Displaying items by tag: Robert Wise

We’ve got three more new disc reviews for you to enjoy today, starting with Tim’s look at Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998), as recently released on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment. It’s an Aussie import title, but all-region.

Also today, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974), which is newly released on Blu-ray from Imprint Films in Australia, also a region-free disc.

And Stephen has offered his thoughts on Shinsuke Terasawa’s animated Catwoman: Hunted in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, the latest installment in their DC Animated Universe.

What’s more, we have another “bonus” film retrospective from our own Michael Coate today in his History, Legacy and Showmanship column, as he takes a look back at Robert Wise’s original West Side Story (1961) in honor of the film’s 60th anniversary. Michael is joined by film and musical experts Matthew Kennedy, Bruce Kimmel, and Mike Matessino for a great roundtable discussion. Enjoy! [Read on here...]

“West Side Story stands as a prime example of successfully rendering a stage musical in cinematic terms.” – Matthew Kennedy, author of Roadshow!

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 60th anniversary of the release of West Side Story, Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, Star!) and Jerome Robbins’ (The King and I, Gypsy) screen adaptation of the popular musical stage production inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and starring Natalie Wood (Rebel Without a Cause, Brainstorm) as Maria and Richard Beymer (The Diary of Anne Frank, Twin Peaks) as Tony.

The winner of ten Academy Awards including Best Picture, the most popular movie of 1961 and one of the most popular musicals ever also featured Russ Tamblyn (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) as Riff, Rita Moreno (The King and I) as Anita, and George Chakiris (The Young Girls of Rochefort) as Bernardo. [Read on here...]

We’ve got another new review for you today: Stephen has taken a look at Lewis Gilbert’s The 7th Dawn (1964), which stars William Holden and Susannah York. It’s now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Stephen has also posted a first for The Bits—A Blu-ray Review Supplemental—this one for his review from yesterday of Allan Arkush’s Get Crazy on Blu-ray, also from KLSC. After reading Stephen’s review, Arkush himself was generous enough to provide some additional background information on the remastering work and the making of the disc and its special features. If you’re a fan of the film, I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Now then... some release news: Kino Lorber Studio Classics has officially set their 4K Ultra HD of In the Heat of the Night for release on 4/19. You can see the cover artwork on the left. Note that this is one of KLSC’s 4K titles that will have SDR only, along with 5.1 and the original 2.0 mono audio. Extras on the UHD disc will include a new audio commentary by film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, along with Robert Mirisch (nephew of Walter Mirisch, and son of the Mirisch Company founder Harold Mirisch). You’ll also get the existing commentary with director Norman Jewison, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and actors Rod Steiger and Lee Grant. [Read on here...]

A funny thing happened on the way to yesterday’s My Two Cents post! For some reason, I lost track of a day this week, so I thought yesterday was Friday. Then I wake up and here’s Friday again, much to my surprise. LOL. So anyway, while a bit of yesterday’s post still applies this afternoon, we’ve got some great breaking release news to share with you all today...

First up, the fine Imprint Films (down in Australia) has just announced their March 2022 Blu-ray slate, which is due to street on 3/30/22. It will include Sam Peckinpah’s The Osterman Weekend (1983 – mastered from new 2K scans of the director’s cut negative and the theatrical cut, so it will include both versions), Buzz Kulik’s The Hunter (1980 – starring Steve McQueen), Samuel Fuller’s China Gate (1957), Byron Haskin’s Conquest of Space (1955 – produced by George Pal), John Sturges’ Marooned (1969), Robert Wise’s Audrey Rose (1977), and Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun (1971). Not bad at all!

As usual, all of these Blu-rays should be region free. You’ll find them available here on the Imprint website.

But here’s the whopper today... Arrow Video has just announced its March 2022 slate as well, which includes no less than three new 4K UHD catalog titles! [Read on here...]

Today’s post here at The Bits is a quick one, as we have family visiting this week. However, we do have a little bit of release news and a couple more new reviews for you as well...

First up, I’ve given Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical love letter to rock music, Almost Famous, a look in a fantastic new 2-disc 4K Ultra HD Steelbook edition from Paramount. The remaster is gorgeous, the set includes two UHD discs—one each for the different versions of the film—it carries over all of the legacy extras, and it adds some new ones too. It’s a great set, so do give it a look if you’re a fan of the film.

Also, Stephen has reviewed Tony Scott’s True Romance as newly-released on 4K Ultra HD by Arrow Video, a UK import title that’s also apparently a pretty great remaster and worth considering.

And if you check back tomorrow, I’ll have a review of another 4K import title: Rian Johnson’s Looper from Entertainment One. [Read on here...]

Heads-up, folks!

No sooner did I post here on The Bits about that Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection cover artwork leak, I got an email back from Paramount with a link to the official Star Trek website with this news:

“Paramount and Paramount+ are excited to announce that a full restoration of the Director’s Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture has been greenlit.”

From the website... [Read on here...]

All right... we have just a quick update here at The Bits for you today, because I have family visiting this weekend for the first time since before the pandemic.

The big thing we have for you this afternoon is of course this: I’ve posted our in-depth review of the Indiana Jones: 4-Movie Collection in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm. The remastered 4K image on the first three films is spectacular, while the fourth film at least benefits some from HDR and some 4K-scanned footage from the camera negative here and there (shots without VFX). Meanwhile, the new Ben Burtt Dolby Atmos mixes are all demo-worthy across the board.

There are no new extras in the set and the packaging is terrible, but the picture and sound upgrade is so significant that most fans will be willing to overlook it. The set is definitely not to be missed, and you’ll find all the in-depth details right here in our review. [Read on here...]

All right, so we’re going to be back later today with some more new disc reviews, but there’s some potentially significant news breaking at the moment that I wanted to address posthaste this morning.

You remember how I said yesterday that I’d been interviewed for an article on Trek Report about the potential for the classic Star Trek films to be remastered and released in 4K Ultra HD? And I also said that I’d circle back to the subject, but that essentially there was no new news to report at this time?

So the short of what I indicated in the interview was that Paramount definitely wanted to remaster all of the classic Trek films in 4K, and that they’ve clearly ramped up their catalog releases on BD and 4K during the pandemic, and are continuing to remaster their classic catalog films. It was simply a matter of cost, but it was my belief that they’d get around to it eventually. Just don’t hold your breath, right? I mean, how many times have we heard that they were talking about it, and then nothing ever happens? So, sound advice.

And then just this morning, Amazon France dropped a listing for a box set of the first four Star Trek films in 4K Ultra HD with a street date of September 8. [Read on here...]

All right, today’s news update is going to be a quick one. The reason is that I’m working to confirm a number of interesting rumors that I’ve heard in the last 24 hours, both on the interwebs and also from my own industry sources. I’m talking not one, but multiple interesting topics, including word of forthcoming releases and also more general stuff that’s going on in the home video industry right now. I’d actually hoped to be able to confirm one of them in time for this post, but I’m waiting on sources to get back to me. So I’ve decided to post a quick update now and come back with more as I hear it.

Before I continue with what news we have this afternoon, we do have a new disc review for you here at The Digital Bits today. Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Noel Black’s A Man, a Woman, and a Bank (1979) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. You can read that here.

Now then... Arrow Video has pushed back the street date for Pitch Black on 4K Ultra HD to 9/1 (from 8/18). Adjust your plans accordingly. [Read on here...]

“Star Trek: The Motion Picture wasn’t a perfect film, but it had a plethora of nearly perfect moments.” — Inglorious Treksperts co-host Mark A. Altman

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first big-screen adventure based upon Gene Roddenberry’s legendary 1960s television series with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley reprising the roles that made them famous of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, respectively.

Directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound of Music), the film also reunited James Doohan as Scotty, George Takei as Sulu, Majel Barrett as Dr. Chapel, Walter Koenig as Chekov, and Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, and also featured Persis Khambatta as Ilia and Stephen Collins as Decker. [Read more here...]