My Two Cents
Tuesday, 13 December 2022 17:25

Bones and All, Prey for the Devil, Jackie Chan: Volume 1 & more, plus updates on To Live and Die in LA & Once Upon a Time in the West in 4K

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Today’s My Two Cents update begins as always with more new disc reviews...

Tim and I have taken a look at Kino Lorber Studio Classics’ new 4K Ultra HD upgrade of the classic Joseph Sargent heist thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), which stars Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau. Among other things, it’s a great New York City movie and if you’ve ever wondered where director Quentin Tarantino got the idea for his character names in Reservoir Dogs, look no further.

Also today, we’ve gone in-depth on Via Vision’s new Dirty Dancing: Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD release, which takes Lionsgate’s already fine remastering work on the title and adds a few more extras via their own exclusive bonus Blu-ray Disc.

And Tim has also reviewed Bob Clark’s Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things: 50th Anniversary Edition in 4K Ultra HD from VCI Entertainment, which includes a new 4K scan and remaster but only Standard Dynamic Range, as well as Nico Mastorakis’s Nightmare at Noon (1988) on Blu-ray from our friends at Arrow Video.

More reviews are on the way tomorrow and beyond, so be sure to watch for them. [Read on here...]

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In announcement news today, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just set Luca Guadagnino’s Venice Film Festival Award-winning Bones and All for release on Blu-ray on 1/31/23.

Lionsgate has set Daniel Stamm’s Prey for the Devil on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release on 1/3/23, with the Digital release dropping today. Extras will include audio commentary with Stamm and actress Jacqueline Byers and 5 featurettes (Possessed: Creating Prey for the Devil, A Lullaby of Terror, The Devil’s Tricks: Visual Effects, Prey for the Devil Cast-Read: The Original First-Draft Screenplay, and Speak No Evil: A Real Exorcist and Church Psychologist Discuss Possession). Look for both Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio on the 4K SKU.

Lionsgate is also re-issuing Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies on 4K Ultra HD in Steelbook packaging exclusively at Best Buy stores on 2/7/23. As before, the title will include Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Atmos audio, and all the previous special features. You can see what it looks like here...

Warm Bodies (Best Buy-exclusive 4K Steelbook)

Lionsgate is releasing Edward Drake’s Detective Knight: Redemption on Blu-ray and DVD on 1/17/23 as well. The film stars Bruce Willis, Lochlyn Munro, Corey Large, Miranda Edwards, Beau Mirchoff, and Paul Johansson.

And the studio will release Rachel Lears’ climate change documentary To the End on Digital only on 2/7/23.

In other news, Universal has just listed the DreamWorks animated film The Prince of Egypt (1998) for 4K Ultra HD release on 3/14/23, per retail sources.

Shout! Factory has revealed that among the features on their forthcoming The Jackie Chan Collection: Volume 1 (1976-1982) Blu-ray release, which is due on 1/24/23, you’ll find legacy special features as well as the following new bonus content: audio commentary by critic and author David West on The Killer Meteors, To Kill with Intrigue, Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin, and Dragon Lord, audio commentary by veteran Hong Kong film critic James Mudge on Shaolin Wooden Men, Dragon Fist, and Battle Creek Brawl, a new interview with Kristine DeBell on Battle Creek Brawl, and a new 85-minute feature length documentary on Battle Creek Brawl called The Golden Boy: Harvesting a Major New Martial Arts Maverick.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set Kathlyn Horan’s The Return of Tanya Tucker for Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital release on 1/10.

The MPI Media Group is releasing Benjamin Field’s new biographical documentary Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted on DVD on 1/10/23. You can see the trailer for it here:

We have a quick update for you on the status of William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A., which Kino Lorber Studio Classics announced as “coming soon” to 4K Ultra HD last year. The studio posted a reply to a question about this title a couple days ago on Twitter where they indicated that they’re still waiting for Friedkin to approve the new color grade. You can see that here.

And here’s an even better bit of news: KLSC has also indicated (see their Tweet here) that they’ve tried to license Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) for 4K Ultra HD release from Paramount—particularly as they’ve already done the rest of the Man With No Name Trilogy in on the format—and have learned that Paramount has decided to do that title themselves. So, it seems reasonable to assume that Once Upon a Time in the West is coming to 4K sometime in 2023. We’ve added it to our 4K Ultra HD Release List here at The Bits accordingly. Thanks to our old friend Ron Epstein of The Home Theater Forum for calling my attention to that.

Finally today, a quick update on a title we mentioned yesterday: Cameron Crow’s Say Anything... is a Fox title that was apparently remastered in 4K and made available Digitally a couple of years ago, along with the Die Hard sequels and a few other titles, back when there was still a significant number of legacy Fox personnel working under the Disney umbrella. It’s definitely not a Paramount title, and we’ve updated yesterday’s post to reflect that. (With so many 4K titles to keep track of these days, it’s very easy to mix up what’s coming, what’s already released, and which indie distributor has licensed what! So we beg your pardon for the error.)

We’ll leave you today with a look at the cover artwork for a few more upcoming 4K Ultra HD titles, with Amazon.com pre-order links if available...

The Magnificent Seven (4K Ultra HD) Three Colors Trilogy (4K Ultra HD) Remains of the Day (4K Ultra HD)

Stay tuned!

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

 

 

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