- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,272
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Put all of the right pieces together toward the production of a new Blu-ray release, and the results can run the gamut from beauty to the beast. In the end, it comes down to proper supervision by someone who knows what they're doing, and then having those directions followed to the 'nth degree by the post facility chosen for the job.
Fox's Patton began with a beautifully produced new 65mm interpositive and came out the other end of the process as garbage encoded to a perfectly good Blu-ray disc.
The antithesis of that is Columbia's new Blu-ray of Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado, and one would think that the recipe would be simple enough to be followed by others.
In this case, begin with a properly produced interpositive struck from the original negative. Scan it at the proper resolution. Add in a dash of color and density supervision by cinematographer John Bailey, and overall product supervision by Columbia's Grover Crisp and company, and the end result.
No. Not an omelette with blue skies.
A perfectly produced Blu-ray DVD.
I've reached a point at which, as long as I know something is a new transfer, I'm far less trepidacious than I was a year ago with new releases, and especially with Columbia (Sony).
Silverado is a film that I've been looking forward to since the inception of high definition home video. It's a film that I really like a great deal and admire. To say that it's one of the great westerns of the 1980s would be faint praise, as there weren't that many '80s westerns to begin with.
Seems the breed pretty much died out in the '60s, with the last of the John Wayne, James Stewart incarnations -- of course we had a quick and final return in The Shootist, which I sorely like to see arrive on Blu-ray. A handful of quality westerns came from Italy, but most were barely viewable. Seems someone over there had the idea to take anything shot on the western set, add a catchy name to it, and sell it to the unsuspecting American market, who were yearning for the next Eastwood affair. It may actually have been a film in which Mr. Eastwood played a major role, which may have helped the downfall of the art form via the big budget 1969 Paint Your Wagon.
That year, of course, also heralded one of the most (currently) beloved westerns, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch.
After that the traditional western survived, but not more than a couple of good ones a year made their way to theater screens. It wasn't until 1985 that we received Pale Rider and Silverado, and that was pretty much it for the '80s. Enter the '90s, and again quality westerns could be counted on one's fingers -- Dances with Wolves, Far and Away, Unforgiven, Geronimo, Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. To date in the '00s, we've also had only a handful -- Open Range, Assassination of Jesse James, 3:10 to Yuma, Appaloosa...
So if one has a desire for a quality western made in the past 30 years or so, examples are extremely limited. Fortunately, quite a few have made it to DVD, and a good representation to Blu-ray.
When that western bug hits you, and have that need sit down with that 1860 or single action army, a shot of rock gut whiskey and terrific Blu-ray, Silverado will not only fit the bill perfectly, but bring the full audio (uncompressed Dolby TruHD) and video capability of Blu-ray in your home theater along with it.
Silverado is a superb film, brought to Blu-ray with perfection.
Highly Recommended.
RAH
Fox's Patton began with a beautifully produced new 65mm interpositive and came out the other end of the process as garbage encoded to a perfectly good Blu-ray disc.
The antithesis of that is Columbia's new Blu-ray of Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado, and one would think that the recipe would be simple enough to be followed by others.
In this case, begin with a properly produced interpositive struck from the original negative. Scan it at the proper resolution. Add in a dash of color and density supervision by cinematographer John Bailey, and overall product supervision by Columbia's Grover Crisp and company, and the end result.
No. Not an omelette with blue skies.
A perfectly produced Blu-ray DVD.
I've reached a point at which, as long as I know something is a new transfer, I'm far less trepidacious than I was a year ago with new releases, and especially with Columbia (Sony).
Silverado is a film that I've been looking forward to since the inception of high definition home video. It's a film that I really like a great deal and admire. To say that it's one of the great westerns of the 1980s would be faint praise, as there weren't that many '80s westerns to begin with.
Seems the breed pretty much died out in the '60s, with the last of the John Wayne, James Stewart incarnations -- of course we had a quick and final return in The Shootist, which I sorely like to see arrive on Blu-ray. A handful of quality westerns came from Italy, but most were barely viewable. Seems someone over there had the idea to take anything shot on the western set, add a catchy name to it, and sell it to the unsuspecting American market, who were yearning for the next Eastwood affair. It may actually have been a film in which Mr. Eastwood played a major role, which may have helped the downfall of the art form via the big budget 1969 Paint Your Wagon.
That year, of course, also heralded one of the most (currently) beloved westerns, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch.
After that the traditional western survived, but not more than a couple of good ones a year made their way to theater screens. It wasn't until 1985 that we received Pale Rider and Silverado, and that was pretty much it for the '80s. Enter the '90s, and again quality westerns could be counted on one's fingers -- Dances with Wolves, Far and Away, Unforgiven, Geronimo, Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. To date in the '00s, we've also had only a handful -- Open Range, Assassination of Jesse James, 3:10 to Yuma, Appaloosa...
So if one has a desire for a quality western made in the past 30 years or so, examples are extremely limited. Fortunately, quite a few have made it to DVD, and a good representation to Blu-ray.
When that western bug hits you, and have that need sit down with that 1860 or single action army, a shot of rock gut whiskey and terrific Blu-ray, Silverado will not only fit the bill perfectly, but bring the full audio (uncompressed Dolby TruHD) and video capability of Blu-ray in your home theater along with it.
Silverado is a superb film, brought to Blu-ray with perfection.
Highly Recommended.
RAH