My Two Cents
Afternoon, folks! I wanted to check in here today with some news, and few more reviews, and an update.
Some of you have probably noticed that The Bits website has been slow this week. We’ve been having some software issues and our tech support team is on it. The good news is, they’ve identified the cause. We’re working on a solution which is going to involve a bunch of software upgrades, but it’s likely to going to take a week or two to sort out. So I just wanted to apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your patience in the meantime. Rest assured, Scotty and the crew down in Engineering are on the case and we should be back to normal soon!
In the meantime, we have some new disc reviews for you...
Stephen has taken a look at Bill Plympton’s I Married a Strange Person! (1997) on Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile Films, as well as David Allen’s The Primevals (2023) on Blu-ray from Full Moon Features.
Dennis has offered his take on Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German (2006) in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment (with an assist on the 4K side from Tim Salmons), as well as Dougal Wilson’s Paddington in Peru (2024) on Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and Charles Walters’ Lili (1953) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.
And Tim has reviewed Gordon Flemying’s Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1996) on Blu-ray from Severin Films.
Lots more disc reviews are definitely on the way, so be sure to watch for them. And I also wanted to let you know in advance that if news updates or social media posts are a little light over the next few days, it’s because I just got my hands on Warner and MGM’s new 007: James Bond – Sean Connery 6-Film Collection in 4K Ultra HD. So I’m going to crack that open and start working on detailed reviews of the films therein, but it’s probably going to take me through the weekend to get them all covered.
But if a cursory examination of Dr. No and From Russian with Love is any indication, these new 4K remasters are pretty terrific. They’re on 100GB discs, they feature very high data rates, and the color, detail, and grain are all very nice indeed. Fingers crossed, I think the Warner remastering team has nailed it. These are definitely a big improvement over the old Lowry Digital 4K masters. So watch for more on that in my reviews soon! [Read on here...]
Now here’s a title I’ve known about for a while, and that I’m very excited to finally share with all of you!
Longtime Bits readers will know that this film is another huge favorite of mine. And back in January of last year… not long before we first broke the exclusive news of the new Sony/Disney distribution deal here at The Digital Bits… I was invited by Disney reps to submit a list of films that I thought the studio should consider for release on physical 4K UHD.
I compiled a list of fifty titles, an A-list of twenty-five, and a B-list of twenty-five more.
Kevin Jarre, Kurt Russell, and George P. Cosmatos’ Tombstone (1993) was at the very top of that A-list.
The third film on that A-list was Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut (2005).
Both titles have now obviously been released on physical 4K Ultra HD from Disney/Touchstone and 20th Century Studios via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment—Tombstone on 4/22, and Kingdom of Heaven on 5/27. (Initial supplies of both titles are hard to come by, but I’m told that Sony is working hard to replicate more copies.)
Well… now I can confirm that the second title on the list I submitted is finally coming to 4K Ultra HD as well, and I couldn’t possibly be more excited. That title is none other than… [Read on here...]
The new week is here, and so we’ve got three new disc reviews to share with you today accordingly...
Stuart’s look at Ken Loach’s Family Life (1971) on Blu-ray from Indicator.
Dennis’ thoughts on Predrag Antonijević’s Savior (1998) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.
And Tim’s take on another title from Arrow’s Shawscope: Volume Two Blu-ray box set, this time Lau Kar-leung’s Mad Monkey Kung Fu (1979)!
In announcement news today, Shout! Factory has begun to reveal its August slate of titles, which is set to include the Shaw Brothers Classics: Volume Seven Blu-ray box set on 8/5, which features the films The Imperial Tomb Raiders (1973), Legend of the Bat (1978), The Shadow Boxed (1975), The Spiritual Boxer (1975), Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre (1978), Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 2 (1978), Seven Shaolin Hand Lock (1978), Swordsman and Enchantress (1978), The Proud Twins (1979), A Deadly Secret (1980), and Heroes Shed no Tears (1980). [Read on here...]
We’ve got one last update for you this week, with announcement news and a few more new disc reviews. As always, let’s take a look at the latter first…
Tim has offered his take on Gordon Hessler’s Catacombs (1965) on Blu-ray from Via Vision’s Imprint Films.
Dennis has shared a look at Anthony Mann’s Side Street (1949) on Blu-ray from MGM via the Warner Archive Collection.
And Stephen has taken a look at Hayao Miyazaki’s latest animated feature The Boy and the Heron (2023) in 4K Ultra HD from Studio Ghibli via GKids and Shout! Factory.
Meanwhile, the title announcement news this afternoon begins with this: Imprint Films has revealed that they’re releasing a 4-disc Limited Edition of David Lynch’s Dune (1984) in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray!
The 4-disc set will include the 137-minute Theatrical Cut on both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, plus the 177-minute Extended TV Version on Blu-ray. You’ll also get a bonus disc featuring the 93-minute Extended Cut of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures’ terrific feature-length documentary The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune documentary, produced and directed by our friend Daniel Griffith! [Read on here...]
Okay, we’re experiencing a couple of website issues today that are requiring work on both our hardware and software here at The Bits. But while we do that, I wanted to knock out a quick news update in the event we have to take a couple days off from posting. So we’ve got more big catalog 4K news for you this morning, including a big follow-up on the news we posted here on Tuesday!
But first, we’ve got more new disc reviews for you as well...
Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1983), as newly re-issued in 4K Ultra HD Steelbook packaging from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Tim has reviewed Terrell O. Morse’s Unknown World (1951) on Blu-ray from Severin Films.
And Dennis has offered his take on Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German (2006) on Blu-ray from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.
Now then, the big news is that our friends at The Criterion Collection have officially announced a title that we first mentioned here at The Bits on Tuesday (and last Sunday on our Digital Bits Patreon page for subscribers): They are indeed releasing The Wes Anderson Archive as a 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray box set on September 30th! [Read on here...]