We here at High-Def Digest hope that you and your loved ones all are having a Happy Thanksgiving. Being a hectic week, it's time for another bite-sized round-up to make it easier for you to catch On the latest 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray release news.
It has been quite the wait, but James Cameron's The Abyss, True Lies, and Aliens will finally be getting Ultimate Collector's Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray releases early next year on March 12. We have also previously reported that Titanic is coming December 5, and Avatar and Avatar: The Way of the Water will be available on home video on December 19 with new editions including a new Blu-ray 3D for the original Avatar. Read the full story here.
The Criterion Collection has revealed their February 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray releases. They are: Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons, Nothing But a Man, McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 4K, The Roaring Twenties - 4K as well as a Blu-ray edition, and The Heroic Trio / Executioners - 4K also on Blu-ray.
Sony will be bringing the action-packed extravaganza The Raid: Redemption to 4K UHD Blu-ray in a limited SteelBook edition on January 19. The studio has also announced another limited collector's set, Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection: Volume 4 - which will include His Girl Friday, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Starman, Sleepless In Seattle, and Punch-drunk Love - for February 13th.
Universal in association with Blumhouse will bring the horror flick Five Nights at Freddy's based on the popular video games to 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray on December 12.
Paramount has revealed that the cult fave Varsity Blues starring James Van Der Beek and Jon Voight will be getting a 25th Anniversary 4K UHD Blu-ray on January 9. And courtesy of Paramount+, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines - a prequel of sorts loosely based on Stephen King's novel will hit 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray on December 19.
Gareth Edwards' The Creator has been announced for a home video release from 20th Century Studios. The film will be available on 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray on December 12. Check out that article here.
UK distributor 88 Films has five new upcoming 4K UHD releases up for preorder. The titles include Count Dracula (1970), A Blade in the Dark, The Blood on Satan's Claw, Witchfinder General, and The Amityville Horror.
And finally, Severin has nine new titles that will be going up for preorder on Black Friday. The 4K UHD Blu-rays include Cemetery Man, The Church, The Sect, and The Spider Labyrinth. And available on Blu-ray are Stir, The Unscarred, Closed Circuit, Raiders of the Living Dead, and The Dead One. Be sure to keep an eye on Severin's website so that you can grab these and anything else interesting during the sale.
Film Masters' next title in The Filmgroup series features Roger Corman's 1961 horror cult classic The Devil's Partner newly restored in 4K and will be available on Blu-ray on January 16.
The release will also include Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) plus a new interview with the legendary Roger Corman.
Release synopsis:
Corman and his brother, Gene, founded The Filmgroup to distribute their own films. While the company did produce the majority of its films, including the cult classic Creature From the Haunted Sea, it also occasionally acquired projects by other filmmakers, as is the case with The Devil's Partner (1961). From director Charles R. Rondeau, the film is a macabre tale of an elderly man who regains his youth after making a deal with the devil. During the summer and fall of 1961, the two films were often paired as a double feature.
Half Man, Half Beast, He Sold his Soul for Passion — Director/actor Edgar Buchanan (best known as Uncle Joe on Petticoat Junction) appears in this supernatural thriller about an old codger trying to reclaim his youth, employing black magic to lure a woman away from his rival. The film also stars Jean Allison, Richard Crane and Ed Nelson. This well-crafted, independent feature has been hailed for its atmosphere and as a pioneering film in the devil worshiping subgenre made popular in the ‘70s.
Made in 1958, The Devil’s Partner languished with no release date until it was picked up and distributed by The Filmgroup, becoming a steady presence on the drive-in circuit, often appearing in tandem with Creature from Haunted Sea, another Corman classic from the golden age of drive-in schlock.
This spoof of spy/gangsters/monster movies stars Anthony Carbone as a gangster and smuggler who decides to kill members of the ship’s bungling crew and blame their deaths on a legendary sea creature. What he doesn’t know is that the creature is actually out there! Also starring Betsy Jones-Moreland and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) under the pseudonym Edward Wain.
The film was conceived when Corman finished shooting The Last Woman on Earth in Puerto Rico and discovered he had enough film left over to make another film. He enlisted long-time associate Charles B. Griffith, who—legend goes—had six days to write the script. Ever the pragmatist when it came to budget, Corman recruited locals to appear in this film as extras.
The Devil's Partner + Creature From The Haunted Sea Double Feature
The Blu-ray presents both films in their theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 plus 1.37:1 television format and supplements include:
Pre-orders for The Devil's Partner (1961) + Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961) Double Feature are up
Leave no schlocky film untouched. Leave no riff behind. Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 14 is coming and you can help make it happen while enjoying the classic MST3K Turkey Day Marathon!
As we mentioned in our review of the Kickstarter Backer-exclusive of MST3K Season 13, this beloved cult classic show has survived and endured for decades. Moving from one network to another, moving from one streaming service to its own dedicated online theater, this show has gone on for thirty-five years and thirteen hilarious seasons. Like recent past seasons, a new crowdfunding effort is underway to fund Season 14. How many episodes will we get? Well, that’s all up to you and the rest of the Misties out there.
Just like past efforts, depending on if the campaign reaches $4.8 million, $6.1 million, or $7.4 million, fans will be able to enjoy either 6, 9, or 12 new episodes! On top of that we get new shorts, and more “surgically enhanced” classic episodes. If you’ve spent any time around the Gizmoplex, you may have noticed some of the classic episodes are curiously looking a little better these days - and that’s why. Not only could we get more new episodes but our past favorites can undergo a bit of a restoration effort so they’re in better shape than those tape masters of old.
Series creator and steward for this new generation of MST3K Joel Hodgson has already announced three of the intended targets for the new season - and they’re not resting on their laurels. As confirmed over at Movieweb, this next season will take on Roger Corman’s 1978 dystopian sci-fi B-movie gem Deathsport starring David Carradine and Playboy’s Claudia Jennings. Next up is another Corman classic and cult favorite Battle Beyond the Stars! But for the third announced film, they’re taking on the mother of all incredibly entertaining bad movies - Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space!
But those fan contributions are needed to get these (and hopefully many more new episodes) made. Moving away from Kickstarter to Showmaker, Joel and the crew behind the new MST3K have a new home for their crowdfunding effort. Click the SOL to see for yourself.
Now you can simply give a few bucks to help the cause, or you can sign up for a slew of perks and swag items to score you some sweet, sweet MST3K goodies or get exclusive access to production meetings or even set visits! There are digital-only options, Gizmoplex memberships, Sticker sets, Magnet sets, pins, hats, and of course, you can pre-order the Season 14 DVD or Blu-ray box set with proceeds going directly to the production. No fussy “backer level” unlocks to get certain items, you can pick and choose what you want (or nothing and just give them monies) and that’s how you help fund the next season!
And keeping with tradition - the MST3k Turkey Day Marathon will be underway this Thursday for a special 48-hour 24-episode run. So when you’re taking a break from stuffing your face and/or watching the Lions wipe the turf with the Packers (sorry Greenbay fans), you can click into your favorite streaming outlet and watch classic and recent episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It should be streaming on their various channels, but you add the ShoutTV app to your smart television or set box. You can go right to the MST3K website or you can check this handy chart for app availability:
That’s all the news that’s fit to print fellow misties. Remember to turn your lights down where necessary and share the tapes. Maybe this time next week we'll be celebrating the news that we've got more episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the way!
The horror flick Five Nights at Freddy's from Universal and Blumhouse based on the video game will come alive on 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray on December 12. Digital will hit next week on November 28.
The producers of M3GAN and The Black Phone bring the terrifying horror game phenomenon to life as a blood-chilling film. Recently fired and desperate for work so that he can keep custody of his little sister, Mike (Josh Hutcherson; The Hunger Games Franchise) agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria. But Mike soon discovers that nothing at Freddy’s is what it seems. Mike’s nights at Freddy’s will lead him into unexplainable encounters with the supernatural and drag him into the black heart of an unspeakable nightmare.
Five Nights at Freddy's - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The 4K and Blu-ray release includes Dolby Atmos soundtracks and supplements for include:
BONUS FEATURES on 4K UHD, BLU-RAYTM, DVD AND DIGITAL
Pre-orders for Five Nights at Freddy's are now up and here is the full press release:
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With Black Friday towards the end of the week, and the US celebrates the Thanksgiving Holiday on Thursday, it is very uncharacteristic for so many 4K titles to be released on such a week. From the latest Expendables, the second half of Barbenheimer, the latest Saw film, catalog title with Richard Kimble, Stalag 17, and so much more! Did you save any money for your holiday meal, or Black Friday, or Cyber Monday? This week is another whopper!
Welcome to Volume 4 Episode 25 of our weekly release guide. A look at the highlights of what's coming to disc the week of November 19th - November 25th, as well as a look at announcements from last week.
With new releases first, let's post them by order of Rotten Tomatoes scores.
It seems only fitting that the other half of Barbenheimer (Oppenheimer) takes first place under our Rotten Tomatoes (RT) criteria. This film ranked very high among audiences and critics (currently 91/93). Available in Standard Edition, Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook and WalMart Exclusive Icon Edition packages. For an amusing image (and article) about Barbenheimer, head on over to Wired Magazine.
With two more new releases this week, you would be wrrriight if you guessed Saw X to have the higher RT score (89 audience/80 critics). Surprisingly, LionsGate did not opt for a SteelBook option here.
And lastly, Expend4bles (Expendables 4), with a bunch of well known talent, a terrible score of 14% among reviewers, but a 71% audience score. You can get this as a Standard Edition, an Amazon Exclusive and/or a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook. Walmart also has a 4-film SteelBook collection of their own available as well. This franchise to me is like Lethal Weapon, Con Air or Armageddon, I watch them every so often, but leave any critical thinking at the door, and bring in the popcorn (or chicken wings or whatever is your fancy).
Before moving on to deep catalog titles, let's go back to 2022 and distributor CrunchyRoll for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. This one also has an Amazon Exclusive SteelBook.
Next from Universal, Love Actually, which is donning a 20th Anniversary Edition.
From Warner Bros and celebrating a 30th anniversary, The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. Altrertantely, you can get this one as a Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook.
Mean Streets is available from Criterion Collection this week, and you guessed it, it had its 50th Anniversary. If swag is your thing, Second Sight UK has a fat-pack currently slated for January 15th which has the same source transfer, but with their usual swag packed edition.
From Kino Lorber, Stalag 17 with William Holden and Billy Wilder. And keeping with the theme, this one had a 70th Anniversary.
On to double-dips of sort. If you bought the Resident Evil Movie Collection a couple of years ago, now you can buy it all over again, but in a SteelBook Package and a Dolby Vision upgrade.
You can also get Train to Busan / Peninsula in a 2-film collection package.
Next week, despite conflicting with Cyber Week, there are actually *more* titles available than this week, Wandavision, Barbarella, Tremors 2, The Sandman Season 1, The Monster Squad and so much more!
Blu-ray counterparts of the above 4K releases include Oppenheimer from Universal Pictures, Saw X and Expend4bles from LionsGate, Mean Streets from Criterion and Stalag 17 from Kino Lorber.
As far as blu-ray releases, someone did get the memo that this is a holiday week that includes Black Friday, so there are fewer titles to choose from.
From Janus Contemporaries via Criterion, The Eight Mountains, Tori and Lokita and Godland are available this week. Under Criterion's own label, La cérémonie.
Anime highlights this week include two super long titles, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?! Season 4 Part 1 and Peter Grill and the Philosopher's Time Super Extra: Collector's Edition (SteelBook).
Under the Indicator Series label, look for The Criminal Acts of Tod Slaughter: Eight Blood-and-Thunder Entertainments this week.
Another box set delayed a little bit but available this week (I think), Doctor Who: Limited Edition Complete New Who Collector's Blu-ray Giftset.
The Police Academy Collection is available on the Shout Select label this week. Previously the only way to own these movies on blu-ray was to import them, I look forward to seeing how this set compares.
Also from Shout Factory, another box set, Farscape: The Complete Series. Again, same question arises, how does this one compare to the set released over a decade ago?
Honorable Mention: Not exactly AAA material, but Kino Lorber this week has Babes in Toyland. We've seen it on TV enough times, now we can get it on disc!
A very exciting story (for MANY of us) came out on Monday, I am referring to news about those James Cameron titles we have waited decades for! Yup, The Abyss, True Lies, Aliens. And, in a relatively short time, special editions of both Avatar movies. One thing Cameron movies have done to my wallet, they've made it a bit lighter. I have lost count how many time I have bought T2 over the years. Paramount already has Titanic slated for next month in two editions as well. According to Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits, he said Dolby Vision is finally coming to the physical releases. Which, from Disney, no doubt a demand from Mr. Cameron! Even though the official press release says the 4K edition has Dolby Vision, so many times in the past that meant streaming 4K only, so thank you Bill for confirming it with 100% certainty.
Monday was also the chosen day for Criterion to announce their February slate. After Christmas was supposed to be a time to lick our financial woulds and it looks like Criterion has lined up January and February with some solid releases.
Vinegar Syndrome has reminded us that recovering from Christmas expenses might be pretty difficult, Subscriber Week runs January 1 - 7. Take a look at an aricle from Matthew Hartman a couple of years ago. It made me take the leap and subscribe, and I renewed the very next year, with plans on doing it again.
Paramount has announced that a 4K release of Varsity Blues will be available on January 9th.
Sony Pictures has announced a 4K SteelBook for The Raid: Redemption, with a street date of January 16th.
If you were wondering if Sony was going to release another Columbia Classics box set, wonder no more as Columbia Classics Volume 4 is arriving on February 13. Visit the link for the full press release.
Next week I expect this paragraph to be pretty empty, most studios are running on a skeleton crew, smaller labels are getting ready for Black Friday.
Which titles are you buying this week? Which ones are on your wishlist, be it to buy as an impulse buy or to wait for the right price?
Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray...
In the U.K. from Arrow and Germany from Turbine
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray has been a boon for physical media collectors. Beyond the razor-sharp picture and excellent audio the discs are Region Free (well 99.98% of the time anyway. That means when the U.S. gets a disc the rest of the world wants - it's importable and will play on virtually every home theater setup. Likewise, when Japan or Europe gets a slick disc release we don't have, we don't have to worry about needing a Region-Free player (even though you should probably have one just in case). A great example of how cool it is to be able to import movies on 4K with ease are the U.K. and German releases of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas from Arrow Video and Turbine Medien respectively.
Now we've already gone and done the hard part of reviewing both releases which you can read right now -
Now, the Arrow disc has been on the market for some time with Turnine's Mediabooks coming out only in the last couple of weeks. Now the good news is, between the two releases, there's very little difference. Since it was a mutual effort between the two companies, the Dolby Vision 2160p transfers are essentially identical. Little minute differences in bitrate due to disc encoding is the only thing that separates the two. Both have what sounds to be the same exact DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio tracks to complete the A/V experience.
But when we get into the bonus features we start to see the key differences between the two.
Lots of great stuff to dig into there. Arrow's set is a single-disc release so all of the extras are right there on the 4K disc. Arrow's is a three-disc Mediabook, so the 4K only has the audio commentary as an extra leaving the 1080p version of the film to hold all the rest. Which is pretty damn cool that there's no real difference there. However, Turbine's set also has a third disc featuring the two-hour documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. So that is a huge plus in Turbine's favor.
Both sets have individual booklets - Arrow has a 44-page booklet with Turbine offering up a 55-page book. Now Turbine's book is in German so if you're an English-dominate individual, you will have to use Google Translate or some other app like it to read the book. It's a slightly cumbersome process but you get used to it. Both are great reads with your morning cup of coffee.
A lot of the important stuff is essentially all the same. Price + shipping (if you don't order from a domestic retailer like DiabolikDVD) is almost the same so there's not really a difference maker there.
Where I would personally give Turbine the edge over Arrow is the four different Mediabook cover options:
Each of those would make amazing posters. Whereas Arrow only has the one slipcover option, albeit with reversible insert art, that replicates the classic Ralph Steadman art. With that, I know not everyone likes Mediabooks. I happen to enjoy them a lot and think they make fun accent pieces on the shelf. About the size of an average DVD case, they're not so massive to take up too much room like the A24 Mediabooks, but depending on your shelves they do eat a bit of extra height space.
So which version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray do you choose?
Short answer - either one works! Since this is currently an import-only 4K release (watch Criterion announces theirs next month) all you have to decide is which one is more attractive, fits your shelf, and then works with your finances. Arrow and Turbine both did excellent work with their discs so buy with confidence whichever version you order!
Hope this helped - Happy Collecting!
Sony is packaging together six more films making their 4K debut in a limited edition collector's set with a hardbound book on February 13.
The films include: His Girl Friday, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Starman, Sleepless In Seattle, and Punch-drunk Love.
Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection: Volume 4
All six films will be presented in Dolby Vision HDR and all of them except His Girl Friday will include a Dolby Atmos soundtrack - with the limited edition set housed inside an 80-page hardbound book "featuring in-depth sections about the making of each film within the set via six all-new incisive essays from renowned writers and journalists, plus rare photos from deep within the Columbia Pictures archives".
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
Synopsis:
A classic screwball comedy in which Rosalind Russell plays reporter Hildy Johnson, who, on the eve of her remarriage, is talked into one more assignment by her editor and ex-husband, played by Cary Grant. While interviewing a condemned man, Hildy realizes that his hanging is planned as a vote-getting measure.
His Girlf Friday Disc Breakdown
HIS GIRL FRIDAY has a run time of approximately 92 minutes and is not rated.
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER
Synopsis:
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (who won the Academy Award® for Best Actress for her performance) are unforgettable as perplexed parents in this landmark 1967 movie about mixed marriage. Joanna (Katharine Houghton), the beautiful daughter of crusading publisher Matthew Drayton (Tracy) and his patrician wife Christina (Hepburn), returns home with her new fiancé John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), a distinguished Black doctor. Christina accepts her daughter's decision to marry John, but Matthew is shocked by this interracial union; the doctor's parents are equally dismayed. Both families must sit down face to face and examine each other's level of intolerance. In GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, director Stanley Kramer has created a masterful study of society's prejudices. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Disc Breakdown
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER has a run time of approximately 108 minutes and is not rated.
KRAMER VS. KRAMER
Synopsis:
Winner of 5 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, KRAMER VS. KRAMER is a groundbreaking drama about the heartbreak of divorce and the struggle between work and family. Young husband and father Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) loves his family - and his job, which is where he spends most of his time. When he returns home late one evening from work, his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) confronts him and then leaves him, forcing Ted to become the sole caregiver to their six-year-old son. Now, Ted must learn to be a father while balancing the demands of his high-pressure career. But just as Ted adapts to his new role and begins to feel like a fulfilled parent, Joanna returns. And now she wants her son back. Celebrating its 45th anniversary.
Kramer vs Kramer Disc Breakdown
KRAMER VS. KRAMER has a run time of approximately 105 minutes and is rated PG.
STARMAN
Synopsis:
Director John Carpenter presents a romantic science fiction odyssey starring Jeff Bridges in his Oscar®-nominated role as an innocent alien from a distant planet who learns what it means to be a man in love. When his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, Starman (Bridges) arrives at the remote cabin of a distraught young widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), and clones the form of her dead husband. The alien convinces Jenny to drive him to Arizona, explaining that if he isn't picked up by his mothership in three days, he'll die. Hot on their trail are government agents, intent on capturing the alien, dead or alive. En route, Starman demonstrates the power of universal love, while Jenny rediscovers her human feelings for passion. Celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Starman Disc Breakdown
STARMAN has a run time of approximately 115 minutes and is rated PG.
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE
Synopsis:
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in Nora Ephron's wonderfully romantic comedy about two people drawn together by destiny. Hanks stars as Sam Baldwin, a widowed father who, thanks to the wiles of his worried son, becomes a reluctant guest on a radio call-in show. He's an instant hit with thousands of female listeners who deluge his Seattle home with letters of comfort. Meanwhile, inspired in equal parts by Sam's story and by classic Hollywood romance, writer Annie Reed (Ryan) becomes convinced that it's her destiny to meet Sam. There are just two problems: Annie's engaged to someone else and Sam doesn't know yet that they're made for each other. Co-starring Rosie O'Donnell, Rita Wilson and Rob Reiner.
Sleepless in Seattle Disc Breakdown
PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE
Synopsis:
Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, this misfit love story of disconnected people trying to find one another in an antagonistic world is a comedy of discomfort and rage that turns unexpectedly sweet and pure. Adam Sandler gives an amazing and unusual performance as Barry Egan, a socially impaired owner of a small novelty business, who is dominated by seven sisters and is unlikely to find love unless it finds him. When a mysterious woman comes into his life, his emotions go haywire, fluctuating between uncontrollable rage, lust and self-doubt. From the writer/director of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE is a dark, lovely and unique film experience.
Punch Drunk Love Disc Breakdown
PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE has a run time of approximately 95 minutes and is rated R for strong language including a scene of sexual dialogue.
EXCLUSIVE BONUS DISCS INCLUDE:
• STARMAN – the complete 1986-1987 22-episode follow-up series, based on the feature film—exclusively presented in high definition! HD episodes included on 4K UHD discs for maximum space
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Pre-orders for Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection: Volume 4 will be coming soon! Happy Collecting
Look forward to a 4K UHD Blu-ray upgrade of Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller; Blu-rays of Michael Roemer's Nothing But a Man and Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons; and Raoul Walsh's The Roaring Twenties as well as Johnnie To and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung's double-feature The Heroic Trio / Executioners on both formats.
Leading the charge on February 6 is a 4K UHD Blu-ray + Blu-ray of Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
This unorthodox dream western by Robert Altman may be the most radically beautiful film to come out of the New American Cinema. It stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie as two newcomers to the raw Pacific Northwest mining town of Presbyterian Church, who join forces to provide the miners with a superior kind of whorehouse experience. The appearance of representatives for a powerful mining company with interests of its own, however, threatens to be the undoing of their plans. With its fascinating, flawed characters, evocative cinematography by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, innovative overlapping dialogue, and haunting use of Leonard Cohen songs, McCabe & Mrs. Miller brilliantly deglamorized and revitalized the most American of genres.
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Next on February 13 comes Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons containing four films on Blu-ray.
Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons - The Criterion Collection
The seasons may change, but the follies of the heart are constant in this ineffably lovely quartet of films by Eric Rohmer, one of cinema’s most perceptive chroniclers of the pangs and perils of romance. Set throughout France, Tales of the Four Seasons is a cycle to stand alongside the director’s two earlier acclaimed film series, Six Moral Tales and Comedies and Proverbs. By turns comic and melancholic, breezy and richly philosophical, these bittersweet tales of love, longing, and the inevitable misunderstandings that shape human relationships probe the most complex of emotions with the utmost grace.
FOUR-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
On February 20, Michael Roemer's Nothing But a Man will arrive on Blu-ray.
Nothing But a Man - The Criterion Collection
Michael Roemer’s groundbreaking first feature, sensitively shot by his close collaborator Robert M. Young, is a still-resonant expression of humanity in the face of virulent prejudice. Made at the height of the civil rights movement, Nothing but a Man reveals the toll of systemic racism through its honest portrait of a southern Black railroad worker (Ivan Dixon) confronting the daily challenges of discrimination and economic precarity, as he attempts to settle down with his new wife (jazz great Abbey Lincoln) and track down his father (Julius Harris). Admired by Malcolm X and now recognized as a landmark of American cinema, this tender film grounds its social critique in characters of unforgettable complexity and truth.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Also on February 20, Johnnie To and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung's The Heroic Trio / Executioners will be available on 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray.
The Heroic Trio / Executioners - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The star power of cinema icons Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh fuels these gloriously unrestrained action joyrides from auteur Johnnie To and action choreographer Ching Siu-tung. The Heroic Trio and its sequel, Executioners, follow a new kind of justice league: a team of blade-throwing, shotgun-toting, kung fu–fighting heroines who join forces to battle evildoers in a dystopian, noirish city. Blending dazzling martial-arts mayhem with exhilarating blasts of comic-book lunacy, these beloved superhero movies reimagine the genre through the giddy genius of the Hong Kong film industry at its height.
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
And closing the month on February 27 is Raoul Walsh's The Roaring Twenties arriving on 4K UHD Blu-ray. A Blu-ray edition will be also be available.
The Roaring Twenties - The Criterion Collection 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Ripped from the headlines of the turbulent era between the Great War and the Great Depression, this dynamic, nostalgia-tinged crime drama balances tommy-gun action with epic historical sweep. Legends James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart star as army buddies whose fortunes rise and fall as their fates intersect, first in a foxhole on the front lines of World War I, then in Manhattan’s Prohibition-era underworld. Directed by Hollywood master Raoul Walsh, and based on a story by prolific journalist turned screenwriter and producer Mark Hellinger, The Roaring Twenties brought to a close the celebrated Warner Bros. gangster cycle of the 1930s, and it remains one of the greatest and most influential crime films of all time.
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
Pre-orders should be available any day now, until then - Happy Collecting!
Brian Robbins' 1999 coming-of-age football film starring James Van Der Beek, Jon Voight, Amy Smart and Scott Caan will debut on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for its 25th anniversary on January 9th.
At first, backup quarterback Jonathan "Mox" Moxom (James Van Der Beek) is nowhere close to being a star athlete. Perfectly content to stay on the bench, he has no time for coach Kilmer’s (Jon Voight) win-at-all-cost strategies. But when the starting quarterback (Paul Walker) is injured, Mox is in the game and confronting the pressures and temptations of gridiron glory. Soon everyone will realize there's not just a new star quarterback in town, there's a new kind of hero.
Varsity Blues - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The 4K UHD Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital combo pack will include a newly remastered transfer from the original camera negative, a Dolby Atmos soundtrack and supplements (all legacy) include:
Pre-orders for Varsity Blues - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray are up - happy collecting!
Sony has set Gareth Evans' action-packed The Raid: Redemption for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on January 19. The release will be a limited edition SteelBook.
Deep in the heart of Jakarta's slums lies an impenetrable safe house for the world's most dangerous killers and gangsters. Until now, the rundown apartment block has been considered untouchable. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness and silence, an elite SWAT team is tasked with raiding the safe house in order to take down the notorious drug lord that runs it. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and news of their assault reaches the drug lord, they find themselves stranded on the 6th floor with no way out. The unit must fight their way through the city's worst to survive their mission.
The Raid: Redemption - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Limited Edition SteelBook
The 4K UHD Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital SteelBook release will have Dolby Vision HDR and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack and supplements include:
4K ULTRA HD DISC
BLU-RAY DISC™
Pre-orders for The Raid: Redemption - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Limited Edition SteelBook should be available soon
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Bringing you all the best reviews of high definition entertainment.
Founded in April 2006, High-Def Digest is the ultimate guide for High-Def enthusiasts who demand only the best that money can buy. Updated daily and in real-time, we track all high-def disc news and release dates, and review the latest disc titles.
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