• 901      The Philadelphia Story
• 902      Desert Hearts
• 903      Jabberwocky (BD)
• 904      Election
• 905      The Breakfast Club (BD)
• 906      I, Daniel Blake
• 907      Westfront 1918
• 908      Kameradschaft
• 909      Night of the Living Dead (BD) (4K)
• 910      Tom Jones
• 911      The Hero
• 912      An Actor’s Revenge
• 913      The Age of Innocence
• 914      Baal
• 915      King of Jazz
• 916      Women in Love
• 917      The Awful Truth
• 918      The Color of Pomegranates
• 919      Dead Man
• 920      The Virgin Suicides
• 921      Moonrise
• 922      The Other Side of Hope
• 923      Beyond the Hills
• 924      Graduation
• 925      Midnight Cowboy
• 926      Manila in the Claws of Light
• 927      El Sur
• 928      Bowling for Columbine
• 929      Female Trouble
• 930      Dietrich & Von Sternberg in Hollywood (box set)
• 931      Morocco (Dietrich box)
• 932      Dishonored (Dietrich box)
• 933      Shanghai Express (Dietrich box)
• 934      Blonde Venus (Dietrich box)
• 935      The Devil Is a Woman (Dietrich box)
• 936      Bull Durham
• 937      Dragon Inn
• 938      Sex, Lies, and Videotape
• 940      The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (BD)
• 941      Smithereens
• 942      The Tree of Life (BD)
• 943      Memories of Underdevelopment
• 944      Cold Water
• 945      A Raisin in the Sun (BD)
• 946      Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day
• 947      Shampoo
• 948      The Princess Bride
• 949      A Story from Chikamatsu
• 950      Some Like It Hot
• 951      True Stories
• 952      The Magnificent Ambersons
• 953      A Dry White Season
• 954      Forty Guns
• 955      Panique
• 956      24 Frames
• 957      Mikey and Nicky
• 958      4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
• 959      In the Heat of the Night
• 960      La vérité
• 961      Shame
• 962      Death in Venice
• 963      To Sleep with Anger
• 964      The Kid Brother (BD)
• 965      Wanda
• 966      Detour
• 967      I Wanna Hold Your Hand (BD)
• 968      Japón
• 969      Diamonds of the Night
• 970      A Face in the Crowd
• 971      Police Story
• 972      Police Story 2
• 973      My Brilliant Career
• 974      The Heiress
• 975      Funny Games (BD)
• 976      Let the Sunshine In
• 977      Blue Velvet
• 978      One Sings, the Other Doesn’t
• 979      Swing Time (BD)
• 980      La vie de Jésus
• 981      L’humanité
• 982      Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• 983      War and Peace (BD)
• 984      1984 (BD)
• 985      Europa, Europa
• 986      The Baker’s Wife
• 987      Klute
• 988      The Inland Sea
• 989      The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
• 990      The Koker Trilogy: Where Is the Friend’s House?
• 991      The Koker Trilogy: And Life Goes On
• 992      The Koker Trilogy: Through the Olive Trees
• 993      The Cloud-Capped Star
• 994      Local Hero
• 995      Polyester (BD)
• 996      The Circus
• 997      Cluny Brown
• 998      When We Were Kings
• 999      Matewan
• 1000      Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975

All right, we’ve got a couple things for you today…

First, we have three new disc reviews, including Tim’s look at Re-Animator on Blu-ray from Arrow Video, our joint take on Warner’s The LEGO Batman Movie on 4K Ultra HD, and my own look at Disney and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on 4K Ultra HD. All three are worth a look. Re-Animator proves to be the definitive release of that film on Blu-ray and Guardians is a stunning reference-quality 4K release from Disney, even without Dolby Vision. Do give them a look.

More Blu-ray and 4K reviews are on the way, so be sure to stay watch for them. [Read on here…]

All right, sorry for the lack of a news post yesterday, but the reason for it is that we’re hard at work on reviews for you here at The Bits. Speaking of which, late last night I posted my thoughts on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant in 4K Ultra HD format from 20th Century Fox. That streets today. Yesterday afternoon, I also completed a review of Arrow’s new Blu-ray edition of John Frankenheimer’s Ronin, which arrives in stores on 8/29.

Meanwhile, Tim has turned in his thoughts on Scream Factory’s fine new Teen Wolf: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and he’s also taken an exhaustive look at the contents of Sony’s recent Spider-Man: Limited Edition Collection Blu-ray box set. Now, a number of Bits readers have asked me recently what’s in the set, do all the legacy extras carry over, and what new content there may be. Tim has answered all of those questions for you in his review. The highlight of the set if definitely the new Spider-Man 3: Editor’s Cut created by Bob Murawski – we hear it’s a definite improvement upon the theatrical cut. So do give all of the above a look.

Also know that I am currently hard at work on my review of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on 4K Ultra HD format and I hope to have that posted later today. So keep checking back for it. [Read on here…]

All right, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC have just officially announced the release of director Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman Blu-ray Combo, Blu-ray 3D Combo, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD formats on 9/19 (SRP $35.99, $44.95, $28.98, and $44.95 respectively).

There will be more than two hours worth of extras on the Blu-rays, including a 5-part A Director’s Vision behind-the-scenes documentary, extended scenes, a blooper reel, Epilogue: Etta’s Mission, and additional “bonus scenes”. Audio on both the Blu-ray and 4K versions will be Dolby Atmos. 4K High Dynamic Range appears to be HDR-10. You’ll find the cover artwork below... [Read on here…]

The Criterion Collection has just announced an impressive new box set for release on 12/5, entitled 100 Years of Olympic Film. It’s the company’s biggest boxed release ever, including 53 films on 32 Blu-ray Discs or 43 DVDs (the SRP is $319.96, whichever version you choose).

From their press release: “Spanning fifty-three movies and forty-one editions of the Olympic Summer and Winter Games, this one-of-a-kind collection assembles, for the first time, a century’s worth of Olympic films – the culmination of a monumental, award-winning archival project encompassing dozens of new restorations by the International Olympic Committee. These documentaries cast a cinematic eye on some of the most iconic moments in the history of modern sports, spotlighting athletes who embody the Olympic motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”: Jesse Owens shattering sprinting world records on the track in 1936 Berlin, Jean Claude-Killy dominating the slopes of Grenoble in 1968, Joan Benoit breaking away to win the first-ever women’s marathon on the streets of Los Angeles in 1984. In addition to the work of Bud Greenspan, the man behind an impressive ten Olympic features, this stirring collective chronicle of triumph and defeat includes such landmarks of the documentary form as Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia and Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad, along with lesser-known but captivating contributions by major directors like Claude Lelouch, Carlos Saura, and Miloš Forman.” [Read on here…]

We’re kicking things off today with a new Blu-ray review. Tim has posted his thoughts on Andrés Torres’ Bag Boy Lover Boy (2014) now available on BD from Severin Films. You’ll find that here. Note that I’m currently at work on a number of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews, which I expect to post starting tomorrow, so be sure to watch for those.

In announcement news today, Scream Factory has revealed the extras that will be included on their forthcoming Blu-ray release of Dan O’Bannon’s The Resurrected (due on 9/12). Look for a new 2K transfer of the film, a new interview with actress Jane Sibbett (Claire’s Conundrum), a new interview with author S.T. Joshi (The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward), audio commentary (with producers Mark Borde and Kenneth Raich, screenwriter Brent V. Friedman, actor Richard Romanus and make-up effects artist Todd Masters), 4 additional interview featurettes (The Resurrected Man with Chris Sarandon, Abominations & Adaptations with screenwriter Brent Friedman, Grotesque Melodies with composer Richard Band, Lovecraftian Landscapes with production designer Brent Thomas, and Human Experiments with special effects artist Todd Masters), deleted and extended scenes from the workprint, the Japanese trailer and home video trailer, and a photo gallery. You can see the cover artwork at left and pre-order it on Amazon at this link. [Read on here…]

All right, the big news so far today is that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Netflix have just set House of Cards: The Complete Fifth Season for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 10/3.

Sony has also announced the return of a classic holiday TV special to DVD in the form of a new Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas: 40th Anniversary Edition. Extras will include the Behind the Scenes in Frogtown Hollow featurette, deleted and alternate scenes, outtakes, and a lost song (Born in a Trunk).

In addition to Vice Versa and Night of the Living Dead, which we’ve mentioned in the last few days, Mill Creek is also releasing Mary Reilly on Blu-ray on 10/17 and a Suspect: 30th Anniversary Edition on 9/12. You can see the cover artwork below. [Read on here…]

We’ve got a good release news update for you today here at The Bits. But first, a couple of items of note...

This is kind of important for us: It’s getting harder and harder to keep The Bits running, what with server, bandwidth, staff, and other operating costs that seem to be increasing all the time, even as advertising revenue is in decline. It’s a problem many websites are facing these days. But we’re lucky in that we’re an Amazon affiliate. So we’ve just posted the weekly update of our Release Dates & Artwork section here at The Bits, featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. We’d like to humbly ask all our readers: Please use our links when ordering from Amazon. All you have to do is click through any one of our Amazon links here at the site, then we get affiliate credit for literally anything you order from Amazon in that same shopping session. It make a huge difference for us in allowing us to keep The Bits going. This support is critical; it’s the difference between continuing The Bits or not. So we thank you very much for supporting us in this way. [Read on here…]

All right... let’s have a release news update today, shall we?

First though, I have an update for you on the forthcoming 4K Ultra HD release of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (due on 8/22), directly from Disney. I attended a press event for the title yesterday at Disney Studios in Burbank, and was able to ask some technical questions. First of all, Disney seems fairly bullish on the 4K Ultra HD format. As we’ve already reported, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will be their second release on the format on 10/5. The studio is currently evaluating future releases in 4K and is likely to release most new release titles day and date on the format going forward, though there may be the occasional exception. Yes, of course I asked about the prospect of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story being released on the format in the months ahead, and no, they haven’t made a decision on this yet. Personally, I think there’s a decent chance we’ll see them in 4K in the next twelve months, but that’s just my own opinion... we’ll have to wait and see as Disney makes future announcements. We do expect Disney to announce more 4K titles in the next month or two. [Read on here…]

Hey, folks. I’m be back soon with a larger news update soon. We’ve been doing some server work here at The Bits while we’re in a bit of a lull, plus we’ve been doing some review work as well.

Speaking of which, you may have seen it when I posted it yesterday, but I’ve done a long awaited hardware review: Epson’s PowerLite Home Cinema 5040UB 3 LCD projector. I’ve been demoing it here at The Bits for a few months now and it’s pretty extraordinary. It’s not full native 4K, but it accepts 4K video signals, enhances the imagery via “pixel shifting” to make 4K look almost 4K, makes 1080p HD look more like 4K, displays HDR10 and the entire DCI-P3 color space, and it even displays 3D better than you’ll see in many theatres. If you’re into front projector, it’s one of the best and most affordable home cinema projectors you can buy right now. Do give it a look.

Also, Tim has posted several new Blu-ray reviews, including his thoughts on Paramount’s The Naked Gun Trilogy, Arrow Films’ Pulse, Severin Films/Intervision’s Feed the Light, Grindhouse Releasing’s Massacre Mafia Style, Lionsgate’s Warlock Collection, and Warner Archive’s Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Enjoy! [Read on here…]