My Two Cents
We’re starting today with more new disc reviews, and then we have a major piece of catalog 4K news for you here at The Bits. First up...
Tim has taken a look at Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express (1974) on Blu-ray from Paramount.
Dennis has reviewed J. Lee Thompson’s Eye of the Devil (1966) and Karl Freund’s Mad Love (1935), both new on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.
And Stephen has delivered his thoughts on a pair of new Umbrella Entertainment Region-Free Blu-ray releases, including Steve Jodrell’s Shame (1988) and Bruce Beresford’s Puberty Blues (1981).
Now then, let’s get to that big release news: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has set Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s musical comedy Singin’ in the Rain (1952) for 4K Ultra HD release on 4/26, just as we first revealed here at The Bits way back in November. [Read on here...]
All right, as some of you may know, we had a pretty interesting early post here at The Bits today with news of a great bunch of Shout! and Scream Factory Blu-ray and 4K titles coming in May. Turns out, that was just scratching the surface! Not only has Shout! now fully fleshed out their May release slate, they’ve added an additional Ultra HD title and more Blu-ray titles too. What’s more, Sony has revealed a pair of much-wanted 4K titles in June, and Paramount has announced a significant slate of Blu-ray and 4K titles for May as well!
This is going to take a little while to go through, so let’s get right into it. We’ll start with those new Sony titles first, then circle our way back to Shout...
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just announced a pair of new Steelbook 4K titles for release on 6/7, one a title released previously and the other also released previously but only in one of their Columbia Classics 4K box sets: The Bridge on the River Kwai: 65th Anniversary Limited Edition and a Lawrence of Arabia: 60th Anniversary Limited Edition. These will be essentially the same discs released previously (reviewed here and here on The Bits), except that both now feature Dolby Vision HDR (Kwai had only HDR10 in its initial UHD release). Both also feature Dolby Atmos audio plus legacy mixes. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]
We’ve got a quick early news update for you here at The Bits this morning featuring a major new disc review and some great breaking title announcement news as well. First the review...
Tim has just weighed in with his thoughts on John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London: Limited Edition in 4K Ultra HD from our friends at Arrow Video.
Sounds like it’s a loaded package, with best-ever image and sound quality for this film, so if you’re a fan you won’t want to miss it.
Now then, we’ve learned that Shout! and Scream Factory are just about to announce their May Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD slate, and it includes a trio of great and much-loved catalog titles in 4K Ultra HD. [Read on here...]
We’re starting things off today with Tim’s review of Lewis Teague’s Alligator (1980) in 4K Ultra HD from Scream Factory. It sounds like this is not only the best the film has ever looked and sounded, but it’s also one of Shout! and Scream’s best 4K releases to date. So do give it a look if you might be interested.
We’ve also just updated our Release Dates and Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. Remember, any time you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them from one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.
I also wanted to address one other thing here on the site today: Some of you may have noticed that there were “roadblock” ads appearing on The Bits over the last few months. Ads that appeared when you clicked from the home page to other content—ads that you had to click away to continue reading. Rest assured, we’ve killed those and they will not be returning. [Read on here...]
We’ve got three more new disc reviews for you to enjoy today, starting with Tim’s look at Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998), as recently released on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment. It’s an Aussie import title, but all-region.
Also today, Dennis has turned in his thoughts on Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974), which is newly released on Blu-ray from Imprint Films in Australia, also a region-free disc.
And Stephen has offered his thoughts on Shinsuke Terasawa’s animated Catwoman: Hunted in 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, the latest installment in their DC Animated Universe.
What’s more, we have another “bonus” film retrospective from our own Michael Coate today in his History, Legacy and Showmanship column, as he takes a look back at Robert Wise’s original West Side Story (1961) in honor of the film’s 60th anniversary. Michael is joined by film and musical experts Matthew Kennedy, Bruce Kimmel, and Mike Matessino for a great roundtable discussion. Enjoy! [Read on here...]