Criterion’s March includes To Die For in 4K, plus new Imprint, Powerhouse, and KLSC titles, Vinegar Syndrome’s new Cinématograph label & more!

Friday, 15 December 2023 20:00

Criterion’s March includes To Die For in 4K, plus new Imprint, Powerhouse, and KLSC titles, Vinegar Syndrome’s new Cinématograph label & more!

by Bill Hunt

All right, as you’ve probably seen here on The Digital Bits, I’ve now shared my thoughts on the 4K Digital remasters of James Cameron’s The Abyss, True Lies, and Aliens. These reviews have been shared after looking at each of the remasters as they currently appear on Vudu, Movies Anywhere, and Apple TV/iTunes, allowing for streaming quality variations in each. So if you’re interested in those, you’ll find my take on each via the title links provided in this paragraph.

Rest assured, I will also be reviewing the forthcoming 4K Ultra HD disc versions of those films, and the forthcoming Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water collector’s editions when they arrive. And the rest of The Bits team is working on a whole slate of disc reviews for next week and beyond… allowing of course for the usual holiday season distractions of family and the like.

Based on some of the interesting… I’ll generously call them conversations (but they’re more like angry bitch-fests)… on social media over the past couple weeks about some of these 4K titles, I’m also written a essay entitled A Word About Screenshots, Reviewing, and Trusting Opinions on the Internet that you can find over on The Digital Bits’ new Patreon page.

Not only is subscribing to our Patreon page a great way to support our work here at The Digital Bits—if you believe in it and find that it brings your enjoyment of physical media some value—it’s also becoming a great place to respectfully share your thoughts and ideas about these topics with like-minded people without risking getting attacked or worrying about having snark and scorn heaped upon you… and there’s definitely some value in that too. So please consider check it out, and know that we appreciate each and every one of you, our readers, regardless. [Read on here...]

In announcement news today, our friends at The Criterion Collection have just shared their March 2024 Blu-ray and 4K release slate, which includes an update of William Dieterle’s All That Money Can Buy (1941) (aka The Devil and Daniel Webster – Spine #214 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) (Spine #1210 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 3/12, followed by Amir Naderi’s The Runner (1984) (Spine #1211 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 3/19, and Alice Diop’s Saint Omer (2022) (Spine #1212 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Gus Van Sant’s To Die For (1995) (Spine #1213 – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray and Blu-ray) on 3/26. To Die For will include Dolby Vision HDR and a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio sound mix.

The fine folks at Imprint Films have announced their own March Blu-ray slate, which will include Ernest Day’s Green Ice (1981), Dorothy Ann Puzo’s Cold Steel (1987), Stuart Rosenberg’s Let’s Get Harry (1986), Matthew Robbins’ Batteries Not Included (1987), Michael Laughlin’s Strange Invaders (1983), and Richard Compton’s Ravagers (1979). The street date for each is 3/27. Of these, Green Ice, Cold Steel, Let’s Get Harry, and Ravagers are all new to Blu-ray—and Let’s Get Harry hasn’t been available on disc since LaserDisc.

Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the DreamWorks animated film Trolls Band Together (2023). The street date is listed as 7/1/24, but that’s obviously a placeholder.

Paramount has announced a trio of 4K Ultra HD Steelbooks for Limited Edition re-release on 3/12, including Event Horizon, The Running Man, Dragonslayer.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has also set a new 4K Steelbook Limited Edition of Satoshi Kon’s Paprika (2006) for release on 2/20.

CBS and Paramount have also set Magnum P.I.: The Complete Series for DVD release on 1/8. This is the reboot series that began on CBS and is now finishing its 5-season run on NBC. (And I must say, I’ll be disappointed if the final episode doesn’t feature a cameo by Tom Selleck as Robin Masters, but that’s just me.)

CBS and Showtime will release Billions: The Complete Series on DVD only on 1/16.

Powerhouse Films and Indicator have announced a great slate of early 2024 Blu-ray and 4K UHD titles, including Walter Hill’s Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Robert Altman’s Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976), Budd Boetticher’s A Time for Dying (1969), Sergio Sollima’s The Big Gundown (1966), Terence Fisher’s The Phantom of the Opera (1962), John Gilling’s The Shadow of the Cat (1961), and Peter Graham Scott’s Captain Clegg (1962) all on Blu-ray, as well as Simon Wincer’s Snapshot (1979) and Richard Franklin’s Patrick (1978) each on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD, all on 2/19 (or 2/20 here in the US).

Our friends at Vinegar Syndrome have just announced a new label called Cinématograph, which will curate a slate of auteur-driven studio films from the 1960s and 70s New Hollywood era up to the indie cinema resurgence of the 1980s and 90s. Look for the first titles to be announced soon for release in January.

Cinématograph

The Cohen Film Collection has set a Blu-ray double feature of two British wartime films by Lewis Gilbert—The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954) and Albert R.N. (1953) for release on 1/23. Gilbert went on to direct the Bond films You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker.

Synapse Films has set Marcel Walz’s Blood Feast (2016) for Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD release on 1/16.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics will re-release the Dan Curtis’ Burnt Offerings (1976), the OSS 117: Five Film Collection (1963-68), and Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) on Blu-ray on 2/6, followed by Frank Lloyd’s Blood on the Sun (1945), Norman Z. McLeod’s Let’s Dance (1950), and Byron Haskin’s Man-Eater of Kumaon (1948) on Blu-ray on 2/13.

Magnolia Home Entertainment has set Nick Broomfield’s documentary The Stones and Brian Jones (2003) for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 2/13.

Crunchyroll has just set Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume for Blu-ray in Limited and Standard Editions on 3/12. Extras on each will include director’s commentary, interviews, a making of documentary, and more. The Limited Edition will include a 60-page art book and a set of 4 art cards.

If any of you are Taylor Swift fans… or if you have wives and/or daughters who are… Universal has just made Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour – Extended Edition concert film available for rental viewing in 4K and HD Digital.

And before we go… a quick heads-up: Paramount is now sending out Rosemary’s Baby 4K Ultra HD replacement discs for those who requested them. So if you have the title and haven’t done so yet, you can request your copy here. (To refresh your memories, the disc was found to be missing a line of dialogue.)

That’s all for this week. We’re going to have a bunch more new disc reviews for you next week, so be sure to check back for those. And we hope you’re all enjoying the holiday season in the meantime.

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate it!

Stay tuned…

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)

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Criterion’s March includes To Die For in 4K, plus new Imprint, Powerhouse, and KLSC titles, Vinegar Syndrome’s new Cinématograph label & more!

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