Displaying items by tag: Warner Bros Discovery Home Entertainment

John Daro is a highly experienced Lead Digital Intermediate colorist with Warner Post Production Creative Services, someone I first met late last year while attending a Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) event on the Burbank lot on the latest developments in Filmmaker Mode.

It was clear to me then that John is extremely good at what he does, and it just so happens that he’s a great guy—someone who’s very enthusiastic about his work, and who ensures that the 4K HDR images we see on Ultra HD releases look as good as they possibly can.

As it also turns out, like me, he’s a huge fan of the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008) and the original 1960s Speed Racer anime as well. So I was thrilled to have the chance recently to speak with John about his work on the new 4K remaster of the film. Here’s a transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity…

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Bill Hunt (The Digital Bits): First of all, let me just say: I’ve had the Speed Racer disc for about a week now, and I love it. You guys absolutely nailed it. I first saw this film in the Ross Theatre on the Warner lot back in 2008, and I walked out of it thinking I’d just seen a masterpiece. But it seemed like I was the only person who felt that way.

John Daro (Warner Bros.): Well, you know, I’ll stand behind this. I think it was a little too… probably five years ahead of its time. I don’t think the world was ready for that kind of style.

BH: Yeah, that’s exactly right. And yet more recently, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Everything Everywhere All at Once… even Barbie… they all follow in its footsteps.

But back in 2008, when the film first came out on Blu-ray, it was only on a BD-25 disc. So the image was compressed and the film didn’t have lossless audio. Unless you saw Speed Racer in a theater, you really missed out on the best possible experience.

JD: Well, that’s the through line, right? It’s the technology of the time. In many ways, even just the visual effects of the film, that is what you could do at the time. Now, we get to breathe a little bit more life into it. And with the technology today, it’s gonna be as good as it can get. [Read on here...]

Hope you’re all enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend, folks—at least those of you who live here in the States!

And for the rest of you around the world, I hope your work week has gotten off to a good start.

I’ve got four pieces of 4K Ultra HD catalog news to share with you today, and I think most of you disc fans out there are going to very happy about each of them.

The first is a tease about an upcoming title, and this is one I’m very pleased to say is not only coming, but it’s yet another film we love here at The Bits and have long been looking forward to for a long time. It’s also a film that spaceflight fans appreciate, so they’ll be happy too…

Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff (1983) is coming to 4K Ultra HD in 2026!

We expect it to be released on disc right around the end of the year, and we’ll share more details when the time is right.

But for now, suffice it to say that this is yet another great Warner Bros. catalog title that’s finally coming to the 4K format. And there are going to be a lot of those to talk about in the next 12-24 months, so start saving your money now, disc fans! [Read on here...]

We’ve got a few great new disc reviews for you to enjoy here at the site today as we continue our efforts to get things back to normal here. And a couple of them are significant titles…

First, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on David Fincher’s newly remastered Fight Club (1999) in 4K Ultra HD from 20th Century Studios via Disney and Sony. Stephen has also taken a look at Luis Llosa’s Anaconda (1997) in 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Next, Tim has offered his take on Ralph Bakshi’s animated Fire and Ice (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Blue Underground.

And Dennis has shared his look at Jack Conway’s Honky Tonk (1941) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

More reviews are forthcoming, and again there should be a lot more over the next week or so as we return to something like normal operations here at The Bits after our efforts to stabilize the first from intensive AI bot scraping and higher-than-ever site traffic.

Also, we’ve got a new update of the Release Dates and Artwork section for you all to enjoy as well.

So we really appreciate your patience as we’ve dealt with that over the last 6-8 weeks or so.

In terms of announcement news this week, our friends at the Criterion Collection have revealed their August slate, which includes Todd Haynes’ Safe (1995) (Spine #739 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) on 8/4, Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de torchon (1981) (Spine #106 – Blu-ray) on 8/11, and Barbara Koppe’s Harlan County USA (1976) (Spine #334 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) and American Dream (1990) (Spine #1324 – Blu-ray), and James Gray’s Little Odessa (1994) (Spine #1323 – 4K UHD + Blu-ray) on 8/25. Also coming on 8/25 is Eclipse Series 49: Five Radical Documentaries by Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi (1972-2016) on Blu-ray. [Read on here...]

We’ve got BIG 4K news to cover here at The Bits this afternoon, so let’s get right into it…

First up, reviews! Today we have for you…

Stephen’s look at Delmar Daves’ 3:10 to Yuma (1957) in 4K from Criterion, Hal Ashby’s Being There (1979) on Blu-ray as recently reissued by Warner Bros., and Marcell Jankovics’ Song of the Miraculous Hind (2002) on Blu-ray from our friends at Deaf Crocodile Films. (And we have more Deaf Croc reviews forthcoming!)

Tim’s thoughts on Don Coscarelli’s The Beastmaster (1982) in 4K Ultra HD, both the new release from Imprint Films and also the Scream Factory edition from November of last year.

And Tim has also reviewed the Warner Archive’s new Looney Tunes: Collector’s Vault – Volume 2 (1934-63) on Blu-ray, Guy Magar’s Retribution (1987) in 4K from Severin Films, and he’s tag-teamed with Dennis for a review of Kenneth Branagh’s Dead Again (1991) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classic.

Also here at The Bits today, our own Russell Hammond has just shared the latest update of our Release Dates & Artwork section, featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover art and Amazon pre-order links. Don’t forget, The Bits is an Amazon Affiliate, so literally anything you order after clicking to them from of our links (like this one) goes to help support our work here at the site and we appreciate it!

Now then… the big release news here today is something that those of you who are subscribers to our Patreon site already knew was coming: Disney has just officially announced the classic animated Alice in Wonderland (1951) for 4K Ultra HD release on 5/5! [Read on here...]

Boy, I’ve been waiting for this today for years now—one of my favorite titles is finally official, as in the studio has just issued their press release. And there are a bunch of other great title announcements today as well.

But first as always, a few more new disc reviews…

Stuart and Dennis have turned in their thoughts on Kino Lorber Studio Classics’ Peter Sellers: Early Classics Blu-ray box set, which includes Man in a Cocked Hat (1959), I’m All Right Jack (1959), Two-Way Stretch (1960), Heavens Above! (1963), and The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963).

And Tim has reviewed Chuck Russell’s The Mask (1994) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video.

More reviews are forthcoming all this week, so be sure to check back for them!

Also today, our own Russell Hammond has just posted the latest update of the Release Dates & Artwork section featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover art and Amazon pre-order links. As The Bits is an Amazon Affiliate, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

And of course, the best way to support what we do by far is to subscribe to our Digital Bits Patreon where we talk about lots of things—including upcoming 4K titles—before we can post all the details here on the website. Monthly subscriptions start at just $6 and you can get discounts on full-year subscriptions too. So thank you, sincerely, for helping us to keep The Digital Bits going as we advocate for physical media and the issues that matter to you! [Read on here...]

Greetings, Bits readers—I hope this finds you all well!

You may have noticed that there have been very few updates here on the site this week, and also that we’ve had a lot of downtime in which the site wasn’t working or was slow to load.

There’s a reason for that, which is that we’ve been the target of relentless scaping by AI companies trying to train their LLMs. We’ve taken steps to prevent it in the past, but they don’t seem to care that when they scrape us, it causes significant disruptions for both us and you as readers. So it looks like we’re going to have to take further steps to prevent this going forward.

In the meantime, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today, as I haven’t been able to post a news update since Monday due to these disruptions.

We’ll start with disc reviews! We’ve had a bunch for you this week, including…

My looks at Jeannot Szwarc’s Somewhere in Time (1980) in 4K from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, David Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999) in 4K from StudioCanal (a joint review with former Bits staffer Dan Kelly), Michael Crichton’s Westworld (1973) in 4K from Arrow Video, and Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way (2020-23) in 4K from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Tim’s review of Lam Nai-Choi’s The Cat (1991) on Blu-ray from 88 Films.

Dennis’ take on Claude Leloch’s A Man and a Woman (1966) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

Stuart’s thoughts on Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Lightship (1985) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and Jeffrey Dell and Roy Boulting’s Man in a Cocked Hat (1959) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And finally, Stephen’s look at Dario Argento’s The Phantom of the Opera (1998) and Emmett Alston’s Demonwarp (1988) in 4K from Vinegar Syndrome, and Ti West’s The Innkeepers (2011) on Blu-ray from Umbrella and in 4K Ultra HD from Second Sight. Whew!

Now, let’s get to the news that’s broken since our announcement of James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash on Blu-ray and 4K on Monday… [Read on here...]

All right, as you can see by that headline, we’ve got some big release news for you today! But first, a few more new disc reviews…

Stephen has reviewed William Friedkin’s Jade (1995) in 4K Ultra HD from Imprint Films.

Tim has offered his thoughts on Rod Amateau’s The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987) in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome.

And Dennis has shared his perspective on a Jack Benny Comedy Classics double feature of Raoul Walsh’s Artists and Models (1937) and Mark Sandrich’s Man About Town (1939) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

I’ve also got a couple of additional reviews coming tomorrow, so be sure to watch for those.

Now then… you know how lots of people a few weeks ago were saying that if Netflix won the bidding war for Warner Bros. that might mean the end of physical media?

Yeah, maybe not so much.

Not only has Netflix recently let Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and the animated K-Pop Demon Hunters be licensed to Criterion for Blu-ray and 4K release, today we have even bigger news.

Arrow Video just announced on social media that they’re bringing the most popular Netflix Original series of all time—the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things: The Complete Series—to Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD in July (street date 7/28)! [Read on here...]

We start today with two new disc reviews for you to enjoy, including…

Stephen’s look at Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man (1980) in a great limited edition 4K Ultra HD release from Radiance Films.

And Tim’s thoughts on Arrow Video’s excellent 4K Ultra HD release of New Line’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy (1990-93).

More reviews are on the way, so be sure to keep checking back for them!

Also today, we’ve just uploaded our own Russell Hammond’s latest update of the Release Dates & Cover Artwork section here at The Bits, featuring new Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links.

As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through one of our affiliate links (like this one), you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

Now then… our friends at the Warner Archive Collection have just revealed their terrific April slate of Blu-ray catalog titles, and it includes a great new 4K title as well! [Read on here...]

I’ve been fortunate to attend a number of great film industry events over the last thirty years, but I can tell you... none of them is more fun than the Saturn Awards.

While the Oscars, Golden Globes, and SAG awards tend to get all the mainstream media coverage, the Saturns are the sort of nerdy-fun party that Hollywood filmmakers actually like to attend.

Founded in 1972 by the late Dr. Donald A. Reed, a film historian, educator, and longtime scholar of genre entertainment, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror is a non-profit organization that has a single goal: to support and encourage filmed genre entertainment.

What makes the Saturns so great is that there’s no ego—people attend because they love the work they do, and they love each other’s work even more. Things tend to be very relaxed, everyone mixes together before and after the awards—even during dinner—and you can easily find yourself unexpectedly chatting with people you’ve admired for years.

This year’s event was a whopper; in attendance to either present or accept awards were Tom Cruise, George Lucas, James Cameron, William Shatner, Mark Hamill, Christopher McQuarrie, Kathleen Kennedy, Guillermo del Toro, Bryan Fuller, Laurence Fishburne, Terry Matalas, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, and many more. The Star Trek franchise was recognized for its 60th anniversary, as was Aliens for its 40th, and the TV series The Boys was given a Spotlight Award. It was definitely a fun evening. [Read on here...]

This has been a very busy week here at The Bits, tracking upcoming titles, talking with industry sources, and the like, thus the lack of posts.

But we’ve definitely got both new disc reviews for you today as well as some release news worth sharing. Let’s start with the latter first.

Today we’ve got…

Tim’s reviews of Chor Yuen’s The Sentimental Swordsman (1977) on Blu-ray from Arrow’s Shawscope: Volume Three box set, Severin Films’ Saga Erotica: The Emmanuelle Collection in 4K Ultra HD, and Michael Curtiz’s Captain Blood (1935) in 4K Ultra HD from Criterion.

Stephen’s reviews of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Quest for Fire (1981) on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment, Dario Argento’s Sleepless (2001) in 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome, Michael Cacoyannis’ Iphigenia (1977) on Blu-ray from Radiance Films, Corey Yuen’s She Shoots Straight (1990) on Blu-ray from 88 Films, and John Woo’s Once a Thief (1991) in 4K from Shout’s HK Cinema Classics line.

And Dennis’ take on Raoul Walsh’s Manpower (1941) and David Butler’s By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) both on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Now then… before we get started on news today, I’m going to be joining my friend Tim Millard on his next The Extras podcast to talk about the latest developments in the ongoing Paramount/Skydance, Warner Bros., Netflix saga. Looks like we’re going to be recording the episode this weekend, so be sure to check Tim’s social media for news on the episode drop, and I’ll share the details on my own as well when I have them. [Read on here...]