Displaying items by tag: Shout! Factory

All right, we’re closing out another week in pandemic isolation with some new reviews and a bit more announcement news...

First up those reviews... Tim has checked in with a look at FIVE recent Blu-ray titles from our friends at Severin Films—running the gamut from Eurosleaze to erotic to the rarely-seen and undervalued—so here are his thoughts on Just Jaeckin’s Gwendoline (1984 – aka The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak), the Russian genre film Viy (1967), Jess Franco’s Cries of Pleasure (1983) and Night of Open Sex (1983), and Leopoldo Savona’s Byleth: The Demon of Incest (1972).

And yes, we recognize that some of these aren’t for the faint of heart or for mainstream audiences (particularly those titles we had to blank out the cover art on or Google advertising will flag it), but the range of cinema on disc is wide and far-reaching. There’s something for everyone. And they can’t all be Star Wars or Marvel films. So there you go. [Read on here...]

The news today is brief, but we’ve got a couple things to report today...

First though, Tim has reviewed a couple of Blu-ray titles for you, including Universal’s Munster, Go Home! (1966) from Scream Factory and Bone Tomahawk (2015), a kind of western horror film from RLJ Entertainment starring Kurt Russell.

But the big news today is that Universal is releasing Steven Spielberg’s Jaws as a 45th Anniversary Edition on 4K Ultra HD on 6/2.

Of course, we first mentioned this title was coming many weeks ago here at The Bits. You can now consider the release almost—but not quite—official. [Read on here...]

The big news today is just breaking: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release a Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection of 6 films on 6/16.

Included will be Lawrence of Arabia, Ghandi, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Dr. Strangelove, Jerry Maguire, and A League of Their Own. They’ll come in a limited edition box set (only 8,000 unites) with a hardbound 80-book and lots of extras (over 30 hours in fact). Jerry Maguire and A League of Their Own were actually chosen by a poll of online consumers.

You can see the studio’s official promotional trailer for the release below... [Read on here...]

Checking in today with some great release news...

First, Paramount has just announced the launch of a new label designed to highlight marquee catalog titles on Blu-ray beginning on 4/21. Paramount Presents will debut with Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction, the 1958 Elvis Presley drama King Creole, and Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year). Each title will be remastered and will include new bonus content focused on the film and the filmmakers, hosted by historian Leonard Maltin. Each will also include foldout movie poster artwork. You can see what they look like at left and also below.

Very good news indeed—it’s great to see Paramount finally starting to get more aggressive with their catalog releases on disc. In fact, the idea of creating a premium Paramount label for their classic catalog is actually something I’ve been suggesting to them privately for a while now, so it’s great to see it beginning to happen. Now let’s have a few more marquee catalog titles on 4K. We know that the original Top Gun is coming, along with Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, and Days of Thunder. And you can bet that if a new Indiana Jones sequel starts filming this year for release next year, you can almost certainly expect the classic Indy films on 4K in 2021. Let’s go ahead with the classic Star Trek films in 4K, folks! [Read on here...]

All right, we’re working on a bunch of things today, but we wanted to chime in quickly with this...

Universal is officially bringing The Blues Brothers, Jaws, and Back to the Future to 4K Ultra HD this year. We’ve been saying that the titles were coming for a while now (because we knew that from our industry sources) and we’ve had the titles listed in our 4K Ultra HD Release List for months.

But I’ve now gotten the studio to confirm on the record that Jaws and Blues Brothers are indeed coming to the format this year (BTTF was confirmed last year). Street date is still TBA, but expect them likely this summer.

I’ve also gotten the studio to confirm that what you see at left is indeed the final 4K cover artwork for John Landis’ The Blues Brothers on the format. [Read on here...]

All right, it’s a super slow news day today, but I wanted to take a moment to point out some interesting forthcoming titles that are newly-announced by indie distributors or that might have been overlooked.

But first, we have a pair of great new reviews from our own Dennis Seuling for you to check out, including his thoughts on Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters from Universal and Josef von Baky’s fantasy comedy Munchhausen (1943) from Kino Classics. Do give them a look.

Now then, those titles I mentioned... Kit Parker Films is releasing Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations on Blu-ray on 6/16. The 4-disc set includes 2 feature films (Sons of the Desert and Way Out West) and 17 classic shorts newly scanned from original 35mm nitrate film in 2K and 4K. Among the shorts is the legendary silent film The Battle of the Century, appearing for the first time on home video and nearly complete for the first time in 90 years. The set also includes rare special features, alternate soundtracks, vintage pictures, commentaries and more. You can see the cover artwork at left and below. [Read on here...]

Afternoon, folks! We’ve got some interesting announcement news to cover today, along with an interesting rumor, and some new cover artwork to share with you too.

First up, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just announced that Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple is returning to theaters on 2/23 for one day only in honor of the film’s 35th Anniversary. This could mean that a 4K Ultra HD release is planned for later in the year (the official anniversary is in December).

That would make sense given that both Paramount and Universal are planning physical 4K releases of Spielberg catalog films later this year (War of the Worlds and Jaws). We’ve added the title to our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits as a possibility. [Read on here...]

All right, we’re closing out the week with a big news update. But first, we have some new disc reviews for you...

I’ve just finished my look at Taika Waititi’s Oscar-winning satire Jojo Rabbit in 4K Ultra HD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

I’ve also taken a look at Mike Flanagan’s surprisingly good sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, now in Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. (This one is a reference-quality 4K A/V experience.)

Tim has turned in his thoughts on Don Sharp’s Rasputin the Mad Monk (1966) on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

And in case you missed it the other day, we have a review of Paramount’s new Steelbook 4K edition of The Hunt for Red October that’s being released in honor of the film’s 30th anniversary. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ve got two more new reviews for you all to enjoy today...

First up, I’ve turned in my thoughts on Ruben Fleischer’s long-awaited sequel Zombieland: Double Tap in 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

And a quick heads-up: I’ll have a review of Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment done soon as well.

Also, Tim has just finished his in-depth look at Scream Factory’s outstanding new Universal Horror Collection: Volume 3 Blu-ray box set, which includes Rowland V. Lee’s Tower of London, George Waggner’s Man Made Monster and Horror Island, and Albert S. Rogell’s The Black Cat. [Read on here...]

All right, I certainly hope you all had a great weekend and that those of you who watched last night’s Oscar telecast enjoyed it and found all of the winners disserving.

For my money, the Academy actually got it right for a change: Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite was far and away the most original and interesting of the Best Picture-nominated films this year and it’s richly deserving of its win. If you haven’t seen the film yet, you should correct that oversight as soon as you can.

I reviewed the film on Blu-ray Disc a few weeks ago here at The Bits (you can read my thoughts here) and I’ve already contacted Universal to ask if the Best Picture win makes it more likely that the studio will finally give the film the physical media 4K release it deserves. We’ll see. [Read on here...]