We’re doing a bit of server work here at The Bits today, but we’ve got a couple good things for you today…

Also today, Tim has posted a review of Shout! Factory’s recent Car Wash Blu-ray, one of their new Shout! Select titles.

The big release news today is that Criterion announced its September Blu-ray and DVD release slate late on Friday, which is set to include Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (Cat #135 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 9/5, Murray Lerner’s Festival (Cat #892 - Blu-ray and DVD) on 9/12, Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women (Cat #893 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 9/19, and Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher (Cat #894 – Blu-ray and DVD) and Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Rick Barnes, and Jon Nguyen’s David Lynch: The Art Life (Cat #895 – Blu-ray and DVD) on 9/26. Keep in mind that Criterion’s previously-delayed Orson Welles’ Othello (Cat #870 – Blu-ray and DVD) is due to street on 9/26 as well. We’ve updated our Criterion Spines Project pages accordingly.

Meanwhile, The Warner Archive has just announced that it plans to release the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm on Blu-ray next month (street date TBA). [Update: Warner Archive says the street date is 7/25.] The title has previously only been available on DVD. The Blu-ray will be mastered from a brand new HD master and will include the film in both 1.78:1 and 1.37:1 versions with DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio and English subtitles. It will also include the film’s trailer in HD.

Also, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release The Blacklist: The Complete Fourth Season on Blu-ray and DVD on 8/15.

And we’d like to take a moment today to acknowledge the passing of actor and comedian Bill Dana. If you’re a fan of manned spaceflight history, or the film The Right Stuff, you may know Dana better by a character he played on The Steve Allen Show and The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s: the legendary spaceman José Jiménez. Dana was 92. You can read more here at Collect Space.

Finally today, if you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow Bits editor Bill Hunt @BillHuntBits for Blu-ray and 4K musings, personal observations, space stuff & other relevant matters. See you there!

That’s all for today. Back tomorrow with more, including more reviews. Stay tuned…

- Bill Hunt