Displaying items by tag: Outlander: Season Six BD

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...]

We have two more new disc reviews for you today...

Tim has taken a look at Criterion’s recent Blu-ray release of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Tales of Hoffman (1951).

And Dennis has checked in with a look at Delbert Mann’s Marty (1955) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

In announcement news today, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just revealed that they’re going to be re-releasing Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers as a new 4K Ultra HD Steelbook edition on 11/1, complete with a new feature: The Starship Troopers 25th Anniversary Reunion, a “virtual” reunion featuring screenwriter Ed Neumeier and actors Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside, Jake Busey, Patrick Muldoon, and Seth Gilliam.

The new edition will also include Dolby Vision HDR (the previous release included HDR10 only), along with the previous Dolby Atmos audio mix. And a Blu-ray copy in the package will carry over all of the legacy special features. You can see the cover artwork at left. [Read on here...]

Now it’s time to run down some of the major announcement news that’s broken over the past few days, and we have some real gems to report for you. Let’s start with 4K Ultra HD catalog news...

First up, our friends at Shout! and Scream Factory have just unveiled a great batch of new 4K Ultra HD titles for August release, including John Milius’ Red Dawn (1984) as a Shout Select 4K UHD release (a Collector’s Edition box with exclusive pins and a poster will also be available directly from the Shout! website) and new 4K UHD Collector’s Editions of Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, and Child’s Play 3 on 8/16, followed by Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE on 4K Ultra HD on 8/30. You can see the cover artwork for these at left and below the break. Note that the release of Scream’s 4Ks of Cat People and The Funhouse have also been pushed back to 8/2 and 8/9 respectively (from 7/19 and 7/26).

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has now teased new 4K UHD releases of George P. Cosmatos’ Leviathan (1989) and Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder (2008). Both are listed as “coming soon.” That last one is particularly interesting, as it’s part of a new content distribution deal the company has signed with Paramount Home Entertainment. The deal apparently includes some 65 titles in all on Blu-ray (8 of which are being released on disc for the first time), including 16 on 4K Ultra HD. Among these are old Republic titles, though reportedly none released previously by Olive Films. Given KLSC’s recent focus on Sergio Leone westerns, we think it’s a good bet that Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) will be among the 4K titles. [Read on here...]