Displaying items by tag: Studio Ghibli

All right, as mentioned earlier, we’ve got more release news to cover today here at The Bits. But first some new disc reviews...

Stephen has checked out Paul Verhoeven’s cult classic Showgirls (1995) on 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome, which features the film in 4K UHD and Blu-ray, along with an additional Blu-ray full of special features. Stephen has also reviewed Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982) on Blu-ray from Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber.

Also today, Dennis has offered his thoughts on George Cukor’s Little Women (1955) and Abe Levitow’s animated Gay Purr-ee (1962), both new on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Stuart has taken a look at the Norwegian legal drama Aber Bergen: Complete Series from MHz Networks and Kino Lorber, as well as Inés Toharia Terán’s Film: The Living Record of Our Memory (2021) documentary from Kino Lorber, both of them on DVD, along with the Warner Archive Collection’s Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece (1961) and Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964) double feature Blu-ray.

Now then, speaking of Warner, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment and DC Studios have announced the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of the Netflix original series The Sandman: The Complete First Season on 11/18, with a Digital release expected on 9/18. Note that a second season of the series is already on the way from Netflix. The set will include all 11 episodes, along with a pair of featurettes (The Sandman: Behind the Scenes Sneak Peek and The World of The Endless). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

We’ve got one more quick update for you today here at The Bits. But first, we have two new disc reviews from Stephen...

He’s taken a look at Thom Eberhardt’s Night of the Comet (1984) in 4K Ultra HD from Shout and Scream Factory. And he’s also reviewed Scott Walker’s The Tank (2023) on Blu-ray from Well Go USA Entertainment.

Now then, the quick bit of news we have to report today is a follow up on something we predicted was coming here at The Bits several months back, which is that Universal Studios Home Entertainment is officially releasing the next wave of Alfred Hitchcock 4K Ultra HD titles on 10/31!

You’ll get the next box set of five films—The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection: Volume 3—as well as 4K single-film SKUs of each of the films in the set, including Rope (1948), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Torn Curtain (1966), Topaz (1969), and Frenzy (1972). You can see the cover art for the box at left, and the singles below the break. [Read on here...]

The big piece of announcement news today is that Universal Studios Home Entertainment has set Paul Thomas Anderson’s excellent and Best Picture-nominated film Licorice Pizza for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/17. The Digital version is already available (including 4K), though there are no current plans for a physical 4K Ultra HD release. Extras on the Blu-ray will include camera tests, a deleted scene, a Fat Bernie’s Commercial, and a Behind-the-Scenes featurette. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.

Also, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has officially set The Boys: Seasons 1 & 2 Collection for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/17. Of course, the Amazon-exclusive series is already available for streaming on Amazon Prime. This release is no doubt timed to support the 6/3 debut of Season 3 on Prime. Extras on the discs will include deleted scenes and a blooper real for each season, plus Butcher: A Short Film. Again, you can see the cover artwork below.

One hopes that the this means Sony might consider releasing other series it produces for streamers on physical media eventually, including (hopefully) Apple TV’s outstanding For All Mankind (which I’d kill to own on physical 4K). [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...]

All right, I’ve had a pretty steady stream of plumbers and carpenters here the last couple days as my wife and I work get our water leak sorted out. On top of which, yesterday was our annual visit to the tax man. LOL. So I appreciate your patience with the lack of an update yesterday.

We did at least get Tim’s Facebook problems resolved today. He’s back up and able to access his account there. Turns out it being disabled was just an error on Facebook’s part, so special thanks to a friend of the site who helped us to sort it all out.

While he was off the Book, Tim completed work on a new Blu-ray review for Arrow’s excellent He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefe Collection box set, which includes Sting of Death (1965), Death Curse of Tartu (1966), The Hooked Generation (1968), The Psychedelic Priest (1969), The Naked Zoo (1970), Mako: Jaws of Death (1976), and Whiskey Mountain (1977). You can find that here.

In announcement news today, HBO has set His Dark Materials: Season Two for Blu-ray and DVD release on 12/31, presumably not long before the BBC and HBO debut of Season Three in very early 2022. The second season has been available in the UK since December of last year. [Read on here...]

All right, a quick update today with a bit more release news...

First up though, we have two more new disc reviews for you today. Tim has checked out Richard Jefferies’ Blood Tide (1982) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video. And Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Paul Wegener and Carl Boese’s classic German expressionist tale The Golem (1920) on Blu-ray from Kino Classics. Do give them a look.

Also, we’ve just posted a new update of the Release Dates & Artwork section here at The Bits thanks to our own Russell Hammond, and it’s full of all the recently-announced Blu-ray and 4K titles. As always, whenever you order anything from Amazon through our links, you’re helping to support The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

In other news today, here’s a nice surprise: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is releasing Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice in 4K Ultra HD on 9/1! It looks like two versions will be available: A wide release standard edition and an Amazon exclusive deluxe giftset. You can see the cover art at left and also below. [Read on here...]

All right, today’s Bits update offers 4K Ultra HD news, some of it good and some of it bad, as well as some good standard Blu-ray news...

The good news first: We’ve learned from our studio and industry sources that Disney is bringing Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War to physical 4K Ultra HD in April. Our retail sources suggest the street date is likely to be 4/23. This makes sense as it’s the same week that Avengers: Endgame hits theaters. Keep in mind, Captain America: The First Avenger hits the format next Tuesday, 2/26. It appears that Best Buy will have exclusive Steelbook packaging and Zavvi is already taking pre-orders on a Captain America Trilogy 4K set.

We’ve also learned from our sources that essentially all of the other Marvel Cinematic Universe titles not yet released on physical 4K are coming over the next year or so. This includes Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Iron Man 3 (2013), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Ant-Man (2015), and Doctor Strange (2016). We would expect the next batch to arrive with the home release of Captain Marvel, somewhere around Q2 2019. [Read on here...]

Morning, folks. We’re going to be working on more reviews here at The Bits today, but we do have some interesting release news to report for you before we get started on those.

First, it appears that whatever was going on to delay the Amazon pre-orders for upcoming 4K titles from Warner seems to have been resolved. You can now pre-order Blade Runner: 2049 on 4K (and also Blu-ray – keep in mind the title hasn’t officially been announced, so there’s no street date yet and we don’t know if there will be the 3D and deluxe SKUs in the US) and also Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – one of the four remaining Potter titles due on 11/7. We expect the others to appear soon and we’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List too. [Read on here…]

Morning, folks! Hope you all had a great weekend. We’ve been very busy here working on new reviews for you.

Along those lines, here’s my thoughts on Warner’s Peanuts Holiday Collection in 4K Ultra HD, Lionsgate’s American Gods: Season One on Blu-ray, PBS’ The Farthest: Voyager in Space and The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick on Blu-ray, GKids’ new Blu-ray editions of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s animated Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away, and Tim’s look at Arrow’s new A Fish Called Wanda: Special Edition and Robert Englund’s 976-EVIL from Sony, both on Blu-ray. Whew!

Rest assured, we’ve got more new reviews coming this week, including a bunch more 4K titles, Baby Driver and Spiderman: Homecoming included. So be sure to watch for those. [Read on here…]

Tim has posted a pair of new Blu-ray reviews today, featuring his thoughts on Lew Lehman’s The Pit from Kino Lorber and Jeffrey Delman’s Deadtime Stories from Scream Factory. Both are worth a look for fans, so do check them out.

I’m also going to be working on more new 4K reviews this afternoon, so watch for them to be posted here on the site later today and tomorrow morning. We’ll mention them here in tomorrow’s My Two Cents column.

By the way, I wanted to invite you all to follow The Bits on Facebook and Twitter if you don’t already. More importantly, I wanted to invite you to follow me personally (Bill Hunt) on Facebook and Twitter, if you’d like as well. Do keep in mind, however, that on my own personal pages I tend to talk more about other things of interest to me than just Blu-ray, 4K, and DVD specifically – films, great books, science topics, spaceflight, history, technology, and the like. You’re always welcome to communicate with me that way, particularly via Facebook Messenger, as e-mail these days seems to be inundated with junk and SPAM. Maybe I’ll see you there. [Read on here…]