Displaying items by tag: Vinegar Syndrome

We have a new disc review for all of you to enjoy today here at The Bits...

Our own Tim Salmons has just weighed in on the Warner Archive Collection’s Looney Tunes: Collector’s Choice – Volume 1 Blu-ray, which includes 20 classic animated shorts from 1945 to 1959, among them some real rarities. Tim will be reviewing Volume 2 and Volume 3 on Blu-ray soon as well, so watch for those to follow in the coming days.

We’ve also updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits today with some new titles and Amazon.com pre-order links, so you’ll definitely want to check that out here.

And over on our Patreon page today, I’ve shared a feature entitled Steelbooks (And Why Hollywood Loves Them)! that looks back at the origins and history of Steelbook packaging, and why it’s become so popular with both the Hollywood studios and retailers. This post is free and open to everyone for a couple of reasons.

First, we want to give you all a taste of the kinds of content we’re creating exclusively for our paying supporters on Patreon. And second, we’re going to be running a poll on our Patreon page on behalf of a major Hollywood studio that wants your opinion on a Steelbook project they’re considering. That will appear in the next couple days there and it too will be free and available to all. [Read on here...]

Welcome to a new week, Bits-ers! Hope you all had a good one, including all those of you who attended WonderCon in Anaheim this weekend.

Today is obviously April Fool’s Day, but rest assured we aren’t going to waste time with such tomfoolery here at the site this afternoon because we’ve got more new disc reviews for you, as well as some really great actual news too.

Let’s get to those reviews first. Today we have...

Stephen’s review of Ted Kotcheff’s North Dallas Forty (1979) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as his take on György Kovásznai’s Bubble Bath (1980) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

And Stuart’s look at William Grefé’s Impulse (1974) on Blu-ray from Grindhouse Releasing, as well as Emmanuel Carrère’s Between Two Worlds (2021) on Blu-ray from Cohen Media Group.

Late last week, we also posted Tim’s reviews of Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell (2009) in both regular and limited edition Blu-ray, as well as his reviews of Quentin Tarantino (etc)’s Grindhouse (2007) in both regular and limited edition Blu-ray, all from Via Vision’s Imprint Films.

And not to be outdone, Dennis has also reviewed Peter Yates’ The Dresser (1983) on Blu-ray from Imprint as well. [Read on here...]

We’re starting this week with a trio of great new disc reviews here at The Bits, including...

Stuart’s thoughts on Kenneth Branagh’s A Midwinter’s Tale (1995) on Blu-ray from Castle Rock Entertainment via the always excellent Warner Archive Collection.

And Stephen’s take on Oldřich Lipský’s The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (1981) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile and Vinegar Syndrome, as well as his look at John Carpenter’s Starman (1984) in 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as featured in their excellent Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection: Volume 4 box set!

All of these are fascinating titles and well worth a look.

Before we continue, I mentioned Warner Archive a moment ago: All of us here at The Digital Bits would like to take a moment today to salute our dear friend George Feltenstein and everyone who has contributed to the Warner Archive Collection over the years—the fan-favorite boutique label just celebrated its 15th anniversary on Saturday! Here’s to many more years and all the fantastic Blu-ray and DVD catalog titles to come. Well done, folks!

In announcement news today, Kino Lorber Studio Classics has just set Mark DiSalle’s The Perfect Weapon (1991) and Stephen Norrington’s Death Machine (1994) for Blu-ray release on 5/21. The company has also revealed that Gary Nelson’s Noble House (1988) miniseries is coming soon to Blu-ray, and also that Richard Stanley’s Dust Devil (1992) is coming soon to both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD. [Read on here...]

We have several new disc reviews to begin the week here at The Bits, starting with...

Stuart’s take on Raoul Walsh’s Gentleman Jim (1942) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Dennis thoughts on Michael Epstein’s LennonNYC (2010) on Blu-ray from Via Vision Entertainment and Peter Yates’ Murphy’s War (1971) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

Stephen’s look at Bill Plympton’s The Tune (1992) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

And finally, Tim’s review of Ardman Animations’ Shaun the Sheep: The Complete Series on Blu-ray from Shout! Studios.

We also have a bunch of new announcement news for you today, but first this: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has listed Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two for Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K Steelbook pre-order on Amazon. The street date is TBA, but is likely due in May or June. There will also be a 2-Film Collection in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray.

Now, a lot of you have asked what aspect ratio Dune: Part Two will be in on disc. As many of you know, Dune: Part One was shot mostly in 2.39:1 but about an hour was in full 1.90:1. Yet Warner’s Blu-ray and 4K release were both in 2.39 only. Meanwhile, most of Dune: Part Two was shot in 1.90:1, with about forty minutes in the full 1.43:1 IMAX ratio. So people are wondering if the Blu-ray and 4K will preserve that variable IMAX ratio, and if Part One will ever be re-released on both formats with the variable ratio as well. I’ve asked Warner for clarification on this and will share it here when they reply. Meanwhile, you can find the studio’s temp cover art (with Amazon links) below the break. [Read on here...]

Happy Leap Day, Bits readers! February 29th only comes around once every four years, so enjoy it while you can.

I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your patience. We haven’t done a news update here for a couple days, and the reason is that I’ve been doing a lot more digging about that Disney and Sony physical media distribution deal, and I have in fact learned a little bit more information that will put the deal in better context. So after having a few last conversations with sources tonight, I’ll have a bit more to share on that front in tomorrow’s news update here at The Bits.

In the meantime, we’ve posted a bunch more new disc reviews here at the site as follows...

Dennis has posted his thoughts on Raoul Walsh’s The Roaring Twenties (1939) on Blu-ray from our friends at The Criterion Collection, as well as Ralph Murphy’s The Man in Half Moon Street (1945) on Blu-ray from Imprint, Robin Spry’s One Man (1977) and Elly Kenner and Norman Thaddeus Vane’s The Black Room (1982) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, and Damien LeVeck’s A Creature Was Stirring (2023) on Blu-ray from Well Go USA.

Stewart has taken a look at Norman Jewison’s The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Nigel Cole’s Saving Grace (2000) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, and Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) on Blu-ray from Imprint.

And finally, Stephen has check in with his take on David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) on 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome. All are well worth a look (both the films and the discs). [Read on here...]

We’ve got some more new announcement for you today, including a few interesting ones. And we have new disc reviews today as well. But first, I saw Dune: Part Two last night. So let me just share some very quick and non-spoiler comments. Here’s my initial reaction posted on social media afterwards...

“You see a film like DUNE: PART TWO and you think: That’s either the last great film of a dying Hollywood, or proof that there’s still a bit of life left in this industry. Either way, it’s a wonder. And absolutely perfect. Don’t look now, but Denis Villeneuve has just casually knocked out three of the greatest science fiction films of all time. See it on the BIGGEST POSSIBLE SCREEN.”

I guess “three of the greatest” depends on whether you calculate Dune as a single film or not. But Arrival, Blade Runner: 2049, and the combined Dune adaptation are all superb. I would rank them right up there with Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Alien, and the Wachowskis’ The Matrix. Maybe I’d add Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind in there as well. All extraordinary pieces of hard science fiction cinema.

Honestly, if you liked Dune: Part One—and particularly if you loved Frank Herbert’s original novel, which is rightly regarded as the greatest work of science fiction literature—Villeneuve has just nailed the landing. [Read on here...]

Well, yesterday was kind of a big day in terms of industry news, but as it happens, there have been quite a lot of interesting 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray announcements in the last 24 hours too!

But before we get to those, we have a few more new disc reviews for you...

I’ve just taken a look at John Sturges’ Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Ron Maxwell’s cult classic Little Darlings (1980) in 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome’s new Cinématographe Films label.

Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels (2023) in 4K Ultra HD from Marvel and Disney, along with Yoshimitsu Banno’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) on 4K UHD (sans English subs) from Toho Studios in Japan.

Dennis has given Ted Kotcheff’s Split Image (1982) a look on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, along with Vincente Minnelli’s Madame Bovary (1949) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Stuart has reviewed Andrew V. McLaglen’s The Devil’s Brigade (1968) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and Steve Zaillian’s Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

Many more reviews are forthcoming, including Footloose, Conan the Destroyer, and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One in 4K, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them.

Now then... in terns of title announcements, Paramount’s just dropped a couple of big ones starting with confirmation of a title we’ve mentioned here at The Bits recently: Alex Proyas’ The Crow (1994) officially streets on 4K Ultra HD and 4K Steelbook on 5/7. The 4K disc will include Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range. [Read on here...]

We have two more new disc reviews for you here at The Bits today, including…

Stephen’s thoughts on Walter Hill’s Southern Comfort (1981) in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome, as well as his take on another of Toho’s recent Godzilla 4K UHD releases, in this case Ishirō Honda’s Destroy All Monsters (1968). Once again, this is a region-free Japanese import release, but with no English subtitles.

The big announcement news today is that our friends at the Criterion Collection have officially unveiled their May release slate, which is set to include an upgrade of A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds: Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu (1934/1959) (Spine #232 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/7, followed by an upgrade of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom (1960) (Spine #58 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray) on 5/14, Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène (Spine #1217 – Blu-ray and DVD)—which includes Emitaï (1971), Xala (1975), and Ceddo (1977)—on 5/21, and Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall (2023) (Spine #1218 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Karyn Kusama’s Girlfight (2000) (Spine #1219 – Blu-ray) on 5/28.

You can see the cover art for Peeping Tom at left, and all of them below the break. We’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project listing here at The Bits accordingly. [Read on here...]

We’ve got two new disc reviews for you to enjoy this afternoon, both of them Blu-ray titles…

First, Stephen has taken a look at John Dahl’s Red Rock West (1993) on Blu-ray, which is one of the first titles in Vinegar Syndrome’s new Cinématographe line, curated by our friend (and producer) Justin LaLiberty.

And I’ve reviewed Umbrella Entertainment’s recent Frank Herbert’s Dune Complete Collection Blu-ray box set, which includes John Harrison’s Dune (2000) miniseries along with Greg Yaitanes’ Children of Dune (2003) miniseries, as well as a ton of great special features and swag, all in super-deluxe packaging.

More reviews are forthcoming, including—in the next day or two—my take on Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) from Lionsgate and Ronald F. Maxwell’s Little Darlings (1980), both of them in 4K Ultra HD. Little Darlings, I should note, is the other debut title in Vinegar Syndrome’s new Cinématographe line. So watch for those very soon.

We’ve also updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits, along with our Release Dates & Artwork section, both of which now include all the latest announced titles, with Amazon pre-order links.

And over on The Digital Bits’ Patreon, we’ve shared a new piece by Stephen on the ethics of altering films for release in other forms (for example B&W), and the challenges in trying to determine how films should look sometimes years later on home video, as well as some fun content from our friends over at The Bigger Pictures Film Restoration (more on that in a minute). As always, we really appreciate your support of The Digital Bits, which helps us to continue our work here at the site in support of physical media. And becoming a Patreon member is a great way to do that. We’re working to build a pretty terrific little community over there where Bits readers can hang out and share their thoughts and experiences. So you’re all welcome to join us there! [Read on here...]

All right, if you thought yesterday’s post was busy with news, we’ve got another banger for you here today! But first, the day’s disc reviews...

Stuart has offered his thoughts on Henri Verneuil’s I... for Icarus (1979) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Dennis has reviewed Neil Burger’s The Marsh King’s Daughter (2023) on Blu-ray from Lionsgate.

And just one more thing... Tim has delivered his take on Kino Lorber Studio Classics’ new Columbo: The 1970s – Seasons 1-7 Blu-ray box set as well. Enjoy!

Now then, a quick note: All of the Criterion Collection April titles we shared the cover artwork for in yesterday’s post now have Amazon pre-order links, though the actual pre-orders have yet to begin. But that should happen very soon. We’ve added the links to our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits as well.

We’re starting today with exciting news for music, concert film, and Talking Heads fans: A24 is going to begin pre-orders for their forthcoming 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Collector’s Edition release of Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense (1984) on 1/27. The official street date and other details are still TBA. And per Variety, the film will return to IMAX theaters around the country that same day for month-long residence screenings. You can read more here.

Following up on yesterday’s news column, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and DC have just officially announced the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on 3/12. The Digital release will be available on 1/23. Extras on all versions will include 7 featurettes (Finding the Lost Kingdom, Aquaman: Worlds Above and Below, It’s a Manta World, Necrus, the Lost Black City, Escape from the Deserter World, Brawling at Kingfish’s Lair, and Oh TOPO!). To this, the Digital version will add the exclusive Aquaman Through Fire and Water motion comic. And the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD will also add the exclusive Atlantean Blood Is Thicker Than Water featurette. Note that the 4K Ultra HD will also feature Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]