Items filtered by date: May 2025

RealD, 3DTV, Blu-ray 3D, active shutter glasses - these are terms you've probably heard mentioned on TV and in trips to Best Buy and other retailers. Certainly, anyone who's gone to a movie in theatres in recent months has heard about (or experienced) 3D on the big screen, with such hit films as Avatar, Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. There's little doubt that 3D is here, and here to stay. What's more, the technology has finally arrived for you to enjoy the 3D experience in your living room. But what does it all mean? How does it work, and what special equipment do you need to give it a try?

The following is a comparison of anamorphic and non-anamorphic (letterboxed) widescreen DVD video, as displayed on Standard 4x3 and Digital 16x9 TVs. For this demonstration, we've chosen to use snapshots of actual DVD video from the film Rushmore (aspect ratio is 2.35:1). Buena Vista's original DVD version (on the left) is non-anamorphic. By contrast, The Criterion Collection DVD release (on the right) is anamorphic.

Over the past 70 years, Batman's adventures on the screen have fascinated people of all ages. From Lewis Wilson to Christian Bale, seven men have worn the cape and cowl of the famous detective as created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in the 1930's. Many writers and directors have put their stamp on the world of Gotham City on the big screen and on television. 

[Editor's Note: You can meet Mark Altman (along with Bits editor Bill Hunt and contributing editor Dr. Adam Jahnke) this weekend at WonderCon in Anaheim where he will be moderating several panels and autographing at the Femme Fatales booth with cast and crew from the hit Cinemax TV series.]

Another year, another column...

Sorry I've been away so long, but I'm thrilled to be back compiling the bits to render judgment on another year of home entertainment. Unfortunately, the biggest takeaway from 2011 and the flaming out of the home video juggernaut that kept the studios awash in big bucks for decades is the fact that the studio's just aren't spending the money to create new bonus features for their discs. The days of being awed by hours of in-depth and eye-opening supplements are clearly over and even the best of this year's Blu-ray featured largely re-purposed content from previous editions. Even when Universal would re-cycle their old laserdisc docs on DVD, it wasn't totally disappointing because the bonus features on those old CAV laser sets were incredible. Jaws, anyone?

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. The Electric Theatre has returned. But you may ask, where's it been? And why is it back on The Bits instead of on that kinda ugly battleship grey site? Well, therein lies a tale. I'll try to keep it brief. If you don't care, feel free to skip this next paragraph.

In this edition of High Definition Matters, I've got 15 reviews for you: Warner Bros.' Unknown and The Cincinnati Kid; Criterion's Kiss Me Deadly; Paramount's The Firm, True Grit, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off; MGM's Overboard; Alliance Canada's Mrs. Brown and Ironclad; Kino's Buster Keaton: The Short Films; Sony's Das Boot and Winter in Wartime; and eOne Canada's Barney's Version, The Beaver, and The Bang Bang Club.

I'm delighted to be able to bring you a new Classic Coming Attractions column! Most of you have been aware of my recent health difficulties as mentioned on The Bits and your messages of support have been a source of constant and very great inspiration, for which I can't thank you enough. I'm on the road to recovery and well enough to turn my hand to film things classic, so here's the very latest in new classic release news that I've been able to come up with. I have only three disc reviews this time (Twilight Time's Woman Obsessed, the Warner Archive's The Breaking Point, and an independently-produced disc of Meanwhile Back at the Ranch - all of which I'm able to recommend), but reviews will return in force in all future columns.

Welcome to the 100th Classic Coming Attractions column. This time out, I'm featuring a profile of Roy Rogers, 2011 being the 100th anniversary of his birth. A number of brief reviews of different companies' holdings of his films available on DVD are included (particularly 13 titles available from VCI and 20 titles from Alpha) as is a complete filmography. In keeping with this western theme, I also have reviews of a number of recent DVD and Blu-ray western releases: The Comancheros (BD from Fox); Wild West Collection: Rio Conchos/Take a Hard Ride (DVD from Shout! Factory); The Phantom Empire and The Gene Autry Show: The Complete First Season (both DVD from Timeless Media Group); Vera Cruz (BD from MGM); and Big Jake, Rio Lobo, and A Man Called Horse (all BD from Paramount).

In this edition of High Definition Matters, I've got 10 reviews for you: Le cercle rouge and Smiles of a Summer Night (from Criterion); Le Mans and Beverly Hills Cop (from Paramount); The King's Speech and The Way Back (from Alliance Canada); Grand Prix and Maverick (from Warner Bros.); The Terror (from Virgil Films); and Houdini/Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (from Legend Films). I also have a few brief comments on Paramount's A.I: Artificial Intelligence, MGM's Fiddler on the Roof, and Sony's Taxi Driver.

Tron Legacy 3D
2010 (2011) - Walt Disney Home Entertainment

The original Tron was a showcase of the latest technologies in animation, film compositing and computer based effects. For the franchise's return nearly 30 years later, Tron Legacy continues this visually innovative tradition. Visually, Tron Legacy stands with Avatar as the best 3D experience money can buy.