Afternoon, folks! Hope you're all enjoying the long holiday weekend. It's a good time to take in a film or two with family and friends, and there are some interesting films out there.

There are no specific Amazon deals to report at the moment. There was an X-Men Trilogy Blu-ray box set available for a short time as one of Amazon's Gold Box "lightning" deals, but it's already expired. More such deals are appearing on the site every few hours however, and lots of other DVD and Blu-ray titles are also on sale on Amazon this week for prices a little more discounted than usual, so be sure keep your eyes peeled for specific titles you're interested in.

I did want to mention one other special offer today: Warner Archive is offering a special Black Friday price on its available selection of titles. You can buy most titles discounted to $14.95 each, or buy any ten titles for just $99.95. The price discount will last for FOUR days (until 11/30) and you get free shipping on all orders. Not bad, especially if there are titles you're interested in. Thanks to Bits reader Bill W. for spotting that.

I've got one other interesting item to mention for you today. It's not movie, DVD or Blu-ray related, but if you're interested in science, I think it's pretty cool. The physicists at CERN in Switzerland have finally gotten the Large Hadron Collider back up and running this past week, and have already started the first test proton collisions. They've even got an interesting update video available on their site with the latest information and behind-the-scenes video. Do any of you Bits readers work at CERN on the project? Drop me an e-mail and say hello. My congratulations to all of you guys on getting the LHC going! I can't wait to see what interesting discoveries you make.

Okay, my weekend is going to be about putting up Christmas decorations, and maybe catching a movie or two. Matt and I are thinking The Road, which we've been waiting a long while to see.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and we'll see you back here on Monday!

11/26/09

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Hope you're all having a great day. I can almost smell the turkey cooking in the oven...

Just wanted to let you all know that today's Amazon Black Friday Week deals include Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Series DVD box set for just $88.99 (regularly $259.98, so that's a pretty crazy reduction) and the Gold Box "lightning" deal at the moment (get it while you can) is Warner's The Dark Knight on Blu-ray in the Amazon-exclusive Batpod packaging for just $32.49 (regularly $64.98). Plus there are overall deals continuing on many other DVD and Blu-ray titles (up to 60% off on select titles), and they still have that LG BonusView Blu-ray player for $99. They also have the Panasonic DMP-BD60 with BD-Live for just $124.99, Sony's Sony BDP-S360 with BD-Live for just $119.99 and more. There are LOTS of good deals are to be had on Blu-ray, DVD, videogaming, laptops and much more - pretty much anything you're looking for, quite likely - so do take advantage while you can if you're interested. And as always, a small portion of anything you purchase from Amazon through our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits, and we surely do appreciate it.

Also this morning, a quick reminder in case you missed it when we posted it yesterday afternoon: Barrie Maxwell's new Classic Coming Attractions column is now up for your 'tween turkey reading enjoyment. ;)

Have a great day! See you tomorrow...

(LATE UPDATE - 11/25/09 - 3:30 PM PDT)

Okay, we're back as promised this afternoon with our own Barrie Maxwell's latest Classic Coming Attractions column, featuring reviews of 11 new classic DVD and Blu-ray titles, as well as a rundown of all the latest classic release announcements. Included this time are including VCI's Darn Good Westerns: Volume 2, The Green Hornet and The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, Warner Archive's Barricade, Castle on the Hudson and Carson City, Milestone's The Exiles, Universal's The Claudette Colbert Collection, TCM's Universal Cult Horror Collection and Disney's Zorro: The Complete First Season and The Complete Second Season. Enjoy!

Again, we'll check back in tomorrow morning with word on the Amazon Black Friday Week deals of the day.

In the meantime, we hope you all have a happy and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends. Safe travels and enjoy all that great food and company. I've already got my rhubarb pie cooling on the kitchen counter. And don't forget to nap up for all that good Black Friday shopping!

Peace out... ;)

(EARLY UPDATE - 11/25/09 - 11:30 AM PDT)

Morning, everyone. Just wanted to check in with an early post to highlight today's great Amazon Black Friday Week deals...

First up, they've got an LG BD270 Blu-ray Disc Player for just $99! It's only profile 1.1 (so it has BD-Java/BonusView but no BD-Live), but then again it's only $99, which is $100 off the regular SRP. Not bad if you're looking for a cheap 1st or 2nd BD deck.

Also, s far as Blu-ray software, Amazon has a Gold Box deal for their Watchman Owl Ship exclusive Blu-ray for just $49, which is $25 off Amazon's usual price and more than $50 off the SRP. That one only lasts until supplies are exhausted, so act fast if you want it.

Those are just two of TONS Amazon is running (be sure to check out the deals in the Movie & TV section). We'll post details each day the rest of this week - including tomorrow - with word on more of these great deals, so do check in for them. You never know what you might find!

Also this morning, Sarah's kicked off a new Giveaway here at The Bits, featuring a chance to take home DVD copies of Funny People thanks to our friends at Universal. You'll have until Noon (Pacific) on Sunday, 12/6 to enter, so click on the link to get started and good luck!

We'll be back with Barrie's column in a few hours, so stay tuned...

11/24/09

Morning, everyone! So, there's not a lot of news to report on this Thanksgiving week, but there are a couple things worth noting...

First though, our very own Russell Hammond has once again updated the Release Dates & Artwork section to include all of the latest DVD and Blu-ray cover artwork, and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon through our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits, and we really appreciate it.

Speaking of Amazon, the retailer is running some amazing Black Friday deals ALL THIS WEEK on DVD and Blu-ray hardware and software, as well as gaming gear and lots more! Be sure to check them out each week via this link to see what specials are available and to take advantage of them while you can. And again, thanks for supporting us by using our links to them.

Okay... let's get to those announcements. First of all, Disney has officially announced the DVD and Blu-ray release of Surrogates on 1/26/10 (SRP $29.99 and $39.99). Extras on the Blu-ray will include audio commentary with director Jonathan Mostow, 4 deleted scenes, 2 featurettes (A More Perfect You: The Science of Surrogates and Breaking the Frame: A Graphic Novel Comes to Life) and Breaking Benjamin's I Will Not Bow music video. The DVD includes just the commentary and music video.

Meanwhile, Sony has set Black Dynamite for DVD and Blu-ray release on 2/2/10 (SRP $24.96 and $34.95). Extras will include filmmaker and case audio commentary, deleted and alternate scenes and 2 featurettes (Lighting the Fuse and The Comic-Con Experience). The Blu-ray will add an exclusive featurette (The '70s: Back in Action) and movieIQ.

Also coming from Sony on 2/2/10 is the DVD and Blu-ray release of Universal Soldier: Regeneration (SRP $24.96 and $34.95), featuring commentary with Dolph Lundgren and the director and the Behind the Lines featurette. The BD will also add movieIQ.

On 2/9, Sony will release the 2010 remake film Ice Castles on DVD only (SLP $24.96).

This one's interesting: Icarus Films is releasing Patricio Guzmán's The Battle of Chile on DVD on 12/8 (SRP $44.98). The 4-disc DVD set includes Part I: The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie (96 min.), Part II; The Coup d'Etat (88 min.) and Part III: The Power of the People (79 min.), along with Guzmán's Chile, Obstinate Memory (57 min.), a video interview (22 min.) with Guzmán and a 16-page booklet.

Blue Underground has set Vampyres for Blu-ray release on 3/30/10 (SRP $29.95). Extras will include audio commentary with director José Ramón Larraz and producer Brian Smedley-Aston, the Return of the Vampyres featurette, and the film's international and U.S. trailers. The title is already available on DVD.

Fox has announced a number of new titles including Kendra: Season One for DVD on 1/5/10, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 for Blu-ray on 1/5 and The Mary Tyler Moore Show: Season Six for DVD on 2/2.

Warner has set the direct-to-video animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths for release on DVD, DVD special edition and Blu-ray Disc on 2/23.

And finally, Paramount has set Paranormal Activity for DVD and Blu-ray release on 12/29 (SRP $29.99 and $40.99). Each will include the theatrical cut, plus an unrated version with an alternate ending not seen in theatres. The Blu-ray will also include a Digital Copy version.

Here's both versions of Paramount's Paranormal Activity, Criterion's Make Way for Tomorrow DVD (2/23/10) and Revanche Blu-ray (2/16/10), Blue Underground's Vampyres Blu-ray and Disney's Surrogates on Blu-ray...





We'll be back tomorrow with Barrie's latest Classic Coming Attractions column, so be sure to check back for it. Stay tuned until then!

Bill Hunt, Editor
The Digital Bits
billhunt@thedigitalbits.com