Meanwhile, our friends over at the excellent Dawn of the Discs blog are reporting that filmmaker Jim Jarmusch confirmed at a film retrospective in Michigan last week that his Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai (1999) and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) will be coming from Criterion on Blu-ray later this year. You can read more here.
We have one interesting piece of announcement news today, which is that Paramount has officially set Police Squad: The Complete Series for Blu-ray release here in the States on 4/14 (SRP $24.99). Many of you will be aware that the title had been announced for international release, but there’d been no word on a US version. Well, now we know for sure that it’s coming. You can see the cover artwork above left and you can pre-order it here on Amazon.com.
Speaking of Paramount, we now have word that ViacomCBS is planning to fold its CBS All Access streaming service into a new service that will blend CBS programming with film content from Paramount and Miramax, as well as other Viacom channels. This is very smart and I think it was also inevitable. I could see additional studio partners emerging to participate in this as well. You can read more here at CNBC.
And finally today, we would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to acknowledge the passing on Wednesday of the great Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas. Not only did Douglas have a long and stellar career on the silver screen, Douglas was instrumental in breaking the vile Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy and his ilk used thuggish tactics to accuse anyone and everyone of being a Communist (ruining the careers of many innocent Americans). There are many, many tributes to Douglas that have been posted online, including this one at The New York Times. Douglas was 103—yes, you read that right. He was a legend and will long be remembered. I plan to honor his passing this week by rewatching Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, which featured Douglas in one of his greatest performances, and maybe The Final Countdown as well.
That’s all for this week. Back on Monday with more. Stay tuned!
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