A Midnight Clear & new 4K reviews: Ford v Ferrari, Shutter Island, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Monday, 10 February 2020 17:21

A Midnight Clear & new 4K reviews: Ford v Ferrari, Shutter Island, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

by Bill Hunt

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...]

Meanwhile today, our friends at Shout! Factory have just announced some new Blu-ray and 4K titles that they have coming in May. Look for Lancaster Skies (BD) and D-Day: Normandy 1944 (4K UHD) on 5/5, followed by Keith Gordon’s A Midnight Clear: Shout Select (BD) on 5/26.

By the way, for Steelbook fans, Paramount is going to be reissuing their already fine 4K Ultra HD editions of Gladiator and Braveheart in new Steelbook packaging on 5/5. You can see what they look like below (and clicking on the images will take you to the relevant pre-order pages on Amazon.com)...

And while we’re talking 4K today, I spent most of my weekend catching up on 4K Ultra HD reviews for the site, and so have now posted the following:

Ford v Ferrari – This was my favorite film of 2019 and it’s a great 4K Ultra HD viewing experience. Don’t miss it.

Shutter Island: Steelbook – Barrie reviewed this film on Blu-ray back in 2010, so I’ve written a new review that incorporates his thoughts on the film and my own evaluation of Paramount’s new 4K Steelbook release.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – This is a good film and worth your time, but it’s a bit of an oddball from a 4K Ultra HD standpoint (for reasons that will become apparent when you read my review).

Now then, I’ve got several more 4K reviews in progress or on deck (with Doctor Sleep high on the list) so watch for more of them soon.

My apologies for the fact that I’ve been so late in reviewing some promised 4K titles. I’ve actually spent much of the last month dealing with a major flare up of an adult-onset soy allergy. Very frustrating (soy is in almost literally everything)! But that’s finally back under control, so I’m now back in the swing of things review-wise. I have several titles that I missed reviewing during that time that I fully intend to catch up on, so thank you all for your patience.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned...

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A Midnight Clear & new 4K reviews: Ford v Ferrari, Shutter Island, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

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