Displaying items by tag: Bill Hunt
2001: A Space Odyssey 4K reviewed & more, plus Kin, The Predator, and The House with the Clock in its Walls announced for BD/4K
All right, today’s post is another quickie for the reasons anticipated – namely I’m about to start working on my review of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s Batman: The Complete Animated Series on Blu-ray. With luck, I hope to have it up by the end of the day today or early tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, I posted my in-depth review of Warner Bros.’ 2001: A Space Odyssey on 4K Ultra HD yesterday here at The Bits. The upshot is this is fully remastered and properly color-graded, unlike the recent Nolan theatrical IMAX presentations, and the Blu-ray is fully remastered too. The disc also includes Dolby Vision HDR and it has a new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix that represents the original 6-track 70 mm theatrical audio too. It’s really a fantastic release, so be sure to check that out. Note that the end of the review features significant technical details on the remastering process (from a brief prepared by the studio) shared with permission. Many of you will find it interesting.
In the meantime, we have a few additional Blu-ray reviews for you today from Tim and our old friend Dr. Adam Jahnke, including Scream Factory’s Creepshow, The Howling (Steelbook), and Halloween II and III (Steelbooks). Enjoy! [Read on here...]
- Batman: The Animated Series on BD
- reviews
- 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- Kin 4K
- The Predator 4K
- The House with the Clock in its Walls 4K
- The 4K Ultra HD Release List
- Creepshow BD review
- The Howling BD review
- Halloween II BD review
- Halloween III BD review
- Tim Salmons
- Dr Adam Jahnke
- First Man 4K
- How to Train Your Dragon 4K
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 4K
- Steelbook reissue
Our reviews of Matrix Trilogy, Reloaded, Revolutions 4K & Uni Monsters 30-film are live, 2001 4K & Batman: TAS are on the way!
This is just a quick update to say that there’s going to be no news post today. But the reason is a good one.
First though, over the weekend I posted my in-depth reviews of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Matrix Trilogy in 4K Ultra HD here at The Bits.
Like The Matrix in UHD before it, these sequels arrive on the format in fine quality with impressively upgraded image quality and reference-quality Dolby Atmos audio mixes.
They’re definitely recommended, though with the qualification that a few features from the previous The Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-ray set do not carry over. The details are in the review. [Read on here...]
New Time Warner parent company AT&T pulls the plug on TCM & Criterion’s FilmStruck
Sadly, the news today is dominated by the announcement that Turner Classic Movies and Criterion’s FilmStruck streaming service for well-curated classic, arthouse, indie, hard-to-find, and cult movies will be shutting down on 11/29 and has already stopped accepting new subscribers. You can read more here and here.
This is apparently driven the desire by AT&T, which recently purchased Time Warner, to streamline its business by cutting niche services. Though FilmStuck was wildly popular with cinephiles, the audience was small compared to the kind of mass market profit-making a modern media conglom-o-monster prefers. Said Turner and WB Digital Media in a statement today:
“We’re incredibly proud of the creativity and innovations produced by the talented and dedicated teams who worked on FilmStruck over the past two years. While FilmStruck has a very loyal fanbase, it remains largely a niche service. We plan to take key learnings from FilmStruck to help shape future business decisions in the direct-to-consumer space and redirect this investment back into our collective portfolios.” [Read on here...]
2001 4K officially delayed to 11/20, plus Batman: TAS and Thing from Another World updates & new Blu-ray reviews
All right, sorry we’ve been a little low-key here at The Bits this week. We’ve been spending our time in one of two ways:
First, we’re recovering from our recent server and Russian bot issues and doing some upgrading and adjusting to make sure everything is working smoothly going forward.
Second, we’re reviewing Blu-ray and 4K titles like mad!
Today, we’ve posted my looks at Universal’s Invisible Man, The: Complete Legacy Collection and Creature from the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection. Tim has also delivered his thoughts on Maximum Overdrive from Lionsgate’s Vestron Video Collector’s Series. David has offered his thoughts on the Japanese cult classic Battle in Outer Space from Sony. And Dennis has turned in his review of the new City Slickers: Collector’s Edition from Shout! Factory’s Shout Select line-up. Enjoy! [Read on here...]
- The Warner Archive
- The Thing from Another World BD
- Tim Salmons
- Dennis Seuling
- Bill Hunt
- The Digital Bits
- My Two Cents
- David Steigman
- 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K
- Batman: The Animated Series on BD
- The Matrix Trilogy 4K
- The Matrix Reloaded 4K
- The Matrix Revolutions 4K
- The Invisible Man: Complete Legacy Collection BD review
- Creature from the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection BD review
- Battle in Outer Space BD review
- Maximum Overdrive BD review
- City Slickers: Collector's Edition BD review
Schindler’s List 4K preorders, Warner Archive’s Thing from Another World BD, a UK-only Disney 55-Film BD box & more
The big news today isn’t quite official yet, but we expected the press release at any time: Universal will release Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List: 25th Anniversary Edition on 4K Ultra HD on 12/18, as we’ve been saying for a while now. In addition to a new 4K scan, the audio will be English Dolby Atmos, with HDR10 high dynamic range. The previous Blu-ray edition will also be included with DTS-HD MA audio.
There’s a new retrospective featurette: Schindler’s List: 25 Years Later, featuring video of a panel and Q&A with Spielberg, Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Embeth Davidtz, and Caroline Goodall recorded at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year. You also get the previous extras and a Movies Anywhere Digital copy. And here’s the deal: The title is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com at this link. You can see the official cover artwork to the left and also below.
Also newly available for pre-order on Blu-ray and 4K are Night School (with a street date of 1/1/19), Halloween (2018), First Man, and The House with the Clock in its Walls. We’ve updated The 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly. [Read on here...]
- Longmire: The Complete Sixth and Final Season BD
- David Steigman
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- Dennis Seuling
- Tim Salmons
- Schindler's List 4K
- Schindler's List 25 Anniversary
- The Thing from Another World BD
- The Warner Archive
- Evil Dead 2013 BD review
- Detective Bureau 23: Go to Hell Bastards! BD review
- Goodbye Christopher Robin BD review
- Disney Classics: Complete Movie Collection – 19372018
- Universal Classic Monsters 30Film Collection
Criterion’s January, Black Hawk Down & Cliffhanger 4K preorders, Longmire: Complete & Mr. Capra Goes to War
All right, we’ve got a little bit of ground to cover today. We’ve been updating our servers and whatnot, on top of which some Russian/Ukrainian bot army decided to launch a DDOS attack on The Bits for random unknown reasons. It should be noted that this kind of thing happens to most websites on the Internet pretty regularly. But it’s a wonder that the Internet works at all these days, with all the trolls, scams, and state-sponsored chicanery going on.
Anyway... first up here at The Bits today, we have four new Blu-ray reviews for you to check out, including Tim’s look at The Man in the Iron Mask from Shout! Factory, Dennis’ take on Invasion of the Body Snatchers from Olive Films, David’s thoughts on The House of Tomorrow also from Shout!, and Jason’s look at Cabin Boy from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Enjoy!
The big news is that Criterion has announced their January Blu-ray slate, which includes Abbas Kiarostami’s 24 Frames (Spine #956 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/8, an update of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (Spine #137 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/15, Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky (Spine #957 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Spine #958 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/22, and finally Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night (Spine #959 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 1/29. [Read on here...]
- Tim Salmons
- Dennis Seuling
- Bill Hunt
- The Digital Bits
- My Two Cents
- Scream Factory
- Shout! Factory
- Jason Crane
- David Steigman
- Black Hawk Down 4K
- Cliffhanger 4K
- Longmire: The Complete Series
- Longmire: The Complete Sixth and Final Season BD
- The Man in the Iron Mask BD review
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers BD review
- Cabin Boy BD review
- The House of Tomorrow BD review
- 24 Frames
- Notorious
- 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days
- Mikey and Nicky
- In the Heat of the Night
- Criterion Collection January 2019 slate
- Mr Capra Goes to War
- The Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling
- The 7th Day
- Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings
- Narcos: Season 3 Netflix
- Beyond the Sky
- The House That Would Not Die
Evil Dead 2 official for 4K UHD on 12/11, plus Equalizer 2, Pioneers, Zombie: 40th & more, plus new BD reviews
We’re kicking off the new week with some fresh title announcements...
First, Lionsgate has just officially set Evil Dead 2 for release on 4K Ultra HD on 12/11. The release will include Blu-ray and Digital copies in addition to 4K UHD. Audio will be the previous English 5.1 DTS-HD, but HDR will be available in Dolby Vision format on the 4K. In addition to the previous audio commentary, the 4K disc itself will include a new tribute featurette called Bloody and Groovy, Baby! All of the previous Blu-ray extras will carry over on the included BD disc. Best of all, SRP is just $22.99. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set The Equalizer 2 for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 12/11, with the Digital release due on 11/13. The disc will include a Retribution Mode with Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua. 11 deleted and extended scenes, a pop-up trivia track, and 4 featurettes. [Read on here...]
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- Evil Dead 2 4K
- The Equalizer 2 4K
- Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
- Losin' It
- Kino Lorber Studio Classics
- Severin Films
- Operation Finale
- Searching
- I Still See You
- Zombie: 40th Anniversary Edition
- The Night Stalker BD review
- Dennis Seuling
- Anthropophagous BD review
- Tim Salmons
- Matthew Weflen
- Mohsen Makhmalbaf: The Poetic Trilogy BD review
- Arrow Academy
- First Man 4K
- Scream Factory
- Shout! Factory
Mill Creek to release IMAX 4K titles, plus Superman, Wreck-It Ralph & Bad Times at the El Royale 4K pre-orders
We’ve got just a quick update for you today with a couple of items…
The first is that Mill Creek Entertainment is joining the list of 4K Ultra HD studio supporters.
The company plans to release a pair of new IMAX titles in native 4K on the format on 12/22, including IMAX: Journey to the South Pacific and IMAX: A Beautiful Planet. You can pre-order them on Amazon.com now (just click on the title links).
And you can see the cover artwork at left there for A Beautiful Planet.
Also newly available for pre-order on Amazon.com are Warner’s Superman: The Movie in 4K Ultra HD, due on 11/6. Click on the title to visit the relevant page on Amazon.
Newly listed for pre-order on 4K Ultra HD from Disney on 11/6 is Wreck-It Ralph. Disney and Pixar’s The Incredibles 2 is also listed for 4K on 11/6, but you can’t yet pre-order it.
Amazon is, however, allowing pre-orders on Fox’s Bad Times at the El Royale on Blu-ray and 4K, street date TBA.
We’ve updated The 4K Ultra HD List here at The Bits accordingly.
Back tomorrow with more news and reviews.
Stay tuned...
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
Crazy Rich Asians, Christopher Robin, Cliffhanger 4K, new catalog titles, new reviews & more
Let’s dive right into today’s announcement news, shall we?
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just set Crazy Rich Asians on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/20, with the Digital release set for 11/6. No 4K Ultra HD is planned. Extras will include audio commentary by director Jon M. Chu and novelist Kevin Kwan, the Crazy Rich Fun featurette, a gag reel, and deleted scenes.
Walt Disney Studios has set Christopher Robin for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on 11/6. Again, no 4K Ultra HD is planned. Extras will include 4 featurettes (In Which... A Movie Is Made for Pooh, In Which... Pooh Finds His Voice, In Which... Pooh and Walt Become Friends, and In Which... Pooh and Friends Come to Life). [Read on here...]
- Shout! Factory
- The Handmaid's Tale: Season Two BD
- Kino Lorber Studio Classics
- My Two Cents
- The Digital Bits
- Bill Hunt
- 4K Ultra HD Release List
- Tim Salmons
- Dennis Seuling
- David Steigman
- Crazy Rich Asians
- Christopher Robin
- Cliffhanger 4K
- Fuller House: The Complete Third Season
- Blindspotting
- Candyman: Collector’s Edition
- The Last Command
- El Paso
- Wild Women
- Death Ship
- The Man Who Cheated Himself BD review
- The Escape DVD review
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Lost and Found Collection DVD review
Kin on BD/4K, plus Handmaid’s Tale: S2, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, new reviews & Bud Elder on Burt Reynolds
Let’s start today with some new announcement news...
Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment have just officially set Kin for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 11/20, with the Digital release expected on 11/6. The 4K Ultra HD version will include both Dolby Vision HDR and DTS:X object-based audio. The Blu-ray will also feature DTS:X.
Extras will include audio commentary with co-directors Jonathan and Josh Baker and screenwriter Daniel Casey, the Thicker Than Water: The Making of Kin 8-Part documentary, an Enhanced Visual FX Breakdown featurette, the Bag Man: Original Short (with optional audio commentary by Jonathan and Josh Baker), 10 deleted scenes, and the Learned Behavior: Special Features at Work hour-long round table discussion (with Jonathan and Josh Baker, Dan Trachtenberg, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Laurent Bouzereau, and Kevin Smith). You can see the cover artwork at left. [Read on here...]
- The 4K Ultra HD Release List
- David Steigman
- Dennis Seuling
- Tim Salmons
- 4K Ultra HD Release List
- Bill Hunt
- The Digital Bits
- My Two Cents
- Kino Lorber Studio Classics
- Kin 4K
- The Handmaid's Tale: Season Two BD
- GKids
- Shout! Factory
- The Night Is Short Walk on Girl anime
- Bud Elder
- View from the Cheap Seats
- Burt Reynolds
- Starman: Collector's Edition BD
- The Carol Burnett Show: 50th Anniversary Special DVD review
- Rapid Fire BD review
- Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead BD review
- The Last Waltz Eureka!
- Foxfire
- Female on the Beach
- Pat Boone and Family: Christmas & Thanksgiving Specials