Displaying items by tag: GKids

We’re kicking off the new week today with three more disc reviews from The Bits review team, including...

Tim’s thoughts on Martin Brest’s Midnight Run (1988) in 4K Ultra HD from Shout! Factory via their Shout Select line.

Stephen’s take on Mizuho Nishikubo’s animated Giovanni’s Island (2014) on Blu-ray from GKids.

And Dennis’ look at John Cromwell’s Caged (1950) on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

More reviews are forthcoming all this week, so be sure to check back every day for them.

Now then, the big release news today is that the Criterion Collection has just announced its October Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD slate, which includes five great new titles. [Read on here...]

Today’s new disc reviews here on The Bits include...

Tim’s review of Phil Tucker’s Robot Monster (1953) on Blu-ray 3D from Bayview Entertainment.

Stuart’s in-depth take on the Essential Film Noir: Collection 4 Blu-ray box set from Imprint Films and Via Vision Entertainment, which features The Enforcer (1951), Beware, My Lovely (1952), Jennifer (1953), Rope of Sand (1949), and Appointment with Danger (1950).

And Dennis’ look at Elliott Nugent’s The Great Gatsby (1949) on Blu-ray also from Imprint and Via Vision.

In announcement news today, Lionsgate has set Jalmari Helander’s Sisu for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 7/11, with the Digital release available today. The 4K will be available in a wide-release Amaray SKU and also a Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook. Extras will include a pair of featurettes (Indestructible: Making Sisu and Pushing the Boundaries of Reality: The Visual Effects of Sisu). Audio on both the 4K and Blu-ray will be included in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD format. High dynamic range is likely HDR10 only on the 4K SKUs. [Read on here...]

We have a bunch of new title announcements to start the week off right today...

First up, Paramount has just officially set Damien Chazelle’s Babylon for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 3/21, with the Digital release expected tomorrow on 1/31. The Blu-ray and 4K disc will include a trio of behind-the-scenes featurettes (A Panoramic Canvas Called Babylon, The Costumes of Babylon, and Scoring Babylon) along with deleted and extended scenes. Note that a Steelbook 4K SKU will also be widely available the same day. You can see the Amaray art at left and both versions below.

Paramount has now made Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance (1983) official for release in 4K Ultra HD on 4/11 as a new 40th Anniversary Edition. You can see that below as well.

They’ve also set Jon Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) for 4K Ultra HD re-release as well as a 4K Steelbook 10th Anniversary Edition on 3/28 with Dolby Vision HDR.

And on the TV front, Paramount and Comedy Central have announced South Park: The Complete Twenty-Fifth Season for Blu-ray and DVD release on 4/4. [Read on here...]

All right, we have three more new disc reviews for you all to enjoy today, as well as lots more new announcement news including major 4K catalog titles. So let’s get right to it. First those reviews...

Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Atsuko Ishizuka’s animated Goodbye, Don Glees! (2022, aka Gubbai, Don Gurîzu!), which is newly-available on Blu-ray from GKids and Shout! Factory.

And Tim has posted his thoughts on Laika and Shout! Factory’s new 4K Ultra HD editions of Henry Selick’s stop-motion animated Coraline (2009) in 4K Ultra HD—both the wide-release Amaray version and the Steelbook version.

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

Now then, Paramount has just officially announced the Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release of JD Dillard’s Devotion on 2/28. Extras will include two featurettes (The Aviation of a Forgotten War and The Legacy of Jesse Brown). You can see the cover artwork above left and also below. [Read on here...]

Well, the big news this week is so big that we’re going to address it right off the top: In a sudden and unexpected move, Disney’s board of directors has ousted CEO Bob Chapek and re-hired Bob Iger. The news came out of the blue on Sunday night and seems to have taken everyone by surprise. Bob Iger of course was the company’s previous CEO, who took over for Michael Eisner—the man who’d served in that role for over two decades at that point—back in 2005. It was under Iger’s watch that Disney acquired Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and the film division of 20th Century Fox. He also laid the groundwork for the launch of Disney+ in 2019.

Chapek was no stranger to Disney, having joined the company in 1993 as the director of marketing for Buena Vista Home Entertainment. In this capacity he helped steer Disney through the “Golden Age” of DVD and eventually the launch of Blu-ray, which is how I came to know him. He was so successful in that capacity that he was promoted to president of Home Entertainment in 2006, and eventually took over at Disney Consumer Products (in 2011) and Parks and Resorts (in 2015), which seemed to make him a natural fit to become CEO of Disney himself when Iger eventually stepped down.

But apparently, Iger and Chapek did not often see eye to eye. Iger, who could (and probably should) have worked more aggressively to groom a clear successor to lead the company in his own image, failed to do so, resulting in Chapek’s elevation to CEO in 2020. But Chapek’s reign was troubled from the very start, stricken first by the COVID-19 pandemic and next by a series of public “self-owns” and media missteps. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a big title announcement to report on today, but first another new disc review...

Stephen has turned in his thoughts on Mamoru Hosoda’s Belle: Collector’s Edition in 4K Ultra HD from GKids via Shout! Factory. It sounds like a pretty incredible collection of content, both disc and swag-based, so it’s well worth a look for fans of anime and this particular film.

Speaking of animation, Criterion has just dropped something of a surprise: They’ve licensed Pixar’s WALL•E from Disney and will be releasing it as a 4K UHD + Blu-ray combo title on 11/22, with both Dolby Vision HDR (which was not available on the previous Disney 4K release) and HDR10, as well as Dolby Atmos audio.

The package will include both existing and new special features. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

Good morning, everyone. We’ve got two new disc reviews for you to check out this morning...

Stephen has taken an in-depth look at Tony Scott’s True Romance (1993) in 4K Ultra HD, as finally released here in the States by our friends at Arrow Video.

As it happens, Stephen has also checked out the US Blu-ray-only version of True Romance from Arrow, so pick your format and do give the title a look.

Today being a holiday here in the States, there’s not a ton of release news to report. But we do have a couple of quick items for you...

First, Kino Lorber Studio Classics revealed over the weekend that they’re working on a new 4K Ultra HD release of Adrian Lyne’s Indecent Proposal (1993). That’s currently set to street on 9/27, complete with a new Dolby Vision HDR grade supervised by the director. [Read on here...]

We’re closing out the week with a trio of new disc reviews today, including...

Tim’s look at John McNaughton’s Wild Things (1998) in 4K Ultra HD from Arrow Video.

Tim’s review of Francesco Barilli’s Hotel Fear (1979) on Blu-ray from Mono Macabro.

And Stephen’s thoughts on Makoto Shinkai’s animated Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011) on Blu-ray from GKids via Shout! Factory.

By the way, we’ve also updated our 4K Ultra HD Release List and our Upcoming Cover Artwork sections here at The Bits with lots of new titles and Amazon.com pre-order listings.

In 4K Ultra HD catalog release news this afternoon, Severin Films has set Jess Franco’s Faceless (1978) for release on 8/30. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a pair of new disc reviews for you to enjoy this afternon, starting with Stephen’s look at Makoto Shinkai’s The Place Promised n Our Early Days (2004) on Blu-ray from GKids via Shout! Factory

Also, Dennis has delivered his thoughts on Sony’s standard Blu-ray release of Jon Watts’ recent Spider-Man: No Way Home.

More reviews are on the way this week, so be sure to stay tuned for them.

Speaking of which, I wanted to take a moment to address the lack of reviews from yours truly in recent weeks. The reason is two-fold. First, I’ve been very focused on the upgrade to the Bits website, which has been long overdue and much needed. There’s a little more of that to go, but what’s been done already has resulted in a significant improvement in the site’s speed and functionality. [Read on here...]

We’ve got one new disc review up here at The Bits today, while we continue our ongoing work to update the website behind-the-scenes...

Tim has posted a look at Random Space Media’s Spider-Man 2-Movie Collection in 4K Ultra HD, which includes Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: Homecoming in 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D all in the same package.

But we’ve got a bunch of release news for you today, including a major new title announcement: Sony has just officially set Daniel Espinosa’s Morbius for release on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on 6/14, with the Digital release expected on 5/17.

The 4K disc will include Dolby Atmos audio, while the Blu-ray will feature 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Both discs will also include outtakes and bloopers, “Nocturnal” Easter eggs, and no less than 5 behind-the-scenes featurettes (among them Defining the Antihero, From Human to Vampire: Visual Effects, Lights, Camera, Action, The Good, Bad & Ugly: Supporting Cast Doing the Stunt Work, and Living Vampire from Comics to Screen). You can see the cover artwork for the 4K and Blu-ray below. [Read on here...]