Displaying items by tag: Stanley Kubrick

Welcome to a new week Bits readers!

We’ve got some great news to report for all of you today, and some sad news as well. But first as always, we have some new disc reviews to share…

Stephen has reviewed Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video in the UK, along with Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters (1970) (aka Zombie) also in 4K UHD from Arrow UK.

Dennis has taken a look at Silvio Amadio’s The Medium (1980) on Blu-ray from Raro Video via Kino Lorber.

And Tim has shared his thoughts on Renny Harlin’s Deep Blue Sea (1999) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video here in the States.

Lots more reviews are forthcoming all this week, so be sure to check back for them!

Now then… the big news this morning is that our friends at the Criterion Collection have just unveiled November slate of Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases! And if you’re a subscriber to our Digital Bits Patreon page, you’ll know that we told you that a few of them were coming some weeks ago (so if you’re not yet a subscriber, trust me: Lots more great 4K catalog titles are coming through the end of the year and into 2026). [Read on here...]

Happy Monday, everyone!

I just wanted to quickly chime in here in the My Two Cents column this afternoon with a quick update.

I had actually planned a full news update today, but I burned the hell out of one of my fingers while making lunch earlier this afternoon, and unfortunately typing has been very much out of the question since then.

In any case, I’ll be back tomorrow with the usual release news—well medicated, I presume—and I’ll catch you up on all the latest with regard to Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD.

In the meantime, we’ve been knocking out tons of new disc reviews here at the site over the last several days, including…

My thoughts on Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975) in 4K Ultra HD from Criterion and Peter Weir’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2002) in 4K UHD Steelbook from 20th Century Studios via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. [Read on here...]

We’ve got two more new disc reviews to share with you this afternoon, plus a bunch of exciting announcement news. But first as always, those reviews...

Stuart has taken a look at Bruce David Klein’s Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2024) on Blu-ray from Atlas Media and Zeitgeist Films via Kino Lorber.

And Stephen has offered his thoughts on John Erick Dowdle’s As Above, So Below (2014) on limited edition Blu-ray from our friends down at Via Vision Entertainment.

Also today, we’ve posted the weekly update of our Release Dates & Artwork Section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD covers and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, whenever you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it!

Now then... today is the day that many of your are finally going to get your hands on George P. Cosmatos’ Tombstone (1993) on 4K Ultra HD Steelbook from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. We’ve reviewed the disc here as you know, and it’s fantastic. But don’t worry if you haven’t been able to order a copy yet—more product is being replicated as we speak and the title should come back in stock online soon. [Read on here...]

We have no less than SIX new disc reviews for you all to enjoy here at The Bits today, including...

Stephen’s thoughts on Abel Ferrara’s King of New York (1990) and Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (1992) in 4K Ultra HD Steelbook from Lionsgate Limited.

Dennis’ review of Graeme Clifford’s Frances (1982) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

Tim’s take on Hanna-Barbera’s animated Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Complete Series (1972-74) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection, as well as Via Vision Entertainment’s Firestarter Collection on Blu-ray, which includes both the 1984 original film and the 2002 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries.

And finally, Stuart’s look at Gilles Grangier’s Hi-Jack Highway (1955) (aka Gas-Oil) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

More reviews are forthcoming this week, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them!

Also here at the site today, we’ve posted the latest update of our Release Dates & Artwork section featuring all the latest Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, anytime you order literally anything from Amazon after clicking to them through one of our links, you’re helping to support our work here at The Bits and we really do appreciate it.

In announcement news today, the big development is that the Criterion Collection has just revealed their full July slate of titles, and it includes a 4K disc we first told you was coming a few weeks ago: Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975)! [Read on here...]

We have more new disc reviews for you all to enjoy today here at The Bits, including...

Tim’s reviews of Charles Martin Smith’s Trick or Treat (1986) in 4K Ultra HD from Synapse Films and Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) in 4K UHD from our friends at The Criterion Collection.

Stephen’s take on Kazuki Ōmori’s Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from Criterion.

Dennis’ thoughts on Fred Burnley’s Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

And Stuart’s looks at Patrice Leconte’s Half a Chance (1998) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics and Montgomery Tully’s The Terrornauts (1967) on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.

In announcement news today—well, it’s not exactly an official announcement yet, but—Studio Distribution Services has just listed the James Bond 007 Sean Connery 6-Film Collection for release in 4K Ultra HD (click here) and 4K Steelbook Limited Edition (click here) on Amazon from MGM and WBDHE. There’s no street date yet listed, but we expect them to arrive on or about 6/3. The sets will include the films Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). There’s no cover art yet, and we’re still awaiting an official press release. Nor is there any sign of UK listings yet, but that’s likely to change soon. Click on the links to pre-order them. [Read on here...]

We have two more new disc reviews to share with you today here on The Bits, with more on the way...

Tim has reviewed Walter Colmes’ Woman Who Came Back (1945) on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.

And Stephen has offered his thoughts on Tai Katô’s Eighteen Years in Prison (1967) on Blu-ray from Toei via Radiance Films.

Now then, the big news today is that Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has apparently conducted another of its “A-List” Community surveys asking which of its many catalog titles fans would like to see the studio release in 4K Ultra HD. And of course, as happens every time, the details of that list got leaked immediately online and so it becomes something we have an obligation to report on here at The Bits. In any case, dozens of people have shared the information either privately or widely online. Because of course they’re going to—they’re enthusiasts.

Having said that, it’s probably unreasonable to assume that the studio will get around to every one of these titles any time soon, but if more of them start being released in 4K UHD, that would certainly represent a big improvement in the studio’s 4K catalog release strategy to date. So which titles were on this list? [Read on here...]

Afternoon, Bits readers! We’ve got something very special to share with you today here at the site, but first we also have some more new disc reviews...

Our very own Tim Salmons has delivered his thoughts on Roy William Neill’s Black Moon (1934) on Blu-ray from Columbia Pictures and Via Vision’s Imprint Films label. Tim has also taken a look at Jay Levey’s UHF (1989) in 4K Ultra HD from Shout! Studios in honor of the film’s 35th anniversary!

And Stuart has offered his take on another classic film, Arthur Ripley’s The Chase (1946) on Blu-ray from the good people at Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Enjoy!

Now then, some of you may remember that way back in 2010, visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull proposed an elaborate documentary on the making of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Unfortunately, he was never able to get Warner Bros. to fund the project, which was known as Beyond the Infinite, and the man sadly passed away in 2022 (you can read our salute to him here).

You may also remember that back in 2016, I published an in-depth look at the various behind-the-scenes books on the making of the film, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: The Ultimate Trip in Print, here at The Bits website.

Well... back in September I was honored to be contacted by my friends Michael and Denise Okuda (of Star Trek fame) to participate in a new documentary they were producing on 2001 with the team at OTOY. So I spent a lovely evening up in Burbank with Mike, Denise, and my old friend Roger Lay, Jr. (who created many of the excellent documentaries on Paramount’s Star Trek Blu-rays in recent years) shooting an interview about the film and its place in cinema history. Today, I am very pleased to say that the result of their work is finally available for all of you to see for yourselves! [Read on here...]

We’re starting our first big news update of the week here at The Bits with some new disc reviews, as always. So now available for your reading enjoyment are...

Stephen’s in-depth reviews of both the wide release 4K Ultra HD and the Disney Movie Club-exclusive “quad” 4K Ultra HD release of Walt Disney’s classic animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The good news is that Disney’s positive change in direction with 4K catalog releases is officially no fluke—the disc features absolutely beautiful 35mm film remastering with lovely grain structure and wonderfully vibrant colors.

Stephen has also turned in a review of Michael Cimino’s Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) in 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber Studio Classics, which also features terrific new remastering.

And Stuart has delivered a look at Norman Taurog’s Spinout (1966) on Blu-ray from our friends at the Warner Archive Collection.

As always, more new reviews are on the way later this week, so be sure to watch for them.

Now then... in announcement news today, the Criterion Collection has officially revealed their January 2024 release slate. [Read on here...]

[Editor’s Note: Since the original publication of this column back in 2016, a new book on 2001 has been published that deserves to be mentioned here—Michael Benson’s Space Odyssey. I’ve added a new section at the end to address it. There is also an excellent 2018 Michael Coate retrospective on the film here at The Bits that we’ve included as well.]

–Originally published on The Digital Bits on 9/28/2016–

I decided that I wanted to do something a little different with today’s My Two Cents column on The Digital Bits, so I thought I’d review a few new and/or recent books that may be of interest to cinephiles, especially those of you who are fans of Stanley Kubrick’s legendary 2001: A Space Odyssey.

As many of you would agree, I’m sure, 2001 is a landmark of filmed science fiction. Based loosely on a short story by visionary author Arthur C. Clarke, it depicts an AI-guided but manned journey through deep space, first to Earth orbit, then the Moon, and eventually out to the distant gas giant Jupiter and beyond, in response to the discovery of an alien artifact on the Moon’s surface, apparently having been buried there millions of years ago.

Not only was Kubrick’s film notable for its realistic depiction of the Moon’s surface fully a year before NASA’s Apollo astronauts actually landed there, it’s been lauded ever since for its realistic approach to depicting future spaceflight technology. Indeed, some of those who contributed designs to the project were actually involved in the space program. [Read on here…]

All right, sorry for the lack of an update over the last couple of days. We’ve been very busy here at the site, working on reviews, preparing for some big upcoming reviews, and finishing a few more site upgrades. But the major reason is that there’s a ton of breaking and evolving release news to cover, and getting to the bottom of it all—collating all the details, checking in with sources, confirming key pieces of release information—takes a huge amount of time. But I’m always up for a challenge.

Before we get to that, however, let’s share those disc reviews we’ve been working on over the past few days...

First up, I’ve posted my thoughts on John Milius’ Red Dawn (1984) from Shout! Factory and also Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) from Universal, both in 4K Ultra HD.

Tim has delivered a look at Joel Schumacher’s Flatliners (1990) in 4K UHD from Arrow Video, as well as John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981) in 4K from Scream Factory.

Dennis has reviewed a number of regular Blu-ray titles in the last few days, including Lon Chaney: Before the Thousand Faces – Volume 2 from Undercrank Productions, Josh and Benny Safdie’s Daddy Longlegs (2009) from Criterion, and Jack Gold’s The Tenth Man (1988) and Ken Hughes’s The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

And finally, Stephen has delivered in-depth looks at Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon (1997)—a Steelbook release that’s getting hard to find here in the States—and Jeff Fowler’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) both in 4K Ultra HD from Paramount, along with Michael Findlay’s Shriek of the Mutilated (1974) on Blu-ray from American Films via Vinegar Syndrome.

As always more disc reviews are on the way in the coming days. [Read on here...]