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Tuesday, 07 February 2017 22:13

Arrival 4K review update, Poltergeist II/III BD reviews, new Walmart/Universal exclusives & Richard Hatch RIP

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All right, we’ve got a couple things for you this evening here at The Bits

First up, I’ve spent some time this afternoon talking with those involved in mastering and QC for Paramount Home Entertainment, and have just updated my review of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival in 4K Ultra HD format with much new information about the transfer and HDR. There’s been some concern by other reviewers that the film image is too dark, and that there must be a mastering error, but having reviewed the 4K disc myself here at The Bits, it was my suspicion that the darker image on the 4K disc (compared to the Blu-ray) was a deliberate creative decision by the filmmakers, similar to the situation with Fox’s The Revenant. That suspicion, as it turns out, was correct. So the review has been fully updated with additional details and information that should help to illuminate the situation. You can find that here. [Read on here…]

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Meanwhile, Tim has turned in a pair of new Blu-ray Disc reviews for you to enjoy, including his thoughts on Scream Factory’s new Poltergeist II: The Other Side – Collector’s Edition and Poltergeist III: Collector’s Edition. Both are now available, so be sure to check out the reviews.

In actual release news today, we’ve learned that Walmart is now selling Universal’s The Hindenberg and Brewster’s Millions on Blu-ray as retail exclusives (for $7.50 each). Walmart also has Universal’s Major Payne and Fahrenheit 451: 50th Anniversary Edition available for pre-order on Blu-ray as retail exclusives with street date of 3/7 (for $19.96 each). One assumes these titles will all go into wide release later this year.

Richard Hatch, rest in peaceFinally this evening, I’m very sad to have to report that actor Richard Hatch, of Battlestar Galactica fame, has passed away today in Los Angeles. I’ve known this was coming for a little while, but it’s still a shock. I didn’t know Richard as well as many of my industry friends did, but I certainly counted him as a friend, having worked with him recently on Axanar. And I’ve had the great pleasure of enjoying a couple of long and freewheeling conversations with him about the entertainment industry, his lifetime of work, Klingons (and the role of Kharn, in particular), history, science, politics, literature, philosophy, life, the universe, and everything. So I know, first hand, what kind of a man he was. He was a good and decent one, a generous one, with an insatiable curiosity about the world. People like that are all too rare. I will certainly miss him. Hatch was 71. You can read more here at Variety, and here is his family’s official statement.

Back tomorrow. Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt(@BillHuntBits)