criterionforum.org

Bonus features for Explorers have been announced:

- Includes The Home Video & Theatrical Cuts Of The Film
- NEW "A Science Fiction Fairy Tale: The Story Of Explorers" – Featuring New Interviews With Director Joe Dante, Screenwriter Eric Luke, Star Ethan Hawke, And More! (65 min.)
- NEW Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary By Joe Dante
- NEW Interviews With Cinematographer John Hora And Editor Tina Hirsch
- Theatrical Trailer

There were two deleted scenes on the DVD, so I assume the deleted scenes on the Blu-ray are the same ones and that what's new are optional commentaries by Dante, but hope springs eternal that they actually found something previously believed to be lost, like the party sequence.

Looking very forward to the documentary and the interviews.

I just wanted to make a quick recommendation for the GKIDS/Kino disc, THIS MAGNIFICENT CAKE!, by stop-motion felt puppet animators, Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels. The film is gorgeously animated by the stitch 'n' shoot team, and a fairly brutal and oddly hilarious account on the effects of colonialism on people and their culture. I love it.

Best of all, one of the bonuses on the disc is the couple's heartbreaking meditation on grief and need for connection, OH, WILLY..., which can also be viewed here if you want to kick the tires before committing: https://vimeo.com/45322909

Regarding the Explorers deleted scenes, a member of the Blu-ray.com forum wrote, "Joe Dante said in a recent podcast that he found some of extra footage in his garage and they would be included as extras."

Great news that these will indeed be newly discovered deleted scenes, but no information yet on exactly what they will be. I understand Dante has been looking for more Explorers deleted scenes for decades, so it's pretty amazing that it turns out some of them were in his possession all along. My guess is that he unknowingly held onto a workprint or perhaps an early preview cut (unless I'm mistaken, the very first preview screening included the party scene he later regretted cutting). Looking forward to more details.

Shout! have The Nest coming up in May, and one of this week's releases is Raw by Julia Ducourneau. The specs seem to be the same as Second Sight's April release so that would save US buyers (and me) importing the UK disc.

Finch wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:00 am Shout! have The Nest coming up in May, and one of this week's releases is Raw by Julia Ducourneau. The specs seem to be the same as Second Sight's April release so that would save US buyers (and me) importing the UK disc.

They're not the same. Second Sight extras below, with those in bold also being on the Scream Factory disc

The Girl Can’t Help It: a new interview with Actor Garance Marillier
Making Ends Meat: a new interview with Producer Jean des Forets
New audio commentary by film critic Alexandra West
Audio Commentary with Julia Ducournau and film critic Emma Westwood
In the Name of Raw: an interview with Director Julia Ducournau
A Family Affair: a new video essay by film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Raw À Votre Goût –featurette with Julia Ducournau & film critic Emma Westwood
Quick Bites with Julia Ducournau & film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Genre Matters Panel Discussion
Australian Premiere Introduction
Australian Premiere Q&A with Julia Ducournau and Kier-La Janisse
Alternative opening, deleted scenes, trailers
New optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired

My bad, thanks for the correction Calvin. The Second Sight it is then after all.

July's Blu-rays
Scream Factory
The Dead Zone Brotherhood of the Wolf
The House of Wax (remake)
Chamber of Horrors
A Stranger is Watching
Eight Legged Freaks
The Night (IFC Midnight)

Shout Select
State and Main
The Pianist
Little Big League

Shout Factory
Ernest & Celestine
Fire
No Man's Land

dwk wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:48 pm Shout Select
State and Main

Excellent! I think this leaves only Homicide and Phil Spector from Mamet without a Blu-ray, right?

Also, it's hilarious that Shout would use a WB chit for Little Big League

Does Spartan have a Blu-ray?

dwk wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:54 pm Does Spartan have a Blu-ray?

Yep, there's a German Blu-ray

Ah, thanks, I didn't know that.

Scream has confirmed that The Dead Zone will have a new transfer.

domino harvey wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:52 pm

dwk wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:48 pm Shout Select
State and Main

Excellent! I think this leaves only Homicide and Phil Spector from Mamet without a Blu-ray, right?

If you're counting The Spanish Prisoner, whose Ammo Content blu-ray is OOP. (Personally I'm not counting it because it's my favorite Mamet and I don't own it)

Hopefully they've learned from their Dead Ringers fuckup. I like that Shout continue to select cool titles for their animation library with Ernest and Celestine.

Do we think Criterion passed on The Pianist? Seems like they could be staying away from Polanski.

Let Shout! have all the Polanski, they're willing to do interviews with him and are fighting the good fight to keep a gold standard as other companies recoil in hazmat suits

The Pianist is an immensely popular modern day classic, I'm fully expecting Studio Canal to do a 4K restoration and UHD disc release of it in time...probably next year, for its 20th anniversary. In fact, I was assuming Shout *was* avoiding a 4K release of this immensely popular film because of Polanski's infamy, until it occurred to me that its 20th anniversary was next year and that Studio Canal might not have a 4K restoration quite yet.

With Shout/Scream announcing The Dead Zone, I'm surprised they haven't decided to release The Fly individually.

I'm not sure they've ever released individual titles from a box set that didn't already exist before the collection.

Shout has a couple of surprise limited edition Corman double feature Blu-rays for sale:
Big Bad Mama / Big Bad Mama II
Crazy Mama / The Lady In Red

According to a member of the Blu-ray.com forum, there are over 30 minutes of deleted scenes on the new Explorers Blu-ray, which is extraordinary. The source is a watermarked VHS of the workprint. I'm very, very excited to see these scenes.

Unfortunately, the member also writes that the deleted scenes are stretched from 1.33:1 to 1.85:1 - "Shout has taken what was supposed to be a 1.33:1 image and stretched it to fit a 16:9 screen. In the documentary the included workprint footage is formatted correctly and looks much better."

Shout will be releasing a 4K UHD disc of The Transformers: The Movie (1986)

The first Orson Welles performance to be immortalised in the format?

colinr0380 wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 4:11 pm The first Orson Welles performance to be immortalised in the format?

Kino already announced UHD plans for Touch of Evil last year (set for release this year).

A couple of Scream/Shout's August titles have been leaked by Wowhd:
The Oh, God! Collection (Oh, God!/Oh, God1 Book 2/Oh Go! You Devil)
Havoc (Barbara Kopple)
The Borrower (John McNaughton)
A Return to Salem's Lot