My Two Cents
We’re closing out the week here at The Bits with a bunch of release news and more new disc reviews as well. The reviews include...
Tim’s take on Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel’s Super Mario Bros. (1993) in 4K Ultra HD from Umbrella Entertainment—the deluxe Trust the Fungus edition.
Stuart’s look at Hal Ashby’s Coming Home (1978) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as his review of Kino Lorber’s Homicide Hills: The Complete Series on DVD.
And Dennis’ reviews of Frank Lloyd’s Blood on the Sun (1945) and Alfred L. Werker and Anthony Mann’s He Walked by Night (1948), both on Blu-ray also from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
Also, just to let you know, we’ve been sharing some additional content for our supporters over on Patreon, including essays on Godzilla Minus One’s visual effects Oscar win and the difficulty in creating or evaluating home video transfers for film, along with an exclusive tease about a trio of forthcoming 4K Ultra HD catalog titles that are in the works for later this year, my in-depth film review of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, and a little behind-the-scenes on a visit with some friends of The Bits who just so happen to have been involved with the Star Trek franchise for over 38 years.
Supporting The Bits on Patreon is a really great way to help us keep the site going, and doing so makes it possible for us to continue our work in support of physical media and disc fans everywhere. So please consider joining us there! [Read on here...]
All right, it’s been a busy couple of days here at The Bits in the wake of our reviews of the James Cameron 4K titles—The Abyss, Aliens, and True Lies.
Many of you have reported having trouble getting your pre-orders fulfilled, or have seen shipping dates delayed, whether from Amazon, Walmart, Disney Movie Club, Target, or what have you. This is apparently due to distribution issues resulting from—we strongly suspect—demand for these titles outstripping Disney’s expectations. In any case, more product is being replicated and shipped to distributors and retailers, so these issues should clear up over the next week or two.
Hopefully, this will send a strong message to Disney that people still want to buy catalog 4K titles—a good sign for the future.
Meanwhile, we have one new disc review here at The Bits today: Stephen has taken an in-depth look at Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday (1940) in 4K Ultra HD from Sony’s new Columbia Classics 4K Collection: Volume 4 box set. More reviews from this set will follow soon.
In announcement news today, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has now officially set Steven Soderberg’s Ocean’s Trilogy for 4K UHD release on 4/30. [Read on here...]
All right, welcome to a new week Bits readers!
Today is all about James Cameron here at the website, and to that end I’ve just finished knocking out in-depth reviews of the filmmaker’s The Abyss (1989), Aliens (1986), and True Lies (1994) in long-awaited physical 4K Ultra HD and remastered Blu-ray from 20th Century Studios!
The gist is that all three of these discs are worth picking up for Cameron fans and cinephiles, though one of the three titles is a bit complicated. The Abyss is the best looking of the three, nearly on par with the recent Titanic 4K release. Aliens is not far behind in terms of A/V quality and both titles include a nearly complete archive of all past special features created for the films.
True Lies is... well, it looks a lot better than the previous DVD, LaserDisc, and D-VHS releases. Sometimes, it looks fantastic. But at other times, the remastering is a little bit heavy-handed.
It’s still way better looking than StudioCanal’s Terminator 2 4K release though, so it’s a very solid upgrade over previous physical media releases, and it includes some nice features too.
Anyway, you’ll find all of the details in the linked reviews.
But while we’re on the topic of Cameron—and speaking the Terminator—producer Gale Anne Hurd shared over the weekend that plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Cameron’s original The Terminator (1984) are soon to be revealed. And we have good word that a new 4K Ultra HD release will chief among them. In the meantime, you can see her post on X/Twitter here. [Read on here...]
Today’s new disc reviews here at The Bits include...
Tim’s look at Richard Fleischer’s Conan the Destroyer (1984) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video, as well as Rospo Pallenberg’s Cutting Class (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from the MVD Rewind Collection.
And Stephen’s thoughts on George P. Cosmatos’ Leviathan (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from MGM via Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
In announcement news today, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has officially set Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (2006) for 4K Ultra HD and Digital release on 4/23. The 4K disc will also be available in Steelbook packaging. Extras include the new Guilt and Betrayal: Looking into The Departed featurette, along with the legacy Stranger than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie, and The Departed and Crossing Criminal Cultures featurettes, as well as 9 deleted scene with introduction by the director. The press release doesn’t indicate it, but the packaging lists 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Look for HDR10 high dynamic range only. [Read on here...]
All right, we’ve been talking a lot about Disney over the last couple of weeks here at The Digital Bits.
So it’s only fitting that we’re back early this morning here at the site to bring you some great breaking 4K Ultra HD news from the studio.
And for those of you eagerly awaiting the studio’s next wave of Disney+ streaming titles, I think you’ll agree that you simply couldn’t ask for a better selection of titles than the ones they’re announcing this morning!
You’ll find the studio’s complete official press release below, along with expanded-packaging images of each of the Steelbooks in question.
Then I’ll be back at the end of this post (below the break) with some additional comments of my own...
FOR THE FIRST TIME ON 4K UHD AND BLU-RAY!
THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER SEASON 1, MOON KNIGHT SEASON 1,
ANDOR SEASON 1 & OBI-WAN KENOBI
BURBANK, CA. (MARCH 5, 2024) – The Walt Disney Company today announced four new Collector’s Editions of popular Disney+ Original series from Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm will be available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray for fans to add to their collections. These special releases feature Steelbook packaging, concept art cards and some never-before-seen bonus features.
The titles, all to be released on April 30, 2024 are:
- Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and The Winter Soldier: The Complete First Season
- Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight: The Complete First Season
- Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi – The Complete Series
- Star Wars: Andor – The Complete First Season
All titles will be available to pre-order from March 12, 2024.
Like the previous Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm Collectors Editions released last year, each of these new releases will be available nationally on 4K UHD and Blu-ray Steelbook with brand-new box art designed by popular artist Attila Szarka and collectible concept art cards. [Read on here...]