Displaying items by tag: Tim Salmons

Good afternoon, Bits readers!

All right, let’s try to have a more upbeat post today. I know that yesterday’s post was a little strong, but sometimes you just have to say what you’re feeling, you know?

We’re starting today with more new disc reviews, as we often do, including…

Dennis’ review of Howard Hughes and James Whale’s Hell’s Angels (1930) in 4K from Criterion (with an assist by Tim).

Stuart’s look at Shoshannah Stern’s Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore (2025) on Blu-ray from Kino Lober.

And Tim’s thoughts on The Darjeeling Limited (2007) in 4K UHD from Criterion’s Wes Anderson Archive box set.

More reviews are forthcoming all this week, so be sure to keep checking back!

Now then… the big news today is that Criterion has just revealed their March slate, which includes Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana (1961) (Spine #332) in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray on 3/10, Lynne Littman’s Testament (1983) (Spine #1303) on Blu-ray and Claude Sautet’s Classe tous risques (1960) (Spine #434) in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray on 3/17, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) (Spine #1302) on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on 3/24, and finally Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman (1966) (Spine #1304) on Blu-ray and Tsui Hark’s The Blade (1995) (Spine #1305) on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray on 3/31. [Read on here...]

All right, as you might expect based on the title of this column, I have a few things to say today here at The Digital Bits. But we’ve got a little bit of regular site business to take care of this morning before we get to that.

First, we have a number of new and recent disc reviews for you all to enjoy, including…

Stephen’s take on Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek (2005) in 4K Ultra HD from Imprint, Richard Stanley’s Dust Devil (1992) in 4K UHD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Emma Tammi’s Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) in a limited edition 4K box set from Blumhouse and Universal, and Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday (1940) in 4K UHD from Criterion.

Tim’s look at The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) in 4K Ultra HD from Criterion’s The Wes Anderson Archive.

Dennis’ thoughts on Ruggero Deodato’s The Barbarians (1987) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Mike Nichols’ Carnal Knowledge (1971) in 4K UHD from Criterion, and W.S. Van Dyke’s Manhattan Melodrama (1934) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And finally, Stuart has a few words to about the Warner Archive Collection’s new Joan Crawford Collection on Blu-ray, which includes Grand Hotel (1932), The Women (1939), Possessed (1939), and The Damned Don’t Cry (1950).

Also today, our own Russell Hammond has just shared our newest update of the Release Dates & Cover Art section here at The Bits with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through one of our links first (like this one), you’re helping to support our work here at the site and we greatly appreciate it. [Read on here...]

All right, this is going to be a quick post, because there’s a LOT going on in Hollywood this week—as you may have seen, and which we’ll get to in a moment—and I’m spending a lot of time today (and especially over the next few days) talking with studio and industry friends, colleagues, and sources for insight and context on all of it.

First though, we have some great new disc reviews here at The Bits for you to enjoy today, including…

Stephen’s reviews of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999) in 4K Ultra HD from the Criterion Collection, as well as John Woo’s The Killer (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from Shout! Factory via their HK Cinema line.

Tim’s look at Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976) in 4K Ultra HD from Imprint Films and Via Vision Entertainment.

And Stuart’s thoughts on Kayo Hatta’s Picture Bride (1995) on Blu-ray, also from Imprint (via their Imprint Asia line) and Via Vision Entertainment.

We’ll have more new disc reviews next week, so be sure to check back for them!

Now then, the first big piece of news we want to address here today broke early last night: Netflix appears to have won a three-way bidding war (against Comcast and Paramount Skydance) to purchase Warner Bros., in a “megadeal” that’s reportedly worth nearly $83 billion. [Read on here...]

We’ve got six more new disc reviews for you to enjoy today here at The Bits, including…

Tim’s thoughts on The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) in 4K Ultra HD from Criterion’s Wes Anderson Archive box set, as well as Sam Firstenbeg’s Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Menahem Golan’s Ninja III: The Domination (1984) both in 4K from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stuart’s review of Alfred E. Green’s The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and Sam Wood’s The Quiet American (2002) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

And Dennis’ take on Mervyn LeRoy’s Lovely to Look At (1952) on Blu-ray from MGM via the Warner Archive Collection.

Now then, I’m making an effort to catch up on a bunch of announcement news that’s happened over the last couple of weeks. As many of you know, I’ve had a couple of challenges here at The Bits lately, including recovering from prostate surgery and also my PC died on the Friday before Thanksgiving, which has necessitated buying a replacement, getting it set up, installing all my old software, reorganizing my files, etc., all in an effort to get back up to speed. And I’m getting there—right now, even the simplest tasks are just a little bit different, and taking just a little bit more time and effort than usual to accomplish, as I settle into the new machine. But within a couple weeks, things should be back to normal. So thanks for your patience in the meantime! [Read on here...]

We’re starting the week with a few more new disc reviews here today, including…

Stephen’s look at William Friedkin’s Rampage (1987/92) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Tim’s thoughts on Menahem Golan’s Enter the Ninja (1981) in 4K also from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Rushmore (1998) in 4K from Criterion’s The Wes Anderson Archive box set!

Dennis’ takes on William Keighley’s The Master of Ballantrae (1953) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection as well as Jess Franco’s Death Packs a Suitcase (1972) on Blu-ray from KLSC’s Kino Cult line.

And Stuart’s look at Sam Wood’s For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) on Blu-ray from Paramount via Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

More reviews are on the way all this week, so be sure to check back for them!

Now then, today is Cyber Monday Week online, so there are still lots of good deals to be had if you’re looking for Blu-ray and 4K titles online. So a quick reminder: Please consider shopping through one of our affiliate links when you shop via Amazon, as it helps to support the work we do here at The Bits. Appreciated! [Read on here...]

Good afternoon, Bits readers!

We’ve got a little bit of breaking 4K and Blu-ray release news for you today, but first we have a couple more new disc reviews for you as well…

Tim has taken a look at Cheng Kang’s The 14 Amazons (1972) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films via their Imprint Asia line. And he’s also reviewed that same film on Blu-ray via Arrow’s excellent Shawscope: Volume Three box set!

Meanwhile, Dennis has offered his thoughts on Leigh Jason’s The Mad Miss Manton (1938) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Now then, just a quick site announcement: We’re currently running a Black Friday Week discount on all of our Digital Bits Patreon subscriptions! Using the code DB1CF when you subscribe to us on Patreon will grant to a 10% discount on the first month or first year (if you choose to subscribe annually) of your subscription. [Read on here...]

All right, we have a few great new disc reviews up for your reading enjoyment today, including…

Stephen’s thoughts on John Carpenter’s Dark Star (1974) in 4K Ultra HD from Fabulous Films.

Dennis’ thoughts on Peter Brook’s The Beggar’s Opera (1953) and Anatole Litvak’s Out of the Fog (1941) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, as well as Universal’s new Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Legacy Collection box set on DVD.

Stuart’s review of Daniel Taradash’s Storm Center (1956) on Blu-ray from Indicator.

And finally, Tim has begun reviewing the films in Criterion’s new The Wes Anderson Archive 4K Ultra HD box set, starting with Bottle Rocket (1996)!

More reviews are forthcoming this week, so be sure to keep checking back.

All right, in terms of release news, call this tentative at the moment but at least it’s filmmaker confirmed: Director Oliver Stone has announced on his Facebook page that a new 4K remaster of Platoon (1986) is on the way (possibly from Shout! Factory). You can see his post here. Thanks to the many Bits readers who sent that info. [Read on here...]

All right, I want to start today by summarizing all of the new disc reviews The Bits review team has shared here in the last week or so, since my last My Two Cents news update…

Tim has shared his thoughts on Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria (2018) in 4K Ultra HD and also Ho Meng-Hua’s The Lady Hermit (1971) on Blu-ray, both from Imprint & Via Vision, as well as Peter Medak’s Negatives (1968) on Blu-ray from Severin Films, Hanna Barbera’s Touché Turtle and Dum Dum: The Complete Series (1962-63) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, and Chor Yuen’s Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972 ) on Blu-ray from Arrow’s Shawscope: Volume Three box set.

Stuart has taken a look at José Giovanni's Boomerang (1976) and Georges Lautner’s Cop or Hood (1979) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Dennis has reviewed Howard Hughes and James Whale’s Hell’s Angels (1930) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection, Joseph Losey’s King and Country (1964) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, and Dick Richards’ Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Stephen have offers his take on Ti West’s X Trilogy (X, Pearl, MaXXXine) in 4K Ultra HD from A24, John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992) in 4K from Shout! Studios, Walter Hill’s Undisputed (2002) in 4K from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, and Timo Tjahjanto’s Nobody 2 (2005) in 4K from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

More reviews are on the way all this week, so be sure to keep checking back for them!

And I’ll be back here again shortly with a new My Two Cents release news update.

Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)

Greetings, Bits readers!

I trust you’re all having a lovely evening. This is Bill, and I just wanted to check in here tonight with a quick update.

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve posted fewer My Two Cents news columns in the last couple of weeks, despite the fact that there seems to be more disc news than ever as we head toward the finish line in 2025.

And it’s true, there have been fewer news posts here. The reason for this is simple: I had a pretty significant prostate surgery a week ago today. It wasn’t a serious issue, thank goodness—fortunately, not a cancer scare.

Rather, I’ve been suffering these past few years from straightforward prostate enlargement, which runs in my family and which, in fact, as much as 75% of all men begin to deal with when they reach their 50s.

Luckily, my doctor is fantastic, the surgery itself went very well, and my recovery has been ahead of the curve. I’ve still got about 6-8 weeks of healing to do before I’m back to normal. But I’ve spent most of the last week in bed resting. And of course, the week ahead of my surgery was stressful indeed. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a ton of new disc reviews that we’ve shared here at The Bits over the past week, including…

My reviews of the fixed Superman: The Movie, Superman II, and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut 4K Ultra HD discs from Warner Bros.

My review (with Todd Doogan) of Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949) on Blu-ray from the BFI, as well as my review (with Tim) of the new Back to the Future: 40th Anniversary Limited Edition Gift Set in 4K from Universal.

Stephen’s thoughts on Arūnas Žebriūnas’s The Devil’s Bride (1974) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile, Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s Shin Godzilla: Deluxe Collector’s Edition (2016) from GKids, and Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 (1981) on 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video.

Tim’s reviews of Hanna-Barbera’s Wacky Races: The Complete Series on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, StudioCanal’s Dead of Night: 80th Anniversary Collector’s Edition in 4K Ultra HD, the first titles—One-Armed Swordsman (1967) and Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)—from Arrow’s Shawscope: Volume Three Blu-ray box set.

Dennis’ look at Mark L. Lester’s The Ex (1996) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and John Cromwell’s The Racket (1951) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Stuart’s take on Stuart Heisler’s I Died a Thousand Times (1955) and the Bette Davis Collection (which includes The Letter, Dark Victory, Jezebel, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection as well as José Giovanni’s Last Known Address (1970) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

We’ve also got lots more new disc reviews coming today and all this week, so be sure to check back for them!

Now then… in announcement news today, the good people at Radiance Films have revealed that they’re releasing Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man (1980) in 4K Ultra HD on 2/23/26. The film will feature Dolby Vision HDR, and the package will include a bevy of new and legacy special features, including the acclaimed documentary The Sinister Saga of Making The Stuntman (2001). You can see the cover work above left. [Read on here...]