UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[Finch]

Geoff on the Goldfinger 4K

[nicolas]

My thoughts on:

The Big Heat 4K

Spoiler

I was lucky and got my copy today already. It’s a beautiful upgrade from the old master. I have the Indicator BD and was able to do some comparisons.

The new master is simply gorgeous. Beautifully fine-grained, even the opticals don’t look that much less defined than the OCN-shots. Highlights are very nicely graded and the encode preserves them virtually flawlessly. The HDR / DV grade itself is tasteful and makes the film look tasteful. Velvety, silvery and just satisfying to look at. Furthermore, I don’t think NexSpec applied any filtering. I did come across a fleeting moment in the film where someone takes a photo and the bulb flashes across the frame. I paused there and even these handful of frames look really nice with grain being present throughout, except for some minor blocking artifacts on the lamp where the master probably hits peak brightness. Nothing that will ever be bothersome in motion though. I doubt that Sony and their MOD authoring house would’ve given us such a nice encode had they released the film themselves.

In my mind, the newly mastered mono sounds just as nice. I have to say I don’t have anything to criticize with the older mix that’s on the Indicator even though Blah-ray mentioned that detail above 9 kHz has been erased on that track. Regardless, the new mix sounds unmolested, voices are clear and music is well-rounded and should be totally fine, if not better.

Wonderful upgrade and an easy recommendation, particularly at 50% off.

Barry Lyndon 4K

Spoiler

Here’s the transfer notes from the booklet. We clearly dodged a bullet with that colorist instead of Yan Yarborough.

Barry Lyndon is presented in the film's photographed aspect ratio of 1.66:1, as specified in a December 8, 1975, letter from director Stanley Kubrick to projectionists. The new 4K restoration presented on the 4K Ultra HD disc was created from the 35 mm original camera negative. The high-definition transfer created in 2000 and supervised by Leon Vitali, Kubrick's personal assistant, served as a color reference for this new master. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm magnetic DME (dialogue, music, and effects) track. The alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack was created in 2000 from original soundtrack stems by Vitali and audio engineer Chris Jenkins. The feature is presented in Dolby Vision HDR (high dynamic range) on the 4K UHD disc and high-definition SDR (standard dynamic range) on the Blu-ray.

Mastering supervisors: Lee Kline, Giles Sherwood
Colorist: Janet Wilson/Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging, Burbank, CA, with additional color by Sheri Eisenberg/Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging
Image restoration: Prasad Corporation, Burbank, CA
Audio restoration: The Criterion Collection
Disc mastering: NexSpec

I briefly looked at the BD again before checking the 4K and was actually quite astonished at how poor some of the shots and scenes look on that disc due to the encode. It’s been over five years since I’ve last watched the film, changed setups and got better eyes for that sort of stuff.

After having seen extended sections of the 4K, I have to say the film looks wonderful now. Thanks to the better resolution and the subtly adjusted grading paired with HDR makes for a more rounded, fine-tuned experience. Thankfully, no Jan Yarborough DigiSmear is anywhere to be found.

Despite the issues, encoding is still a leap forward from the BD as darker shots are no longer a macroblocking mess on the 4K. The egregious parts that remain are the highlights and larger, flat grey skies. On the other hand, which I’d have found to be just as bad, is that barely any or no pre-filtering seems to have been applied. When grain resolves properly, it does look fine and detailed which wasn’t really the case back when they filtered everything.

The mono track on the 4K sounds identical to the BD one.

Should you buy? If you don’t notice blocky highlights, absolutely. Those on a budget probably not right now but I’m still not convinced that there’ll be international movement any time soon as no one else put out a BD with Criterion’s HD master.

Primary Colors 4K:

Spoiler

Shout’s Primary Colors 4K release turned out great. The new master is nicely graded, HDR/DV is film-like, there’s no discernible filtering or any other processing. Encoding is excellent. Both audio tracks sounded fine to me. With the film having been released in 1998, I imagine the 5.1 is the original mix.

[Finch]

Primary Colors (Shout) added to OP.

[nicolas]

Clueless caps. This looks like one of Paramount’s best remasters.

[Yakushima]

Brazil 4K Criterion upgrade is a stunner, red tier for sure. It felt like watching the film for the first time - the visuals really come to life with all the glorious details, colors and textures. The teal lean is there, but not to the point of ruining my viewing experience. The film is more relevant than ever in 2025, of course - we all live in Gilliam's Brazil now, quite literally.

[Finch]

Geoff's Thunderball 4K review

[kekid]

Has Barry Lyndon 4k been evaluated?
I couldn't find it on the first page of the track.

[nicolas]

Has Barry Lyndon 4k been evaluated?
I couldn't find it on the first page of the track.

A few posts above in #728

Edit: Oh, you probably meant the master list. I think it’s in the blue category.

[Finch]

I haven't added it yet but it is likely to end up in the solid upgrade column.

[Finch]

first user take on Kino's Shane 4K is good

[Finch]

Barry Lyndon Chris's review

Warner are going to release a UK steelbook this summer.

EDIT:

David MacKenzie confirmed that he did encode MoC's High Noon 4K but they appear to have carried over the old Blu-Ray authoring credits in their booklet.

Chris's review of the Ugetsu 4K

[ianthemovie]

Can anyone say where these titles belong on the master list?

Ugetsu
Killer of Sheep
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Vinegar Syndrome)
Supervixens (Severin)

[nicolas]

Can anyone say where these titles belong on the master list?

Ugetsu
Killer of Sheep
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Vinegar Syndrome)
Supervixens (Severin)

In my mind:
Blue
Red
Red
Red (caps look like a great upgrade)
No idea

[nicolas]

Barry Lyndon Chris's review

Warner are going to release a UK steelbook this summer.

EDIT:

David MacKenzie confirmed that he did encode MoC's High Noon 4K but they appear to have carried over the old Blu-Ray authoring credits in their booklet.

Chris's review of the Ugetsu 4K

People noticed that the specs shared of the Steelbook so far align with the old Warner BD, such as the 1.78:1 aspect ratio, so it may actually be another BD reissue even if that doesn’t make any sense in 2025.

[ianthemovie]

Can anyone say where these titles belong on the master list?

Ugetsu
Killer of Sheep
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Vinegar Syndrome)
Supervixens (Severin)

In my mind:
Blue
Red
Red
Red (caps look like a great upgrade)
No idea

That's helpful; thank you!

[Yakushima]

Can anyone say where these titles belong on the master list?

Ugetsu
Killer of Sheep
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Vinegar Syndrome)
Supervixens (Severin)

Supervixens 4K UHD should be placed in the red tier, IMO.

[rrenault]

If there aren’t any Day One Must Owns in Criterion’s October slate I may pull the trigger on Killer of Sheep before the sale ends.

P.S. Is the Antoine Doinel set a likely reference column release. It seems the only issue is the grading on Les Mistons.

[cdnchris]

P.S. Is the Antoine Doinel set a likely reference column release. It seems the only issue is the grading on Les Mistons.

Haven't seen a lot of opinions yet, but the four color films look great. On the other hand I was incredibly disappointed with The 400 Blows. In HDR, it looks okay, but I strongly disliked how it looked in Dolby Vision. Though judging by the converted screen captures I've seen, it's potentially better than the Carlotta.

[nicolas]

The Stuff (Arrow). Buyers noted that the 4K master of the theatrical cut has the soundtrack area exposed but the pre-release cut on BD, which is said to be superior cut anyway, has correct framing.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Any chance of a recall? This happening on a new 4k is keeping me from ordering it.

[dwk]

I doubt it. Arrow's initial Blu-ray of The Stuff was also misframed with the soundtrack area exposed and they never fixed it.

[Finch]

If you're even remotely curious about the pre-release cut of The Stuff, you might not want to wait for too long as it's an LE exclusive (and marked as such by Arrow). I haven't seen it, only the theatrical, but some members on BR got their copies early, watched the pre-release version and won't go back to the theatrical again.

[hearthesilence]

The relevant posts are buried in this forum somewhere, but when BFI decided to release only a BD rather than a 4K of The 400 Blows, it was suggested that it was a decision based on the restoration itself given the popularity of the title, so the frustrations and questions regarding how the 4K editions look under certain circumstances haven't been surprising. Still disappointing even if expected.

[abracax]

I see that Duel makes the disappointing list of 4Ks. Has anyone got a recommendation on which physical copy to buy?

[mfunk9786]

I see that Duel makes the disappointing list of 4Ks. Has anyone got a recommendation on which physical copy to buy?

Would it be awkward to contribute that I watched the US release of Duel and thought it looked/played great? If there are international alternatives that's excellent news, but [divorced from the context that put it there], I think you're just fine with the US release.