A Few Words About A few words about...™ A View to Kill -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Keith Cobby]

I love this film and it stars my favourite Bond girl - Tanya Roberts. A great year 1985, this film and Back to the Future.

 

[andySu]

Image rating of 4, even though there is a lot of image cropped on this new blu-ray compared to previous DVD versions? The blu-ray's framing is quite different and more than a little cramped...

Zoom in on the image a bit while cropping off the width of the scope just so these scammy buggers can do a George Lucas-Milking-Cow on us consumers.


Sounds like to me the bluray is rubbish and should be avoided until MGM Fox Murdoch, stop ripping us paying consumers off.


It would be better/nice however if, Mr Harris can provided screen captures when doing these reviews as rating this and that means squat to me?

 

[Keith Cobby]

I would also like to see comparisons because I am generally very pleased with the blu-ray. Tanya looks great!

 

[John Stockton]

From what I understand only the pre-title sequence is cropped. The rest of the film is fine.


Still unacceptable.

 

[Osato]

From what I understand only the pre-title sequence is cropped. The rest of the film is fine.


Still unacceptable.

Has anyone compared the 4K iTunes version to the blu ray?
I believe a view to a kill has a new 4K transfer.

 

[Osato]

Robert I was comparing this one and octopussy and found that the picture on view seems to be a bit less sharper in terms of detail. It is curious to me why they did not master all of the films at 4k rather than some at 2k and some at 4k.Thanks!!

Watching the Blu Ray tonight again. It does seem like the picture has more grain than octopussy? I’ll have to go back and compare.

Looking forward to seeing this one in 4K UHD.

 

[brioni]

The appearance and level of grain across all the films is an entire topic in itself.

I scoured through many of the “Few words about…” threads last month anticipating what a UHD release might be like and it reminded me of the variable quality of the HD’s.

I flicked through various scenes in Dr No and Goldfinger. There was some noticeable grain there but in contrast you have to look very hard to see any in Russia and Thunderball and all these films were made with the same film stock - Eastman 5251 if IMDB is to be believed.

I think it's well established how the "cleanup" process was done, we have beautiful sharp and detailed images at the expense of any original grain and then a mild bit of faux grain added back in.

I guess films of this vintage exhibit a heavier grain and we know they worked from the negative, having to balance out optical shots etc. but did they need to dial it out that much?
I'd be surprised if the 80's Bonds onwards needed the same extensive work done, i'll have to spin them up.
It would be interesting to compare them to Raiders and Temple of Doom. They all share the same Eastman stocks and of course have been spun through the Lowry process.

Am I that bothered about the lack of grain? no, it doesn't bug me as much as the lack of lossless mono tracks - the sound and those scores are equal in the enjoyment of the visuals for me. Likewise the colour accuracy of those 60's panavisions would be further up my wish list as well.

Some really odd curiosities though are the vertical scratches on those panavisions, are they really in the negative? either way why were they painstakingly removing model wires but not treating those?

The film that does need looking at though is Moonraker. What the hell happened there. The grain is static or almost static throughout. Really odd, its like a different company was handling it when it wasn't!

 

[Osato]

The appearance and level of grain across all the films is an entire topic in itself.

I scoured through many of the “Few words about…” threads last month anticipating what a UHD release might be like and it reminded me of the variable quality of the HD’s.

I flicked through various scenes in Dr No and Goldfinger. There was some noticeable grain there but in contrast you have to look very hard to see any in Russia and Thunderball and all these films were made with the same film stock - Eastman 5251 if IMDB is to be believed.

I think it's well established how the "cleanup" process was done, we have beautiful sharp and detailed images at the expense of any original grain and then a mild bit of faux grain added back in.

I guess films of this vintage exhibit a heavier grain and we know they worked from the negative, having to balance out optical shots etc. but did they need to dial it out that much?
I'd be surprised if the 80's Bonds onwards needed the same extensive work done, i'll have to spin them up.
It would be interesting to compare them to Raiders and Temple of Doom. They all share the same Eastman stocks and of course have been spun through the Lowry process.

Am I that bothered about the lack of grain? no, it doesn't bug me as much as the lack of lossless mono tracks - the sound and those scores are equal in the enjoyment of the visuals for me. Likewise the colour accuracy of those 60's panavisions would be further up my wish list as well.

Some really odd curiosities though are the vertical scratches on those panavisions, are they really in the negative? either way why were they painstakingly removing model wires but not treating those?

The film that does need looking at though is Moonraker. What the hell happened there. The grain is static or almost static throughout. Really odd, its like a different company was handling it when it wasn't!

Thanks for the post. I’m curious how the newer 4K masters of the films look. View to a kill was a 2k transfer by Lowry. The Blu Ray is the same transfer. However the 4k would be a new transfer.

I’m in the U.S. and have the Bond Blu Ray set. They have included all of the original audio tracks in addition to the new 5.1 mixes that Mi Casa created for the ultimate edition dvds.

 

[brioni]

Yep, even though I'm in the UK, I did import the US set for that reason.
But they are poor quality tracks unfortunately, you would need to match the old laserdisc PCM tracks to get a decent experience.
It's not so much an issue with Spy on wards, just the mono films....there is too much creativity going on.

 

[Osato]

Nice article. It’s not a boring bond film that is for sure.

Hear me out: why A View to a Kill isn't a bad movie | James Bond | The Guardian

The latest in our series defending loathed movies is a plea to reconsider Sir Roger Moore’s silly but superb Bond swansong

amp.theguardian.com

 

[Tommy R]

I would LOVE to like this movie, but I just can’t. Dead last on my rank.

I’ll say it has a decent pre-title sequence, and a good finale atop the Golden Gate Bridge. And Walken is entertaining when he’s on screen.

Oh, and I guess this article reminded me of the Tchaikovsky line, which was cute.

 

[Osato]

I would LOVE to like this movie, but I just can’t. Dead last on my rank.

I’ll say it has a decent pre-title sequence, and a good finale atop the Golden Gate Bridge. And Walken is entertaining when he’s on screen.

Oh, and I guess this article reminded me of the Tchaikovsky line, which was cute.

I find the pacing in a view to a kill better than daylights. Love them both though.