Displaying items by tag: 20th Anniversary

“Attack of the Clones represents George Lucas’ forward-thinking perhaps more than any of his other films.” – Stephen Danley, Star Wars at the Movies

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of Attack of the Clones, the second and middle episode in George Lucas’s Star Wars prequel trilogy.

For the occasion of Attack of the Clones’s recent anniversary, The Bits features a multi-page article consisting of a Q&A with a trio of Star Wars historians and enthusiasts who reflect on the film.

It also contains detailed box-office data and statistics, passages from film reviews, and a reference listing of its North American first-run D-Cinema and IMAX presentations. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got just a quick news update today to bring you a standard Blu-ray announcement of a TV title that many of you have waited a very long time for.

But first, we have two more new disc reviews for you...

Stephen has chimed in today with his thoughts on David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, as released in 4K Ultra HD by StudioCanal in the UK. This is an import release, so while the 4K disc works on UHD players worldwide, you’ll need an all-region capable player to look at the regular Blu-ray Discs included in the package.

Also today, Stephen has taken a look at Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on 4K Ultra HD from Universal, a newly-released catalog title on the format that’s been given a significant image remaster and a new Dolby Atmos sound mix too.

We’ll have more new disc reviews tomorrow, so be sure to check back then. But now let’s get to that BD release news... [Read on here...]

“Shrek sits alongside Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter as one of the definitive ‘new’ franchises of the global tentpole era, while making both animated features and rom-coms ‘safe’ for male-centric protagonists and PG ratings.” – Scott Mendelson, box-office analyst

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of Shrek, PDI and DreamWorks Animation’s popular, award-winning animated film based upon William Steig’s picture book and featuring the voice talent of Mike Myers (Wayne’s World, Austin Powers), Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America) and Cameron Diaz (The Mask, There’s Something About Mary).

Shrek, directed by Andrew Adamson (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and Vicky Jensen (Shark Tale) and also featuring the voice talent of John Lithgow (The World According to Garp, 3rd Rock from the Sun) as Lord Farquaad, was released to theaters twenty years ago this month. For the occasion The Bits features a package of statistics and box-office data that places the movie’s performance in context, along with passages from vintage film reviews, a reference/historical listing of the movie’s Digital Cinema presentations, and, finally, a film historian interview who reflects on the movie (and franchise) two decades after its debut. [Read on here...]

“The World Is Not Enough is the first and only Bond film to feature a woman as the arch-villain. For this reason, it is worthy of recognition” — Lisa Funnell, co-author of The Geographies, Genders, and Geopolitics of James Bond

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of The World is Not Enough, the 19th (official) cinematic James Bond adventure and third of four to feature Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007.

Our previous celebratory 007 articles include Licence to Kill, Moonraker, Quantum of Solace, From Russia with Love, Never Say Never Again, Live and Let Die, Octopussy, Casino Royale (1967), Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day, Dr. No, The Living Daylights, The Spy Who Loved Me, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Casino Royale, For Your Eyes Only, Thunderball, GoldenEye, A View to a Kill, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Goldfinger, and 007… Fifty Years Strong.

The Bits continues the series with this retrospective featuring a Q&A with an esteemed group of film historians and James Bond authorities who discuss the virtues, shortcomings and legacy of 1999’s The World is Not Enough. [Read more here...]

“The Phantom Menace is the film that caused a generation gap in Star Wars fandom.” — W.R. Miller, author of The Star Wars Historical Sourcebook: Volume One 1971 to 1976

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace, the first entry in the long-awaited prequel trilogy to the original 1977-83 Star Wars trilogy.

Marking series creator George Lucas’s return to directing, The Phantom Menace opened twenty years ago this month, with some fans camping out for days (plural!) to experience a screening on opening day. And while the movie was an undeniable box-office smash, breaking numerous earnings and attendance records, there was a great disturbance in the Force as the film left a lot of moviegoers and critics underwhelmed and disappointed. [Read on here...]

“The Matrix managed to outdo Star Wars in terms of truly reshaping the zeitgeist mere months before George Lucas’ first prequel was supposed to roar into theaters and show everyone how big budget sci-fi is supposed to work.” — Zaki Hasan, co-author of Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of The Matrix, the popular, franchise-inspiring action/sci-fi/cyberpunk adventure starring Keanu Reeves (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, John Wick) and highlighted by Academy Award-winning editing, sound effects editing, sound, and visual effects.

Directed by The Wachowskis (Bound, Speed Racer), produced by Joel Silver (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon) and co-starring Laurence Fishburne (Boyz n the Hood, What’s Love Got to Do with It), Carrie-Anne Moss (Memento, Disturbia), Hugo Weaving (V for Vendetta, The Lord of the Rings), and Joe Pantoliano (Midnight Run, The Fugitive), The Matrix introduced moviegoers to Bullet Time and featured the music of Deftones, Marilyn Manson, Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine, Rammstein, and Rob Zombie. [Read on here...]

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Our own Michael Coate kicks things off today here at The Bits with a brand new History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at The Digital Bits, this one featuring a great look back at the James Bond film GoldenEye on the 20th anniversary of its original release. The piece includes a great roundtable interview of film historian experts, including Robert A. Caplen, James Chapman, John Cork, Bill Desowitz, Lisa Funnell, Mark O’Connell, Lee Pfeiffer, and Bruce Scivally. Don’t miss it!  [Read on here…]

“Had GoldenEye failed, that would have been it for 007.” — John Cork

The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of GoldenEye, the 17th (official) cinematic James Bond adventure and, most notably, the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007.

As with our previous 007 articles (available here, here, here, and here), The Bits continues the series with this retrospective featuring a Q&A with an esteemed group of James Bond authorities who discuss the virtues and shortcomings of GoldenEye and analyze whether or not the passage of time has been kind to the film. [Read on here...]