UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[nicolas]

Yes, there is a noticeable difference. Arrow’s grade leans more natural whereas Criterion attempted to emulate how the film looked on prints but unfortunately they didn’t go all the way as you can see below:

Eastmancolor 35mm print scan: https://filmcolors.org/galleries/the-last-emperor-1987/
Matching Criterion screenshots: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=154
Criterion vs. Arrow: https://slow.pics/c/GPfrKLXh

[nitin]

wow another case of maybe having to get both and see which looks best on my system to me

[MannFan]

Yes, there is a noticeable difference. Arrow’s grade leans more natural whereas Criterion attempted to emulate how the film looked on prints but unfortunately they didn’t go all the way as you can see below:

Eastmancolor 35mm print scan: https://filmcolors.org/galleries/the-last-emperor-1987/
Matching Criterion screenshots: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=154
Criterion vs. Arrow: https://slow.pics/c/GPfrKLXh

Since I don’t have either release would you recommend I get both, or the Criterion if I had to pick one?

[nicolas]

This is a tricky question as the grades are so different and neither one matches the print. The more luminous yellows on the Arrow seem to be more in line with the prints but Arrow's overtly magenta / reddish hues across the board definitely aren't. I have both but if I had to pick one, I'd personally pick the Criterion as it's got a more convincing film-like appearance.

[MannFan]

Thanks for the heads up. When I get around to getting it I’ll probably get the Criterion first, and then maybe I’d get the Arrow

[perkizitore]

The French Rules of the Game is listed as reference if HDR is disabled and then there is a mention that it is an AI upscale? I thought the Criterion release was the best

[tenia]

The Rules of the Game second French UHD isn't an AI upscale. It's the latest 4k restoration, but with an additionnal pass of filtering that is piloted by AI.
Also, it's the first UHD that had an issue with HDR implementation and requires to disable it.

[Finch]

Re the above, hm, maybe we should move the French disc out of red and say Criterion is the best disc even though neither is a big upgrade over the BFI Blu-Ray that David MacKenzie encoded.

[nicolas]

Sounds fair also when considering that Criterion’s is SDR and most faithful to the master.

[nicolas]

The Cable Guy (Sony) - caps. Great color improvements.

[Finch]

Already mentioned that one on the last page. I'm really not trying to be a dick about this, people, but please check at least one or two pages back that your info hasn't already been posted.

[swo17]

The post on the last page is just you listing the title in red with no supporting evidence. Can others not corroborate your finding and/or provide additional context?

[Finch]

That's fair.

[Finch]

Harold and Maude CC 4k vs CC BD

EDIT 10/24: further feedback confirms their old BD was misframed. 4K added to OP list.

[Finch]

Screenshot of the Frighteners (Arrow) booklet confirms they got the restoration from Turbine and it was encoded by David MacKenzie.

[Finch]

Marie Antoinette CC 4K vs Sony BD

[nicolas]

Already mentioned that one on the last page. I'm really not trying to be a dick about this, people, but please check at least one or two pages back that your info hasn't already been posted.

Hey Finch, I've only seen this now but swo's already posted what I would've replied. Would you have preferred me to quote you and add the caps in response or not at all? It's just that I personally don't trust Randy Miller's reviews any more as he's praised Warner Archive's recent, grain-managed 4Ks and rated them 5/5.

Here are some newer titles:

What Have You Done to Solange? (Severin) - caps
But I'm a Cheerleader (All Interactive Distribution Australia) - better encode than the US disc
Duplicity (Kino) - impressions

[perkizitore]

Already mentioned that one on the last page. I'm really not trying to be a dick about this, people, but please check at least one or two pages back that your info hasn't already been posted.

Hey Finch, I've only seen this now but swo's already posted what I would've replied. Would you have preferred me to quote you and add the caps in response or not at all? It's just that I personally don't trust Randy Miller's reviews any more as he's praised Warner Archive's recent, grain-managed 4Ks and rated them 5/5.

Here are some newer titles:

What Have You Done to Solange? (Severin) - caps
But I'm a Cheerleader (All Interactive Distribution Australia) - better encode than the US disc
Duplicity (Kino) - impressions

Which 4K is grain managed? Please do not tell me Out of the Past.

[nicolas]

Which 4K is grain managed? Please do not tell me Out of the Past.

Yes, it's Out of the Past and The Searchers. Ryan's Daughter too but not as destructively.

[perkizitore]

Which 4K is grain managed? Please do not tell me Out of the Past.

Yes, it's Out of the Past and The Searchers. Ryan's Daughter too but not as destructively.

I am sorry, but quite a few people disagree, including David Hare:

'Long time a'comin' but worth the wait.
Having just viewed it in glorious Dolby Vision on a 120 inch screen I cannot find a fault with the encoding and the presentation. I am at a complete loss to comprehend the "reservations" several people online have expressed about their perceived "disappointment" with the new 4K disc. Strangely to me anyway the reservations come not from the usual chorus line of pixel peckers and other would-bes who think they understand film and film presentation. The non-believers here are two people in particular, both highly knowledgeable and, until now totally reliable for their judgments.
But for me this morning's viewing is one of three or four totally exemplary and flawless B&W academy ratio transfers to 4k scanning and encoding for a 4K disc (in this case again the inestimable David McKenzie of FIM.) All through it I kept feeling I was watching an original nitrate 35mm master being projected with a Xenon lamp (as it would have been in the day.) The image is completely stunning. Sometimes pellucid, sometimes deep black-floor-high-contrast. DP Nick Musuraca arrives in full splendor as a major co-auteur of the Noir "Look" along with John Alton. But this is only one of so many reasons the movie is a breakthrough. There's the big boost for MItchum from second string to lead player, and major star henceforth. It would also have been for Jane Greer if only Hughes had not decided to lock her up in his mad starlets' cage. There's a lot to be said too about Mainwaring's original unpublished novel and the superb, witty, determined screenplay he finessed from it. One of the picture's unique attributes is the two line throwaways from almost every character, down to the serving lady at the diner. Indeed every time I've watched OOTP with an audience you can bet everyone's "getting" it, especially from Mitchum (Kathie:" I don't wear earrings"; Jeff: 'Nor I. ")
It's also a breakthrough picture for Tourneur as his first 90 minute plus "A" feature, after the three Lewton "B" pics, all three of which come straight at you already fully formed with Tourneur's superb visual language and his dedication to the hidden and the unknown.
So there it is for one of those "up there" pictures, and one of the most beautifully ever photographed - the scenes with Ann and Jeff by the river are largely shot staged front to a background of leaves completely filtering a full sun - it's impossible to describe them as anything other than paradise speaking to them before the fall.
That, and the catastrophic outcomes we determine for our sins is the heart of Tourneur's cinema And the Noir Movement. This is a very great masterpiece and the presentation is impossible to fault.'

[Finch]

Already mentioned that one on the last page. I'm really not trying to be a dick about this, people, but please check at least one or two pages back that your info hasn't already been posted.

Hey Finch, I've only seen this now but swo's already posted what I would've replied. Would you have preferred me to quote you and add the caps in response or not at all? It's just that I personally don't trust Randy Miller's reviews any more as he's praised Warner Archive's recent, grain-managed 4Ks and rated them 5/5.

If I happened to get there first but didn't include a caps link, quote me and add the link.

[Finch]

Re Out of the Past, I was actually bothered more by the HDR grade which I found a bit much at times.

[Finch]

But I'm a Cheerleader (All Interactive Distribution Australia) - better encode than the US disc

Saw that post too, what a happy surprise. I asked Orbit if they'll stock it and let you know their reply. Worth reiterating that it's one of those "HDR10 better than DV" discs, like Criterion's Days of Heaven UHD.

[Finch]

Magnolia are going to release Bong Joon-Ho's THE HOST on UHD in December. SDR only.

I don't know who has it in the UK now. Studio Canal or Curzon?

[MannFan]

Has anyone here reviewed the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 4K? I know the 4K masters are not of the preview cuts, but of the theatrical and 50th Anniversary Seydor/Spottiswoode edit but I thought the transfer was beautiful