Displaying items by tag: Ernst Lubitsch

All right, we’ve got just a quick update for you here at The Bits today, but it’s a good one.

Our friends at the Criterion Collection have just unveiled their final titles of 2026, and the December slate is a dandy!

On December 1, look for Robert Altman’s Nashville (1975) (Spine #683 – 4K + BD and BD) and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style (1961) (Spine #286 – 4K + BD and BD).

Following on December 8 are Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man (2005) (Spine #1339 – BD) and Anthony Minghella’s Best Picture-winning The English Patient (1996) (Spine #1338 – 4K and BD)!

And on December 15, look for Eclipse Series 50: Sara Gómez’s Revolutionary Cuba on Blu-ray—which includes 15 films (One Way or Another, I’ll Go to Santiago, Excursion to Vueltabajo, Guanabacoa: Chronicle of My Family, And… We’ve Got Sabor, On the Other Island, An Island for Miguel, Treasure Island, Local Power, Popular Power, A Documentary About Transit, On Sugar Workers’ Quarters, My Contribution, Year One, Prenatal Care, and About Extra Hours and Volunteer Work)—as well as Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner (1940) (Spine #1340 – 4K + BD and BD).

Not half bad!

It seems to me that The English Patient is one of the few modern Best Picture-winners not yet available on 4K disc, so it’s great to see it finally (licensed from Miramax via Paramount). It’s also a personal favorite of mine. [Read on here...]

Today’s update is a quickie for a couple reasons...

1) I’m picking up my mother at the airport, here for a two-week visit from North Dakota. Also 2), Criterion just sent Sergei Bondarchuk’s War and Peace for review on Blu-ray.

Honestly, I’m not sure which of those is more of the priority today for me. (I’m kidding. Of course it’s War and Peace. LOL. What mom doesn’t love classic Russian cinema?)

That said, we have some more new Blu-ray reviews for you today... Dennis has posted his thoughts on Greta from Universal and Tim Burton’s Dumbo from Disney.

And I’ve just survived watching Universal’s entire Fast and Furious: 8-Film Collection in 4K Ultra HD over the past two days, and I’ve got a review of that for you too. There are more to come soon, so stay tuned. [Read on here...]

Okay, today’s update is a quick one as we’re hard at work on more reviews...

Speaking of which, Tim has checked in with his thoughts on Ernst Lubitsch’s classic WWII screwball comedy To Be or Not to Be, available on Blu-ray from Criterion.

Now then, Lionsgate has announced the release of a number of popular catalog titles on Blu-ray Disc in new Steelbook packaging.  They’ll be available initially only at Best Buy stores starting this weekend in order to be around for Black Friday deals week.  Titles will SRP for $19.99 each and include Pulp Fiction, Total Recall, Sin City, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Rambo: First Blood, Stargate, Highlander, Hero and Apocalypse Now/Apocalypse Now: Redux.  [Read on here...]