Displaying items by tag: Michael Coate

“It’s hard to tell who the movie is for. It’s too childish for adults and too provocative and snarky for kids.” — Film historian/author Caseen Gaines

The History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at The Digital Bits typically celebrates popular and significant motion pictures and TV series. Periodically, though, we will look back at unpopular or maligned productions to examine if the passage of time warrants a reevaluation. So with this in mind, The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective for Howard the Duck on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.

Howard the Duck, based upon the 1970s Marvel comic book series, starred Lea Thompson (Back to the Future, All the Right Moves), Tim Robbins (Bull Durham, The Shawshank Redemption) and Jeffrey Jones (Amadeus, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and featured a talking, cigar-chomping duck from another planet that is zapped across the galaxy to Cleveland where he meets a musician who attempts to help him return home.  [Read on here...]

All right, first up today: Be sure to check out Michael Coate’s Still Boldly Going: Celebrating “Star Trek“ on its 50th Anniversary column in the event you missed it yesterday. It’s a fun and fascinating roundtable discussion featuring some of the very best Treksperts in the business. Don’t miss it.

Now then... we have some new announcements today...

Disney and Pixar have just set Finding Dory for Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and On-Demand release on 11/15, preceded by the Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere release on 10/25.  [Read on here…]

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

First, as promised, we’re very proud today to present Michael Coate’s latest History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at The Digital Bits, entitled Still Boldly Going: Celebrating “Star Trek” on its 50th Anniversary! In this lengthy piece, Michael moderates a great roundtable discussion on the history of the beloved franchise with Trek luminaries Mark A. Altman, Jeff Bond, Robert Meyer Burnett, Marc Cushman, Daren R. Dochterman, Dorothy Fontana, Gary Gerani, David Gerrold, Edward Gross, Bill Kraft, Herbie J. Pilato, and Melinda Snodgrass. It’s a terrific discussion and a rare opportunity to hear from so many leading Treksperts all in one place. We hope you enjoy it and, as always… “Live Long and Prosper!”  [Read on here…]

“Star Trek has left a legacy of hope and optimism that humankind has a future. If we cultivate the potential of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations so that we embrace a universe brimming with the riches of life in all of its forms, then humankind can evolve into something finer and nobler. I think that is what Gene Roddenberry meant when he said that the human adventure is just beginning.” — Bill Kraft, author of Maybe We Need a Letter from God: The Star Trek Stamp

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective article commemorating the golden anniversary of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s legendary science-fiction television series depicting the voyages of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew of the starship Enterprise.

The memorable television series premiered 50 years ago this week (September 6th, 1966, on CTV in Canada, and September 8th, 1966, on NBC in the United States), and similar to our other Star Trek roundtables (here and here) and classic television retrospectives (here, here, here, and here), The Bits for the occasion has assembled a Q&A with an esteemed group of Treksperts, historians and Star Trek writers who examine the best episodes and offer commentary on the show’s enduring appeal, influence and legacy.  [Read on here...]

Okay... we’ve got a couple things for you today...

First up, our own Michael Coate is debuting a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at The Bits, this time honoring the 30th Anniversary of James Cameron’s Aliens. It features a look back at the film’s original theatrical release in 1986, plus an interview with experts on the film, including Andrew David Clark, Willie Goldman, Harry Harris, and documentary producer Charles de Lauzirika. Don’t miss it!   [Read on here…]

“It’s a fun film that also demanded you to take it seriously. I think some people missed all that and just wanted to indulge in the ‘bug hunt’ war porn of it all. But beneath its rollercoaster surface, Aliens is a pretty sophisticated genre classic.” — Documentarian Charles de Lauzirika

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective article commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Aliens, the action-packed follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi/horror classic featuring Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters, Working Girl) in her Saturn-winning and Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated reprisal of Ellen Ripley, the lone survivor of an Alien attack on her ship, the Nostromo. In the sequel, after several decades in hypersleep, she returns to exomoon LV-426 along with a team of Marines — and awesome sound and visual effects — to destroy the Aliens.  [Read on here...]

We’re starting today with a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column, in which own Michael Coate and producer Van Ling celebrate the legacy of Terminator 2: Judgment Day on its 25th Anniversary! Don’t miss it.

Also today, Tim Salmons checks in with a review of Eric Red’s Bad Moon, now on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.  [Read on here…]

“Cameron’s achievement isn’t only technical. He’s using all the not-so-cheap thrills of a violent genre to make a movie with an antiviolence message, and the wonder of T2 is that he pulls it off without looking silly.” — David Ansen, Newsweek

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective article commemorating the silver anniversary of the release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, James Cameron’s sci-fi/action follow-up to his 1984 surprise hit featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in perhaps his finest role. The most popular film of 1991 also featured Linda Hamilton (reprising her role as Sarah Connor) plus Robert Patrick’s memorable turn as the T-1000 and Edward Furlong as the young John Connor.

T2, the winner of four Academy Awards (including Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Makeup), opened 25 years ago this week, and to commemorate the occasion The Bits features a compilation of box-office data that places Cameron’s “violent movie about peace” in context, as well as a collection of passages from vintage film reviews and a list of the film’s “six-track” showcase presentations.  [Read on here...]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here. And you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering Blu-rays and other items from Amazon through this link.]

First up today, I wanted to direct your attention to Michael Coate’s recent History Legacy & Showmanship retrospective column here at The Bits, celebrating the 35th anniversary of the classic James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. We posted it last Friday afternoon and – as Friday posts tend to get overlooked as people head out to enjoy their weekend – I wanted to make sure you all knew about it. It’s well worth your time, so do give it a look here.

Also, we’ve now got the final cover artwork for Warner’s forthcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, and Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut on 4K Ultra HD format. All three titles street on 7/19, and we have word that Batman v Superman will be the first 100GB (3-layer) title on the format here in the States. Here’s a look at the official cover artwork for all three...  [Read on here…]

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to follow us on Twitter @thedigitalbits @BillHuntBits and on Facebook here and here. And you can help support The Bits by pre-ordering Blu-rays and other items from Amazon through this link.]

We’re closing out the week with a trio of items for you to enjoy...

First, our own Tim Salmons has turned in a review of Scream Factory’s Rollercoaster on Blu-ray, the 1977 Sensurround classic. Do give it a look.

Also today, Michael Coate has just posted a new History, Legacy & Showmanship column here at The Bits featuring a look back at the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, in celebration of the film’s 35th Anniversary this weekend. The piece features a great interview with a roundtable of noted Bond historians. I think you’ll enjoy it.  [Read on here…]