Displaying items by tag: The Digital Bits

We’re rounding out the last weekday before the 4th of July holiday here in the States with just a little bit more release news.

First, an update: Lionsgate’s Ghost in the Shell (1995) 4K Ultra HD release is officially due on 9/2 (SRP $22.99). And it will include Dolby Vision HDR (along with regular HDR10) and Dolby Atmos audio. Pre-orders are just starting to appear around the Net, so we’ll update you here when we have an Amazon.com link and also final cover artwork.

Also, Blue Underground has announced that they plan to release Harry Kümel’s 1971 erotic vampire film Daughters of Darkness on 4K Ultra HD sometime this fall. The package will include the film in 4K and Blu-ray, along with a soundtrack CD. [Read on here...]

Before we get to the headline of today’s post, we have another new Blu-ray review...

Dennis has taken a look at Michael Curtiz’s The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) on disc from our friends at The Warner Archive Collection. Enjoy!

Now then, a while back here at The Bits I reviewed with great surprise HBO’s Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season on 4K Ultra HD (you can find that here) and I was really taken aback by how good the upsampled image quality was. It was a genuine revelation.

But then, while HBO did release the final season of Game of Thrones on the format (day and date with the Blu-ray and DVD), that was it. No sign of further seasons in 4K whatsoever. Until now. [Read on here...]

We have a bit more 4K Ultra HD news for you today...

But first, another new disc review: Tim has given Calvin Floyd’s In Search of Dracula (1975) a review on Blu-ray Disc, from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The film stars Christopher Lee.

Now then, that 4K news... Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has officially set Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash for release on 4K Ultra HD on 9/22 (SRP appears to be $30.99). Audio will be Dolby Atmos with HDR10 high dynamic range.

Extras will include audio commentary with writer/director Damien Chazelle and J.K. Simmons, An Evening at the Toronto International Film Festival with Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, and Damien Chazelle, Timekeepers: Famous Drummers Discuss Their Craft and Passion for Drumming, the Whiplash Original Short Film with optional commentary, a deleted scene, and the film’s theatrical trailer. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

We’re starting things off today with a new Blu-ray review, this one of John Gilling’s The Flesh and the Fiends (1960) starring Peter Cushing, now available from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Dennis has posted his thoughts on the film and the disc for you today, so do give it a look.

Meanwhile, in announcement news this afternoon, Kino Lorber has announced its August slate of Blu-ray and DVD releases, which is set to include the following...

Look for Salome Chasnoff’s Code of the Freaks (2020 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Justin Pemberton’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2019 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 8/4, Anne Sweitsky’s Sonja: The White Swan (2018 – Blu-ray and DVD), Halina Dyrschka’s Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (2019 – Blu-ray and DVD – for Zeitgeist Films), Sasie Sealy’s Lucky Grandma (2019 – Blu-ray and DVD – for Good Deed Entertainment), and Paul Aaron’s A Different Story (1978 – Blu-ray – for Scorpion Films) on 8/11, Atom Egoyan’s Guest of Honor (2018 – Blu-ray and DVD), Forbidden Fruit: Volume 6 – She Should’a Said No/Devil’s Sleep (1949 – Blu-ray – for Kino Classics), and Lucio Fulci’s Conquest (1983 – Blu-ray – for Code Red) on 8/18, and The Reginald Denny Collection (includes The Reckless Age, Skinner’s Dress Suit, and What Happened to Jones? – 1924/26 – Blu-ray and DVD – for Kino Classics), Martha Kehoe & Joan Tosoni’s Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind (2019 – DVD – for Greenwich), Simon Amstel’s Benjamin (2019 – DVD – for Artsploitation Films), Nicholas Leytner’s The Tobacconist (2019 – Blu-ray and DVD – for Menemsha Films), and Larry Yust’s Trick Baby (1972 – Blu-ray – for Scorpion Films) on 8/25. [Read on here...]

One of the most interesting aspects of having served as the editor of The Digital Bits website for over twenty years now, is that I’ve had a front row seat to some pretty dramatic changes in the home video industry.

At 53, I’m old enough to remember watching movies on black-and-white televisions—square analog displays that required the viewer to adjust a pair of “rabbit ear” antenna to get a decent picture. Like some of you, I saw the advent of cable television and the arrival of VHS and Betamax videotape—a technology the film industry fought tooth-and-nail to kill until its profit potential finally became obvious.

And of course, as a longtime film enthusiast, I’m someone who strongly embraced the Laserdisc format back when it was the only option for watching movies in their original widescreen aspect ratios at home.

I founded The Digital Bits in late 1997 (it actually began as an industry newsletter shared by email in late ’96) in part because I knew that DVD would be a hit. Having worked at a record store a decade earlier, when Compact Discs took the music world by storm, it was obvious to me that consumers would embrace the idea of movies on a disc that was—to them—essentially identical to the CDs they already loved. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a quick update for you today, and then I’ll be back tomorrow with a long special feature piece here at The Bits.

First though, we’ve got a couple of disc reviews as follows:

Tim has just posted his thoughts on John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A.: Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

He’s also posted a review of Stephen Hopkins’ Judgment Night (1993) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Dennis has taken a look at Michael Curtiz’s Romance on the High Seas on Blu-ray, also from the Warner Archive Collection. [Read on here...]

Heads-up, folks!

This is just a quick news update (and a rare Saturday post) to let you all know that we’ve added or updated a number of titles in our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Digital Bits based on new information from our industry and retail sources.

Specifically...

Universal is apparently working on an Alfred Hitchcock 4K Collection that’s set to include Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, and Rear Window. We’ve mentioned these titles before on The Bits, but European retail sources are now suggesting that they’ll arrive around September (and Psycho has just been listed on the Best Buy website). Also coming in September or October is the long awaited Back to the Future Trilogy: 35th Anniversary Edition Collection. [Read on here...]

We have a new Blu-ray review to close out the week here at The Bits:

Dennis has posted his thoughts on Paramount’s Urban Cowboy: 40th Anniversary Edition, now available on Blu-ray Disc. Do give it a look.

Also, in announcement news today, our friends at Arrow Video have just revealed a nice batch of Blu-ray titles for release in September.

Among them are Kevin Smith’s Mallrats (1995), Miguel Llansó’s striking and surreal film Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (2019), a box set of Kinji Fukasaku and Takashi Miike’s Japanese yakuza classics Graveyards of Honor (1975 and 2002), and Bernard Rose’s film business satire Ivansxtc (2002). [Read on here...]

Today’s is a quick update, but we do have a couple interesting items to report...

First, Tim has turned in another new Blu-ray Disc review, this of Gene Fowler Jr.’s B-movie classic I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958) from Paramount via Aussie indie Imprint Films/Via Vision Entertainment. The disc is ALL REGION.

In announcement news today, Warner Bros. and DC have just officially set the DC Universe animated movie Superman: Man of Tomorrow for release on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on 9/8 (the Digital release is set for 8/23).

Extras on both disc versions will include Lobo: Natural Force of Chaos, Martian Manhunter: Lost and Found, Look Back: Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, Look Back: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, From the DC Vault: Superman: The Animated Series – The Main Man, Part I, From the DC Vault: Superman: The Animated Series – The Main Man, Part II, trailers for Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, and Superman: Red Son, and A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie. You can see the cover artwork above left and also below. [Read on here...]

We start today with another new disc review for your reading enjoyment: Tim has taken a look at Nico Mastorakis’ The Wind (1986) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video and he’s got some thoughts on it for you. Do give it a look.

Now then... we have a little bit of a surprise for you today on the 4K front. Retail sources are reporting that Walt Disney Studios is preparing to release Kenny Ortega’s Hocus Pocus (1993) and Chris Columbus’ Home Alone (1990) on Blu-ray in September, presumably in time for the holidays.

This is interesting because while the titles are popular and have certainly sold well on DVD and Blu-ray, they’re somewhat unlikely titles for release on 4K. Home Alone is also a Fox title. And both are live action catalog films, a category that Disney has yet to really exploit on the physical 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format. [Read on here...]