Displaying items by tag: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

We have a few more new disc reviews for you all to enjoy here at The Bits today...

Stephen has reviewed the animated All-Star Superman in 4K Ultra HD from Warner and DC, as well as Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear on Blu-ray from Universal. The less said about that last one the better, but tip of the hat to Stephen for taking one for the team on this title.

Also, Stuart has turned in his thoughts on George Sherman’s Tomahawk (1951) and the anthology title If I Had a Million (1932), both on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

There’s not a lot of major release news today, but we do have a couple items to report...

Undercrank Productions is releasing Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian on Blu-ray + DVD on 6/13. The set presents two of the star’s surviving silent comedies, Paths to Paradise (1925) and You’d Be Surprised (1926), in new 2K restoration scanned from 35 mm elements in the possession of the Library of Congress. Each will feature new musical scores by Ben Model. [Read on here...]

Before we get started today, we have a pair of new Blu-ray reviews for you from Dennis—he’s taken a look at George Cukor’s Holiday, newly available on disc from The Criterion Collection, and also Judy from Lionsgate. Enjoy!

In announcement news today, we’ve got word that Universal plans to release Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/28. The disc will include the Q&A with Director Bong Joon-ho featurette. There are no plans yet for a UK 4K Ultra HD release here in the States, though the film is coming to physical 4K in France, German, and elsewhere. Unfortunately, those discs will not have English subtitles for the original Korean language audio. Fingers crossed that Universal will decide to release a 4K if sales of the Blu-ray are strong. You can see the Blu-ray artwork above left.

Also today, we’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List to reflect a bunch of new street dates and pre-order information we’ve gotten in from retail and industry sources. Here’s the gist (and if you click on the titles links provided, you can pre-order the titles on Amazon if available)... [Read on here...]

All right, we got some goodies for you today...

First, Tim has turned in a new review of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead in 4K Ultra HD from Lionsgate and Studio Canal.

Also, this week’s update of the Release Dates & Artwork section is now live with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. Whenever you plan to shop from Amazon for literally anything, please consider starting by clicking through one of our affiliate links (like this one or any of our cover art links) as it really helps us to keep the site going and supports our work. Thank you!

And I should also let you know that I’m going to be taking a week off of regular news posts here at the site to A) visit family in North Dakota and B) finish editing this science fiction novel I’ve been working on. (In truth, I also need a break before all the Comic-Con 2019 hubbub begins.) But Tim will be posting new Blu-ray reviews the whole time, and I’ll be back with a big news update (and reviews of my own) late next week.

Now then... we’ve got some announcements this afternoon. First up, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland on 4K Ultra HD on 10/1 in celebration of the film’s 10th anniversary and also the theatrical release of its forthcoming sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap. All of the existing BD extras will carry over and you’ll get the all-new Raised from the Dead: Zombieland a Decade Later featurette. The 4K will include HDR10 and a new Dolby Atmos audio mix too. [Read on here...]

Okay… Star Wars Celebration weekend has ended with… well, not much in the way of Blu-ray release news related to the Star Wars films. Not that we expected any, per our recent posts, but still. Lucasfilm’s John Knoll did show off some interesting behind the scenes material on The Making of Rogue One panel at the event, including a rare extended cut of the Death Star briefing room scene from the original Star Wars, as well as virtual recreations of a number of classic Death Star settings that didn’t make the final cut of Rogue One, but there was no indication as to when (if ever) any of that material might be released on Blu-ray, nor was there any indication of a more elaborate Rogue One: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release later this year. (The Making of Rogue One panel also doesn’t seem to have been live-streamed for some reason, though probably to keep the footage shown there from appearing online.) At any rate, it seems that Disney and Lucasfilm are just going to do whatever they’re going to do, with regard to releasing these films on Blu-ray, and fans will simply have to deal with it.

I will say that I thought the teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi looked interesting. It was visually striking, with echoes of The Empire Strikes Back of course, but there seems to be a genuine mystery to the story too. We’ll see. [Read on here…]

All right, first things first today: We have a quick bit of follow-up for you this morning on those annual original Star Wars release rumors, the latest appearance of which caused a bit of a stir yesterday (and which we commented on in yesterday’s post). I know... we’re getting tired of talking about it too, but we have what seems to be rather definitive new information.

We’ve essentially confirmed that Disney’s current 4K scan of the film is the most recent revised version (essentially the latest “special edition”), not the original theatrical edition. What’s more, Disney’s director of Library Restoration and Preservation, Theo Gluck, held a special event at Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts last night, a presentation called Animation Restoration at Walt Disney Studios. Gluck was asked there about Star Wars and reported that the original cut negative for the film currently exists in its “SE” configuration only. (There’s more info, so do continue on past the jump.) [Read on here…]

Afternoon, folks! We’ve got some great stuff for you here at The Bits today…

First up, Tim has turned in a review of Shout! Factory’s Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume IV, which includes the episodes Space Mutiny, Overdrawn at the Memory Back, Girl in Gold Boots, and Hamlet. The disc is now available, so do give it a look.

Meanwhile, we have a new MOS DEF column from Mark A. Altman as well today, in which he takes a look back at his favorite Blu-ray releases of 2016. We’ll have more from Mark later this week too. Enjoy!

In announcement news today, the BIG news is that Disney and Lucasfilm have just officially set Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for Blu-ray Combo, DVD, and On Demand release on 4/4, with a Digital HD release set for 3/24. There’s no word yet of a 4K version, but it appears that Target and Best Buy will have retail-exclusive Blu-ray 3D versions on 4/4 (per Star Wars.com). The Target package appears to match the Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Collector’s Edition. The Best Buy package comes in a Steelbook. Walmart will also have exclusive packaging. Extras on the Blu-rays will include 11 behind-the-scenes featurettes (A Rogue Idea, Jyn: The Rebel, Cassian: The Spy, K-2SO: The Droid, Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills, Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary, The Empire, Visions of Hope: The Look of Rogue One, The Princess & The Governor, Epilogue: The Story Continues, and Rogue Connections). Note that the lack of deleted scenes – and we know there are many – or audio commentary suggests that a more elaborate Collector’s Edition BD release is coming later this year. You can see the cover artwork at the left and below. [Read on here…]

All right, after several days of hard work (with lots more to go), The Bits is finally up and running on newly-updated database software. You may have noticed that The Bits looks a little different here today, and this is why. We’ve got lots more tweaking to do, and there will probably be some things that are broken around here that we’ll have to get around to fixing, but for now the basics seem to be working. Please bear with us as we dial everything in here at the site and get things buttoned up. Code and functionality updates like this are the bane of any webmaster, but you gotta get them done.

Meanwhile, here at The Bits today, we’ve got a pair of new Blu-ray reviews. Tim has checked out William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A.: Collector’s Edition from Shout Select, as well as Michael Anderson’s Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze from the Warner Archive.

And I’ve got a whole mess of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews coming, now that our server updates are nearly completed. Watch for those starting Monday with Denis Villeneuve’s The Arrival from Paramount first up on deck.  [Read on here…]

All right, I’m finally back to some semblance of functional today after a good three-day bout with the flu. As such, we’ve got a bit of good content for you here at The Bits today.

First up, our own Michael Coate celebrates the 40th anniversary of Rocky with a brand new film retrospective and roundtable discussion in his latest installment of History, Legacy & Showmanship. The column is a great in-depth read, as always, and features the participation of film historians Leger Grindon, Edward Gross, and Eric Lichtenfeld, and documentary filmmaker Cliff Stephenson. Don’t miss it!  [Read on here…]

My apologies, but this flu I’ve come down with has gotten worse rather than better today. So I’ve got a release news update for you but that’s about it. Still, there’s definitely some good news to report.

First up, Kino Lorber has set Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944) for Blu-ray release on 3/7. Extras will include audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas, audio commentary by film professor Drew Casper, The Making of Lifeboat documentary, an animated montage of images, and reversible cover art (the front part of which you can see there on the left). Also coming to Blu-ray on 3/7 from the company is Richard Fleischer’s Compulsion (1959). [Read on here…]

We’re kicking things off this week with Tim’s in-depth thoughts on Well Go USA’s new Phantasm: Remastered Blu-ray release (see here). Sounds like the new transfer is pretty terrific, though you might want to keep those older versions of the film for all the previous extras.

In announcement news today, Lionsgate Home Entertainment is planning a Dirty Dancing: 30th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo release for 2/7, following a brief return to theaters for the film on 1/29 and 2/1 through Fathom Events. The home media release will include a regular Blu-ray/DVD Combo and a Limited Edition Collector’s Box set with swag. Both will feature new disc-based extras. You can see the regular version at the left there. We’ll post additional details as they become available.  [Read on here…]