All right, for the next three days, some of The Bits crew is going to be making our yearly pilgrimage down to Comic-Con in San Diego.  As you know, we’re holding our regular Blu-ray panel down there on Thursday afternoon (4-5 PM in Room 5AB) so if you’re down there, we’d sure love to see you there.

Meanwhile, we have a couple things for you while we’re away…

All right, quick one for you today…

First up here at The Bits this morning, Russell Hammond has updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links.  As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon after clicking to them through our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we surely do appreciate it!

Finally, I believe we promised you some reviews, did we not?  Okay… here’s a couple.  Our very own Todd Doogan has just checked in with a look at a pair of recent Blu-ray releases from the folks at Kino Lorber.  To be specific, he’s reviewed a pair of classic Jean Rollin titles from Redemption Films in HD, including The Grapes of Death (1978) and Night of the Hunted (1980), both of which star a former French porn star by the name of Brigitte Lahaie.  They’re fascinating film, so do give them a look.

Enjoy and see you back here tomorrow with more!

Back tomorrow!  Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt

The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective article to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of Die Hard, the action-adventure classic that turned Bruce Willis into a superstar, catapulted John McTiernan to the A-list of movie directors, and created a new standard for the modern action movie. The article features an interview with action movie authority Eric Lichtenfeld plus a collection of historical data.

Okay… it’s Comic-Con week here at The Bits, so our regular news posts are going to be brief and to the point as we’ll be down in San Diego Wednesday through Friday.  We will be posting new Blu-ray reviews all week though so be sure to check back.

Meanwhile, for those of you attending Comic-Con, we hope to see some of you down at our Blu-ray Producers 2013 panel on Thursday afternoon.  We’re going to reveal some cool new titles, show great clips and you’ll get a chance to ask questions of our excellent panel of leading special edition producers and intrepid Bits staffers.

Speaking of revealing cool new titles, we may have limited Internet access to get news posted on The Bits while we’re down at the Con, but I will try to post anything interesting I hear (as well as pictures and any news from our own panel) on The Digital Bits Facebook page and/or my own personal Facebook page, so you’re welcome to check those for more regular updates.

Okay, we’ve got just a couple of quick bits of announcement news to close out the week…

Warner Home Video has set Nikita: The Complete Third Season for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 10/22 (SRP $69.97 and $59.98).  Warner and the BBC have also set Doctor Who: The Complete Seventh Series for release on both formats on 9/24 (SRP $89.98 and $79.98).  And look for the animated Super Friends: Season Six – Legacy of Super Powers on DVD only on 10/8 (SRP $14.97).

All right, we’ve got a couple things for you today.  First though, we promised you details on our Comic-Con panel next week, so here goes…

Next Thursday afternoon (7/18 – from 4-5 PM in Room 5AB of the San Diego Convention Center), The Digital Bits crew will return to Comic-Com to host our annual Blu-ray/DVD Producers panel event!  Here’s the most updated description of the panel (as it would be featured in the Comic-Con catalog – except that this is the latest and correct list of panelists):

<<4-5  The Digital Bits Presents Blu-ray Producers 2013 – Join Bill Hunt, Adam Jahnke and Todd Doogan of The Digital Bits.com as they host a panel discussion with leading independent and indie studio producers of Blu-ray extras.   Panelists will include Brian Ward and Cliff MacMillan (from Shout! and Scream Factory), Charles de Lauzirika (Pain & Gain, Prometheus, The Amazing Spider-Man), Robert Meyer Burnett (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Enterprise) and Cliff Stephenson (Escape Plan, The Vatican Tapes, The Hunger Games).  We’ll be talking about great upcoming and unannounced titles, we may show teaser clips and we really want to get a lively Q&A session going with the audience, so be sure to bring lots of BD & DVD-related questions!  Room 5AB>>

This is a quick update to let you all know that Paramount just officially announced the Blu-ray 3D Combo, Blu-ray Combo and DVD release of Star Trek Into Darkness on 9/10 ($49.99, $39.99 and $29.99).  It will be available via Digital streaming on 8/20.  Extras on the Blu-ray versions will include 7 documentary featurettes (Creating the Red Planet, Attack on Starfleet, The Klingon Home World, The Enemy of My Enemy, Ship to Ship, Brawl by the Bay and Continuing the Mission).  That seems to be it – the press release doesn’t refer to audio commentary, deleted scenes or other interaction options.  There is however this from the official press release, for what it’s worth:  “For the first time, the special features included in the combo packs were produced entirely by Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and captured in spectacular high quality on Red Epic cameras for a uniquely intimate perspective of the filmmakers’ process.”

The final cover artwork isn’t available yet (apparently what’s on Amazon is temp only), but rest assured we’ll post it when it is.

Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt

All right, we’ve got still more good news for you guys today…

First up, our friends at Kino Lorber tell us they’re hard at work on some great new Blu-ray and DVD titles for release through the end of this year, including a deluxe version of F.W. Murnau’s original Nosferatu (1922), as well as Orson Welles’ The Trial (1962) and Alexander Sokurov’s groundbreaking Russian Ark (2002)!  For you New York-area readers, Russian Ark will also re-open theatrically on 9/6 as an exclusive engagement at the Film Forum in NYC prior to the BD/DVD release.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, Russian Ark features one of the longest continuous shots in film history, was (at least at the time) the longest film ever created in single take, and was shot with some 2000 actors and 3 live orchestras using 33 rooms of The Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.  It’s pretty amazing.  In any case, all three titles are very welcome additions to the Blu-ray format.

Also today, if there are any Criterion fans in the house (and who isn’t a fan of The Criterion Collection?), Barnes & Noble is running their regular 50% off Criterion titles sale again through July 29th.  So now’s a great time to stock up and fill missing spots in your Criterion BD and DVD libraries.

There isn’t a whole heck of a lot to discuss in the world of MOD this week.  So after a quick look at the week’s new releases and a handy-dandy link to this week’s review, I’m going to spend most of this week’s column looking at streaming video, that scourge of disc collectors everywhere.

WARNER ARCHIVE – NEW THIS WEEK

The Andy Hardy Film Collection, Volume 2 – The first volume of this series was released back in 2011.  This 5-disc set collects the remaining 10 films from the long-running Mickey Rooney series.  I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen an Andy Hardy movie in my life and know them only by their wholesome slice of American Pie reputation.  Even so, I’m a little confused by the seemingly random order of the films’ release.  This new set includes the first entry (1937’s A Family Affair), the last (1958’s Andy Hardy Comes Home) and eight more from the years between (Judge Hardy’s Children, Love Finds Andy Hardy, The Hardys Ride High, Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever, The Courtship Of Andy Hardy, Andy Hardy’s Double Life, Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble and Love Laughs At Andy Hardy).  I’m not sure why they didn’t just release these in chronological order to begin with.  Maybe the titles in the first volume are the most popular and well-known, although it seems like popularity and name recognition would be relative when it comes to the Andy Hardy series.  Anyway, you can now have your very own Hardython in your own home.

We’ve got some good stuff for you today, folks!

First though, our own Russell Hammond has updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover artwork and Amazon.com order links.  As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon in the same session after clicking through our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it!

Our own Dr. Jahnke has also turned in his latest installment of Burnt Offerings today, running down all the latest MOD, DVD-R and limited edition/small batch release news.  He also addresses in detail some of the many current user complaints about the various online movie streaming services, and he reviews Warner Archive’s new Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy on MOD DVD-R.  It’s well worth a read for his thoughts on streaming especially, so definitely don’t miss it!

Also, Amazon.com is blowing out Fox’s Alien Anthology Blu-ray box set for just $20 for today only.  That’s a flat-out ridiculous price.  Get ‘em while you can.