Displaying items by tag: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

We’ve got just a quick update for you today...

First up, we’re starting with another new Blu-ray review. Tim has taken a look at John Sturges’ Joe Kidd (1972), as recently released on Blu-ray by our friends at Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Sounds like it’s a pretty solid release, so do give it a look.

Also today, our friend Arnold Leibovit has just kicked off a new crowdfunding effort to make possible the release of The Puppetoon Movie: Volume 3, a new Blu-ray collection of 18-20 more original George Pal Puppetoon short films scanned from the original 35 mm nitrate Technicolor prints (or successive exposure negatives) restored in 2K HD. You can learn more about the effort here, and if you’re a fan of these great shorts—or of film preservation in general—we strongly encourage you to participate. You can see the planned cover artwork for Volume 3 at left. [Read on here...]

All right, I’ve had a pretty steady stream of plumbers and carpenters here the last couple days as my wife and I work get our water leak sorted out. On top of which, yesterday was our annual visit to the tax man. LOL. So I appreciate your patience with the lack of an update yesterday.

We did at least get Tim’s Facebook problems resolved today. He’s back up and able to access his account there. Turns out it being disabled was just an error on Facebook’s part, so special thanks to a friend of the site who helped us to sort it all out.

While he was off the Book, Tim completed work on a new Blu-ray review for Arrow’s excellent He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefe Collection box set, which includes Sting of Death (1965), Death Curse of Tartu (1966), The Hooked Generation (1968), The Psychedelic Priest (1969), The Naked Zoo (1970), Mako: Jaws of Death (1976), and Whiskey Mountain (1977). You can find that here.

In announcement news today, HBO has set His Dark Materials: Season Two for Blu-ray and DVD release on 12/31, presumably not long before the BBC and HBO debut of Season Three in very early 2022. The second season has been available in the UK since December of last year. [Read on here...]

All right, sorry for the late post today. It’s been a little nuts here at The Bits home office this afternoon.

In any case, Dennis has a new review for you. He’s checked out Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974) on Blu-ray from our friends at the Criterion Collection. You’ll find that here.

In announcement news today, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC have set the animated Justice Society: World War II for release on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on 5/11, with the Digital release expected on 4/27 (SRP $29.98 and $39.99). Extras will include the DC Showcase – Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! animated short, the Adventures in Storytelling – Justice Society: World War II featurette, a sneak peek of the next DCU film (Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One), two Look Back featurettes (Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Wonder Woman: Bloodlines), and two episodes From the DC Vault (Justice League: Legends, Part One and Justice League: Legends, Part Two). [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today. But first more new disc reviews...

Dennis has taken a look at Jacob Chase’s Come Play (2020) on Blu-ray from Universal.

And Tim has given Mario Landi’s Patrick Still Lives (1980) a spin on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

Watch for more reviews in the next few days.

Now then, we’ve got BIG 4K Ultra HD news for you today, some of it official and most of it unofficial but tentatively confirmed by our various industry and retail sources. So let’s get right into it...

First up, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has officially set Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla (2014) for release on 4K Ultra HD on 3/23. It will feature HDR10 high dynamic range with Dolby Atmos audio. It will also include the previously released special features, among them the 3-part MONARCH Declassified documentary and the 4-part The Legendary Godzilla documentary. You can see the official cover artwork above left and also below. [Read on here...]

All right, we have a few interesting news items for you today. But first, another review...

Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Robert Siodmak’s 1944 film noir The Suspect, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Now for the most surprising piece of news... Engadget has confirmed that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has now completed a six-year effort to upgrade the classic 1990s J. Michael Straczynski science fiction TV series Babylon 5 for the digital age. Babylon 5 Remastered is now available for viewing on HBO Max, and it’s also available for download on iTunes and Amazon. The new HD presentation includes all five seasons of the show with live action film elements scanned in 4K from the original camera negative, digitally cleaned and properly color graded, with VFX upsampled from the original SD. The entire series is available in its original 4x3 broadcast format. The 1998 version of the series’ original pilot film, The Gathering, has also been included, though it’s unremastered and so in 16x9 (as the original film elements were lost during the Northridge earthquake in 1994). [Read on here...]

We’re working on more disc reviews here at the site today, but we do have a couple of things for you today…

First up, on Monday night I was able to post my in-depth review of HBO’s Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection in 4K Ultra HD here at The Bits.

It’s a very impressive set, I have to say. It’s not cheap, but if you’re a fan, it’s a better picture and sound upgrade than you might be expecting. You can see all the details for yourself here.

Also, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Lamont Johnson’s The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972), now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The Hal Roach Studios/Universal title stars George Peppard.

In announcement news today, Acorn has set the BBC One thriller The Nest for DVD release on 11/17. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got some very interesting ground to cover today...

First, we’ve posted a review of Richard Donner’s Timeline (2003), which has just been released on Blu-ray for the first time ever by Paramount. Our own Dr. Adam Jahnke reviewed the DVD way back in 2004, so I’ve revived his film review and added my own comments on the Blu-ray’s A/V quality. Timeline is cheesy and paper-thin to be sure (I would never call it a great film, or really even a very good one), but I still kind of enjoy it. So it’s nice to finally have it on Blu-ray, especially for just $9.99 SRP.

Also, later today or tomorrow morning I expect to finish my review of Zack Snyder’s 300 in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. So watch for that to be posted very soon.

Now then, in release news today, we’ve got a few things for you. None of this is yet official—as in no press releases have been issued, but we expect them to be shortly—but we’ve got updates today on a few new 4K catalog titles that we know many of you have been eagerly awaiting. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a couple new disc reviews to start the proceedings here at The Bits today...

I’ve taken a look at the first season of HBO’s new His Dark Materials series on Blu-ray, which is pretty good. Fans of the Philip Pullman books will be pleased to know that this is a solid adaptation. I just wish HBO would release the series in 4K, because the film was shot natively in 4.5K and 6K and finished in 4K, so it should look tremendous. Anyway, the Blu-ray release is solid enough (and Season Two starts in November).

Also, I’ve reviewed Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element as newly released in 4K by StudioCanal in the UK. And here’s the thing: Though the disc has no extras (and its remastered Blu-ray is Region B locked), StudioCanal’s 4K features a new and better encode than the previous Sony Ultra HD release, with much higher data rates, and Dolby Vision HDR. It’s a notable improvement in image quality. So serious fans of the film may want to consider it. Click here for all the details. [Read on here...]

All right, it’s finally official: Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and Digital on 10/20. The set will include all three films with a bonus disc that includes all-new content.

In addition to the wide-release SKUs, there will be a trio of retail exclusive versions here in the States: a Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD Gift Set on Amazon that includes a levitating hoverboard replica and Digibook packaging, a Limited Edition Blu-ray Gift Set at Target that includes a levitating hoverboard replica and Digibook packaging, and a Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD Gift Set at Best Buy that includes Steelbook packaging.

You can see the wide release 4K Ultra HD cover artwork at left, and we’ve got the rest of the open packaging for you to look at below. [Read on here...]

All right, we’re kicking off the new week with more Blu-ray reviews and some GREAT release news too...

First, Tim has offered his thoughts on a pair of new Blu-ray releases, including Bert I. Gordon’s The Spider (1958 – aka Earth vs. the Spider) as well as Freddie Francis’ 1964 Hammer Films classic The Evil of Frankenstein, both available from our friends at Scream Factory.

Speaking of Scream Factory, they’re starting us off with the release news today as well...

Scream has just officially announced that they’re going to be releasing a definitive 16-disc Blu-ray collection of the Friday the 13th series. The Friday the 13th Collection: Deluxe Edition box set will arrive on October 13 and will include all 12 original films from Paramount and New Line Cinema. [Read on here...]