Hair from Olive Films, plus TV’s Wonder Woman, Kino’s June slate, and a great new podcast by Roger Deakins!

Tuesday, 05 May 2020 16:55

Hair from Olive Films, plus TV’s Wonder Woman, Kino’s June slate, and a great new podcast by Roger Deakins!

by Bill Hunt

Hair: Olive Signature Collection (Blu-ray Disc)

Today’s post is just a quickie because I’m working hard to finish up some long overdue Blu-ray reviews.

I should add a note here to acknowledge the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has proven quite a challenge for all of us, and it’s no different here at The Digital Bits. Title announcements have been delayed, many of our studio and industry contacts have either been working at home or furloughed, screener product has been delayed or cancelled, etc. And of course, as is probably the case with many of you, our own lives have been turned upside down. It’s required a lot of shifting of schedules, workflow, energies, and effort. And some of the review work I usually do personally has gotten waylaid by having to deal with other issues to keep the site going.

The good news is that we seem to be rolling with it all fairly well, and Tim, Dennis and our other Bits team members have been doing yeoman’s work filling in. That said, I do very much appreciate whatever support you guys—our readers—can provide in this difficult time, either by continuing to purchase items through our Amazon links and/or making contributions by a PayPal in our Back the Bits program. And I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you all for sticking with us. We have the best readers on the Internet. Some of you have been with us all the way back to the beginning of the site back in 1997. And we appreciate each and every one of you. [Read on here...]

Now then, we’ve got some interesting release news for you today...

First up, Olive Films has just announced a new Olive Signature Edition title for release on 6/30: Milos Forman’s Hair (1979). The title will feature a new HD restoration, audio commentary by assistant director Michael Hausman and actor Treat Williams, and 5 featurettes (The Tribe Remembers, Making Chance Work: Choreographing Hair, Cutting Hair, Hair Style, and Artist, Teacher, Mentor: Remembering Milos Forman), along with an essay by critic Sheila O’Malley. SRP is $39.95 and the edition is limited to 3,500 units.

Also, Warner Home Entertainment has announced the Blu-ray release of Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection on 7/28, including all 59 episodes of the classic 1970s live-action series plus the original pilot movie. There will also be audio commentary by Lynda Carter and executive producer Douglas S. Cramer on the pilot movie, an additional commentary by Carter on a Season Three episode, and 3 featurettes (Beauty, Brawn and Bulletproof Bracelets: A Wonder Woman Retrospective, Revolutionizing a Classic: From Comic Book to Television, and Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Feminist Icon).

Kino Lorber has revealed its June Blu-ray and DVD slate, which will include Tesnota (2017 – BD and DVD), Beanpole (2019 – BD and DVD), and The Queen (1968 – BD and DVD) on 6/2, followed by Out of My Head (2017 – DVD) on 6/9, Young Ahmed (2019 – BD and DVD) on 6/16, and Stop (2014 – BD and DVD) on 6/30. Their Kino Classics line will include Victor and Victoria (1933 – BD and DVD) and My 20th Century (1989 – BD and DVD) on 6/9, followed by Paracelsus (1943 – BD and DVD) on 6/30. For Menemsha Films, they’ll release Red Cow (2018 – BD and DVD) on 6/2, The Last Supper (2018 – BD and DVD) on 6/23, and Promises at Dawn (2018 – BD and DVD) on 6/30. And for Greenwich, they’ll release The Booksellers (2019 – DVD) on 6/9, Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy (2019 – DVD) on 6/23, and Deerskin (2020 – DVD), and The Wiggles: Emma 2! Dance Spectacular (2019 – DVD) on 6/30.

Not done with Kino yet... their Kino Lorber Studio Classics label has just announced more great new deep catalog titles for release on Blu-ray, including The World in His Arms (1952) on 7/21, Lorenzo’s Oil (1992), The Public Eye (1992), The River (1984), and Raggedy Man (1981) on 7/28, and DeepStar Six (1989) in October (street date TBA). They’ve also announced that Ulysses (1954) is coming soon.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate has set Think Like a Dog for release on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital, and On Demand on 6/9.

MPI Media Group will release The Man Standing Next on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on 5/26.

Shout! Factory and IFC Films will release Three Christs on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/16.

CAV and Cult Epics will release The Claire Sinclair Show on Blu-ray on 6/9.

CAV and Severin Films will release The Complete Lenzi/Baker Gaillo Collection on 6/30, including Orgasmo, So Sweet... So Perverse, A Quiet Place to Kill, and Knife of Ice.

And First Run Features has set Albert Einstein: Still a Revolutionary for DVD release on 5/26.

Finally today, we’ve learned something incredibly cool, which is that the great cinematographer Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner 2049, 1917) has just started a new podcast called Team Deakins, with his wife and frequent collaborator James Ellis Deakins and filmmaker/photographer Matt Wyman. I’ve listened to the first couple of episodes, and it’s just as informal, candid, and illuminating as you’d expect. What’s really interesting is the degree to which Roger and James Ellis’ efforts complement each other on a film project—he’s obviously a visual genius and she has real technical brilliance on the ins-and-outs of digital production and image science. The second episode offers fascinating insights on how the pair of them have found little errors in digital cameras over the years and made sure they were corrected by the manufacturer. We learn how James protects the integrity and quality of Roger’s on-set efforts through the post production, VFX, and color grading process. There are frequent mentions of their recent work, including 1917 and Blade Runner 2049. It’s just fantastic. You can find the podcast here and I can’t recommend it more highly. You can also visit their website here.

And that’s all for now. Stay tuned!

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Hair from Olive Films, plus TV’s Wonder Woman, Kino’s June slate, and a great new podcast by Roger Deakins!

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