Displaying items by tag: Shout! Factory

We start today’s post with a couple more new disc reviews, as usual...

Stephen has taken a nice deep dive into Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Complete Series, as newly-released on Limited Collector’s Edition Blu-ray by GKids via Shout! Factory. Directed and later re-envisioned by Hideaki Anno (Shin Godzilla), the series is a classic of Japanese anime, right up there with Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop. But it can be a little daunting for the uninitiated, so Stephen will help guide you through it, and there’s no better way to experience the series than this new Blu-ray box set. It’s only available directly from Shout!, but you can also find a wide release Blu-ray edition of the series on Amazon (linked in the review).

Also today, Dennis has take a look back at Milos Forman’s Ragtime, which is now available on Blu-ray from Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment fully remastered from a new 4K scan and restoration as part of their Paramount Presents line. Both the theatrical version and Director’s Cut workprint version are included in the set. You can learn more here.

As always, more reviews are on the way, including a look at Criterion’s new Citizen Kane 4K Ultra HD, which should be up here on the site by Monday. [Read on here...]

Today’s update is a quick one, but we’ve got some good announcement news and a bunch of new disc reviews for you to enjoy. So as always, let’s start with the latter first...

I’ve now posted my thoughts on Cary Joji Fukunaga’s No Time to Die in Ultra HD from MGM and Universal, which offers a stunning 4K image, a very good Dolby Atmos mix, and a lean batch of extras that actually includes a nice 4K exclusive feature.

I’ve also reviewed Ridley Scott’s latest medieval drama, The Last Duel, new on 4K Ultra HD from 20th Century Studios. The film stars Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, and Ben Affleck, and borrows liberally from Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon.

Tim’s been busy reviewing as well, delivering his thoughts on William Lustig’s Maniac Cop 2 (1990) in 4K UHD from Blue Underground, as well as Budd Boetticher’s Wings of the Hawk in Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D from Kino Lorber Studio Classics (with a restoration by the 3-D Film Archive). [Read on here...]

All right, we hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday, and that you were able to take advantage of some good Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday deals on discs and whatnot.

We’ve got some big announcement news for you today, and a few follow-ups on previously-mentioned titles and issues too. But let’s get to a couple new reviews first...

First up, Dennis has posted his thoughts on Michael Showalter’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye on Blu-ray from Fox Searchlight.

And Stephen has checked in with this thoughts on Imprint/Via Vision’s The Harry Palmer Collection, which stars Michael Caine as a working-class spy. The set includes The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, and Billion Dollar Brain on region-free Blu-ray Disc.

More reviews are forthcoming, so be sure to watch for them over the coming days. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks! Hope you all had a good Halloween weekend.

We’re got some more new disc reviews for you today, starting with the one I posted yesterday: My in-depth look at the Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror Collection, which features Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), and The Wolf Man (1941), along with the Spanish version of Drácula (1931) all in 4K Ultra HD. The set is definitely worth a look for fans of the characters.

Also today, Stephen has reviewed John Huston’s Freud (1962) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Dennis has delivered a look at Arthur Lubin’s The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946) also on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

More reviews are coming over the course of the week, so be sure to check back for them. [Read on here...]

We’re finishing the week with a few more new disc reviews...

Tim has finished his thoughts on Halloween III: The Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers all in 4K Ultra HD from Scream Factory.

Meanwhile, Stephen has checked out M. Night Shyamalan’s Old in 4K Ultra HD from Universal, along with David Bruckner’s The Night House on Blu-ray from Fox Searchlight, and the W.C. Fields classic The Bank Dick (1940) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And given that this is the Friday before Halloween, we’re saving my review of the Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror Collection in 4K Ultra HD for posting on Sunday.

Lots more new and recent disc reviews are on the way for next week as well, so be sure to stay tuned for them. [Read on here...]

We’ve got more new disc reviews for you this week, with still more on the way...

Tim has reviewed Scream Factory’s new 4K Ultra HD releases of Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981), along with Arrow Video’s Deep Red 4K UHD, and Synapse Films’ recent Demons I & II: Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD release.

Meanwhile, Stephen has checked out Free Guy in 4K UHD from 20th Century Studios and Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, along with Bluebeard (1963) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Dennis has offered his thoughts on Jack Arnold’s The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) on Blu-ray, as newly-released by the Criterion Collection.

We’ll have more reviews over the next few days, including more of the Halloween sequels in 4K,Scream in 4K, Old, the Universal Classic Monsters: Icons of Horror Collection and more, so be sure to stay tuned for them. [Read on here...]

Let’s have a quick round-up of Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release news, and then I must dive back into my own review work over the next several days...

First up, it does indeed appear that Disney is preparing a 4K Ultra HD release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. I’ve now got multiple retail and industry sources confirming this. However, don’t expect the sequels to be announced anytime soon. It’s possible that the studio is planning to release more films in the series next year if this first one sells well (and possibly promoted by the success of the films in streaming on Disney+) but for now Curse of the Black Pearl seems to be the only film immediately in the offing.

Also, while we’re on the topic of Disney, it seems that the Heat 4K release continues to be in limbo, but is still expected to arrive on the format sometime next year.

Meanwhile, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is definitely shaping up for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD in early January sometime. Info some retailers suggests that the studio is targeting 1/11/22 as the street date. And for those of you who have been waiting, not only does it finally arrive in theaters tomorrow (with sneak peek preview screenings tonight in many US cities), the film premieres IN JUST TWO HOURS in 4K with HDR and Dolby Atmos on HBO Max. So get ready to enjoy a helluva good cinematic experience. [Read on here...]

We’ve got some reviews to catch up on here at The Bits this afternoon...

Over the past couple of days, we’ve posted a number of new Blu-ray reviews, including Stephen’s thoughts on Kensuke Sonomura’s Hydra (2019) from Well Go USA, Savage Steve Holland’s One Crazy Summer (1986) from the Warner Archive Collection, and Jacques Deray’s The Outsider (1983) and Harold Becker’s The Black Marble (1980) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Tim has turned in his thoughts on Tom McLoughlin’s One Dark Night (1983) from the MVD Rewind Collection, the Friday the 13th: 8-Movie Collection from Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment, and Umbrella Entertainment’s Drive-In Delirium: The Final Conflict, which feature a whopping 181 classic film trailers. All of these titles are well worth a look, so do give the reviews a try.

In announcement news today, Criterion has revealed that they’re adding a physical 4K Ultra HD release of Uncut Gems to their November release slate. The Blu-ray and DVD release are moving to 11/23, which is the date the 4K will arrive as well. And all three are getting new cover artwork, which you can now here see on the left and also below. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a bit of breaking news to cover today, so let’s get right to it...

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is close to announcing their long-awaited Middle-Earth 31-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set, which will include the Theatrical and Extended versions of all six Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray (including the remastered Lord of the Rings films on Blu-ray) along with a Blu-ray bonus disc of new content that (per our sources) is expected to include the 26-minute presentation reel shown at Cannes in 2001, and the Alamo Drafthouse cast reunion in 3 parts. In total, we expect this to be about 90 minutes of new content in all. (Note that the existing audio commentaries will also carry over on the actual film discs.) You’ll also get a 64-page book of costume sketches, photography, and production notes, plus 7 “travel poster” artwork cards.

Please be advised that The Appendices will not be included in this new set (that was confirmed when WB first revealed the set last year) so don’t start selling your existing Blu-ray and 4K sets in anticipation of buying the new one assuming that everything will be included in it.

Warner’s official announcement should come at any time, but we’ve got a sneak peek at what the set looks like in the meantime from a new listing on the Wow HD UK webstore, which currently shows a street date of October 26 (click here for that, and you can see the packaging below)... [Read on here...]

All right folks, this is a day a lot of us have been waiting a very long time for. Let’s get right into what is arguably the year’s biggest news...

Our friends at The Criterion Collection have finally announced that their first titles on the physical 4K Ultra HD format will include David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr., Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Jane Campion’s The Piano, Allen and Albert Hughes’s Menace II Society, Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell’s The Red Shoes, and Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night! The first of these is expected to arrive in November (we believe it will be Mulholland Dr.) and will be officially detailed next week when Criterion announces its full November slate. The rest will follow in subsequent months (starting—we believe—with Citizen Kane in December, given that 2021 is the film’s 80th anniversary). Per Criterion, each of their 4K titles will include the film on both 4K and Blu-ray (with most extras on the Blu-ray, allowing the 4K disc to have maximum room for video and audio data). Select films will also feature Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound.

Any way you slice it, this is outstanding news. We actually knew (thanks to our longtime industry sources) about three of those titles and had a pretty good line on a fourth. But by our reckoning, the fact that the company has announced no less than SIX 4K titles tells us that Criterion is seriously ALL IN on the Ultra HD format at long last. And that is the best news we’ve had all year for physical media.

But that’s not all of the news we have for you today, so let’s keep going! [Read on here...]