My Two Cents
All right, the big news today is that Criterion has just officially announced their November slate of Blu-ray—and yes, 4K Ultra HD—titles!
They begin with an upgrade of Federico Fellini’s La strada (Spine #219 – Blu-ray) on 11/2, followed by an upgrade of David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. (Spine #799 – Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD Combo) and Once Upon a Time in China: The Complete Films (Spine #1103 – Blu-ray – includes Once Upon a Time in China I-V) on 11/16, and Albert and Allen Hughes’ Menace II Society (Spine #1105 – Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Combo) and Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (Spine #1104 – Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Combo) on 11/23. Let’s talk 4Ks...
Mulholland Dr. will include a new 4K digital restoration, supervised by director David Lynch and director of photography Peter Deming, with a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. The 4K disc will include Dolby Vision HDR.
Menace II Society will include a new 4K digital restoration of the directors’ cut of the film, supervised by cinematographer Lisa Rinzler and codirector Albert Hughes, with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. The 4K disc will include Dolby Vision HDR.
Citizen Kane will include a new 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. Again, the 4K disc will include Dolby Vision HDR. [Read on here...]
All right, we have just a couple of quick updates for you here at The Bits today, but first we have a new disc review...
Stephen has taken a look at Stephen Sommers’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) as newly-released on 4K Ultra HD by Paramount. Sounds like it’s a modest but decent upgrade over the existing Blu-ray, so do give it a look if you’re a fan.
Now then, in terms of announcement news, Lionsgate has set writer-director Janicza Bravo’s Zola for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on 9/14. Extras will include audio commentary with Bravo and editor Joi McMillon, the Y’all Wanna Hear a Story: Making Zola featurette, and deleted scenes with optional audio commentary.
Lionsgate will also release Twist on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/28. The film stars Lena Headey and Michael Caine. Extras will include The Artful Dodger: Twist’s Underworld featurette. [Read on here...]
All right folks, this is a day a lot of us have been waiting a very long time for. Let’s get right into what is arguably the year’s biggest news...
Our friends at The Criterion Collection have finally announced that their first titles on the physical 4K Ultra HD format will include David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr., Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, Jane Campion’s The Piano, Allen and Albert Hughes’s Menace II Society, Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell’s The Red Shoes, and Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night! The first of these is expected to arrive in November (we believe it will be Mulholland Dr.) and will be officially detailed next week when Criterion announces its full November slate. The rest will follow in subsequent months (starting—we believe—with Citizen Kane in December, given that 2021 is the film’s 80th anniversary). Per Criterion, each of their 4K titles will include the film on both 4K and Blu-ray (with most extras on the Blu-ray, allowing the 4K disc to have maximum room for video and audio data). Select films will also feature Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound.
Any way you slice it, this is outstanding news. We actually knew (thanks to our longtime industry sources) about three of those titles and had a pretty good line on a fourth. But by our reckoning, the fact that the company has announced no less than SIX 4K titles tells us that Criterion is seriously ALL IN on the Ultra HD format at long last. And that is the best news we’ve had all year for physical media.
But that’s not all of the news we have for you today, so let’s keep going! [Read on here...]
Hope you’re all having a great week so far. I was buried in catch-up work yesterday after having a series of family visits here—our first in two years due to the pandemic—so suffice it to say that there was no news post yesterday.
However, I’ve been on the phone a lot in the last couple of days talking with industry sources, and we’ve got some great new Blu-ray and especially 4K catalog updates for you this afternoon.
FYI, there will be more new disc reviews coming later this week as well, so be sure to check back for those. But let’s get right into the 4K news...
First up, I’ve confirmed with multiple industry sources now that Warner Bros. will be releasing Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders (1983) on physical 4K Ultra HD in early November. Coppola and his American Zoetrope have recently been remastering several of the director’s films in 4K (Lionsgate is releasing a remastered Dementia 13 on Blu-ray and 4K Digital on 9/21 as part of their Vestron Video Collector’s Series, and Paramount is going to be releasing the complete Godfather Trilogy in 4K Ultra HD next year in honor of the original film’s 50th anniversary), so perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise. [Read on here...]
We’re wrapping up the week here at The Digital Bits with a trio of additional disc reviews and a bit more release news too. First up, those reviews...
Tim kicks things off with a look at Jacques Tourneur’s 1964 horror-comedy classic The Comedy of Terrors, starring Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre. It’s coming to Blu-ray on 8/31 from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
Now then, in terms of release news, the British Film Institute has just surprised us all by announcing its very first 4K Ultra HD release and it’s a good one: Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957). You can see the cover artwork at the left there. [Read on here...]