Displaying items by tag: The Criterion Collection

(Photo by Robin Holland Photography)

Robert Altman said his last “that’s a wrap,” can you believe it, some eight or nine years ago and it seems as though any hope of mainstream studio films with emotional weight, sharp characters, social satire and natural, cliché free dialogue was buried right next to him.

Every Hollywood director since the beginning of the medium owes a debt to Robert Altman. His style was so distinctive, so fresh and so natural that people would say to themselves, “Oh that’s what directors do.”  [Read on here...]

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All right, we’ve got a pair of new Blu-ray reviews for you this afternoon. Tim has taken a look at Richard Fleischer’s Violent Saturday, a 1955 pulpy crime drama now available on Blu-ray from the fine folks at Twilight Time. Tim has also taken a look at Terry Gilliam’s 1981 classic Time Bandits, just released on Blu-ray in a fine new edition by our friends at the Criterion Collection. Don’t miss them!  [Read on here…]

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All right, we start the new week with Adam’s latest Hell Plaza Oktoberfest review, which is none other than Halloween H20: 20 Years Later from Anchor Bay and Scream’s new Halloween: The Complete Collection Blu-ray box set. LOTS more reviews to go, so enjoy and keep checking back here each weekday for more!   [Read on here…]

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Adam’s Hell Plaza Oktoberfest continues today with a review of Halloween 5: The Curse of Michael Myers on Blu-ray from Scream’s new Halloween: The Complete Collection box set. Enjoy!

In announcement news today, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and CBS Films have set What If for Blu-ray, DVD and digital release on 11/15. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe. Extras on the Blu-ray only include 3 deleted scenes and 4 featurettes (Blurred Lines, Opposites Attract, Behind the Scenes of What If, and A Modern Love Story).  [Read on here…]

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Today’s update is a quick one, as I was up pretty late working on Bits-related stuff for the site.

BUT... we’re very pleased today to kick off Dr. Jahnke’s annual Hell Plaza Oktoberfest here at The Bits! As you longtime readers know, each year in the month of October, Adam posts a new Halloween-themed Blu-ray or DVD review daily here at the site and this year is no exception. Adam kicks things off this year by continuing to review the individual films in Anchor Bay and Scream Factory’s new Halloween: The Complete Collection box set. Up today is Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. So be sure to check back each weekday for new Oktoberfest reviews. The Hell Plaza Oktoberfest 8 is on!  [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to like TheDigitalBits.com page on Facebook for great Blu-ray, DVD and film discussion with other readers and for live updates on your mobile device when new content is posted here!]

We have one more quick news update for you this afternoon, with word that Criterion has just announced their December Blu-ray and DVD release slate. Look for Todd Haynes’ Safe on 12/9 (Cat #739 – Blu-ray and DVD), along with upgraded editions of Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits (Cat #37 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter (Cat #59 – Blu-ray and DVD – the film will also appear on Hulu Plus). These will be followed on 12/16 by a new Eclipse DVD release featuring the work of director Keisuke Kinoshita – Eclipse Series 41: Kinoshita and World War II (which includes the films Port of Flowers, The Living Magoroku, Jubilation Street, Army, and Morning for the Osone Family, made between 1943 and 1946).  [Read on here…]

All right, I’m getting a little bit of a late start today after spending the morning at the dentist. Yeah. One of those days.

Anyway, the big news for today is that Criterion has officially revealed their June BD/DVD slate and, though it’s getting cliché to keep saying it every month, it’s another great list of titles. It starts with new HD updatings of Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows (Spine #95) and Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (Spine #278) on 6/10, followed by an updating of Peter Davis’ Hearts and Minds (Spine #156), the new Georges Franju’s Judex (Spine #710), and an updating of Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (Spine #29) on 6/17. As if that wasn’t great enough, Richard Lester’s The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night (Spine #711) rounds things out on 6/24. SRP for each of them is $39.95. Be sure to visit Criterion.com for a complete list of all the great extras. Meanwhile, you’ll find the cover artwork below.  [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks!  Hope you’re all having  a great start to your Thanksgiving holiday.  I know from e-mails that a lot of you are headed out to the movies in between shopping and Thanksgiving preparations.  Thor: The Dark World and Hunger Games: Catching Fire seem to be big draws.  I’ve seen the latter and it’s pretty decent.  If you like the first one, you’ll enjoy this one too.

For those of you in the L.A. area tonight, don’t forget that that screening of Ladyhawke at the Arclight is tonight at 7:30 PM, with Q&A to follow with director Richard Donner and producer Lauren Shuler Donner, moderated by our good friend Cliff Stephenson.  Tickets are still available here, but remember to plan a little extra travel time to get there – the President’s in town apparently, so there may be unexpected traffic delays.  [Read on here…]

Welcome to Thanksgiving week, folks! 

We’re very pleased this morning to bring you a review that we’ve been waiting years to write.  It’s our epic, in-depth look at Criterion’s amazing new Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman box set!  You get 25 remastered films in both Blu-ray and DVD, plus terrific extras.  Our own Todd Doogan – and yours truly – have reviewed every single feature and every single film.  There’s nothing… and we mean nothing… that we love more than Shintaro Katsu’s Blind Swordsman films.  And though we’ve certainly dreamed of it, we never seriously imagined that we’d ever see a Blu-ray box set of these films.  But here it is.  And it’s every bit as good as we could have hoped.  This is a gem that ranks right up there with the best box sets released on the Blu-ray format.  The set streets this Tuesday (11/26) and we wouldn’t miss it for the world.  [Read on here…]

Okay, today’s update is a quick one as we’re hard at work on more reviews...

Speaking of which, Tim has checked in with his thoughts on Ernst Lubitsch’s classic WWII screwball comedy To Be or Not to Be, available on Blu-ray from Criterion.

Now then, Lionsgate has announced the release of a number of popular catalog titles on Blu-ray Disc in new Steelbook packaging.  They’ll be available initially only at Best Buy stores starting this weekend in order to be around for Black Friday deals week.  Titles will SRP for $19.99 each and include Pulp Fiction, Total Recall, Sin City, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Rambo: First Blood, Stargate, Highlander, Hero and Apocalypse Now/Apocalypse Now: Redux.  [Read on here...]