My Two Cents
Friday, 26 August 2016 15:48

Aliens: 30th BD, Heat, Kino/Paramount catalog deal, Twilight’s Sept & It Came from Outer Space 3D

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We’re rounding out the week with a pair of new Blu-ray reviews...

Tim Salmons has checked in with his thoughts on Shout! Factory’s new Transformers: The Movie – 30th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray. Sounds like it’s pretty terrific, though you may still wish to keep your previous editions for the extras that don’t carry over. More in the review.

Also, Jim Hemphill has offered up his thoughts on Twilight’s recent Blu-ray edition of Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943), which is flat out terrific. Don’t miss it.

By the way, in case you missed the update I posted to my review of the set late on Wednesday, Madman Entertainment’s new Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Series is actually an All Region release, even though it’s listed many places as being Region B. But I have directly and personally confirmed that these discs are, in fact, All Region. Do check out the review here[Read on here…]

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All right, let’s get to the day’s news. As I’m sure you’ve seen, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is releasing a new Aliens: 30th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray and Digital HD on 9/13. The only new extra in the set however is a retrospective featurette with director James Cameron called The Inspiration and Design of Aliens. To be fair, you also get a booklet of artwork and a series of artwork cards (see below). I’d be very interested in seeing this film (as well as Alien, Alien 3, and even Alien: Resurrection) in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format. But the previous Alien Anthology Blu-ray set (see our review here) was so comprehensive, there’s just little reason to buy any of these films again for less than a new 4K remaster. This set is, at least cheap... discounted to just $9.96 on Amazon at the moment. Click on the art to pre-order...

Aliens: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray Disc)

Here’s something interesting, though we don’t know if this means that there’s any chance for a new BD re-release or (dare we say it) a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray: There’s apparently a new 4K-restored master of Michael Mann’s Heat, and it’s going to be screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 9/7 with Mann, and stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in attendance. More here at Deadline Hollywood. I don’t know about you guys, but I would certainly be interested in a 4K UHD release of this film.

In other announcement news, Twilight Time’s September slate will include a number of great titles (for which we have the cover art below). They include Bobby Deerfield, Eye of the Needle, From Noon Till Three, Murphy’s Law, 9 to 5, and Remo Williams: The Adventure Continues..., all of which are due to street on 9/13. Pre-orders open next Wednesday (8/31) at 1 Pacific on Twilight Time Movies and Screen Archives Entertainment.

Film Rise has set a Five Nights in Maine: Special Director’s Edition for Blu-ray and DVD release on 11/8.

Kino Lorber will release Table For Five (1983) on Blu-ray on 10/18, and they’ve announced that they’re working on a new Blu-ray and DVD release of Joseph Kane’s Dakota (1945) too, starring John Wayne, Vera Ralston, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.

Speaking of Kino, the company has also recently made a deal with Paramount to release many deep catalog films on Blu-ray and DVD, so there’s hope we may yet see such classics as War of the Worlds, The Conquest of Space, When Worlds Collide, The High and the Mighty, The Sons of Katie Elder, Hondo (3D perhaps?), Dragonslayer, The Core, and many more in HD.

Speaking of catalog 3D, it looks like Universal is releasing It Came from Outer Space on Blu-ray 3D on 10/4, but at least initially as a Best Buy exclusive title. See this link.

And I think we’ve mentioned this before, but Arrow Video’s C.H.U.D.: Special Edition is officially due on 11/15.

Here’s a look at a little more new Blu-ray cover artwork for those Twilight September titles (clicking on each will take you to their respective pages on Twilight Time Movies.com)...

9 to 5 (Blu-ray Disc)   Bobby Deerfield (Blu-ray Disc)   Remo Williams: The Adventure Continues... (Blu-ray Disc)

Murphy's Law (Blu-ray Disc)   From Noon Til Three (Blu-ray Disc)   Eye of the Needle (Blu-ray Disc)

That’s all for now. Have a great weekend!

- Bill Hunt (@BillHuntBits)

 

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