Items filtered by date: March 2017

We have just a quick release news round-up for you today, but we’ve got some good titles to report on…

In announcement news today, Universal has already set Syfy’s The Magicians: Season Two for Blu-ray release on 7/11 (SRP $44.98). They’ve also just announced Syfy’s The Expanse: Season Two for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/18 (SRP $49.98 and $39.98). And the studio has now set NBC’s Emerald City: Season One for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/25 as well.

For you fans of 4K Ultra HD – and I know there are a few of you out there – Universal has also just set Peter Jackson’s King Kong: Ultimate Edition for release as a 4K/BD combo on 7/11 (SRP $39.98). [Read on here…]

We have a couple items to report today…

First, a quick note: I’ve updated our post from yesterday (regarding the interview with Kathleen Kennedy on Star Wars) to more accurately reflect the context of her comments. It’s worth giving another look, if you’re interested. Just FYI.

Here at the site today, Tim Salmons has posted reviews of Arrow Video’s House: Two Stories and House: The Collection Blu-ray box sets. One is a U.S. release while the other is a U.K. release (but it plays in both Region A and B). The sets are pretty terrific if you’re a fan, so do give them a look. [Read on here…]

All right, as I work to finish these hardware reviews we’ve some good things for you today here at the site...

First, Tim has posted three new disc reviews, including looks at Synapse Films’ Popcorn Steelbook Blu-ray, Scream Factory’s Slumber Party Massacre II/III Double Feature Blu-ray, and Shout! Factory’s new Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXVIII DVD set. All are worth a look, so do check them out.

Also today, our own Mario Boucher has turned in a new Inside Cinema report on Warner Bros’ recent Wonder Woman panel from the WonderCon 2017 convention here in Anaheim. Both producer Geoff Johns and director Patty Jenkins were on hand to discuss the making of the film and it sounds as if it’s shaping up nicely. The film arrives in theaters on 6/2. [Read on here…]

Keeping the essence of Diana Prince was the ultimate goal, according to Wonder Woman producer Geoff Johns and director Patty Jenkins.

They spoke about their passion for the character at the film’s recent WonderCon presentation. Jenkins said a superhero’s origin story is a great way for a child to connect with characters. Wonder Woman is one of the biggest and best-known superheroes but movie goers have never seen her origin story.

Keeping the essence of Diana Prince was the ultimate goal, according to Wonder Woman producer Geoff Johns and director Patty Jenkins. [Read on here…]

All right, there’s not a lot of news today, but there are a couple things worth mentioning, so let’s get to it...

First, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Orion Pictures (a division of MGM) have announced the Blu-ray release of Greg McLean’s The Belko Experiment on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/27, with the Digital HD release expected on 6/13. Extras will include a pair of featurettes (Rules of the Game: The Secrets Behind The Belko Experiment and Lee Hardcastle’s Survival Tips), deleted scenes, and an image gallery. The film was written and produced by James Gunn (he of Guardians of the Galaxy fame). [Read on here…]

Before we get started today, our own Russell Hammond has updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

Now then... Broad Green Pictures has just set Terrence Malick’s Song to Song for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/4, starring Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchet.

The Warner Archive has just announced that Vision Quest (1985), The Loved One (1965), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Seven Days in May (1964) are all coming to Blu-ray soon, each with a brand new HD transfer. [Read on here…]

There’s a bunch more great new release news today, so here goes...

First up, our friends at The Criterion Collection have announced their July slate of releases, and I’m thrilled to say that they include Andrei Tarkovsky’s Russian sci-fi film Stalker (Cat #888 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 7/18! Also coming are Robert Bresson’s L’argent (Cat #886 – Blu-ray, DVD, and Hulu Plus) and Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy (Cat #500 – Blu-ray and DVD – includes Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero) on 7/11, as well as Albert Brooks’ 1985 satire Lost in America (Cat #887 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 7/25. We’ll take all the classic Russian cinema on Blu-ray I can get, science fiction especially, and the more the merrier. You can pre-order them all by clicking on the cover artwork at the bottom of this post (Stalker is pictured at left). [Read on here…]

Okay… Star Wars Celebration weekend has ended with… well, not much in the way of Blu-ray release news related to the Star Wars films. Not that we expected any, per our recent posts, but still. Lucasfilm’s John Knoll did show off some interesting behind the scenes material on The Making of Rogue One panel at the event, including a rare extended cut of the Death Star briefing room scene from the original Star Wars, as well as virtual recreations of a number of classic Death Star settings that didn’t make the final cut of Rogue One, but there was no indication as to when (if ever) any of that material might be released on Blu-ray, nor was there any indication of a more elaborate Rogue One: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release later this year. (The Making of Rogue One panel also doesn’t seem to have been live-streamed for some reason, though probably to keep the footage shown there from appearing online.) At any rate, it seems that Disney and Lucasfilm are just going to do whatever they’re going to do, with regard to releasing these films on Blu-ray, and fans will simply have to deal with it.

I will say that I thought the teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi looked interesting. It was visually striking, with echoes of The Empire Strikes Back of course, but there seems to be a genuine mystery to the story too. We’ll see. [Read on here…]

All right, we’re closing out the week here at The Bits with a bit of fun…

First up, Tim has just posted a new Pick-Ups review of MGM’s 2009 Blu-ray release of The Silence of the Lambs. You can read that here.

Of course, we have a little more announcement news today too...

Shout! Factory has revealed the extras you’ll get on their Streets of Fire: Collector’s Edition on 5/16, the latest entry in their Shout Selects line of titles. Look for a new 2K scan of the interpositive on Disc One, and then on Disc Two you’ll get the all-new The Making of Streets of Fire documentary, along with Rumble on the Lot: Walter Hill’s Streets of Fire Revisited, 4 vintage featurettes (Rock and Roll Fable, Exaggerated Realism, Choreographing the Crowd, Creating the Costumes, and From the Ground Up), music videos, on-air promos, a still gallery, and the theatrical trailer. You can see the cover artwork below. [Read on here…]

Welcome to a new edition of Pick-Ups!

I have returned at last to resume Pick-Ups after a notable absence, mostly due to site-related issues here at The Digital Bits. We’ve been doing some server updating and site modifications around here, all very technical and complicated I can assure you.

But now that we’re back up and running, however, I can finally get back to bringing you new reviews of some titles that we’ve neglected to cover previously.

This week is going to be a mixed bag for the column, so be sure to check back each day for new reviews. [Read on here...]