All right, we’ve got a nice piece of release news for you guys today, as well as a trio of new Blu-ray reviews for you to enjoy. Let’s have the reviews first…

The good Dr. Jahnke has checked in with his thoughts on a true classic of French New Wave cinema: Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless, newly re-issued in Dual Disc (Blu-ray and DVD in the same package) by our friends at Criterion.

Also today, I’ve offered up my take on what might be my favorite film of 2013: Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, now available on Blu-ray from Paramount. Having grown up in the Plains States, I can say with some authority that I’ve not seen it so perfectly captured on film since the Coen Brothers’ Fargo. The film is poignant, filled with great character performances, and it’s damn funny too. Nebraska made me laugh hard and often. I hope you enjoy it.  [Read on here…]

All right, we’ve got more great stuff for you here at The Bits today…

First, our own Michael Coate has turned in a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column looking back at The Blue Max, including the film’s original roadshow release and also composer Jerry Goldsmith’s work on the score. This is, of course, in honor of the new Twilight Time Blu-ray release of the film today, as well as La-La Land Records’ excellent new 2-disc soundtrack CD release! Michael even includes an interview with our old friend (and film music historian) Jeff Bond, who wrote a track-by-track analysis of the score for the CD. It’s another great column, so definitely don’t miss it!  [Read on here…]

Happy President’s Day, folks! Otherwise known as the day you may or may not be lucky enough to have off. Whatever your case may be, we’ve got a couple of good things for you today...

First up, Doogan’s Queue for this week is now live in Todd’s Gripe Soda section, running down the week’s Blu-ray and DVD releases. Don’t miss it!

Also today, our own Russell Hammond has posted the weekly Release Dates & Artwork update featuring all the latest Blu-ray and DVD cover art and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon after clicking through our links (on the right) goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.  [Read on here…]

More good stuff for you today…

First, Dr. Jahnke has posted a BD review of Sony’s The Big Gundown, a great spaghetti western from 1966 directed by Sergio Sollima. Sounds like the disc and its extras are pretty swell too. Don’t miss it.

Also today, our own Michael Coate has posted an update of his History, Legacy & Showmanship column from back on November – It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Retrospective – with a great roundtable interview from some of the folks involved in the film’s restoration and Criterion’s fine new Blu-ray release, including Karen Stetler, the Criterion Blu-ray Disc producer; Robert A. Harris, the restoration/reconstruction producer; Karen Sharpe-Kramer, the widow of producer-director Stanley Kramer; and the team that recorded the audio commentary track: Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo. It’s a great read, so I highly recommend that you give it a look. [Read on here…]

Morning, folks!  Hope you guys are all enjoying your holiday break.  We’ve actually got some Blu-ray announcement news for you today...

First up, Twilight Time has announced the limited Blu-ray release of Zulu (1964), Khartoum (1966), Titus (1999) and Man in the Dark 3D (1953) – 3,000 copies each will be available.  They’ve also revealed that less than 600 copies each remain of Enemy Mine (1985) and Stagecoach (1966).  SRP for these BDs is $29.95 each.  Head to Screen Archives Entertainment to get your copies.  [Read on here…]

I’m back after an unexpected day’s absence there.  I’ve been fighting a flu for the last few days and you know how that goes.  It just caught up with me yesterday.  Luckily, a day’s worth of sleep worked wonders.

To start off today, we’ve got a couple new Blu-ray reviews from Tim Salmons: Criterion’s Eyes Without a Face and La Cage aux Folles.  Methinks, somebody took advantage of Barnes & Noble’s 50% off sale.  LOL!  [Read on here…]

Afternoon, folks!  Hope you all had a nice holiday weekend with family and friends.  Sarah and I spent our Thanksgiving in New Orleans with family and it was pretty swell.  I ate way too much good food (NoLA is like that).  If I lived there, I’d have to run about 12 miles a day just to work off the calories from everything I wanted to eat: Crawfish étouffée, jambalaya, gumbo, po-boys, tartine, beignets and cafe au lait… MMmmmmmm.  They do know how to cook down there.

So we’ve got a couple things for you this afternoon.  First, our own Tim Salmons has checked in with reviews of two more classics on Blu-ray Disc from Criterion, including Richard III and The Earrings of Madame de….  Enjoy!  [Read on here…]

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!  A day early we know, but this is going to be our last post here at The Bits until Monday, as we all go off to celebrate the holiday with family.  Couple things for you today… 

First, we’re pleased to bring you a trio of additional Blu-ray Disc reviews today.  Tim has checked in with his thoughts on Criterion’s Lonesome and The Uninvited in HD, as well as Scream Factory’s The Horror Show.  All are now available.  [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…]