My Two Cents
Tuesday, 25 May 2021 19:20

Severin sets Overboard & more for August, plus Star Wars turns 44, Happy Towel Day & remembering Quantum Leap

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We have a quick news column for you here at The Bits today. But first, a couple more disc reviews...

Dennis has taken a look at Basil Dearden’s The Blue Lamp (1950), an Ealing Studios film noir now available on Blu-ray Disc from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

He’s also posted his thoughts on Florian Zeller’s The Father (2020), the recent film drama that won Anthony Hopkins an Oscar for Best Actor, newly-available on Blu-ray from Lionsgate. Enjoy!

Now then... our friends at Severin Films have announced four new Blu-ray titles due to street in August (on 8/24), including Cannibal Man (1972), No One Heard the Scream (1973), Eloy de la Iglesia’s Quinqui Collection (1980-84 – which includes Navajeros, El Pico, and El Pico 2), and—surprise!—Overboard (1987), the MGM film starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. You can visit their website here for additional details. [Read on here...]

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Around the Internet this afternoon, people are celebrating the “real” Star Wars Day, aka the date the original George Lucas film actually premiered in theaters back in 1977. And on that note, I’d like to take a moment to call your attention to Michael Coate’s excellent History, Legacy & Showmanship column on that release: A Force to Be Reckoned With. Published in honor of the film’s 40th anniversary, it includes the most accurate week-by-week timeline and history of Star Wars’ original theatrical run you’ll find anywhere. Over the course of many years, Michael contacted newspapers all across North America, combing their archives to find original theater advertisements that reveal the exact dates Star Wars played locally. The piece also includes a great roundtable interview of historians on the film’s impact & legacy, so if you missed it when we first published it back in 2017, I highly recommend you check it out now.

Today is also International Towel Day, which celebrates the life and work of the great Douglas Adams, particularly his magnum opus trilogy in five parts, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That’s a book (and radio, and TV) series that changed my life, debuting as it did in the wake of Star Wars. Not only was it one of the funniest books I’d ever read, as it does much to point out life’s little absurdities, it was also an early lesson that the way we each navigate our own reality depends on our perspective. So a tip of the hat from me to Douglas today, whose spirit must surely endure as the voice of the Total Perspective Vortex in some alternate universe.

Meanwhile, are any of you fans of the old Quantum Leap TV series from the late 1980s and early 90s? Well, Ars Technica has just posted a new video interview with producer Don Bellisario wherein he talks about the series, including what might have come of Scott Bakula’s time-traveling Sam Beckett after the show ended and more. It’s worth checking out here.

And finally today, Dark Horizons has posted a good editorial called A Case for Physical Media that’s written by friend of The Bits, Adam Yeend. In fact, Adam actually interviewed me for the piece, and he makes a good argument. I think you’ll find it worth a read, so do give it a look here. Congrats, Adam!

That’s all for today. As always, stay tuned...

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

 

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