Displaying items by tag: My Two Cents

All right, we have two things for you today…

The first, is that I’ve just posted my in-depth review of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989), newly released on 4K Ultra HD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. It’s a great disc, with a beautifully-remastered transfer and a great new DTS:X sound mix as well. Do check it out here.

The other thing is a recommendation for a great TV series that’s streaming right now on Apple TV+: Ron Moore’s For All Mankind.

Trust me when I say that if you’re a fan of science fiction, or human spaceflight, or alternate history, or just great character drama, this is absolutely a series that you should be watching. So let me tell you why you should be, and I promise there will be no spoilers. [Read on here...]

There’s not a lot of release news to report today, given the President’s Day holiday here in the States, so we’re spending our time working on those new disc reviews.

But we do have a couple quick items to report for you...

First, Paramount is now expected to release both George Cukor’s My Fair Lady (1964) and J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 (2011) on 4K Ultra HD on 5/25. We have cover artwork for My Fair Lady which you can see at left. Meanwhile, both titles have just been added to Amazon.com. They aren’t yet available for pre-order, but we expect that to change shortly. For now, you can find My Fair Lady linked here and Super 8 here. We expect the official announcement to happen in the next couple of days, so be sure to stay tuned. [Read on here...]

All right, we’re rounding out the week today with some great release news and some new disc reviews too. First up, those reviews...

I’ve just turned in my thoughts on John Carpenter’s They Live, as recently released in 4K Ultra HD by Scream Factory. Both the UHD and included Blu-ray are mastered from the 2018 4K scan and restoration, and Scream has tossed in a new Dolby Atmos mix to boot. It’s a fine release, so don’t miss it.

I’ve also reviewed Roland Emmerich’s epic disaster flick 2012 on 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and I’ve given a great little indie release a review on Blu-ray too: Dmitriy Kiselev’s Spacewalker (2017) from MPI Home Video, which tells the story of cosmonaut Alexey Leonov and humanity’s first spacewalk in 1965.

Tim’s also posted a review of William Campbell’s Ingagi (1930), recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Classics as part of their Something Weird line-up. Ingagi is definitely something weird.

And just a heads-up: We’re working on reviews of Prince of Darkness in 4K from Scream Factory, along with the new 4K releases of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing from Universal and Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro from Discotek Media, among other titles. So watch for those starting on Monday. [Read on here...]

Today’s big news is that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has finally officially set Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/30. The Digital release is expected on 3/16, with PVOD rental set for this week on 2/12.

The 4K Ultra HD release will include Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10+ high dynamic range, with Dolby Atmos audio. Extras will include 8 featurettes (The Making of Wonder Woman 1984: Expanding the Wonder, Gal & Kristen: Friends Forever, Small But Mighty, Scene Study: The Open Road, Scene Study: The Mall, Gal & Krissy Having Fun, and Meet the Amazons), the Black Gold Infomercial, a Gag Reel, and a Wonder Woman 1984 Retro Remix feature.

You can see the 4K cover artwork above left and also below the break, along with the regular Blu-ray artwork. Both versions are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a couple odds and ends for you today...

First, the big news... Shout! Factory has just reached a multi-year distribution agreement with the Portland-based Laika animation studio. The deal gives Shout! the U.S. packaged media distribution rights to the studio’s first four films: Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012), and Coraline (2009). According to the report on The Hollywood Reporter, new bonus content is already in development for these films. Not only are new Blu-rays obviously in the offing, we can’t help thinking how great these titles would look again on Blu-ray 3D and for the first time on 4K Ultra HD as well.

Also today, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just announced Supernatural: The Fifteenth and Final Season and Supernatural: The Complete Series for Blu-ray and DVD release on 5/25. The Fifteenth Season set includes 2 new featurettes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and more (SRP $49.99 for Blu-ray and $44.98 for DVD). The Complete Series set includes all 327 episodes and all the previous bonus content, plus a 68-page book (SRP $359.99 for Blu-ray and $329.99 for DVD). [Read on here...]

We’re starting today with a pair of new Blu-ray Disc reviews here at The Bits, including...

My own look at Ric Roman Waugh’s Greenland on Blu-ray, a great new disaster epic starring Gerard Butler from Universal and STX Films which should really be released on physical 4K Ultra HD.

And Dennis’ look at The Court Jester (1955), new on Paramount Presents Blu-ray from our friends at Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment.

Now then... the big news today is that Shout! Factory and Scream have announced a great slate of catalog Blu-ray titles for release in May, including a King Kong (1976): Collector’s Edition, The Final Stand (2020), The Legend of Hei (with GKids), and All About the Benjamins: Shout Select on 5/11, Wildcats: Shout Select, The Nest, He Knows You’re Alone, and Eyes of a Stranger on 5/18, and The Hand, Explorers: Collector’s Edition – Shout Select, and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curley’s Gold: Shout Select on 5/25. [Read on here...]

All right, sorry for the late post today. It’s been a little nuts here at The Bits home office this afternoon.

In any case, Dennis has a new review for you. He’s checked out Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974) on Blu-ray from our friends at the Criterion Collection. You’ll find that here.

In announcement news today, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC have set the animated Justice Society: World War II for release on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD on 5/11, with the Digital release expected on 4/27 (SRP $29.98 and $39.99). Extras will include the DC Showcase – Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! animated short, the Adventures in Storytelling – Justice Society: World War II featurette, a sneak peek of the next DCU film (Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One), two Look Back featurettes (Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Wonder Woman: Bloodlines), and two episodes From the DC Vault (Justice League: Legends, Part One and Justice League: Legends, Part Two). [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today. But first more new disc reviews...

Dennis has taken a look at Jacob Chase’s Come Play (2020) on Blu-ray from Universal.

And Tim has given Mario Landi’s Patrick Still Lives (1980) a spin on Blu-ray from Severin Films.

Watch for more reviews in the next few days.

Now then, we’ve got BIG 4K Ultra HD news for you today, some of it official and most of it unofficial but tentatively confirmed by our various industry and retail sources. So let’s get right into it...

First up, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has officially set Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla (2014) for release on 4K Ultra HD on 3/23. It will feature HDR10 high dynamic range with Dolby Atmos audio. It will also include the previously released special features, among them the 3-part MONARCH Declassified documentary and the 4-part The Legendary Godzilla documentary. You can see the official cover artwork above left and also below. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got a few new reviews for you today...

I’ve taken a look at Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium (2013) coming to 4K Ultra on 2/9 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. It’s a nice upgrade of the existing Blu-ray release. You’ll find that here.

Also, Tim has reviewed Park Chan-wook’s JSA: Joint Security Area (2000) on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

And Dennis has given Robert Siodmak’s The Suspect (1944) a look on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

More reviews are on the way this week, including 2012 and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro both in 4K, plus more new and catalog Blu-rays, so be sure to watch for them.

Let’s start with some 4K Ultra HD news... [Read on here...]

All right, as expected today, the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) held its January virtual expo and released a summary of its preliminary Year-End 2020 Home Entertainment Report. This expo is typically an in-person industry reception held at CES in Las Vegas, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic both CES and the DEG Expo have of course gone virtual this year. And as expected, this year’s report offers both good news and bad news, but also some rather dramatic big-picture observations.

Let’s knock out the bad news first: Sell-Through (read: physical media) consumer spending for 2020 was $2.45 billion, a drop of 25.6% from 2019.

A few days ago, we previewed the likely number for 2020 using the weekly Media Play News disc sales data here at The Bits, which indicated an overall drop in physical media sales of 20.46%. Well... it turns out that, based upon the official DEG data, the drop was about 5% more severe than we anticipated. As I mentioned a week ago (back January 20), that’s still in line with my general prediction from July, which was that 2020 would see a decline of anything between 9-30% in physical media sales. Obviously, there were just too many wildcards in the midst of the pandemic to be more specific. [Read on here...]