to implement Filmmaker Mode as an extension of the 4K Ultra HD spec.

The idea is to ensure that when you watch a movie at home in 4K on your new Ultra HD display, whether from a disc, stream, or cable/satellite broadcast, it will look exactly as it should. UHD Alliance research suggests that as many as 80% of people who buy 4K TVs never change the settings out of the box. This means irritating features like motion smoothing and unnecessary processing are being applied to the image by default – processing that actually takes the picture away from the filmmakers’ intent.

What the Filmmaker Mode will do is to allow the user – either with one push of a button on the remote, or with a very easy and obvious menu setting – to set the TV’s display parameters to most accurately display the 4K content. This would be a baseline setting for the image – any added adjustments signaled by HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision metadata would happen on top of that setting. [Read on here...]

The big news today is that Sony is bringing Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver back to theaters (on 10/16 and 10/19) for its 40th Anniversary, and will re-issue the film on Blu-ray in a new Taxi Driver: 40th Anniversary Edition that’s mastered from the film’s 4K restoration (which was supervised by Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman). The 2-disc set, which streets on 11/8, will include much legacy bonus material along with a new 40-minute Q&A with Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster and more, recorded live at the Beacon Theatre in New York City at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

The specific list of extras includes: Disc One – Taxi Driver Q&A, Interactive Script to Screen, original 1986 commentary with Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader (recorded by The Criterion Collection), additional commentaries by Schrader and by Professor Robert Kolker, 6 featurettes (Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver, Producing Taxi Driver, God’s Lonely Man, Taxi Driver Stories, Travis’ New York, and Travis’ New York Locations), and the film’s theatrical trailer; Disc Two – The Making of Taxi Driver documentary, Storyboard to Film Comparisons (with Scorsese introduction), and Animated Photo Galleries. You can see the cover artwork above left and below.  [Read on here…] 

“I think the insane nature of the material pushed everyone to really innovate and react with their most deft artistic muscle.” — Glenn Kenny

The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the silver anniversary of the release of GoodFellas, Martin Scorsese’s revered crime drama starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci in an Oscar-winning role.

The film, based upon Nicholas Pileggi’s book Wiseguy and which also starred Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, opened 25 years ago this week.

For the occasion The Bits features a Q&A with a trio of film historians and authors who offer their recollections and insight into the acclaimed film. [Read more here...]

We’ve got a quick announcement news rundown for you today…

Warner Home Video will release Tom and Jerry: Mouse Trouble on DVD on 2/18. The 2-disc set will feature 30 shorts, including Down and Outing, Tee For Two, Rock ‘n’ Rodent, Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary, Bad Day at Cat Rock, Love Me, Love My Mouse, Is There a Doctor in the Mouse?, Hockey Schtick, Little School Mouse, Designs on Jerry, Mouse Trouble, Down Beat Bear, Jerry and the Lion, Mouse For Sale, Prehisterics, Jackhammered Cat, Tomcat Superstar, Little Big Mouse, Cat Show Catastrophe, Don’t Bring Your Pet to School Day, Cry Uncle, Cat Got Your Luggage?, Feeding Time, Summer Squashing, Salt Water Tabby, The Invisible Mouse, DJ Jerry, Game of Mouse and Cat, Zent Out of Shape, and Kitty Foiled.  [Read on here…]