Displaying items by tag: Another 48 Hours 4K

We’re finishing the week here at The Bits with a spate of new disc reviews for you to check out and enjoy...

First, I’ve taken a look at Michael Mann’s Heat (1995) which is finally available in a long-awaited new 4K Ultra HD release from 20th Century Studios. The new 4K master is impressive, though not reference-quality.

It’s important to note, however, that Mann made creative changes to the film’s color grading in 2017, as he was preparing his new Director’s Definitive Edition (see his own comments on this at the time here). This means the film is somewhat darker looking, with slightly-desaturated color, than it was before—even with the new HDR grade. This in turn has caused a host of “fan” reviewers to claim that the disc is defective, when the truth is that they simply don’t like the new color grade. Meanwhile, professional reviewers have almost all praised the disc’s image improvements, while acknowledging the darker grading. Those of you with genuinely bright 4K displays (with effective tone-mapping) will appreciate the new color grade the most. The point is, you’re going to see a lot of diverse opinions about this title out there on the Interwebs and social media. It’s only by understanding that these changes were initiated by the director himself that you can sort the reality from opinion. Anyway, I break it down in the review.

Also today, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 4K Ultra HD from Marvel and Disney. [Read on here...]

Just a quick post today, but we do have a bit of interesting release news to report.

First, we know that lots of you have been eagerly awaiting details on the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Many international retail sites have—for weeks now—had it up for pre-order, set to street on or about 5/26. Indeed, we’ve had it on our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits for a few months now, anticipating a 5/25 US street date. Just today, the Australian retailer JB Hi-Fi put the title up for pre-order with the 5/26 date. (Thanks to Bits reader Tim P. for the heads-up on that one.) So, as we noted here last week, we’re pretty confident that—barring some sort of manufacturing or shipping delay—Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be announcing it any time now for a 5/25 release in the States on both formats. It’s possible it will be released under the Warner Archive label, like Snyder’s recently 4K-remastered Batman v Superman, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Now then, these aren’t actual announcements, but we’re learned that Paramount has just made a new 4K remaster (with HDR) of Saturday Night Fever available on Kaleidescape and iTunes, so it’s possible that there could be a physical 4K release in the offing. However, the company has also recently made 48 Hours and Another 48 Hours available in Digital 4K, with only remastered Blu-rays currently set for physical release, so we’ll have to wait and see. [Read on here...]