My Two Cents
We have six new disc reviews for all of you to enjoy today, including...
Stuart’s look at Denys Arcand’s Dirty Money (1972) and Paul Vecchiali’s The Strangler (1970) both on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.
Dennis’ take on Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics
And Stephen’s look at Robert Benton’s Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) in 4K from Sony’s Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection: Volume 4 box set, as well as Michael Mann’s Ferrari (2023) in Blu-ray from Neon via Decal Releasing.
All are well worth a look, so we hope you enjoy them. And more are forthcoming.
Before we get to announcement news today, Amazon has finally made Andor: The Complete First Season and Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Complete Series available for pre-order in 4K Ultra HD Steelbook format. (The Blu-ray Steelbook pre-orders should soon be live as well.) We’ve included the links and cover art below. [Read on here...]
Today’s new disc reviews here at The Bits include...
Stuart’s look at Edward Dmytryk’s The Carpetbaggers (1964) on Blu-ray from Paramount via Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
Dennis’ take on William Dieterle’s All That Money Can Buy (1941) on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.
And Stephen’s thoughts on Saul Bass’s Phase IV (1974) on 4K Ultra HD from Paramount via Vinegar Syndrome.
Also, today on our Patreon page we’ve invited our supporters to offers their two cents on catalog films they would most like to see released on 4K Ultra HD. We’re going to compile those lists and pass them on to the relevant studios, so do consider joining is there and offering your take!
In announcement news today, Paramount has officially set Bob Marley: One Love for Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and 4K Steelbook release on 5/28. Extras will include multiple featurettes (Join Kingsley B, Becoming Bob Marley, The Story, The Cast, On Location: Jamaica and England, and The Band), plus extended and deleted scenes. You can see the cover art at left and also below. [Read on here...]
We’re closing out the week here at The Bits with a bunch of release news and more new disc reviews as well. The reviews include...
Tim’s take on Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel’s Super Mario Bros. (1993) in 4K Ultra HD from Umbrella Entertainment—the deluxe Trust the Fungus edition.
Stuart’s look at Hal Ashby’s Coming Home (1978) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as his review of Kino Lorber’s Homicide Hills: The Complete Series on DVD.
And Dennis’ reviews of Frank Lloyd’s Blood on the Sun (1945) and Alfred L. Werker and Anthony Mann’s He Walked by Night (1948), both on Blu-ray also from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
Also, just to let you know, we’ve been sharing some additional content for our supporters over on Patreon, including essays on Godzilla Minus One’s visual effects Oscar win and the difficulty in creating or evaluating home video transfers for film, along with an exclusive tease about a trio of forthcoming 4K Ultra HD catalog titles that are in the works for later this year, my in-depth film review of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, and a little behind-the-scenes on a visit with some friends of The Bits who just so happen to have been involved with the Star Trek franchise for over 38 years.
Supporting The Bits on Patreon is a really great way to help us keep the site going, and doing so makes it possible for us to continue our work in support of physical media and disc fans everywhere. So please consider joining us there! [Read on here...]
All right, it’s been a busy couple of days here at The Bits in the wake of our reviews of the James Cameron 4K titles—The Abyss, Aliens, and True Lies.
Many of you have reported having trouble getting your pre-orders fulfilled, or have seen shipping dates delayed, whether from Amazon, Walmart, Disney Movie Club, Target, or what have you. This is apparently due to distribution issues resulting from—we strongly suspect—demand for these titles outstripping Disney’s expectations. In any case, more product is being replicated and shipped to distributors and retailers, so these issues should clear up over the next week or two.
Hopefully, this will send a strong message to Disney that people still want to buy catalog 4K titles—a good sign for the future.
Meanwhile, we have one new disc review here at The Bits today: Stephen has taken an in-depth look at Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday (1940) in 4K Ultra HD from Sony’s new Columbia Classics 4K Collection: Volume 4 box set. More reviews from this set will follow soon.
In announcement news today, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has now officially set Steven Soderberg’s Ocean’s Trilogy for 4K UHD release on 4/30. [Read on here...]
All right, welcome to a new week Bits readers!
Today is all about James Cameron here at the website, and to that end I’ve just finished knocking out in-depth reviews of the filmmaker’s The Abyss (1989), Aliens (1986), and True Lies (1994) in long-awaited physical 4K Ultra HD and remastered Blu-ray from 20th Century Studios!
The gist is that all three of these discs are worth picking up for Cameron fans and cinephiles, though one of the three titles is a bit complicated. The Abyss is the best looking of the three, nearly on par with the recent Titanic 4K release. Aliens is not far behind in terms of A/V quality and both titles include a nearly complete archive of all past special features created for the films.
True Lies is... well, it looks a lot better than the previous DVD, LaserDisc, and D-VHS releases. Sometimes, it looks fantastic. But at other times, the remastering is a little bit heavy-handed.
It’s still way better looking than StudioCanal’s Terminator 2 4K release though, so it’s a very solid upgrade over previous physical media releases, and it includes some nice features too.
Anyway, you’ll find all of the details in the linked reviews.
But while we’re on the topic of Cameron—and speaking the Terminator—producer Gale Anne Hurd shared over the weekend that plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Cameron’s original The Terminator (1984) are soon to be revealed. And we have good word that a new 4K Ultra HD release will chief among them. In the meantime, you can see her post on X/Twitter here. [Read on here...]