Items filtered by date: February 2025

We’re closing out the week here at The Bits with a trio of new disc reviews, including...

Tim’s review of Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video.

Stephen’s review of Howard Hawks’ Hatari! (1962) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And Stuart’s review of Bruce Weber’s Let’s Get Lost (1988) on Blu-ray from Kino Classics.

Also today, our friends at Vinegar Syndrome have revealed a number of new March Blu-ray and 4K titles, including Richard Loncraine’s Brimstone & Treacle (1982) in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray (with Dolby Vision), a double-feature Blu-ray of Hung-Chuen Lau’s Devil Fetus (1983) and Ngai Choi Lam’s Her Vengeance (1988), Forgotten Gialli: Volume Eight on Blu-ray—which includes Alberto Negrin’s Rings of Fear (1978), Tano Cimarosa’s Reflections in Black (1975), and Demofilo Fidani’s A.A.A. Masseuse, Good-Looking, Offers Her Services (1975)—Miguel Angel Martinez’s 38 Especial (1992) on Blu-ray from Degausser Video, Gene Saks’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972) on Blu-ray from Cinématographe, and Peter Greenaway’s The Belly of an Architect (1987) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome Labs. All are set to ship later this month. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a new disc review for you all to enjoy today, as well as a much of good announcement news. First the review...

Stephen has taken a look at William Friedkin’s Cruising (1980) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video.

And we’ve posted our weekly update of the Release Dates & Artwork section here at The Bits with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through one of our links (like this one), you’re helping to support our work here at the site and we really appreciate it!

Now then, the big news today is that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has officially set the Clint Eastwood films Dirty Harry (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), and Pale Rider (1985) for 4K Ultra HD, 4K Steelbook, and Digital release on 4/29 (a slight change from the 4/15 date listed previously on retail sites). Not as if everyone didn’t already know, but the studio’s press release has just confirmed it. As expected, all three will feature Dolby Atmos audio mixes and HDR10 high dynamic range.

In terms of special features, Dirty Harry (1971) will include two new featurettes (Generations and Dirty Harry and Lensing Justice: The Cinematography of Dirty Harry) as well as the following legacy features: Audio Commentary by Richard Schickel, five featurettes (American Masters Career Retrospective: Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows, Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso, Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy – Fighting for Justice, Dirty Harry’s Way, and Dirty Harry: The Original), and an Interview Gallery (featuring Patricia Clarkson, Joel Cox, Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Evan Kim, John Milius, Ted Post, Andy Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Robert Urich).

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) will include two new featurettes as well (An Outlaw and an Antihero and The Cinematography of an Outlaw: Crafting Josie Wales) plus the following legacy features: Audio Commentary by Richard Schickel and four featurettes (Clint Eastwood’s West, Eastwood in Action, Hell Hath No Fury: The Making of The Outlaw Josie Wales, and Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy – Reinventing the West).

And finally, Pale Rider (1985) will include two new featurettes (The Diary of Sydney Penny: Lessons from the Set and Painting the Preacher: Bruce Surtees and Pale Rider) plus three legacy ones (Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy – Reinventing Westerns, Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story, and The Eastwood Factor). You can see the cover artwork above left and also below the break. [Read on here...]

Heads up, Bits readers! Our friends at Lionsgate are about to launch two new 4K Ultra HD Steelbook titles on their Lionsgate Limited direct-to-consumer web store: Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (1992) and Abel Ferrara’s King of New York (1990)!

Both will be released on 100GB for maximum video quality. Both will feature Dolby Vision HDR. Both will include English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio along with the Original Theatrical Stereo mixes.

In terms of special features, Basic Instinct will include bonus content from the previous Blu-ray edition, as well as extras that haven’t appeared since VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD. Note that Basic Instinct will also feature the same 4K master released by StudioCanal (including the same color grade, because that was director approved).

Among the features are audio commentary with director Paul Verhoeven and cinematographer Jan de Bont, a second commentary with journalist Camille Paglia, and the 1993 commentary with Verhoeven, an Introduction by Sharon Stone, the 1993 Introduction with Paul Verhoeven—two featurettes new in the US, including Basic Instinct: Sex, Death & Stone and An Unending Story: Scoring Basic Instinct—3 more legacy featurettes (A Conversation with Sharon Stone, Blonde Poison: The Making of Basic Instinct, and Cleaning up Basic Instinct), 3 Storyboard Comparisons, Original Screen Tests for Sharon Stone and Jeanne Tripplehorn, the 2021 4K Trailer, the Theatrical Trailer, the Director’s Cut Trailer, and a TV Spot. You can see the cover artwork below the break. [Read on here...]

This is a quick post to let you all know that our Release Dates & Cover Artwork section here at The Digital Bits has just been updated with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. Don’t forget that you can select to see just the Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, or even Criterion titles seperately if you like, to help you find exactly the ones you’re looking for. Just click on RELEASE DATES &  ART on the menu bar above to visit the page, and use the search options in the red bar (at the top) to sort by format and date. Once you find a title you like, just click on the cover art and you’ll be taken right to the Amazon.com pre-order page. Thank you for shopping through our links and don’t forget that anytime you order from Amazon through our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it! And thanks to our own Russell Hammond for the update work!

- Bill Hunt

We’ve got some great announcement news to report here at The Digital Bits today, at the start of a new week...

First of all, our friends at Kino Lorber Studio Classics have begun announcing new 4K Ultra HD catalog titles licensed from Paramount, which so far include Stephen Surjik’s Wayne’s World 2 (1993) and Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s Kingpin (1996). We also expect Ken Finkleman’s Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) to be revealed soon as well. All are reported to be “coming soon” and we expect more titles to be revealed in the weeks ahead.

While we’re talking KL Studio Classics, we’ve learned that their already announced 4K release of Dante’s Peak (1997) has been delayed from its original 2/11 street date to 5/27. So adjust your plans accordingly.

Meanwhile, Paramount has officially set Star Trek: Section 31 (2025) for Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD Steelbook, and Digital release on 4/29. Extras will include 5 featurettes (Art Squad, Alpha Squad, Stunts Squad, Gear Squad, and Georgiou) as well as a gag reel. (Though based on the reviews, the entire film may as well be a gag reel.) The Blu-ray SKUs will include Dolby Atmos audio.

Neon has set Steven Soderbergh’s Presence (2024) for Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release on 5/20. [Read on here...]