My Two Cents
Good afternoon, Bits readers and welcome to a new week! If all goes well, it’s shaping up to be a pretty exciting one—but more on that soon.
First up today, we’ve got an exclusive early 4K Ultra HD review for you: I’ve just taken an in-depth look at Christopher Cain’s fan-favorite western Young Guns (1988) in a long-awaited new Ultra HD release from our friends over at Lionsgate! The A/V quality is excellent, the disc includes original theatrical stereo and a great new Atmos mix, legacy extras carry over (including the commentary, a historical featurette, and trailers), and there’s a terrific new doc as well called How the West Was Wild: Making Young Guns. It’s a fine release that fans of the film should really love.
Now then, our friends at Kino Lorber Studio Classics have announced that Rod Lurie’s The Last Castle (2001) is “coming soon” to 4K Ultra HD.
Also newly revealed for Blu-ray from KLSC are Ted Kotcheff’s Split Image (1962), Joseph Sargent’s To Hell with Heroes (1968), Norman Panama’s The Road to Hong Kong (1962), and Douglas Sirk’s Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952) on 1/9, followed by Andrew V. McLaglen’s The Devil’s Brigade (1968) on 1/16. And coming soon is Mitchell Leisen’s No Man of Her Own (1950). [Read on here...]
We’ve got a trio of new disc reviews to round out the week today, including...
My thoughts on David Anspaugh’s Rudy (1993) which streets in 4K Ultra HD from Sony next Tuesday (11/14), featuring not only the original Theatrical Version but also a new Director’s Cut that’s 13 minutes longer.
Stephen’s take on Chuck Russell’s 1988 remake of The Blob in 4K UHD from Shout! and Scream Factory.
And Dennis’ take on Ron Winston’s The Gamblers (1970) on Blu-ray from VCI Entertainment.
More reviews are on the way, including my own look at Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17 (1953) in 4K from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. So be sure to watch for those soon.
Also today, over on our Patreon we’ve kicked off an in-depth poll asking our supporters what video, audio, special features, and packaging options 4K Ultra HD fans value most on their catalog titles on the format. The poll will remain open until next Friday (11/17) at Noon Pacific, so if you sign up as a supporter between now and then, you can weigh in with your picks. And we’ll share the results here on the website.
We’re going to run these kind of polls regularly on Patreon, both for our own edification and also to provide that information to studio sources who might ask for it, so this is a great chance to make your opinions heard. [Read on here...]
Heads-up Bits readers! I’ll be participating in a Facebook Live stream later this afternoon (November 9, at 5:30 PM PST), hosted by our friends John Schuermann and Steve Crabb of THE SCREENING ROOM AV, and joined by famed AV calibrator Kris Deering (of DEEP DIVE AV) to talk about:
- The future of physical media – DVD vs. Blu-ray vs. UHD Blu-ray
- The future of “special features”
- Licensing titles to the boutique labels
- The latest on upcoming releases
- Best Buy’s actual market share
- How good is streaming vs. physical / Kaleidescape / “Purestream”?
- Plex / Zappiti
- ...and more! We’ll also be doing Q&A, taking live viewer and listener questions.
You can read more here at The Screening Room A/V’s promo page for the event:
https://www.thescreeningroomav.com/tsrav-video-podcast
And you can join us live this afternoon at this link:
We hope to see you all there! –BH
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)
We have three more new disc reviews for you today…
First up, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Lucio Fulci’s The House by the Cemetery (1981) on 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video in the UK.
Also, Tim has posted his thoughts on Jess Franco’s Lorna the Exorcist (1974) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classic via their new Kino Cult line.
And finally, Stuart has weighed in with a review of Jack Smight’s Number One with a Bullet (1987), starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, a Cannon title on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
There’s not a lot in the way of announcement news to report today, but we do have this: Paramount is releasing Lindsey Anderson Beer’s Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 12/19. Extras will include 5 featurettes (among them Origins, Fresh Blood, Death’s Design, Method to the Madness, and War Comes Home). You can see the 4K cover artwork at left.
CBS and Paramount are also preparing to release Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season Four on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/19. We don’t have the final cover artwork yet, but you can now pre-order the title on Amazon here. [Read on here...]
All right, I certainly hope you all had a lovely weekend. We’ve got some great new disc reviews for you to enjoy today, as well as some terrific release news.
Before we get to that, however, I wanted to make another pitch for those of you who’ve long read and enjoyed our work here at The Digital Bits to consider supporting the site via our new Patreon (or PayPal, if you prefer). We’re up to 127 subscribers now (with nearly 50 more followers), and we appreciate each and every one. (Next stop… 200!) So if you value what we do here—if you find that our work regularly brings a little bit of joy into your life as a fan of physical media—please consider subscribing to help us keep The Bits going indefinitely. I’m making regular—really almost daily—blog posts on Patreon, most of which are exclusive to our backers, and I’m trying to ensure that those complement what we do here on the website. So please consider joining us, and we thank you for the support!
Now then, let’s get to those reviews...
First, I’ve posted my thoughts on Apple TV’s For All Mankind: Season One, which is new on Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, as well as For All Mankind: Season Two, which was released on Region B Blu-ray by Dazzler a few months ago. This is shaping up to be one of the great science fiction series, one that’s worthy of the legacy and spirit of optimism about the future that we all loved about classic Star Trek. It’s well worth your time.
Also, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection, a disc that includes Browning’s Freaks (1932), The Unknown (1927), and The Mystic (1925).
And Stuart has delivered his take on Dan M. Kinem and Levi Peretic’s Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector (2013) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.
Note that I’m also working on a review of Sony’s new Rudy 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release, which is pretty great. More on that here soon. [Read on here...]