Displaying items by tag: Imprint Films

Welcome back from the holiday, Bits readers! We hope and trust that each of you were able to enjoy a great celebration with your family and friends.

Sarah and I have my mother staying here over the holidays, so we’ve been cooking up a storm, enjoying some great food, and watching lots of movies. I also just finished watching the season finale of HBO’s His Dark Materials—more on that in a moment—and I’ve started in on the new season of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. I still need to check out Avatar: The Way of Water at my local IMAX theater, but I’ll get to that soon enough.

We’ve got a new contribution from each member of the Bits reviewing team for you today, including...

Dennis’ look at Robert Mandel’s School Ties (1992) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films and Via Vision.

Stephen’s take on James Whale’s By Candlelight (1933) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

My thoughts on the new single-film 4K Ultra HD SKU of Wilson Yip’s Ip Man (2008) from Well Go USA.

And last, but certainly not least, Tim’s in-depth take on Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners: Ultimate Edition (1996) on 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Turbine Media in Germany! This is a pretty spectacular box set release, and Tim will tell you all about it in his review, so you definitely don’t want to miss it. [Read on here...]

We start with two more new disc reviews today (and there might be one more from me later this evening, but it should certainly be up by tomorrow morning)...

Tim has reviewed Crane Wilbur’s The Bat (1959), which is available in a fine new Blu-ray edition from our friends at The Film Detective.

And Dennis has offered his thoughts on Lynne Littman’s Testament (1983), a post-apocalyptic drama from PBS’ American Playhouse and Paramount Pictures that includes William Devane, Jane Alexander, Kevin Costner, Rebecca De Mornay, and Lukas Haas. That’s new on Blu-ray from the good folks at Imprint Films.

Now then, the big announcement news today is that Disney has just officially set Don Hall and Qui Nguyen’s animated Strange World for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 2/14. Look for the Digital and Disney+ streaming release to happen on 12/23. Audio will be Dolby Atmos on the 4K and DTS-HD MA on Blu-ray, as always. Extras will include 4 featurettes (Anatomy of a Scene: Creating A Strange World, Strange Science, Creature Feature, and The Hidden Secrets of Strange World), outtakes, and 4 deleted scenes (The Ballad of Jaeger Clade, Lightning Lynx, Funerals and Promises, and Ethan and Searcher). You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

We’ve got no less than five more new disc reviews for you all to enjoy today...

I’ve just posted my thoughts on Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) in 4K Ultra HD from Lionsgate.

Stephen has checked in with a look at Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) in 4K Ultra HD from Vinegar Syndrome.

Dennis has reviewed Julien Temple’s Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), the new Vestron Video Collector’s Series title on Blu-ray from Lionsgate.

And Tim has taken a look at Lewis Gilbert’s Damn the Defiant! (1962) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films, as well as Montgomery Tully and Dennis O’Keefe’s The Diamond Wizard (1954) on Blu-ray 3D from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, via a great new restoration by the 3-D Film Archive.

In announcement news today, Lionsgate has set Hype Williams’ Belly for release on 4K Ultra HD on 1/24/23. There will be a wide release that includes a Blu-ray and Digital copy, along with a Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook package. Look for the package to have a new Dolby Atmos mix, along with the following special features: audio commentary with Williams, Spoken Word, a deleted scene, and the Grand Finale music video. [Read on here...]

All right, I’m still working on that Criterion WALL-E 4K review and hope to have it up this weekend. Real life got in the way a little bit here over the last couple of days, not to mention some necessary behind-the-scenes work here at the site. But I will say this: Both the 4K presentation and the accompanying Blu-ray presentation, are absolutely fantastic. As in best-ever image quality for this film.

In the meantime, Tim has posted his thoughts on Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: Season Three on Blu-ray from our friends over at Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Sounds like it’s another fabulous set with more great extras.

And we do have several good pieces of release news to report here at the site today...

First, Turbine Media in Germany has finally announced their planned 6-Disc 4K Ultra HD Ultimate Edition of Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners (1996) for release on 12/2 (Yes, that is a Friday—keep in mind, this is a German release). The film has been fully remastered from the original camera negative and graded for high dynamic range (including Dolby Vision) in a process supervised by the director. [Read on here...]

Today’s round of Halloween Bag-o-Tricks title reviews kicks off My Two Cents here at The Bits today, including...

Stephen’s look at Shin’ichiro Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead on Blu-ray from RLJE Entertainment.

His review of David Schmoeller’s Tourist Trap: VHS Retro Big Box Collection on Blu-ray from Full Moon Features.

And Tim’s take on the 1980 British TV entry Hammer House of Horror: The Complete Series on Blu-ray from Imprint Films. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, the big news this morning—though it’s not yet official in the form of an actual press release/announcement—is that HBO will definitely be releasing its excellent House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on 12/20.

Extras on the set will feature “over one hour of bonus content” including two exclusive featurettes: Return to the Seven Kingdoms and Welcome to Westeros (with Ryan Condal, Miguel Sapochnik, and George R.R. Martin).

The 4K/Blu-ray combo set will be available in two different wide-release product SKUs, one in regular packaging and the other in Steelbook packaging. You can see the wide release version at left and both below. Both will feature Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10, as well as Dolby Atmos audio. [Read on here...]

We begin today with our latest Halloween Bag-o-Tricks reviews for Tuesday, 10/25...

Stephen has turned in his thoughts on William Eubank’s Underwater (2020) on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment—one of the last films the studio greenlit before the Disney takeover.

Dennis offers his take on Gerard Kikoine’s Buried Alive, aka Edgar Allan Poe’s Buried Alive (1990) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

And Tim has posted his review of Mario Bava’s Spanish-Italian science fiction/horror class, Planet of the Vampires (1965) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

So enjoy the reviews and be sure to check back for more of them here at The Bits tomorrow! [Read on here...]

We’re finishing out the week here at The Bits beginning with two more new disc reviews, including...

Tim’s look at Martin Campbell’s No Escape (1994, aka Escape from Absolom) on Blu-ray from Unearthed Films.

And Dennis’ take on Joseph Anthony’s The Rainmaker (1956) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And we definitely have some significant news to report today, both in terms of titles and more general industry goings-on...

First up, Imprint Films has just announced their very first 4K Ultra HD title and it’s an upgrade of their debut Imprint Collection Blu-ray release... Byron Haskin’s The War of the Worlds (1953). The street date is 12/15. The 2-disc set will feature both a 4K UHD and the previous Blu-ray edition in Steelbook packaging, housed in a 3D lenticular hardcase with a 44-page collector’s booklet. You can see the packaging below. [Read on here...]

All right, there’s some big catalog announcement news today, though it won’t come as a surprise to anyone who reads The Bits regularly. But first...

We’ve posted a new Blu-ray review here at The Bits, featuring my take on Akira Kurosawa’s 70 mm masterpiece Dersu Uzala (1975), which is new on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

It features a best-yet-on-disc 1080p image presentation mastered from a recent 2K restoration of the film. And it adds a bounty of special features, including two new documentary featurettes and a terrific new audio commentary by Japanese film historian Stuart Galbraith IV.

For English-language speakers who have been waiting to see this film on Blu-ray, this disc is long overdue and highly welcome.

Now then, the big release news today is that Paramount has finally officially announced the 4K Ultra HD release of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) on 12/6. It’s available in both Amaray packaging and Limited Edition Collector’s Steelbook packaging—both should be widely available. It appears that both Dolby Vision and HDR10 will be included, along with the previous 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix. [Read on here...]

We’re starting things off this week with several more new disc reviews and LOTS of announcement news! First up, those reviews...

Stephen has taken an in-depth look at John Carpenter’s supernatural horror classic The Fog (1980) in 4K Ultra HD from Scream Factory, and we have separate reviews for both the wide-release Collector’s Edition and the Steelbook version as well.

Stephen has also offered his thoughts on Taika Waititi’s latest MCU installment, Thor: Love and Thunder, in 4K Ultra HD from Marvel and Disney.

Meanwhile, Dennis has turned in his take on a pair of classic films on Blu-ray, including Sydney Salkow’s Twice Told Tales (1963) starring Vincent Price from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and also John Cromwell’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) from the Warner Archive Collection.

And Tim has delivered a look at Warner and DC’s long-awaited Deluxe Edition of the animated Batman: The Long Halloween (2021) as well as Random Space Media’s import 4K/Blu-ray 3D double feature of Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017).

As always, more reviews are on the way for tomorrow and all this week, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them. [Read on here...]

We’ve got three new disc reviews for you today, starting with my take on Paramount’s new George Pal Double Feature of Byron Haskin’s The War of the Worlds (1953) on 4K Ultra HD and Rudolph Maté’s When Worlds Collide (1951) on regular Blu-ray Disc. Unfortunately, both discs are... problematical... as you may have heard here and elsewhere. (And I should note that we have Paramount’s official position on War of the Worlds in the review text.) But they may still be worth your consideration so do check it out.

Also today, Tim has posted his thoughts on Jack Bender’s Child’s Play 3 (1991) in 4K Ultra HD from Scream Factory.

And Stephen has chimed in with his thoughts on Jeff Kanew’s Natural Enemies (1979) on Blu-ray from Fun City Editions via Vinegar Syndrome.

I’ve also just gotten my hands on Imprint Film’s new all-region Blu-ray of Akira Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala (1975) and it’s pretty terrific. I’ve never seen the film looking better than it does here, and there are some nice extras on board as well, including a cracking new audio commentary by Japanese film expert Stuart Galbraith IV. I’ll have a full review here on The Bits in the next day or two. [Read on here...]