A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Publicity photo of Buena Vista Home Entertainment's region-free Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 18-disc box set. © 2020 Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On Monday, April 20, Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) and Lucasfilm Ltd. released the 18-disc variant Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, a counterpart to the larger 27-disc box set of the same name released less than a month earlier as a Best Buy exclusive. I bought my from Walmart.com – I haven’t seen it as an official release on Amazon, although I have noticed that the 27-disc version of The Skywalker Saga is sold at the site by third-party sellers at inflated prices – this smaller, less elaborate box set was intended primarily as the region-free European release, as it sports the rating seals from the British and Irish counterparts to the Motion Picture Association of America as part of its indicia.  From a young Anakin Skywalker’s descent into the dark side to the rise of the Resis...

Promotional photo of Buena Vista Home Entertainment's Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga box set. © 2020 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On March 31, Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. released Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga , a 27-disc box set that collects the nine "Saga" Episodes set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" as a Best Buy exclusive. Dropped on the same day that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was officially released on individual 4K UHD and HD Blu-ray sets, this huge box set marks the first time that the three Star Wars trilogies are collected in a single bundle. From a young Anakin Skywalker's descent into the dark side to the rise of the Resistance and their struggle to restore peace in the galaxy, the story that electrified a generation comes to a striking conclusion. The saga will end. The story lives forever. -  Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga  publicity insert. Star Wars: The Skywalker Sag...

The unsung hero of Ronnie and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bliss. Photo: Alex Diaz-Granados  Hello again, Constant Reader. Welcome to another edition of Bloggin' On, the no-reviews/no politics section of A Certain Point of View where I basically write about whatever topics cross my mind or just vent about everyday stuff that saddens or irritates me. Well, it's Monday afternoon in my corner of Florida; right now it's mostly sunny outside; the temperature is 79℉ (26℃) and the humidity is low at 48%. It's so nice out that I'm almost tempted to go and sit out on the front porch and read for a while. That's something that I always say I want to do; when I lived in East Wind Lake Village, I used to go with a book to the nearby pool, lie on one of the deck chairs, and read for an hour, maybe two, out in the sun and fresh air. Here, I'd be content if I went out on the porch with a book and my Amazon Fire tablet and read for a while...but for one reason or ...

The new slipcover (and jewel box) art for the Multi-Screen Edition of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. © 2019 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On September 22, Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. reissued the 10 existing Star Wars live-action films in Multi-Screen Editions in Blu-ray and DVD along with codes for digital versions for streaming on Movies Anywhere and other Disney partners. Dubbed the "Multi-Screen Edition," this re-release came three months in advance of the theatrical premiere of the last Skywalker Saga film, Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, which opens on December 20. This promotional photo shows nine of the 10 titles in the Multi-Screen Edition collection of Blu-ray/Digital Code sets released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm on September 22. © 2019 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Although Buena Vista and Lucasfilm (both wholly-owned subsidiaries of The Walt...

Slipcover (and Blu-ray jewel box) art for the 2019 Multi-Screen reissue of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. © 2019 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Twenty years after its initial theatrical release and nearly three months before the December 20 premiere of Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, the first installment of George Lucas's Star Wars Prequel Trilogy was reissued on Blu-ray disc (BD) as part of Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Limited's 10-film  Star Wars Multi-Screen Edition collection. This marks the first Disney-era reissue of Star Wars material that was originally distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment since The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox and the distribution rights to the first six  Star Wars films earlier this year . This promotional photo depicts the slipcover art for the Multi-Screen Edition reissues of the Skywalker Saga films. Rogue One and Solo (not shown here)   also ge...

A publicity illustration depicting the new covers of the 2019 Buena Vista Home Entertainment Re-Issues of the Star Wars films on Blu-ray. © 2019 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Hello, everybody. Welcome to another installment of Bloggin' On, my blog-within-a-blog section of A Certain Point of View, which is where I write posts that are neither reviews nor commentary on today's crazy and often depressing political scene. It's Thursday (What, already?), and here in my corner of Florida, it's already early evening. Right now it's already getting dark, and it's chilly! The temperature outside is 62℉ (16℃) under mostly clear skies, and the sun's already beneath the western horizon, so it's dark and nippy - and it's going to get nippier  because the low tonight is expected to go down to 45℉ (7℃). As the old Meredith Wilson song says, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." And apparently, it's beginnin...

© 2018 Buena Vista Home Entertaiment (BVHE) and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On March 27, 2018, Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE, the home media distribution arm of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Studios) released Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi in various formats: Blu-ray, Ultra High Definition (UHD) Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download. And following the trend set by many of Disney's competitors, including the then-still independent 20th Century Fox Film Corporation and Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures, BVHE issued Rian Johnson's 2017 entry in the Star Wars Skywalker Saga in different editions, including exclusive releases for Disney retailing partners, including Best Buy.  As was the case with 2016's home media release of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Best Buy's exclusive edition of The Last Jedi does not concern itself with the content, which is the first 4K UHD edition of a Star Wars film. Other retailers, including Amazon, Target, ...

(C) 2018 Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  On Tuesday, September 25, 2018, The Walt Disney Company’s home media division, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, released Solo: A Star Wars Story in four formats – DVD, Blu-ray, UHD 4K Blu-ray, and digital download. The home media release of Solo – the 10 th live-action entry in the Star Wars franchise and fourth produced in the post-George Lucas era – comes six months after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on home media; it is widely seen as Disney’s attempt to recoup the financial losses from Solo’ s underperformance at the box office earlier this year. Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story , an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calri...

(C) 2011 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  The Lucasfilm Limited/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment team has, over the past 10 years, released the six live-action Star Wars Episodes which make up"The Tragedy of Darth Vader" on DVD several times; the Prequels initially as individual 2-disc sets (2001-2005) and the Original Trilogy (or Classic Trilogy, if you prefer) originally presented in a four-disc box set (2004). These initial DVD releases have been followed by two more re-releases, the first being the 2006 Special Limited Edition re-issues of the Classic Trilogy which include the "transfer from laserdisc" theatrical versions of Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983) because fans weren't thrilled that they had only the 2004 "for DVD" versions of the 1997 Special Edition re-edits. Two years later, Lucasfilm re-issued both trilogies in separately-sold box sets with slimmer ...

On Tuesday, March 27, Buena Vista Home Entertainment (the Walt Disney Company subsidiary that distributes home media products such as DVDs and Blu-rays) released writer-director Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi on Blu-ray disc (BD), 4K UHD Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download copy. As in previous BVHE releases such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Johnson's blockbuster entry in the Sequel Trilogy comes in several combinations, including: Target Exclusive Digipack  (BD, DVD, Digital HD) available only from Target Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook (2 BDs, 1 4K UHD, Digital Copy Codes for iTunes and Movies Anywhere) available only from Best Buy Target Exclusive Digipack (2 BDs, 2 DVDs, Digital Copy Codes)  Disney Store Exclusive/Pre-Order Lithograph Set: (2 BDs, memorabilia included) Blu-ray + Digital HD Two-Disc Set: (2 BDs, Digital Copy Codes), the wide-release standard edition Several other variants exist, includin...