Displaying items by tag: Vinegar Syndrome

All right, Bits readers, today is a tough one news-wise, and it has little to do with specific title release news or announcements.

We’ve learned from multiple sources now that the 15% US workforce cuts at Paramount Global—a restructuring that’s happening in advance of the company’s merger with Skydance Media to reduce annual costs by some $500 million—have landed very heavily on the Melrose lot. As reported widely last week, the layoffs amount to about 2,000 people, with most expected to be gone by the end of next month and the rest by year’s end.

Current co-CEOs George Cheeks, Brian Robbins, and Chris McCarthy have described the layoffs thusly in a memo to the workforce: “As we continue to advance our plan, we announced on our earnings call last week that we will be reducing our US-based workforce by approximately 15%, focusing on redundant functions and streamlining corporate teams.”

The expectation was that every division would be impacted. As reported last week, Paramount Television Studios has been shuttered completely. What’s not been reported widely yet is the impact on overall studio operations.

The Digital Bits sources indicate that nearly every department has been affected—in a few cases severely—from marketing, legal, and accounting, to production, post-production, finance, mastering, vault and library services, and unfortunately also Paramount Home Entertainment. The cuts are reportedly not so deep as to result in a complete loss of institutional knowledge, but they’re more than deep enough to result in major workflow disruptions. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a good bit of ground to cover here at The Bits today, so let’s start as always with new disc reviews...

Now available here are Stephen’s take on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) in 4K Ultra HD from StudioCanal, David Allen’s The Primevals (2023) as released on Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment, and the Blu-ray Audio version of Jonathan Demme and Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense (1984) live album, which includes Dolby Atmos.

Stuart’s look at the Philo Vance Collection on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics—which includes The Canary Murder Case (1929), The Greene Murder Case (1929), and The Benson Murder Case (1930)—as well as George King’s The Shop at Sly Corner (1947) and the Columbia Film Noir #6: The Whistler box set—which includes The Whistler (1944), The Mark of the Whistler (1944), The Power of the Whistler (1945), Voice of the Whistler (1945), Mysterious Intruder (1946), The Secret of the Whistler (1946), The Thirteenth Hour (1947), and The Return of the Whistler (1948)—both on Blu-ray from Indicator.

Dennis’ thoughts on Basil Dearden’s The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) on Blu-ray from Imprint and Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series (1975-1979) on DVD from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.

And finally, Tim has taken a look at Arch Oboler’s Bwana Devil (1952) on Blu-ray 3D from Kino Lorber Studio Classics with the help of the 3-D Film Archive.

More reviews are forthcoming, so stay tuned!

Now then, before we get to the big release news today, I wanted to alert you all to the fact that we’ve just posted a big update to our Cover Art section here at The Bits, aka the Release Dates & Artwork section (thanks to our own Russell Hammond)! It now features TONS of new Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover art, all with Amazon.com pre-order links. You can browse and sort the titles by street date and format, and of course The Bits is an Amazon Affiliate, so anytime you click through one of our Amazon links and order literally anything from them, you’re helping to support our work and we really do appreciate it. It makes a real difference for us. [Read on here...]

We start as always today with more new disc reviews, including…

Stephen’s look at Jonathan Demme’s Last Embrace (1979) in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome’s excellent Cinématographe line, as well as John Waters’ Cry-Baby (1990) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stuart’s reviews of Andrzej Żuławski’s L’important c’est d’Aimer... (1975) on Blu-ray from Film Movement via Vinegar Syndrome, along with John Guillermin’s The Whole Truth (1958) on Blu-ray from Powerhouse Films’ Indicator label.

And Dennis’ take on Boaz Yakin’s Fresh (1994) on Blu-ray from Via Vision’s Imprint Films.

Now then, there’s some exciting release news for us to share with you today, but first we want to take a moment to clear up some confusion: The Warner Archive Collection is still the Warner Archive Collection!

Many of you have probably seen that their Facebook page was suddenly rebranded as Warner Classics (click here for the link). But rest assured, the Warner Archive Collection remains! Warner is simply trying to unite all of its “classic film” marketing activity in one social media space. So while the Warner Archive Collection remains the core of this page, you’ll also learn here about forthcoming classic film releases on Blu-ray and 4K UHD from the studio proper, as well as theatrical screening activity, and the like. So everyone can relax—Warner Archive has not disappeared!

In fact, Warner Archive has just shared some excellent release news: The Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice: Volume 4 Blu-ray is officially coming on 11/26! You can see their official Facebook post here. Details of the actual shorts the set will include are yet to be announced, but the release is definitely now in production. Great news indeed! [Read on here...]

We’ve got more interesting release news here today to close out the week, and a few more new disc reviews as well. First the reviews...

Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Abel Ferrara’s Dangerous Game (1993) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome via their fine new Cinématographe line.

And Dennis has reviewed Bryce McGuire’s Night Swim (2024) on Blu-ray from Blumhouse via Universal, as well as Raoul Walsh’s The Man I Love (1947) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

More reviews are on the way for next week, including my take on Hayao Miyazaki’s animated The Boy and the Huron (2023) in 4K Ultra HD from GKids. So be sure to stay tuned for them.

Also, my apologies for the lack of news updates this week, but I was struck a bout of vertigo last Saturday, and I’ve been having to take it a bit easy to reset everything back to normal. It’s nothing serious—mine is caused by tension in my shoulders aggravating the nerves in my neck, in this case triggered by sleeping with my neck in an awkward position. So the key is to fix my pillow situation and try to relax a little bit more. I’m sure some of you out there can relate!

Anyway, the big news lately is that Second Sight in the UK has finally set their long-awaited 4K remaster of Robert Harmon’s The Hitcher (1986) for release on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on 9/30. It’s currently exclusive to their website in a 4K + Blu-ray Limited Edition, as well as separate (and standard) 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions. [Read on here...]

We’ve got several new disc reviews to share with you today, including...

My take on Michael Apted’s Thunderheart (1992) in its first-ever U.S. Blu-ray release from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Stephen’s look at Adam Wingard’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.

Dennis’s thoughts on Adam Egypt Mortimer’s Daniel Isn’t Real (2019) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome and Jeremy Kagan’s Big Man on Campus (1989) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Stuart’s reviews of Ingmar Bergman’s Face to Face (1976) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and Noboru Nakamura’s The Shape of Night (1964) on Blu-ray from Radiance Films.

We’ll have more new reviews here at The Bits tomorrow as well, so be sure to check back for them early!

In title announcements today, the big news is that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has officially set George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) for release on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K + BD Steelbook on 8/13. The Digital release is expected on 6/25. [Read on here...]

We’re rounding out the week here at The Bits with a pair of additional disc reviews, including...

Stephen’s thoughts on Yuzuru Tachikawa’s anime Blue Giant (2023) on Blu-ray from GKids via Shout! Studios.

And Dennis’ take on Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn’s Another Body (2023) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

Also today, we’ve updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits with all the latest announced 4K titles as well as those we’ve learned are coming from our industry sources.

Over on our Patreon page, many of you have asked us for an Annual Membership option in order to get the best value while backing us and supporting The Bits there. So we’re very pleased to finally make it available today. Signing up as a Patreon supporter of The Bits via the Annual Membership option (at whatever support level you choose) gives you a 10% discount.

And while we’re talking Patreon, we’re going to be holding a members-only Digital Bits: “Ask Us Anything” Live Chat on Patreon tomorrow (Saturday, June 15th) at 11 AM Pacific (1 PM Central, or 6 PM UTC). I’ll be on hand to participate, along with Tim Salmons and Stephen Bjork. You can ask us about physical media, 4K, Blu-ray, film in general, our work, our interests—pretty much any topic other than politics is fair game. While there may be a few questions (about specific upcoming titles) that we can’t answer, we’ll do our best to tackle all questions as they come in. Our goal is to go live for at least an hour. And if everything goes smoothly, we’ll continue for a second hour (provided there’s enough demand/questions to warrant doing so). We hope to see you there! [Read on here...]

We have four new disc reviews for you to enjoy today, including...

Tim’s look at Giuliano Carnimeo’s The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972) in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Celluloid Dreams... and we mean friends literally—the company was launched by former DVD Review editor Guido Henkel and his son Lucas. (Congrats to both of them on their first successful title!)

Stuart’s take on George Roy Hill’s The Little Drummer Girl (1984) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Stephen’s thoughts on John Mackenzie’s The Long Good Friday (1980) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video UK, a region-free British import title.

And Dennis’ look at Chad Ferrin’s H.P. Lovecraft’s The Old Ones (2024) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

Also, we’ve just posted a massive update of our Release Dates & Cover Art section featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and especially 4K Ultra HD titles that are available for pre-order on Amazon.com. There are tons of new titles, and remember that anytime you order one using our links you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits (and we really do appreciate it)!

We’ve also got some great release news for you today, starting with word that Arrow Video has just announced their forthcoming Shawscope: Volume Three Blu-ray box set, which will street on 11/26. [Read on here...]

We start today with more new disc reviews, including...

Stephen’s look at John Flynn’s Rolling Thunder (1977) and Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie (2013) in 4K Ultra HD, as well as Jonathan Kaplan’s Over the Edge (1979) on Blu-ray, all from Shout! Factory.

Stuart’s take on Ken Loach’s documentary The Spirit of ‘45 (2013) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome and Alain Cavalier’s Le Combat dans l’île (1962) on Blu-ray from Radiance Films.

And Dennis’ thoughts on Kino Classics’ Vitagraph Comedies Blu-ray, featuring 40 classic shorts on three discs.

Now then, in terms of actual announcement news, we’ve got a couple of items for you and they’re pretty great. But there’s even more unofficial news, that’s no less exciting! Let’s get to the actual announcement news first...

It starts today with word that Janus Films will be debuting a brand new 4K restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s legendary epic Seven Samurai (1954) next month in New York and Los Angeles! You’ll be able to see it on 7/5 at the Film Forum in NYC and on 7/7 at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. This is only my favorite film of all time. I will absolutely be at that Egyptian Theatre screening, and the fact that this restoration is now complete surely means that a physical 4K Ultra HD is coming later this year from Criterion as well. You can see the poster for this release at left, and the trailer is available for reviewing below the break. [Read on here...]

Our second news update of the day starts with a little bit of breaking news: Paramount has just made David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker’s Top Secret! (1984) and David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007) available in 4K Digital on Apple TV, Vudu, Kaleidescape, and more. Given the amount of effort Fincher puts into his remasters, we believe it’s safe to assume that Zodiac will be coming to physical 4K Ultra HD from Paramount sooner than later as well.

Zodiac, it should be remembered, was shot mostly in 10-bit RAW in 1080p HD (4:4:4) using the Thomson Viper FilmStream camera, along with some footage in 35 mm photochemical film (Super 35 format). But anyone who doubts that it could look great upscaled and remastered in 4K would do well to take a look at HBO’s Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season in 4K UHD (which we’ve reviewed here). The advantages of high data rate and low compression, combined with an HDR grade, could really make a difference. Zodiac in particular was very well lit and photographed. Personally, I’m eager to get a look at it.

Also today, Arrow Video has announced their August slate, which includes a UK-only 4K Ultra HD release of Michael Lehmann’s Heathers (1988) on 8/5, followed by a slew of titles on 8/26. Among them are Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado (1995) in 4K Ultra HD and The Mexico Trilogy box set (both in the UK, US, and Canada), which includes El Mariachi (1992) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) in Blu-ray, as well as the Desperado 4K. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a big news update here at The Bits for you today, and we’ll be back with a second update early tomorrow morning—there’s a ton of new title announcements, breaking news, and rumors to address at the moment. So let’s get started.

First, as always, some new disc reviews...

Tim has turned in his thoughts on Hanna-Barbera’s animated Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988) and Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Stuart has offered his take on Giulio Petroni’s Death Rides a Horse (1967) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Piero Regnoli’s The Playgirls and the Vampire (1960) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, and Éric Rohmer’s The Aviator’s Wife (1981) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber proper.

More reviews are coming in the next day or two, so be sure to stay tuned for them.

Also, just to let you all know, I’ve shared a new exclusive blog post on The Digital Bits’ Patreon page that I think will get a lot of you physical media fans pretty excited. It’s called 2025 Will Be a Big Year for 4K (and We Should Appreciate Every Minute), and there’s good news in there—remember where you heard it first!—that we’ll be talking about here at The Bits a bunch in the weeks and months ahead. Don’t forget that becoming a paid member of our Patreon (for as little as $6 a month) is a great way to help support our work here at The Bits, and we really do appreciate it!

Now then, the big news today is that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has just revealed that they’re releasing Friends: The Complete Series in 4K Ultra HD—no kidding—on 9/24, in honor of the series’ 30th anniversary! We don’t have any other details yet, but the set is now available for pre-order on Amazon for SRP $249.99 (click here for the link). We expect an official press release any day now. While we wait, you can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]