Displaying items by tag: Michael Benson

Afternoon, Bits readers! We’ve got something very special to share with you today here at the site, but first we also have some more new disc reviews...

Our very own Tim Salmons has delivered his thoughts on Roy William Neill’s Black Moon (1934) on Blu-ray from Columbia Pictures and Via Vision’s Imprint Films label. Tim has also taken a look at Jay Levey’s UHF (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from Shout! Studios in honor of the film’s 35th anniversary!

And Stuart has offered his take on another classic film, Arthur Ripley’s The Chase (1946) on Blu-ray from the good people at Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Enjoy!

Now then, some of you may remember that way back in 2010, visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull proposed an elaborate documentary on the making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Unfortunately, he was never able to get Warner Bros. to fund the project, which was known as Beyond the Infinite, and the man sadly passed away in 2022 (you can read our salute to him here).

You may also remember that back in 2016, I published an in-depth look at the various behind-the-scenes books on the making of the film, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: The Ultimate Trip in Print, here at The Bits website.

Well... back in September I was honored to be contacted by my friends Michael and Denise Okuda (of Star Trek fame) to participate in a new documentary they were producing on 2001 with the team at OTOY. So I spent a lovely evening up in Burbank with Mike, Denise, and my old friend Roger Lay, Jr. (who created many of the excellent documentaries on Paramount’s Star Trek Blu-rays in recent years) shooting an interview about the film and its place in cinema history. Today, I am very pleased to say that the result of their work is finally available for all of you to see for yourselves! [Read on here...]

[Editor’s Note: Since the original publication of this column back in 2016, a new book on 2001 has been published that deserves to be mentioned here—Michael Benson’s Space Odyssey. I’ve added a new section at the end to address it. There is also an excellent 2018 Michael Coate retrospective on the film here at The Bits that we’ve included as well.]

–Originally published on The Digital Bits on 9/28/2016–

I decided that I wanted to do something a little different with today’s My Two Cents column on The Digital Bits, so I thought I’d review a few new and/or recent books that may be of interest to cinephiles, especially those of you who are fans of Stanley Kubrick’s legendary 2001: A Space Odyssey.

As many of you would agree, I’m sure, 2001 is a landmark of filmed science fiction. Based loosely on a short story by visionary author Arthur C. Clarke, it depicts an AI-guided but manned journey through deep space, first to Earth orbit, then the Moon, and eventually out to the distant gas giant Jupiter and beyond, in response to the discovery of an alien artifact on the Moon’s surface, apparently having been buried there millions of years ago.

Not only was Kubrick’s film notable for its realistic depiction of the Moon’s surface fully a year before NASA’s Apollo astronauts actually landed there, it’s been lauded ever since for its realistic approach to depicting future spaceflight technology. Indeed, some of those who contributed designs to the project were actually involved in the space program. [Read on here…]

All right, just a quick one today with some news and a couple items of interest...

First, Warner Bros. has officially announced Clint Eastwood’s The 15:17 to Paris for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 5/22, with a “4K Digital” release due on 5/1. Yes, it appears the studio has decided not to release an actual 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray version of this one. Extras on the Blu-ray will include 2 featurettes (Making Every Second Count and Portrait of Courage). You can see the cover artwork at left and below.

Warner has also set Alex & Me for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/19, with the Digital release expected on 6/12. Extras will include 3 featurettes (Getting to Know Alex, Aspire to Inspire: Success in Hard Work, and Soccer, Script to Set: A Playbook on Alex & Me) and an outtake. [Read on here...]