Displaying items by tag: AI

Good afternoon (or evening as the case may be), Bits readers! My wife and I had a houseguest here visiting yesterday, so today’s post is a little later than usual. But we’re starting as always with some new disc reviews...

First of all, on Monday I posted my thoughts on Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) on 4K Ultra HD from Paramount, and just today I added a couple of additional Editor’s Notes discussing one of the film’s key story points as well as the 4K video quality (which I’ve revised downward just a tad from A to A-, the reason for which is explained in my review).

Also, Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Hideaki Anno’s (et al) Evangelion: 3.0+1.11 Thrice Upon a Time (2021) in 4K from GKids and Shout! Factory, and for those of you who aren’t familiar, he also gives you a good little primer on the topic.

Meanwhile, Stuart has weighed in with looks at William Dieterle’s The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and Richard Brooks’ The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, as well as Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s The Worst Ones (2022) on DVD from Kino Lorber.

Dennis has offered his take on Julian Schnabel’s Before Night Falls (2000) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive as well as Mark Pellington’s The Severing (2022) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

And finally, Tim has delivered an in-depth review of Kevin Connor’s Motel Hell (1980) in 4K Ultra HD from Scream Factory. [Read on here...]

Today’s editorial is going to be brief, because frankly some of us here at The Digital Bits have grown a bit frustrated at this point. Disheartened by the state of things, as it were. So too—we suspect—have many of you, our dear readers and fans of physical media. But lately, after nearly twenty-six years of passionate advocacy for film, TV, and special edition content on disc, it’s come to our attention that a couple of the major Hollywood studios don’t seem to have quite that same passion for the subject anymore.

One of these—let’s call ‘em Garner Brothers—just announced a long awaited 4K Ultra HD catalog release with almost no special features. Certainly no newly-created special features, because this studio doesn’t seem to do many of those anymore, and almost no special features on the actual discs, which is where disc fans tend to prefer them. Instead, most of this title’s special features are included as Digital extras only.

Nor does this title include the most obvious extra that fans have been wanting for years, which is the uncut 81-minute “Festival Version” of a certain making-of documentary about this film. Why? Honestly, we’re not sure there’s many people left at this studio who even know that it exists or why fans might care about it. (And if there is, that person should definitely be given a bigger role in making these decisions.)

Now, all of this is particularly frustrating, because if you pre-order this same title on 4K UHD in the United Kingdom, you do get those extras on disc. What’s more, you get a couple of different deluxe packaging options with swag in the UK, both of them terrific, whereas here in the States, the packaging’s artwork simply makes fans of this film weep, created—as it seems to have been—by an intern and novice Photoshop user for reasons unknown (rather than using the film’s already existing poster or production art, which… again… is the kind of thing this studio’s best customers would actually prefer.) [Read on here...]

Today being a federal holiday here in the States, there’s not a ton of announcement news to report on this afternoon, but we do have a few interesting odds and ends.

First though, a couple more new disc reviews...

Dennis has posted his thoughts on John M. Stahl’s Imitation of Life (1934), which is new on Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.

And Stephen has taken a look at Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby (1978) on Blu-ray from Paramount via Imprint Films.

Now then... in announcement news today, Neon has confirmed that four of their recent titles—Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness (2022), Brett Morgen’s terrific David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream (2022), Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022), and Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman (2021)—are all going to be coming from the Criterion Collection, presumably to Blu-ray and/or 4K Ultra HD. [Read on here...]