Displaying items by tag: Charles de Lauzirika

“As soon as Indy stepped out of the shadows in that first scene and revealed himself to us with that badass confidence and intensity, I feel like in that moment, Harrison Ford truly became a movie star of the highest order.” – Charles de Lauzirika, producer/director of Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this multi-page retrospective article commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Lucas & Spielberg action classic that introduced moviegoers to the globe-trotting adventures of Indiana Jones and spawned a franchise of sequels, prequels, games, and theme park attractions.

Raiders, featuring Harrison Ford as everyone’s favorite cinematic archaeologist, was the most successful movie of its year of release and for a period of time the third highest-grossing motion picture of all time. The Oscar-winning movie also starred Karen Allen as heroine Marion Ravenwood, Paul Freeman as archvillain Belloq, Ronald Lacey as villain Toht, John Rhys-Davies as sidekick Sallah, and Denholm Elliott as colleague Marcus Brody.

In 1999 the Library of Congress selected Raiders of the Lost Ark for preservation in the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” and earlier this year, Raiders and the other movies in the series were released for the first time on 4K UHD (reviewed here). [Read on here...]

Today’s big release news...

Our friends at the Criterion Collection have just officially announced their October Blu-ray and DVD release slate, which is set to include a new edition of Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou (Spine #421 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/6, John Berry’s Claudine (Spine #1052 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/13, Henry King’s The Gunfighter (Spine #1053 – Blu-ray and DVD) and an updated version of Stephen Frears’ The Hit (Spine #469 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/20, and finally Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite (Spine #1054 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 10/27.

We’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project page here at The Bits accordingly.

You can see the cover artwork for Parasite at left, and all the others are down below the break. [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents

All right, we’ve got some GREAT release news to report for you today. But first, we a couple more new Blu-ray reviews...

Dennis has taken a good long look at Criterion’s lovely new edition of Byron Haskin’s 1953 classic The War of the Worlds on Blu-ray. He talks about the film, the extras (as compared to the recent Imprint Blu-ray) and more. And it looks like Criterion did indeed correct the 4K remaster’s color grade issue (so the opening shot of Mars is now properly red, as it should be). You can find that here.

Also today, Tim has reviewed Jean-Marie Pallardy’s outlandish actioner White Fire (1984), newly released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video. Enjoy!

Now then, on to that big release news...

It’s official: HBO and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment have set Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection for release on 4K Ultra HD on 11/3 (SRP $254.99, though expect the usual retailer discounts to be applied soon). There will also be a Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook box set that same day (SRP $285.43, though again expect the usual discount to be applied to that). [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents

We’ve got some more new reviews for you today, and some interesting news as well. So let’s get to it.

First up, the reviews...

I’ve offered my thoughts on Luc Besson’s Anna on 4K Ultra HD from Summit and Lionsgate.

And Tim has turned in looks at Roy Ward Baker’s Scars of Dracula (1970) on Blu-ray, a Hammer title from Scream Factory, as well as Scream’s Humanoids from the Deep Steelbook Blu-ray.

With a little luck, we’ll have at least a couple more reviews tomorrow as well, so be sure to check back.

We’ve also got a street date update for you on a few titles: Look for Warner’s It: Chapter Two on BD, DVD, and 4K on 12/10. Lionsgate will release Red Heat on 4K on 10/8 (coming from Studio Canal in the UK). And Fox is expected to release The Art of Racing in the Rain on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K on 11/5. [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents

All right, we’ve got big news for you today. We’ve been saying this was coming for quite a while now here at The Bits, given that this is the film’s 35th anniversary year and that its long-awaited sequel was coming soon to theaters, but Warner Bros Home Entertainment has finally made it official: Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner: The Final Cut is coming to the 4K Ultra HD format on 9/5.

The Ultra HD release will include the previous Blu-ray edition (you can read our epic and in-depth review of that package here) in addition to the 4K disc, with its 7+ hours of bonus features (we’re waiting to see the exact disc configuration to determine if the alternate cuts will be included or if it’s just The Final Cut with extras), as well as a digital copy. The audio will be Dolby Atmos. There’s no word whether Dolby Vision HDR is included or not yet (there was no mention of it in the press release). The package will sell for an SRP of $44.95. [Read on here…]

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“Even after decades of imitators, bigger budgets and more advanced technology, Blade Runner still stands high as a groundbreaking, unparalleled masterpiece.” — Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner documentarian Charles de Lauzirika

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 35th anniversary of the release of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s neo-noir sci-fi adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Edward James Olmos. [Read on here...]

Thursday, 25 May 2017 19:22

Celebrating Forty Years of Star Wars

All right, I shouldn’t have tell any of you what today is... it’s Towel Day!

And also, of course, the 40th anniversary of a little film called Star Wars. Not Episode IV. Not A New Hope. Star Wars.

To recognize the occasion, we’ve got a couple things for you here at The Bits today.

First up, our very own Michael Coate has updated and expanded his excellent History, Legacy & Showmanship retrospective column, A Force to Be Reckoned With: Remembering “Star Wars” on its 40th Anniversary. He’s combed newspaper archives all across North America to produce a definitive history of the film’s debut theatrical release back in 1977-1978. Every theater that showed the film, the day it opened in that theater, all of it. Trust me, I’ve learned from personal experience that one’s memory of seeing the film back in 1977 is not as accurate as Michael’s exhaustive research – he’s sent me the vintage microfilmed newspaper clippings to prove it. [Read on here…]

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Star Wars is a landmark film, a work of such soaring imagination that it will set standards for years to come.” — Bob Thomas, Associated Press

[This is a revised and updated version of a previously published article.]

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective article commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Wars, George Lucas’ legendary space opera that introduced the world to The Force and a host of memorable planets, spaceships and characters. [Read on here...]

“It’s a fun film that also demanded you to take it seriously. I think some people missed all that and just wanted to indulge in the ‘bug hunt’ war porn of it all. But beneath its rollercoaster surface, Aliens is a pretty sophisticated genre classic.” — Documentarian Charles de Lauzirika

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective article commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Aliens, the action-packed follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi/horror classic featuring Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters, Working Girl) in her Saturn-winning and Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated reprisal of Ellen Ripley, the lone survivor of an Alien attack on her ship, the Nostromo. In the sequel, after several decades in hypersleep, she returns to exomoon LV-426 along with a team of Marines — and awesome sound and visual effects — to destroy the Aliens.  [Read on here...]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here. And you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering Blu-rays and other items from Amazon through this link.]

We’ve got some good stuff for you today here at The Bits, including a new column and fine release news too...

First up, our own Michael Coate has just posted a brand new History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at the site, entitled Mighty Wings: Remembering “Top Gun” on its 30th Anniversary. Michael details the film’s original 70mm North American theatrical release and discusses its lasting impact and Tony Scott’s legacy with documentarian Charles de Lauzirika, producer of the excellent Danger Zone: The Making of Top Gun documentary from the 2004 Special Edition DVD (it’s also on the recent Blu-ray edition). Don’t miss it.  [Read on here…]

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