Displaying items by tag: Media Play News

We’ve got a bit of fun news today, some release news and some other...

First up though, we also have a new disc review. Dennis has just turned in a look at director George Marshall’s classic Destry Rides Again (1939) now on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. It’s a classic western starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich that’s well worth your time.

And while we’re speaking of Criterion, that brings us to our first bit of release news, which is that Criterion has just announced a Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits Blu-ray box set (Spine# 1036), which is set to include The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury (1972), The Way of the Dragon (1972), Enter the Dragon (1973), and Game of Death (1978). [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks! We’ve got a couple things for you today here at The Bits...

First of all, our own Michael Coate has just turned in a new History, Legacy and Showmanship column featuring a look back at Franklin J. Schaffner’s classic George C. Scott war epic Patton in honor of its 50th anniversary.

Michael is joined this time by author and historian Steven Jay Rubin for a discussion on the film and its legacy. We think you’ll really enjoy it, so do give that a look. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a few things to cover today...

First up, we have a pair of new Blu-ray reviews for you this afternoon from Dennis, including his thoughts on M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass and Mimi Leder’s On the Basis of Sex, both from Universal. Enjoy!

Also today, and this is the big news: Late on Friday we caught wind that HBO might finally be planning to release the Tom Hanks-produced miniseries From the Earth to the Moon on Blu-ray in July. The online retailer ImportCDs was showing a listing for the title as streeting on 7/16. A quick retailer search over the weekend led to more corroborating evidence: Best Buy and Barnes and Noble are both showing listings as well for the title – B&N’s sale price is $31.99, while Best Buy’s is $27.99. There are no details available yet, nor is there cover artwork, and the title has not been officially announced by HBO. But we believe it’s reasonable to assume it’s coming. [Read on here...]

There’s some new release news to report today, and then we’re going to return to the topic of physical media in the wake of the news about Samsung on Friday.

But first, late on Friday afternoon, Criterion announced their May Blu-ray release slate, which is set to include William Wyler’s The Heiress (Cat #974 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/7, an updating of David Mamet’s House of Games (Cat #399 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games (Cat #975 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/14, Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In (Cat #976 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/21, and Agnès Varda’s One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Cat #978 – Blu-ray and DVD) and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (Cat #977 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 5/28. We’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project page here at The Bits to include these titles and you can read more about them here.

Speaking of Criterion, we also learned on Friday that the Russian film studio Mosfilm has completed a new 2K restoration of Sergei Bondarchuk’s epic 1966-67 film adaptation of War and Peace. The 7-hour/4-part series is legendary in cinema history as the biggest production ever mounted, besting even David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia by having an essentially unlimited budget, a bottomless supply of props and costumes from the country’s state museums, and a cast of thousands. The film was shot on Russian Sovscope 70mm film stock, but unfortunately it’s suffered from preservation issues over the years. That’s meant the only good options available for viewing in recent years have been DVD versions of modest quality. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a bit of release news to start the week for you, and we’ll be back with new disc reviews tomorrow.

First up, Walt Disney Home Entertainment has set Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 6/5, with the Digital release expected on 5/29. The Blu-ray version will feature English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, while the 4K UHD will include English Dolby Atmos. We believe that the 4K disc will have Dolby Vision HDR as well, but we’re awaiting confirmation of that.

Extras on both Blu-ray versions will include the A Journey Through Time featurette, audio commentary (with director Ava DuVernay, producer Jim Whitaker, co-screenwriter Jennifer Lee, production designer Naomi Shohan, 1st AD Michael Moore, editor Spencer Averick, and VFX supervisor Rich McBride), 4 deleted scenes, bloopers, 2 music videos (I Believe and Warrior). You can see the Blu-ray cover art above left and below. We should have the 4K Ultra HD cover art in the next couple days. [Read on here...]