Displaying items by tag: John Sturges

Well, today is Cyber Monday, which means there are still a number of good deals to be had on things around the Internet. So rather than repeating my comments from last week about Black Friday, I’ll just remind you that if you go looking for deals on Amazon today, please be sure to use one of our affiliate links (if you’d care to support our work here at The Bits in the process).

Now then, our own holiday was lovely here in SoCal. My wife’s cousin joined us for Thanksgiving, which involved eating some great food (both the usual turkey and stuffing, as well as mighty fine barbecue the day after), watching a lot of football as well as some terrific movies (including revisiting David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water and James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari) and a few TV series too (the season finale of Andor is fantastic—I haven’t enjoyed Star Wars this much since 1983). I also did a little bit of actual shopping, which amounted to picking up a hooded vest to wear in the office when it gets chilly and upgrading my old Pixel 3a phone to a new 6a thanks to an offer from Google that was too good to refuse. Finally, we got our Christmas tree up and decorated. So all in all, it was an enjoyable long weekend. And I certainly hope you all had a good one as well!

We’re starting today with a pair of new disc reviews for you to enjoy this afternoon...

Tim has posted his thoughts on the Terry Jones comedy Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983) in 4K Ultra HD from Universal, as well as John Badham’s Saturday Night Fever (1977) in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount. Sadly, that latter is something of a disappointment. But I’ll let Tim explain that to you.

Again, watch for more new disc reviews all this week here on The Digital Bits. [Read on here...]

The big piece of announcement news today is that Universal Studios Home Entertainment has set Paul Thomas Anderson’s excellent and Best Picture-nominated film Licorice Pizza for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/17. The Digital version is already available (including 4K), though there are no current plans for a physical 4K Ultra HD release. Extras on the Blu-ray will include camera tests, a deleted scene, a Fat Bernie’s Commercial, and a Behind-the-Scenes featurette. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below.

Also, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has officially set The Boys: Seasons 1 & 2 Collection for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/17. Of course, the Amazon-exclusive series is already available for streaming on Amazon Prime. This release is no doubt timed to support the 6/3 debut of Season 3 on Prime. Extras on the discs will include deleted scenes and a blooper real for each season, plus Butcher: A Short Film. Again, you can see the cover artwork below.

One hopes that the this means Sony might consider releasing other series it produces for streamers on physical media eventually, including (hopefully) Apple TV’s outstanding For All Mankind (which I’d kill to own on physical 4K). [Read on here...]

First things first this afternoon: I posted a review here at The Bits yesterday of John Sturges’ 1969 spaceflight drama Marooned on all-region import Blu-ray from the good folks at Imprint Films. It’s definitely worth tracking down for fans.

And I’ll have more new reviews this week as well, including my take on Criterion’s For All Mankind in 4K, which will be posted here on The Bits tomorrow.

Now then, let’s get to the main event for today’s My Two Cents update...

Last night I had the privilege of attending the debut screening of Robert Wise’s 4K-remastered Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Director’s Edition at Paramount, some 21 years after attending the premiere of the 2001 DVD version in the same theater. And I’m thrilled to report that it’s absolutely spectacular. [Read on here...]

A funny thing happened on the way to yesterday’s My Two Cents post! For some reason, I lost track of a day this week, so I thought yesterday was Friday. Then I wake up and here’s Friday again, much to my surprise. LOL. So anyway, while a bit of yesterday’s post still applies this afternoon, we’ve got some great breaking release news to share with you all today...

First up, the fine Imprint Films (down in Australia) has just announced their March 2022 Blu-ray slate, which is due to street on 3/30/22. It will include Sam Peckinpah’s The Osterman Weekend (1983 – mastered from new 2K scans of the director’s cut negative and the theatrical cut, so it will include both versions), Buzz Kulik’s The Hunter (1980 – starring Steve McQueen), Samuel Fuller’s China Gate (1957), Byron Haskin’s Conquest of Space (1955 – produced by George Pal), John Sturges’ Marooned (1969), Robert Wise’s Audrey Rose (1977), and Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun (1971). Not bad at all!

As usual, all of these Blu-rays should be region free. You’ll find them available here on the Imprint website.

But here’s the whopper today... Arrow Video has just announced its March 2022 slate as well, which includes no less than three new 4K UHD catalog titles! [Read on here...]