My Two Cents
We’ve got a trio of new disc reviews for you to enjoy this afternoon, including…
Tim’s take on Russ Meyer’s Motorpsycho (1965) in 4K Ultra HD from Severin Films.
Stuart’s look at John and Roy Boulting’s Heavens Above! (1963) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
And Dennis’ thoughts on Billy Ray’s Shattered Glass (2003) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and Via Vision Entertainment.
In release news today, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has begun taking pre-orders on the Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K Steelbook release of Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025), which we hear is a pretty solid entry in the franchise. The street date is still TBA, but you should be able to find listings on all the major retail sites.
It appears that the Warner Archive Collection’s recently-announced 4K Ultra HD release of Charles Walters’ VistaVision classic High Society (1956) has been delayed slightly from May until June, though we expect pre-orders for the title to appear soon on Amazon and elsewhere. [Editor’s Note: I’ve just confirmed with WAC that the street date for this title has now shifted from 5/17 to 6/10 to what should be the final date of 6/24. And I’m told the 4K image is a knock-out.]
As we’ve reported previously, the film has been remastered from new 13.5K scans of the original VistaVision negative. The 4K disc will include Dolby Vision HDR on a 100GB disc, with disc authoring and compression by Fidelity in Motion. The remastered film will also be included in the package on Blu-ray, a BD-50. [Read on here...]
Our friends at the Criterion Collection have just closed out the week by announcing their August slate of Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD titles, and it’s interesting indeed. There are few, what one might call, major titles this month, but there are some interesting art house gems. The slate includes...
Kon Ichikawa’s Fires on the Plain (1959) (Spine #378 – 4K + Blu-ray and Blu-ray) and The Burmese Harp (1956) (Spine #379 – 4K + Blu-ray and Blu-ray) on 8/5, Youssef Chahine’s Cairo Station (Spine #1273 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 8/12, A Confucian Confusion / Mahjong: Two Films by Edward Yang (1994-96) (Spine #1275 – Blu-ray) and Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine (1946) (Spine #1272 – 4K + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD) on 8/19, and finally Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio (2024) (Janus Contemporaries – Blu-ray and DVD), Alice Wu’s Saving Face (2004) (Spine #1276 – Blu-ray), and Zeinabu irene Davis’s Compensation (1999) (Spine #1274 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 8/26.
Curiously, there aren’t a lot of 4K titles in this batch, but I strongly suspect it’s because they have many more in the works. In any case, you can read more about these titles on Criterion’s website here. And don’t forget that they’re running their Spring Sale until 5/26, offering 30% of all discs. [Read on here...]
We’re back!
Sorry for the absence of news posts over these last few days, folks. It’s been a busy and chaotic week here at The Bits—not so much work wise, but personal life. Our family’s had a flurry of doctors appointments (all routine, thanks goodness, but still disruptive) and I’ve had to run a car in for servicing. Man, I hate it when real life intrudes on my 4K disc time! Anyway, things seem to be settling down, so it’s time to catch up on news, and then I’ll be working on some new disc reviews myself over the coming days as well.
First though, we do have a couple of reviews to share with you from the team, including...
Tim’s look at Tarsem Singh’s The Cell (2000) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video—something of a complicated title to review, given its unique production characteristics, as well as the fact that Arrow implemented a disc replacement program.
And Stephen’s thoughts on Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain (1971) in 4K Ultra HD, also from Arrow Video, a terrific sci-tech thriller adapting Michael Crichton’s influential 1969 novel of the same name.
Also here at the site this week, we’ve posted a new update of our Release Dates & Artwork section featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover art and Amazon pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking through to them from one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at the site and we really do appreciate it! [Read on here...]
This is a quick post to let you all know that our Release Dates & Cover Artwork section here at The Digital Bits has just been updated with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. Don’t forget that you can select to see just the Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, or even Criterion titles seperately if you like, to help you find exactly the ones you’re looking for. Just click on RELEASE DATES & ART on the menu bar above to visit the page, and use the search options in the red bar (at the top) to sort by format and date. Once you find a title you like, just click on the cover art and you’ll be taken right to the Amazon.com pre-order page. Thank you for shopping through our links and don’t forget that anytime you order from Amazon through our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it! And thanks to our own Russell Hammond for the update work!
- Bill Hunt
We’re starting the week here at The Bits, as we so often do, with a trio of new Blu-ray reviews, including...
Dennis’ look at Herbert Ross and Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam (1972) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.
And Stuart’s thoughts on Edward Kull and Wilbur F. McGaugh’s 1935 The New Adventures of Tarzan serial on Blu-ray from Film Masters, as well as Clarence Brown’s Sadie McKee (1935) on Blu-ray from our friends at the Warner Archive Collection.
Also, Stephen and I have just contributed a pair of new subscriber-exclusive blog posts on The Digital Bits’ Patreon page (here and here). We’re up to 377 subscribers over there, and we’d really love to reach 400, so if you appreciate what we do here at The Bits in support of physical media, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. We have options for doing so that are as low as $6 a month (with discounts for a year-long subscription) and we definitely try to post exclusive content there that will make it worth your while, including regular video updates. Thanks in advance for your consideration! [Read on here...]