Items filtered by date: July 2024

We’re finishing up the week with a pair of additional disc reviews here, including...

Stephen’s look at John Krasinski’s If (2024) in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount.

And Stuart’s thoughts on Vittorio De Seta’s Bandits of Orgosolo (1960) on Blu-ray from Radiance Films.

As always, more reviews are on the way, so be sure to watch for them.

We’ve also just finished a massive update of our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits as promised to include everything announced for the format in the last few weeks, with A/V details (if known) and Amazon.com pre-order links (if available). We’ve also included some rumored titles from our industry sources and there are a few surprises in there, so you’ll definitely want to give it a look!

And we’ve got a few more new disc announcements for you here today, starting with Imprint’s revelation that they’re releasing Wolfgang Petersen’s The NeverEnding Story (1984) on 4K Ultra HD on 11/27, the final of four catalog 4Ks the company is releasing that month! The release is timed to celebrate the film’s 40th anniversary. This will be a 5-disc set that includes the original US Theatrical Cut and the German Extended Cut on separate 4K Ultra HD discs, the former with Dolby Vision HDR and the latter with HDR10. Both cuts will also be included on separate Blu-rays, and you’ll get an additional Blu-ray that features Lisa Downs’ all-new Life After NeverEnding Story feature-length documentary. [Read on here...]

We start as always today with several new disc reviews, including…

Sam Cohen’s take on Poul Bang and Sidney W. Pink’s Reptilicus (1961) in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome.

Stuart’s look at Something Weird Video and Kino Classic’s double-feature Blu-ray of The Pace that Kills (1928) and its “talkie” remake The Cocaine Fiends (1935).

Dennis’ reviews of Clarence Brown’s Idiot’s Delight (1939) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection and Chad Ferrin’s Night Caller (2021) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

Stephen’s thoughts on Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video.

And last but definitely not least, Tim’s review of Arrow Video’s new UK-only release of Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991) in 4K Ultra HD, which corrects the color space issues that plagued the Kino Lorber Studio Classics 4K disc from 2021.

More reviews are forthcoming tomorrow, so be sure to watch for them!

Now then, the big news today is that Franklin J. Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes (1968) has just been upgraded to 4K on all your favorite Digital services, including Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Movies Anywhere, Kaleidescape and more! It actually has Dolby Vision HDR on Apple TV (and it may elsewhere as well). Naturally, we’ve asked about the possibility of a physical 4K release of this film. I suspect there are no current plans, but I also suspect that if the title does well on Digital, that could change. [Read on here...]

We’re starting Tuesday off here at The Bits with three new disc reviews for all of you to enjoy, including...

Dennis’ look at Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen (2024) on Blu-ray from 20th Century Studios.

Stuart’s thoughts on Teruo Ishii’s Prison Walls: Abashiri Prison I-III (1965) on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment.

And Stephen’s take on Don Seigel’s original sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

In announcement news today, Kino Lorber Studio Classics has revealed a few more great new catalog releases, including Sidney Lumet’s Garbo Talks (1984) and Claude Autant-Lara’s Enough Rope (1963) on Blu-ray on 10/15, followed by William Friedkin’s Rules of Engagement (2000) and Peter Collinson’s Fright (1971) on 4K Ultra HD, as well as Carlo Carlei’s Fluke (1995) and Andre Gower’s Wolfman’s Got Nards (2018) on Blu-ray on 10/22. And coming soon to 4K Ultra HD from the company is Roy Ward Baker’s Scars of Dracula (1970), while coming soon to Blu-ray is the Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXV box set which features John H. Auer’s The Flame (1947), City That Never Sleeps (1953), and Hell’s Half Acre (1954). [Read on here...]

Morning folks! We’ve got some great release news for you today! And unfortunately, my neighborhood here in SoCal is experiencing some kind of major power disruption (I’m looking at like 20 utility tricks outside my office window right now) or I’d have had this up for you all last night.

First, some new disc reviews, as always…

Stuart has taken an in-depth look at Imprint’s excellent new Blu-ray box set of the classic British sci-fi TV series The Prisoner: The Complete Series (1967-1968). In short: It’s excellent. Do give it a look.

Also, our new team member Sam Cohen has reviewed Peter Hyams’ Narrow Margin (1990) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Tibor Takács’ Sabotage (1996) on Blu-ray from the MVD Rewind Collection!

And more reviews are on the way this week, including (but not limited to) Furiosa and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in 4K, so be sure to watch for those soon.

Now then… Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has just officially announced the 4K Ultra HD release of two popular M. Night Shyamalan films on 10/22! Here’s the official press release (which continues below the break)…

TWO ICONIC M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN FILMS, THE SIXTH SENSE
AND SIGNS, ARRIVE ON 4K UHD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!

IN ADDITION, A SPECIAL BUNDLE INCLUDING UNBREAKABLE WILL
BE AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT DIGITAL RETAILERS

THE SIXTH SENSE CELEBRATES 25 YEARS!

BURBANK, CA. (August 26, 2024) – The Sixth Sense and Signs, two iconic thrillers from Oscar-nominated director, M. Night Shyamalan, will be available for the first time ever in stunning 4K UHD digital on August 27, and 4K UHD Blu-ray disc on October 22. The original negatives for both films were scanned at 4K resolution and restored in High Dynamic Range (HDR). [Read on here...]

The big news today is that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has just set M. Night Shayamalan’s Trap (2024) for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 11/5, with the Digital release expected on 8/30. Extras on the 4K will include 2 featurettes (Setting the Trap: A New M. Night Shayamalan Experience and Saleka as Lady Raven), as well as 3 deleted scenes, and an extended concert scene. The press release doesn’t indicate the A/V specs, but it’s reasonable to expect Dolby Atmos audio and HDR10 high dynamic range.

Here’s something pretty terrific: Severin Films has just a 13-disc All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror – Volume Two box set for release on 11/12. The set includes 24 international folks horror classics, with 55+ hours of extras, and a 252-page hardcover of new folk horror fiction. [Read on here...]

We’re starting today with a bunch of new and recent disc reviews here at The Bits, including...

Stephen’s look at Michael Mann’s Collateral (2004) in a new 4K Steelbook from Paramount, The Flash: The Original Series (1990) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, and Bosco Lam and Kin-Nam Cho’s A Chinese Torture Chamber Story 1 & 2 (1994 & 1998) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

Tim’s thoughts on Park Chan-wook’s JSA: Joint Security Area (2000) in 4K Ultra HD from Umbrella Entertainment.

Dennis’ take on Philip Kaufman’s Twisted (2004) on Blu-ray from Paramount via Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And finally, Stuart’s reviews of George King’s Tomorrow We Live (1943) and Barbet Schroeder’s Single White Female (1992) on Blu-ray from Powerhouse Films’ Indicator label.

Speaking of Indicator, they’ve just unveiled their November slate, which includes a UK-only box set called Pryor & Wilder that features Sidney Poitier’s Stir Crazy (1980), Arthur Hiller’s See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Maurice Phillips’ Another You (1991) on Blu-ray. Look for that on 18 November. In the US, Indicator will release Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat’s Left Right and Centre (1959), Ken Loach’s Family Life (1971), and John Krish’s The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970) all on Blu-ray on 11/19. [Read on here...]

All right, Bits readers, today is a tough one news-wise, and it has little to do with specific title release news or announcements.

We’ve learned from multiple sources now that the 15% US workforce cuts at Paramount Global—a restructuring that’s happening in advance of the company’s merger with Skydance Media to reduce annual costs by some $500 million—have landed very heavily on the Melrose lot. As reported widely last week, the layoffs amount to about 2,000 people, with most expected to be gone by the end of next month and the rest by year’s end.

Current co-CEOs George Cheeks, Brian Robbins, and Chris McCarthy have described the layoffs thusly in a memo to the workforce: “As we continue to advance our plan, we announced on our earnings call last week that we will be reducing our US-based workforce by approximately 15%, focusing on redundant functions and streamlining corporate teams.”

The expectation was that every division would be impacted. As reported last week, Paramount Television Studios has been shuttered completely. What’s not been reported widely yet is the impact on overall studio operations.

The Digital Bits sources indicate that nearly every department has been affected—in a few cases severely—from marketing, legal, and accounting, to production, post-production, finance, mastering, vault and library services, and unfortunately also Paramount Home Entertainment. The cuts are reportedly not so deep as to result in a complete loss of institutional knowledge, but they’re more than deep enough to result in major workflow disruptions. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a good bit of ground to cover here at The Bits today, so let’s start as always with new disc reviews...

Now available here are Stephen’s take on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) in 4K Ultra HD from StudioCanal, David Allen’s The Primevals (2023) as released on Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment, and the Blu-ray Audio version of Jonathan Demme and Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense (1984) live album, which includes Dolby Atmos.

Stuart’s look at the Philo Vance Collection on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics—which includes The Canary Murder Case (1929), The Greene Murder Case (1929), and The Benson Murder Case (1930)—as well as George King’s The Shop at Sly Corner (1947) and the Columbia Film Noir #6: The Whistler box set—which includes The Whistler (1944), The Mark of the Whistler (1944), The Power of the Whistler (1945), Voice of the Whistler (1945), Mysterious Intruder (1946), The Secret of the Whistler (1946), The Thirteenth Hour (1947), and The Return of the Whistler (1948)—both on Blu-ray from Indicator.

Dennis’ thoughts on Basil Dearden’s The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) on Blu-ray from Imprint and Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series (1975-1979) on DVD from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.

And finally, Tim has taken a look at Arch Oboler’s Bwana Devil (1952) on Blu-ray 3D from Kino Lorber Studio Classics with the help of the 3-D Film Archive.

More reviews are forthcoming, so stay tuned!

Now then, before we get to the big release news today, I wanted to alert you all to the fact that we’ve just posted a big update to our Cover Art section here at The Bits, aka the Release Dates & Artwork section (thanks to our own Russell Hammond)! It now features TONS of new Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover art, all with Amazon.com pre-order links. You can browse and sort the titles by street date and format, and of course The Bits is an Amazon Affiliate, so anytime you click through one of our Amazon links and order literally anything from them, you’re helping to support our work and we really do appreciate it. It makes a real difference for us. [Read on here...]

We’ve got three new disc reviews to start the week, as well as some significant release news. So more on the latter in a minute...

Stuart has weighed in with a look at Edward Dmytryk’s Obsession (1949) on Blu-ray from Indicator here at The Bits today.

And Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Quarxx’s Pandemonium (2023) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video, as well as Basil Dearden’s The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) on Blu-ray from Imprint.

Now then... the big news this afternoon is that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has announced that the Digital release of Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters (2024) will drop tomorrow on 8/13. It’ll come with deleted scenes and a gag reel. We don’t have an official street date yet for the physical media release, but that should follow in the weeks ahead as all physical SKUs are now available for pre-order. [Read on here...]

We’ve got just a handful of announcement news items to share with you today...

The first is that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just set Chris Smith’s American Movie (1999) for release on 4K Ultra HD on 10/15 in honor of the film’s 25th anniversary.

This will be a Sony Pictures Classics release. The 4K disc will include Dolby Vision HDR and the original English mono audio in lossless DTS-HD MA format.

Extras will include audio commentary with the director and cast, deleted scenes, the Coven short film by Mark Borchardt, and the film’s theatrical trailer. You can see the cover artwork at left.

Elsewhere around the Interwebs, various online retailers have begun taking pre-orders for the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of Eli Roth’s Borderlands (2024) and Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s Kill (2023) from Lionsgate, M. Night’s Shyamalan’s Trap (2024) from Warner Bros, Ti West’s MaXXXine (2024) from A24, and Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs (2024) from Neon/Decal. The street date for all of these is TBA. [Read on here...]