UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[nicolas]

Duel 4K is a world disc, so it doesn’t really matter where you get it.

On another note, all of these releases are in the works at Eagle Italy:



Also, Basic Instinct, The Neverending Story, Escape from Alcatraz,

[mfunk9786]

Great to see The Neon Demon back in circulation, but I'm still tapping my foot waiting for a nice Dolby Vision release of Only God Forgives.

[nicolas]

Great to see The Neon Demon back in circulation, but I'm still tapping my foot waiting for a nice Dolby Vision release of Only God Forgives.

Yes, please! Also a shame that no one managed to get through to Amazon and make a deal for Too Old to Die Young.

[Oedipax]

The Neon Demon!! Worthy of rediscovery, I think, glad it will have a proper 4K release (there was one somewhere without HDR, I believe).

[therewillbeblus]

Great to see The Neon Demon back in circulation, but I'm still tapping my foot waiting for a nice Dolby Vision release of Only God Forgives.

Yes, please! Also a shame that no one managed to get through to Amazon and make a deal for Too Old to Die Young.

Too Old to Die Young is Refn's masterpiece, so yeah, that'd be excellent to see on disc

[nicolas]

Great to see The Neon Demon back in circulation, but I'm still tapping my foot waiting for a nice Dolby Vision release of Only God Forgives.

Yes, please! Also a shame that no one managed to get through to Amazon and make a deal for Too Old to Die Young.

Too Old to Die Young is [one of] Refn's masterpiece[s], so yeah, that'd be excellent to see on disc

Corrected your above reply

[nicolas]

The Neon Demon!! Worthy of rediscovery, I think, glad it will have a proper 4K release (there was one somewhere without HDR, I believe).

From Plaion, formerly Koch, in Germany. Yes, that was SDR and the Eagle will be the same according to the poster who shared all these titles.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Great to see The Neon Demon back in circulation, but I'm still tapping my foot waiting for a nice Dolby Vision release of Only God Forgives.

Yes, please! Also a shame that no one managed to get through to Amazon and make a deal for Too Old to Die Young.

Too Old to Die Young is Refn's masterpiece, so yeah, that'd be excellent to see on disc

I second that. Given it was shot during the end and beginning of two different Amazon film production regimes the problem might be they still don't know what to do with it. Or if they even want to acknowledge it anymore beyond as just another piece of their streaming platform. Which is a pity because I found it a fascinating and interesting extension of some of my favorite parts of Only God Forgives as well as the Refn aesthetic.

[Oedipax]

The Neon Demon!! Worthy of rediscovery, I think, glad it will have a proper 4K release (there was one somewhere without HDR, I believe).

From Plaion, formerly Koch, in Germany. Yes, that was SDR and the Eagle will be the same according to the poster who shared all these titles.

Ah, bummer... the film would so obviously benefit from an HDR grade.

[nicolas]

The Neon Demon!! Worthy of rediscovery, I think, glad it will have a proper 4K release (there was one somewhere without HDR, I believe).

From Plaion, formerly Koch, in Germany. Yes, that was SDR and the Eagle will be the same according to the poster who shared all these titles.

Ah, bummer... the film would so obviously benefit from an HDR grade.

Absolutely. It seems Eagle don’t want to spend a little extra and get Refn in to supervise it, so hopefully another label follows through elsewhere. I’m fine with my Koch disc but would gladly upgrade if a label like Second Sight had the rights. In the UK, the film appears to be with Icon.

[rberrios15]

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.

Speaking of Universal titles, curious how folks feel about these:

Field of Dreams
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
The Mummy (1999)
American Gangster

Recently revisited all of them and think first two are red tier. More mixed on the last two and feel they could have been a little better despite the big leaps over their super dated blu-rays.

[Lowry_Sam]

Has anyone made a list specifically for 4Kult/Eagle Pictures UHDs as to which titles are actually better than all other available versions?
I recently went on Amazon.it and noticed a few which I assumed went out of print were actually back in stock & thought about picking up some. However when trying to place an order, I noticed a dramatic increase in shipping charges for Amazon Italy since the last time I ordered (and Amazon France and Germany don't carry many of the 4Kult titles), so is there a cheaper Italian retailer that ships internationally?

Also, has anyone done a comparison of The Dollars Trilogy, Arrow vs 4Kult? I'm not finding anything from a Google search. I own both, but don't have the time or wherewithal at the moment to do one.

[abracax]

Has anyone made a list specifically for 4Kult/Eagle Pictures UHDs as to which titles are actually better than all other available versions?
I recently went on Amazon.it and noticed a few which I assumed went out of print were actually back in stock & thought about picking up some. However when trying to place an order, I noticed a dramatic increase in shipping charges for Amazon Italy since the last time I ordered (and Amazon France and Germany don't carry many of the 4Kult titles), so is there a cheaper Italian retailer that ships internationally?

Also, has anyone done a comparison of The Dollars Trilogy, Arrow vs 4Kult? I'm not finding anything from a Google search. I own both, but don't have the time or wherewithal at the moment to do one.

I would also be interested. I'm guessing Apocalypse Now makes the list for superior compression. I opted to get the German one, for original soundtrack. I'm wondering whether the German Arthaus is comparable to the Eagle in terms of PQ.

Total Recall and Escape From New York may also make the list.

I have the Kino of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I'm curious to see how that compares to the upcoming Arrow. No doubt it will be discussed here. So I'll keep my eyes open.

[nicolas]

I would also be interested. I'm guessing Apocalypse Now makes the list for superior compression. I opted to get the German one, for original soundtrack. I'm wondering whether the German Arthaus is comparable to the Eagle in terms of PQ.

Total Recall and Escape From New York may also make the list.

I have the Kino of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I'm curious to see how that compares to the upcoming Arrow. No doubt it will be discussed here. So I'll keep my eyes open.

Has anyone made a list specifically for 4Kult/Eagle Pictures UHDs as to which titles are actually better than all other available versions?

Also, has anyone done a comparison of The Dollars Trilogy, Arrow vs 4Kult? I'm not finding anything from a Google search. I own both, but don't have the time or wherewithal at the moment to do one.

I have a few Eagle titles listed in my international ranking over here: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewto ... 43#p812543

I have to say I forgot about this list and the other one that lists no English subs but I’ll make sure to update them as soon as I can.

There are brief comparisons between the Arrow and Italian 4Ks of the Dollars trilogy but as far as I know only in written form buried somewhere in the huuge thread over at the other forum. I only remember that if you’d want to have Italian audio for two of the films, you need to get or keep the Eagle discs as Arrow couldn’t clear them. In general, the Arrow editions are the ones to take.

The German Apocalypse Now should have the same feature encodes as the Lionsgate, at least for the 4K discs but the Eagle is superior in that way.

[Finch]

nicholas, if you want to do a separate post for the Eagle discs, I can link to it in the OP.

[nicolas]

nicholas, if you want to do a separate post for the Eagle discs, I can link to it in the OP.

I’ll see if there’s actually a significant amount of Eagle releases missing from my list. I haven’t kept up with them this year but from a brief look at the Italian release calendars, it seems they didn’t put out all that many catalogue titles in recent months, instead focusing on newer films like Maria, Parthenope or Conclave. There’s no or very little discussion about them, so I’ll probably hold off including them unless someone has any input or sources like proper reviews or caps.

[abracax]

I have a few Eagle titles listed in my international ranking over here: https://criterionforum.org/forum/viewto ... 43#p812543

I have to say I forgot about this list and the other one that lists no English subs but I’ll make sure to update them as soon as I can.

There are brief comparisons between the Arrow and Italian 4Ks of the Dollars trilogy but as far as I know only in written form buried somewhere in the huuge thread over at the other forum. I only remember that if you’d want to have Italian audio for two of the films, you need to get or keep the Eagle discs as Arrow couldn’t clear them. In general, the Arrow editions are the ones to take.

The German Apocalypse Now should have the same feature encodes as the Lionsgate, at least for the 4K discs but the Eagle is superior in that way.

So in short, Italy has the better picture quality than Germany when it comes to Apocalypse Now. But Germany has the original soundtrack. Now I'm thinking I should also get the Italian disc. Haha.

[nicolas]

All Eagle titles released since I last updated my international 4K post. Turns out there were quite a lot.
Finch, I don't think I'll follow up on Eagle specifically and since so many of these are without any impressions, it's rather worthless in my mind.
Once they put out new titles and people discuss them, I'll add them to the list and ignore the rest.

- Cat's Eye - quality unknown
- Once Upon a Time in the West - caps added to OP
- Suspiria - SDR reissue of the 2017 Italian release that uses the TLE Film restoration as its basis, added to OP
- Apocalypse Now Collector's Edition - all three cuts in 4K, Theatrical and Final Cut discs are repackages of their standalone editions, so no extra sound options or anything like that, added to OP.
- John Carpenter 4-Film Collection - all identical to the previous discs with HDR10 and only English 5.1 audio, added to OP as separate releases
- The Third Man - quality unknown, US/EUR releases are encoded by FiM
- Convoy - quality unknown, EUR release encoded by VDMS
- Borderlands (2024) - quality unknown
- Planet of the Vampires - same 2K upscale as the Plaion release but details about Eagle's quality are unknown
- African Queen - quality unknown, EUR release encoded by VDMS
- Megalopolis - caps by asacmurr @BR, the Eagle disc is great but has no English Atmos, only Italian, added to OP
- Longlegs - quality unknown, has plenty international releases
- Terminator 2 - same terrible master
- Ghost in the Shell (1995) - quality unknown
- The Elephant Man - quality unknown
- The Whale - quality unknown
- For a Few Dollars More - reissue
- Ran - reissue, caps by cinemaniac, added to OP
- Black Sunday - reissue, review and caps, added to OP
- It Follows - quality unknown, Second Sight has a FiM encode and Lionsgate Limited are going to release essentially the same edition in the US
- Conclave - quality unknown, the US edition is slightly filtered but has correct HDR, UK disc has no filtering but boosted HDR
- The Substance - caps by fkid, Eagle is the best one, added to OP
- Parthenope - only 4k worldwide
- Drive - quality unknown, Second Sight has a FiM encode
- David Lynch 5-Film Collection (all 4K except for Inland Empire) - quality unknown, all films have good international options, Eagle's Inland Empire BD is said to have bad encoding
- Maria - good presentation, subtle HDR but no English Atmos unlike the SC BD, which is a brilliant release, added to OP
- Here - quality unknown
- Babygirl - quality unknown, UK release is very good
- Wrath of Man - quality unknown, has a US 4K from Shout
- Mechanic: Resurrection - quality unknown
- Heretic - quality unknown, has an A24 release
- La Città Proibita - quality unknown
- Death Wish (2018) - quality unknown, has a US Shout release
- The Monkey - quality unknown, has multiple other releases

[nicolas]

Added at least 30 or more new titles to my international lists. I'd really appreciate other contributions to these lists as well.

More titles for Finch's list (all fully English friendly). Sorry if there are any duplicates

Red:
- Mississippi Burning (Capelight Germany) - newly encoded 2025 disc only
- Over the Top (Capelight Germany & UK)
- Anora (Capelight) - best encode
- 12 Angry Men (Capelight) - virtually identical to Kino's
- Frailty (Lionsgate) - caps
- Cobra (Arrow) - caps, the 2.0 and 4.0 mixes are said to be
particularly strong against the muted / dull 5.1
- Women in Love (BFI)

Blue:
- Breakdown (Turbine) - better encode than Paramount's 4k
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (Turbine)
- Road House (Capelight) - VS grade, good encode but slightly boosted and clipped audio
- Clueless (Paramount) - fine new master, grade and encode
- Shane (Kino) - unusually strong encode but only a minimal upgrade over the excellent Eureka BD

Disappointing:
- The Great Silence (Filmjuwelen Germany) - same problematic 4K (or 2K) master, some subtitles with errors and slightly out of sync, not-so-good encoding
- High Noon (Filmjuwelen Germany) - poor encode

@Fus1on:

Sony's Fury 4K Steelbook is a nice upgrade and fixes some flaws that crept into the original 4K

[Finch]

Geoff on the Diamonds Are Forever 4K

[Fus1on]

Final Destination: Bloodlines (WB)

[Finch]

nic's review of the High Noon 4K

Got the Eureka 4K today and did a comparison as promised.

1. Eureka BD. It seems the 4K restoration on that disc and the Olive Signature US release served as the basis for the HDR master Kino commissioned. There are the same traces of grain management in the opticals and the small number of shots from a lower quality source that were spliced in between the OCN footage. The SDR grayscale looks great though and after having compared everything, I would’ve preferred a 4K SDR release. The Eureka BD release wasn’t encoded by FiM and it shows. For those with the BD and an appreciation for optimal encoding, consider an upgrade.

2. Kino’s 4K. It seems that Kino commissioned the HDR/DV grade and some additional cosmetic work on the master. They used to mention "… brand new master by studio X" on their back covers when they were supplied with ready-made materials. This isn’t the case here but maybe someone’s in the know and things are different. The HDR grade is darker than the SDR one and flattened the grayscale quite significantly. I mentioned this in the Sabrina and Sunset Boulevard thread as well but I’m not really a fan of these grades and doubt that they’re enhancing the grayscales to make them appear more film-like. I’ve seen worse and it’s not the end of the world when the film is viewed in a dark environment but don’t expect anything as luminous and sparkly as The Big Heat. Kino’s encoding can be seen here via ko8ebryant’s caps: https://slow.pics/c/JbRj2HYU.

3. Eureka 4K (BD-100). Same 4K master and same HDR grade as on the Kino 4K but now expertly encoded. Thanks to no compression anomalies standing in the way, we can now scrutinize the master much better. In comparison with the SDR master, I noticed that there are opticals that got hit with further noise reduction and sometimes egregiously so, such as in the scene with Grace Kelly at the train station at roughly 18 minutes into the film. Parts of that scene were sourced from a lower-quality source. In the HDR master, grain was practically erased altogether whereas in the 4K SDR master on the Eureka BD, grain is visible in the same shot despite the iffy encoding.

I’d still recommend the Eureka 4K as the OCN shots and scenes are frequently gorgeous, beautifully detailed and at most only minimally tampered with. The imperfect HDR grade bugs me but I’ll still use Eureka’s 4K for my future viewings due to the FiM encode.

[nicolas]

Thanks for posting, Finch. I intended to bundle all of today’s reviews into one post once I’m done but that’s fine with me as well.

Here’s my take on Imprint’s Raging Bull 4K:

Fantastic release, very beautifully encoded by FiM. The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade, so I imagine it was first and foremost Imprint’s desire to advertise something new on the packaging. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion.

I have a feeling that they also treated us with better sound. Back when Imprint announced the edition, they stated 5.1 + 2.0 Surround. I imagined that they’d probably port Criterion’s mix, which is a 2.0 surround track. On Imprint’s packaging, the 2.0 surround mentioning was replaced by "stereo", which could either imply a downmix of the 5.1 or the original Dolby Stereo track if they adhere to the terms more strictly. In motion, it doesn’t take long to notice that this is neither a downmix, nor Criterion’s 2.0, but indeed something else altogether.

Here’s Blah-ray’s info: https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/search...%281980%29?m=0

I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LD days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.

This is my favorite Scorsese film and unless Arrow ports this over, I’m glad that this is the definitive edition on a technical level

[nicolas]

My impressions of Criterion’s Antoine Doinel set.

[Finch]

Question, nic: how much better is the MoC 4K of High Noon over their BD? Are we talking blue or red category? Sounded like blue to me.

I've added Raging Bull (Imprint) to the OP. Will add a note for the Import section too when I'm on a PC again.

Where should the Doinel 4Ks go? Red with a caveat for Les Mistons?