Search results

  1. Ray H

    JU DOU (China, 1990) - Beautiful movie, now available from Imprint, but as part of an 8-film box set

    I bought the set as well, all blind buys except for The Curse of the Golden Flower. Been meaning to watch these films since the early 2000s, but most were only available on poor quality DVDs.
  2. Ray H

    Kino-Lorber Insider Announcement Thread (Read Guidelines Post #3)

    Hoping for Blue Velvet on 4K, but Kino's previous experience with David Lynch might turn them off. :)
  3. Ray H

    Press Release SPHE Press Release: Columbia Classics Ultra 4K HD Collection Volume 2

    Cool news. I guess we could all argue the merits of these films. Personally, I think Stripes and The Social Network should've been released separately and more "classic" movies (either in terms of quality or vintage) been included in their place. Still, it's a must own set. I'd rank these movies...
  4. Ray H

    What are the chances of The Wild Bunch on 4K disc?

    I wouldn't hold out much hope for this one. WB has been very slow with their deep catalog 4K output. I think they've released maybe 3-4 pre-80's titles on the format so far?
  5. Ray H

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Good, the Bad and the Ugly-- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    A Fistful of Dollars has a really solid 2007 restoration by Ripley's FIlm that's available in Italy and Germany. I own the German release that was a two-pack with For a Few Dollars More (which uses the MGM transfer). I don't recall if it's Region locked though. The Kino disc is from a newer...
  6. Ray H

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Good, the Bad and the Ugly-- in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    In T2's case, I think the bigger fault is with StudioCanal which owns the rights and does the transfers. And Cameron is probably to blame as well. As for TGTB&TU, I'll be picking this up. If I recall correctly, the Kino Blu-ray release had an issue with raised blacks. Seems they went the...
  7. Ray H

    UHD Review The Shining (1980) UHD Review

    The Hollywood Reporter has a nice piece on actress Shelley Duvall today. She retired from acting in the 90s and sort of disappeared before popping up in a rather alarming appearance on Dr. Phil a few years back. Good to see she seems to be doing well...
  8. Ray H

    Best film restoration companies?

    Much of Lowry's work on the Bond movies was done in the mid '00s and I fear they don't hold up all that well. Their software can lead to a lot of distracting artifacts I noticed when viewing the Connery films in 4K via iTunes a few months back.
  9. Ray H

    Best film restoration companies?

    It seems companies like Criterion and Arrow use the term "restoration" to refer to the scanning, clean-up, and making of a new video master, "mastering" to refer to the encoding/compression of said master to a format/size compatible to Blu-ray/4K UHD disc, and "authoring" to refer to the act of...
  10. Ray H

    Best film restoration companies?

    On both Dawn of the Dead and King of New York, the opposite page list Production Credits. Fidelity in Motion (David Mackenzie) did the encoding on both. They're credited as Mastering. They usually handle the better reviewed stuff for Arrow and Studio Canal.
  11. Ray H

    DVD Profiler 4.0.0 is out.

    I have spent A LOT of time with DVD Profiler and it's a program I use almost daily to organize, sort and catalog my collection. Hell, I wonder if I would own so many Blu-rays/4K discs if it wasn't for DVD Profiler. Cataloging is a major part of collecting.
  12. Ray H

    Best film restoration companies?

    The Elephant Man's restoration was done by L’Immagine Ritrovata. Fidelity in Motion is an authoring/encoding company and they're among the best in the business from what I've gathered. They handled the encoding for StudioCanal's 4K disc. I've actually read some bad things regarding the...
  13. Ray H

    Warner Archive Announcements Thread

    Sad news. Hopefully all those who lost their positions will land on their feet. George Feltenstein has long been a hero of home entertainment industry.
  14. Ray H

    Warner Archive Press Release: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) (Blu-ray)

    Great news! I've never been a huge horror guy, but was digging a little deeper last month. Started watching some of the Dracula movies and got me looking for a good release of this one. I actually almost ordered the UK disc of this movie last night, but was deterred by Amazon UK's current high...
  15. Ray H

    A Few Words About A few words about…™ V for Vendetta – in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    Watched this last night (or earlier) and thought this disc looked great! I really like this movie but hadn't watched it in 11 years! Well, I think it holds up very well and is even more relevant today. I'm hoping Speed Racer is next. :)
  16. Ray H

    A Few Words About A few words about…™ To Catch a Thief (redux) – in Blu-ray

    I bought it on iTunes a few weeks back for $4.99 myself in anticipation of the 4K upgrade.
  17. Ray H

    A Few Words About A few words about…™ To Catch a Thief (redux) – in Blu-ray

    The 4K iTunes version looks fine to me. It's still overly noise reduced and detail can get a bit thin, meaning there's very little for my eyes to latch onto. But it's very clean and bright. Colors are a bit more blue/teal. There is the occasional shot where the DNR is quite ghastly, but it's...
  18. Ray H

    PHE Press Release: Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

    The notes about the restoration for Part III sound pretty impressive (hunting down the original takes to redo the opticals). Any word on the first two films? Or did they already go through all that for the "Coppola Restoration" Blu-ray?
  19. Ray H

    UHD Disney stopped 4K/UHD releases for most Catalog Titles?

    I'm not particularly concerned about the Disney live action stuff, though I'd love TRON, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and some of the Touchstone and Bruckheimer stuff on 4K disc. But not getting the Fox stuff on 4K disc would be a travesty. The Sound of Music, Planet of the Apes, Butch Cassidy and...
  20. Ray H

    A Few Words About A few words about…™ Lawrence of Arabia - in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    I gave the 4K disc a watch last night, and it's amazing as expected! One of the benefits "Lawrence" has over many films of its age is how damn good it looks. Freddie A. Young's cinematography is among the very best committed to celluloid. The clean look of the desert, the blue skies, and the...
  21. Ray H

    No 4K release for Gone With The Wind’s 80th Anniversary?

    With good sales, maybe WB will capitalize by releasing a belated 80th anniversary 4K Blu-ray!
  22. Ray H

    No 4K release for Gone With The Wind’s 80th Anniversary?

    The film has been in the news again lately: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-06-08/hbo-max-racism-gone-with-the-wind-movie https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/media/gone-with-the-wind-hbo-max/index.html Goes to support my thoughts that WB was a bit worried about putting out a big 80th...
  23. Ray H

    Pre-Order Spartacus 60th Anniversary Edition (1960) (4k UHD) Available for Preorder

    Makes it all the more collectible. "Featuring rare, unused publicity photos!" Lol.
  24. Ray H

    A Few Words About A few words about…™ To Catch a Thief (redux) – in Blu-ray

    I believe the version on Amazon Prime is the same transfer as the 2012 Blu-ray. Green nights, etc.
  25. Ray H

    A Few Words About A few words about…™ Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back — in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    I apologize in advance if my assessment of this transfer is too negative. I have seen some positive reactions though, if that helps. I thought this was the most problematic of the original trilogy in 4K. The noise reduction and sharpening were too heavy for my tastes, though I may be more...
  26. Ray H

    Has Criterion upgraded the Blu-ray of CHILDREN OF PARADISE?

    I'm not a fan of aggressive noise reduction/grain management, but have you guys seen the restoration demonstration on the Criterion disc? The before & after comparisons are fairly impressive. It looks like the original camera negative was in really rough shape with a lot of damage. While the...
  27. Ray H

    A Few Words About While we wait for A few words about...™ Lawrence of Arabia -- in 4k/UHD Blu-ray

    They've finally announced Lawrence of Arabia on 4K disc, but it's gonna be in a big set with 5 other titles. I'm sure many here feel this classic deserves its own release.
  28. Ray H

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -- in Blu-Ray

    The last year was very disappointing for catalog titles on 4K disc. The studios ignored some pretty big anniversaries for movies like Gone with the Wind, Ben-Hur, North by Northwest, Sleeping Beauty, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Mad Max, The Abyss, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption...
  29. Ray H

    2019 - Blade Runner predictions

    Novermber, 2019!
  30. Ray H

    Scarface (1932) Incoming on Blu-ray

    Nice. Was hoping they’d release this outside that 4K set.
Top