Displaying items by tag: Michael Coate

All right, we’ve got a LOT of Blu-ray and 4K announcement news today, as well as lots of new Amazon pre-order links. But first, we have a few more new disc reviews...

Tim has taken a look at Steve Wang’s Drive (1997) on 4K Ultra HD from 88 Films and the MVD Rewind Collection.

Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Onur Tukel’s Summer of Blood (2014) on Blu-ray Disc from Vinegar Syndrome.

And Stephen has offered his take on Neil Marshall’s Dog Soldiers (2002) on 4K Ultra HD in a terrific special edition release from Second Sight.

Also here at The Bits, our own Michael Coate has posted a great new History, Legacy, and Showmanship column featuring a retrospective look at George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones on the occasion of the film’s 20th anniversary. The piece contains a complete rundown of the film’s first-run D-Cinema and IMAX presentations, along with a roundtable interview with historians Stephen Danley, W.R. Miller, and Richard Woloski. If you’re a Star Wars fan in particular, I think you’ll really enjoy it. [Read on here...]

“Attack of the Clones represents George Lucas’ forward-thinking perhaps more than any of his other films.” – Stephen Danley, Star Wars at the Movies

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of Attack of the Clones, the second and middle episode in George Lucas’s Star Wars prequel trilogy.

For the occasion of Attack of the Clones’s recent anniversary, The Bits features a multi-page article consisting of a Q&A with a trio of Star Wars historians and enthusiasts who reflect on the film.

It also contains detailed box-office data and statistics, passages from film reviews, and a reference listing of its North American first-run D-Cinema and IMAX presentations. [Read on here...]

All right, sorry for the lack of an update over the last couple of days. We’ve been very busy here at the site, working on reviews, preparing for some big upcoming reviews, and finishing a few more site upgrades. But the major reason is that there’s a ton of breaking and evolving release news to cover, and getting to the bottom of it all—collating all the details, checking in with sources, confirming key pieces of release information—takes a huge amount of time. But I’m always up for a challenge.

Before we get to that, however, let’s share those disc reviews we’ve been working on over the past few days...

First up, I’ve posted my thoughts on John Milius’ Red Dawn (1984) from Shout! Factory and also Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) from Universal, both in 4K Ultra HD.

Tim has delivered a look at Joel Schumacher’s Flatliners (1990) in 4K UHD from Arrow Video, as well as John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981) in 4K from Scream Factory.

Dennis has reviewed a number of regular Blu-ray titles in the last few days, including Lon Chaney: Before the Thousand Faces – Volume 2 from Undercrank Productions, Josh and Benny Safdie’s Daddy Longlegs (2009) from Criterion, and Jack Gold’s The Tenth Man (1988) and Ken Hughes’s The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And finally, Stephen has delivered in-depth looks at Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon (1997)—a Steelbook release that’s getting hard to find here in the States—and Jeff Fowler’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) both in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount, along with Michael Findlay’s Shriek of the Mutilated (1974) on Blu-ray from American Films via Vinegar Syndrome.

As always more disc reviews are on the way in the coming days. [Read on here...]

“Quite simply, A Clockwork Orange is significant because it’s a Stanley Kubrick film.” – Raymond Benson, Cinema Retro

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick’s (Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey) critically acclaimed film based upon Anthony Burgess’s novel and starring Malcolm McDowell (Time After Time, O Lucky Man!) as gang leader Alex whose principal interests of rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven occupy his life before the government attempts a rehabilitation.

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards (including Best Picture), and in 2020 the Library of Congress selected A Clockwork Orange for preservation in the National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Its most recent home media release, on 4K UHD, was in 2021 (and is reviewed here). [Read on here...]

We’ve got three more new disc reviews for you to enjoy today, starting with Tim’s look at Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998), as recently released on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment. It’s an Aussie import title, but all-region.

Also today, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974), which is newly released on Blu-ray from Imprint Films in Australia, also a region-free disc.

And Stephen has offered his thoughts on Shinsuke Terasawa’s animated Catwoman: Hunted in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, the latest installment in their DC Animated Universe.

What’s more, we have another “bonus” film retrospective from our own Michael Coate today in his History, Legacy and Showmanship column, as he takes a look back at Robert Wise’s original West Side Story (1961) in honor of the film’s 60th anniversary. Michael is joined by film and musical experts Matthew Kennedy, Bruce Kimmel, and Mike Matessino for a great roundtable discussion. Enjoy! [Read on here...]

“West Side Story stands as a prime example of successfully rendering a stage musical in cinematic terms.” – Matthew Kennedy, author of Roadshow!

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 60th anniversary of the release of West Side Story, Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, Star!) and Jerome Robbins’ (The King and I, Gypsy) screen adaptation of the popular musical stage production inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and starring Natalie Wood (Rebel Without a Cause, Brainstorm) as Maria and Richard Beymer (The Diary of Anne Frank, Twin Peaks) as Tony.

The winner of ten Academy Awards including Best Picture, the most popular movie of 1961 and one of the most popular musicals ever also featured Russ Tamblyn (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) as Riff, Rita Moreno (The King and I) as Anita, and George Chakiris (The Young Girls of Rochefort) as Bernardo. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a brand new History, Legacy & Showmanship column from our own Michael Coate for you to enjoy today, and it’s another bonus column originally meant to be posted late last year, but that took longer to complete than expected. In this installment, Michael looks back at Don Seigel’s Dirty Harry (1971) in honor of the film’s 50th anniversary. He’s joined by documentary filmmaker Gary Leva and authors Patrick McGilligan and Lee Pfeiffer, historians all. The piece is well worth your time if you’re a fan of the film.

Also today here at The Bits we have a trio of new Blu-ray reviews from Tim, including his take on the animated The Addams Family (2019) and The Addams Family 2 (2021) from Universal, and also Tom Gries’ Breakheart Pass (1976) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Enjoy!

The big piece of announcement news today is that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has just officially set Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/22, with the Digital release expected on 3/8. The Blu-ray and 4K will include three featurettes (Del Toro’s Neo Noir, Beneath the Tarp, and What Exists in the Fringe). Audio will be Dolby Atmos on the 4K and DTS-HD MA on the Blu-ray SKU. The 4K will also include HDR10 high dynamic range. You can see the cover artwork above left and also below. [Read on here...]

“If you are the rare person who has never seen a Clint Eastwood film and wonder what all the fuss is about, Dirty Harry would be a good place to start.” – Patrick McGilligan, author of Clint: The Life and Legend

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of Dirty Harry, the popular action-thriller about San Francisco Police Department Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan and his quest to apprehend a psychopath. Starring Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) in the titular role, the film was inspired by the Zodiac Killer case and spawned a series of Dirty Harry films.

Directed by Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Escape from Alcatraz), the film also starred Andy Robinson (Hellraiser, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Harry Guardino (Pork Chop Hill, Rollercoaster), Reni Santoni (Bad Boys, Cobra), and John Vernon (The Outlaw Josey Wales, Animal House). [Read on here...]

We begin the day with a pair of new Blu-ray reviews from Stephen... Bill Forsyth’s Breaking In (1989) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and Harry Watt’s The Overlanders (1946) from Umbrella Entertainment.

Also here at The Bits today, we’ve got another “bonus” History, Legacy & Showmanship column for you that’s leftover from 2021, in which Michael and film historian/author Raymond Benson celebrate the 50th anniversary of Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (1971). Enjoy!

In title announcements today, the big news is that Scream Factory has officially set Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2U for release on 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo on 4/26, just as we’ve been expecting for the last week or so.

Expect at least HDR10 high dynamic range and we’ll post the other AV details when we have them. [Read on here...]

“With excellent performances from an ensemble cast, moody and insightful direction by Peter Bogdanovich, and a lovely melancholy that will stay with you long after viewing it, The Last Picture Show is one of my favorite movies.” – Raymond Benson, Cinema Retro

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this multi-page retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich’s (Targets, What’s Up, Doc?) critically acclaimed film based upon Larry McMurtry’s 1966 novel set in a small Texas town during the early 1950s.

The Last Picture Show starred Timothy Bottoms (Johnny Got His Gun), Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski), Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist), Ben Johnson (The Wild Bunch), Cloris Leachman (The Mary Tyler Moore Show), and Cybill Shepherd (Moonlighting), and was nominated for eight Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and was the winner of two (supporting nods for Johnson and Leachman). [Read on here...]