Displaying items by tag: Walter Hill

We’ve got a big new disc review for you all today here at The Bits, and it’s a title that a lot of you have been waiting for: My look at Tony Gilroy’s Andor: The Complete First Season (2023) in 4K Ultra HD Steelbook from Lucasfilm and Disney! All the details are in the review, but suffice it to say that the release absolutely does not disappoint. The video quality is stunning.

We’ve also got a bunch of recent reviews that our staffers have shared over the last few days that I need to round up here for you guys, including...

Stephen’s reviews of Sergio Martino’s The Great Alligator (1979) in 4K Ultra HD from Severin Films, Rod Lurie’s The Last Castle (2001) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, John Ford’s 3 Godfathers (1948) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, and Walter Hill’s The Long Riders (1980) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Tim’s reviews of Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case (1982) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video, Michael Laughlin’s Strange Invaders (1983) on Blu-ray from Imprint, and Hanna-Barbera’s animated Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

And finally, Dennis’ review of Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight (1991) on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.

Meanwhile, we have a couple or housekeeping items to report here at The Bits today... [Read on here...]

We’ve got some good title announcement news to start the week off today, along with a round-up of other release news odds and ends...

First up, Paramount and CBS have finally officially set Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season Four for Blu-ray and DVD release on 4/16.

The 2-disc set contains all 10 episodes of the season, along with the following special features:

• Audio Commentary by Jack Quaid, Mike McMahan, and Brad Winters (Ep. 401)
• Audio Commentary by Tawny Newsome, Noël Wells and Gabrielle Ruiz (Ep. 404)
• Audio Commentary by Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Chase Masterson and Mike McMahan (Ep. 406)
• Audio Commentary by Dawnn Lewis, Tawny Newsome and Mike McMahan (Ep. 409)
• Audio Commentary by Robert Duncan McNeill and Mike McMahan (Ep. 410)
• Lower Decktionary: Setting Up Season 4 (featurette)
• Old Friends (featurette)

You can see the cover artwork at left and also below the break.

While we’re on the topic of Paramount, look for the studio to release Mark Waters’ original Mean Girls (2004) on 4K Ultra HD on 4/30. You can see that cover artwork below the break as well. [Read on here...]

Boy, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover here at The Bits over the next few days! It’s been very busy here around the office these past several days. For one thing, my wife and I have had family staying with us for the weekend. I’ve also finally replaced my defunct Epson 5040UB home theater projector here at The Bits with a brand new JVC DLA-RS1100/NP5, and have spent time installing and calibrating it. (I’ll definitely have more to say about that later this week, though I’ll just note for now that I’m very pleased with the choice.)

But I would like to take this opportunity to thank my good friends John Schuermann (of The Screening Room AV, the fantastic home theater design and equipment retailer well known for their annual Projector Shootouts) and Kris Deering (the outstanding ISF calibrator, formerly of Sound and Vision magazine as well as his own Deep Dive AV) for their help and advice in selecting the RS1100 and getting it up and running. (Your counsel is very much appreciated, my friends!) If you’re ever in the market for home theater hardware or calibration, there’s no better place to start.

Needless to say, while I’ve been occupied with all that, our dedicated team here at The Bits has posted a number of great new disc reviews. So let’s quickly run them all down...

First of all, Stuart has offered his thoughts on Anthony Mann’s A Dandy in Sapic (1968) and Abraham Polonsky’s Force of Evil (1948) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Suzanna Raes’ documentary Close to Vermeer (2023) on DVD from Kino Lorber.

Dennis has shared his thoughts on Peter Hall’s Three Into Two Won’t Go (1969) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, as well as Luis Valdez’s La Bamba (1987) on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.

Stephen has delivered his reviews of Jean Renoir’s legendary classic The Rules of the Game (1939) in 4K Ultra HD from Criterion, along with Jiří Barta’s The Pied Piper (1986) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile (via Vinegar Syndrome), and Ulli Lommel’s The Boogey Man (1980) in 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome.

And finally, our hard-working reviews editor Tim Salmons has posted his own take on David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997) in 4K Ultra HD, also from Criterion.

As always, more new disc reviews are forthcoming all week, so be sure to check back for them.

All right… now let’s move on to the latest release news. And there’s quite a lot of it today. In fact, it’s fair to say that it’s going to be a very expensive Q4 for fans of Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD! [Read on here...]

Another day brings more new disc reviews, and more release and catalog announcement news as well. First, the reviews...

Tim has taken a look at Jesús Franco’s Marquis de Sade’s Philosophy in the Boudoir (1970) in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Blue Underground.

Dennis has given Curt Siodmak’s Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956) a spin on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

And Stephen has checked in with a review of both the regular 4K UHD and 4K Steelbook editions of Walter Hill’s The Driver (1978) from EMI and 20th Century Fox via StudioCanal in the UK.

Stay tuned for more new disc reviews all this week.

Now then, MPI Home Video has made their 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Mediabook edition of Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) official for release on 3/28. We mentioned the title yesterday of course, but now we know that the UHD disc will feature the film with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos audio. We’re awaiting confirmation of any disc based extras, but we suspect that there are none, thus allowing the film the maximum possible data rates to ensure high A/V quality. [Read on here...]

We begin our Friday My Two Cents installment here at The Bits with a trio of new disc reviews…

Stephen has turned in his in-depth thoughts on George Stevens’ 1956 Hollywood classic Giant, starring James Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor, as recently released on 4K Ultra HD by Warner Bros.

Also, Dennis has checked in with this thoughts on Lyndall Hobbs’ Back to the Beach (1987) from Paramount and Joe Wiezycki’s Satan’s Children (1974) from AGFA and Something Weird Video.

Now then, the big release news today is that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has finally officially announced two major catalog titles for 4K Ultra HD...

First, they’ve just set Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist (1982) for release on 4K UHD and Digital on 9/20. The disc will feature HDR10 high dynamic range, with the previous 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. The package will include the previous Blu-ray extras on disc, including They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists, Part 1 – Science of the Spirits, They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists, Part 2 – Communing with the Dead, The Making of Poltergeist, and the film’s theatrical trailer.

And of course, the studio has just officially set Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys (1987) for release on 4K Ultra HD and Digital on 9/20 as well. Once again, you’ll get HDR10 high dynamic range and the previous 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Both the 4K disc and the Blu-ray in the package will include audio commentary with Schumacher. [Read on here...]

All right, we’ll start the new week with a smattering of additional Blu-ray and DVD release news...

First up, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set The Lunch Box for Blu-ray release on 7/1. Extras will include an audio commentary with writer/director Ritesh Batra.

Cinedigm will release Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors on Blu-ray Combo and digital on 6/10. Composer Philip Glass produced the film’s score. [Read on here…]