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  1. James Luckard

    Press Release SPHE Press Release: Amélie (2001) (Blu-ray SteelBook)

    His quotes are pretty vague, confusing and contradictory. I was going by him saying "The 2K is enough, 4K is just bullsh*t. You know, 4K is an invention from the TV sellers." That's a pretty stark denunciation of the entire format.
  2. James Luckard

    Press Release SPHE Press Release: Amélie (2001) (Blu-ray SteelBook)

    Hmm, that's not how I read his comments. I know some of his older films that were finished photochemically are on UHD, but he seems pretty clear about dismissing 4K as a format entirely.
  3. James Luckard

    A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Poseidon Adventure -- in Blu-ray

    My Annie Hall disc rotted and I had to replace it. That was also a 2012 Fox disc (they handled MGM at the time). And other people have reported their 2012 Manhattan discs rotting. I think some people also said their 2012 Fox Hitchcock BDs had issues (Rebecca, Spellbound, Notorious). There was...
  4. James Luckard

    Press Release SPHE Press Release: Amélie (2001) (Blu-ray SteelBook)

    There's a fascinating documentary on the new UHD for The Pianist, a digitally finished European film of similar vintage, about how they rebuilt it. That film was digitally edited at 1080p and then upscaled slightly to 2K for the final master. Instead of upscaling the original master for the...
  5. James Luckard

    Press Release SPHE Press Release: Amélie (2001) (Blu-ray SteelBook)

    It was finished digitally, so there wouldn't be a cut, conformed negative. And it sounds likely that the 35mm raw film footage may no longer exist, depressingly.
  6. James Luckard

    Press Release SPHE Press Release: Amélie (2001) (Blu-ray SteelBook)

    Jeunet also said in this interview that the film will be presented in its native 2K, NOT 4K. There will also be no 4K UHD, upscaled or not, because he thinks they're just a gimmick. Sigh. :( Tech talk starts at 9:00 Direct quote at 9:38 "The 2K is enough, 4K is just bullsh*t. You know, 4K is...
  7. James Luckard

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Stalag 17 -- in 4k UHD

    The difference between the BD included in the UHD set and the UHD itself may look negligible to some people. That's fair. I noticed the difference immediately when I tried the BD just now, after watching the UHD last night. But if others find the difference subtle to the point of being...
  8. James Luckard

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Frenzy -- in 4k UHD

    I felt the same... at first... :) If you get a good 4K TV and a good 4K UHD Blu-Ray player, you'll soon find that about 90% of UHDs are noticeable upgrades over BDs, even if they come from the same video master. It's dangerously addictive. :)
  9. James Luckard

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Frenzy -- in 4k UHD

    Only the UK and US get the longer version of Topaz on home video. The rest of the world has always had the theatrical cut on every home video format, as far as I know, because Universal lacks foreign language dubs for the 20 mins of added scenes. I bought the German BD of Topaz to get the...
  10. James Luckard

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Frenzy -- in 4k UHD

    There's a French DVD set from Universal that includes every single episode of TV he ever directed. I have no idea why they never released such a set in the US. It has all 17 of the Hitchcock-directed "Presents" episodes, his one episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," and his "Suspense" and...
  11. James Luckard

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Frenzy -- in 4k UHD

    I was late to the game with 4K, but I'll say one thing: There's a HUGE difference in quality between generic 4K televisions and high-end 4K televisions. If you do ever switch to 4K, and if you can afford it, I highly recommend buying a high-end 4K TV, even if you have to get a MUCH smaller...
  12. James Luckard

    A Few Words About A few words about…™ The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection - in 4k UHD Blu-ray

    My UHD arrived today from GRUV and I just watched it. This is my favorite Hitchcock film, by FAR. It looks absolutely spectacular. I never even dreamed I'd see it looking this good, after hearing the elements were in bad shape. I can't wait to hear an account of how the film was restored...
  13. James Luckard

    Went to Best Buy Today!

    I'm really curious to see what the Netflix stores have. I wouldn't be surprised it they just have merch tied into their programs. They did a popup like that at The Grove here in LA last year...
  14. James Luckard

    "MOONLIGHTING" Coming to streaming

    Yep, all the songs actually performed by the actors remain, as well as a number of key songs, like "Be My Baby."
  15. James Luckard

    "MOONLIGHTING" Coming to streaming

    The broadcast version of the Jarreau song runs 1:02: It was released on a compilation CD of TV theme songs about 20 years ago. That's the only place I've ever seen it. I can't swear to it, but I think it's this one: All-Time Top 100 TV Themes
  16. James Luckard

    "MOONLIGHTING" Coming to streaming

    The remastering looks stunning. They put a LOT of love and care into it. Sadly, a large percentage of the songs have been replaced with modern soundalikes. Anyone who has never seen the show, or only saw it once when it aired 40 years ago, probably won't be bothered. I'm an obsessive fan...
  17. James Luckard

    Sony's Missing Columbia Titles.

    THE END OF THE AFFAIR (1999) AVALON (1990) I WALK THE LINE - available on BD in France The HORSEMEN - available on BD in France
  18. James Luckard

    Blu-ray rot on many of my Blu-ray discs

    This was a common problem with the first pressings of Manhattan and Annie Hall. My Annie Hall disc, which I bought the day it came out, stopped playing a couple of years ago. I bought a new one from Amazon about two years ago, and I could tell it was newer because the dates on the files on the...
  19. James Luckard

    UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - The Manchurian Candidate (1962)-- in 4k UHD

    The Kino Lorber UHD duplicates the bonus features from the 2011 MGM BD exactly. - Frankenheimer audio commentary from 1997 - 8 min Frankenheimer/Sinatra/Axelrod interview video from 1987 - Queen of Diamonds - 14 min interview with Angela Lansbury - A Little Solitaire - 13 min interview with...
  20. James Luckard

    Blu-ray Review Black Sunday (1977) – Blu-ray Review

    - the windowboxed opening sequence has been corrected - the audio commentary is by someone who actually knows a great deal about the film's production and history, unlike the one on the Imprint It's one of my top 10 favorite films, I have both discs. :)
  21. James Luckard

    UHD Review Bram Stoker’s Dracula UHD Steelbook Review

    Yep, I remember pretty clearly when DTS premiered with Jurassic Park that summer and SDDS premiered a week later with Last Action Hero. There were lots of articles about the two competing formats.
  22. James Luckard

    King Kong (1976) 4KUHD (Studio Canal)

    Unfortunately, it actually is impossible. Nobody can directly license the StudioCanal restoration here. Paramount controls the film in the US. StudioCanal presumably controls the negative, since De Laurentiis produced the film. I suppose it's conceivable Paramount might make a deal to get...
  23. James Luckard

    "MOONLIGHTING" Coming to streaming

    The Billy Joel song was actually written specifically for the show, according to Caron. There's a whole chapter on that iconic episode in the oral history book. :)
  24. James Luckard

    "MOONLIGHTING" Coming to streaming

    Caron has talked about that as a blessing, to some extent. The episodes often were not finished in time to be viewed by the network censor, so they were broadcast exactly as he wanted, without anything being cut. He has also talked about the fact that they got away with murder because it was...
  25. James Luckard

    "MOONLIGHTING" Coming to streaming

    I love those vintage ads! To be fair, the Viola/DiPesto episodes were done out of desperation in the later seasons, when both Shepherd and Willis were unavailable to film. When they could, they at least tried to have Willis in the episodes. The show reaches its pinnacle, for me, in season 3...
  26. James Luckard

    "MOONLIGHTING" Coming to streaming

    There's an absolutely definitive new book about the entire history of the show that just came out last year. It's totally essential for any fan of Moonlighting. Absolutely everyone involved in the show participated in the book - Caron, Shepherd, all the surviving actors, many guest stars...
  27. James Luckard

    Titanic (4k UHD) 2023

    Perhaps we'll finally get anamorphic DVDs of them. :)
  28. James Luckard

    Pre-Order E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Limited Edition (1982) 40th Anniversary Gift Set (4k UHD Combo) Available for Preorder

    Also, to bring things back to ET, I'll add that Jillian feels VERY closely related to the character of Mary. Both are single mothers struggling to save their child from interstellar visitors who seem terrifying to them at first, but eventually reveal themselves to be beautiful and peaceful...
  29. James Luckard

    UHD Review Close Encounters of the Third Kind UHD Review

    I'll gladly take this conversation into another thread, I was just afraid that if I did so, nobody here would follow, and there have been some really great posts here :) I hope the ET fans don't mind this too much, they're closely related films, and the CE3K posts are easy enough to skip past. :)
  30. James Luckard

    UHD Review Close Encounters of the Third Kind UHD Review

    We all have wildly diverging opinions of CE3K, and this is exactly why I can see that it's a true masterpiece and a seminal work of cinematic art. It's not just popcorn entertainment, it's exploring the human condition, and, more brilliantly, it's doing it through a form that managed to work as...
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