A Few Words About A few words about…™ Braveheart & Gladiator — in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Paramount continues to mine their back catalog, and that’s a good thing.
Braveheart and Gladiator are two very different films, but share a common thread.
Freedom, personal as well as national.
In 4k, they appear quite different, with Braveheart appearing more film-like, presumably based upon the heavier load of digital work in Gladiator, which would have been at 2k.
With more production photography in Braveheart, we are allowed a more original appearing grain structure.
That noted, both look as they should. And for those with an need to compare to the original Gladiator Blu-ray, I advise that it isn’t worth one’s time to go there.
The point is that they both look like their final film versions, and are accurately represented.
Another big plus here, is the addition of height channels, DTS-X on Gladiator, and Dolby Atmos on Braveheart, which create far more impressive sound fields on both.
For those who do not yet have height channels, Braveheart is the obvious upgrade from standard...

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[Lord Dalek]

"...and neither of 'em deserved to win Best Picture."

 

[Robert Crawford]

"...and neither of 'em deserved to win Best Picture."

No, but both are fine films. I'm looking forward to having both of them on 4K/UHD.

 

[John Hermes]

"Paramount continues to mine their back catalog"

They have lots of excavating to do from the 1950s and 1960s.

 

[PMF]

Thank you, Paramount. A beautiful double-header. So nice to see these signs of 4K UHD activities.
We are all looking forward to the future outputs that hopefully lays ahead.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

"...and neither of 'em deserved to win Best Picture."

I'm looking at the other nominees from 2000, and would say this position on Gladiator is debatable at best. Chocolat was a [pardon the pun] sweet movie, where some took issue with its deviation from the source novel, particularly with respect to the central "villain"; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a gorgeous film that in some ways left me cold; Erin Brockovich, while showing the world that Julia Roberts could act, is underwhelming, which leaves Traffic, which is a cinematic blind spot for me.

As for Braveheart, your argument is stronger there. My only blind spot of those films is Il Postino, and I would have gladly given the Oscar to any one of the other nominees, but especially Babe, which is a wondrous cinematic achievement of the kind most frequently ignored by the Academy these days.

 

[ABritch]

"Paramount continues to mine their back catalog"

They have lots of excavating to do from the 1950s and 1960s.

among the many great films on that list I hope there is room to restore the Hal Wallis Elvis Presley films:
Loving You (1957)
King Creole (1958)
GI Blues (1960)
Blue Hawaii (1961)
Girls Girls Girls (1962)
Fun In Acapulco (1963)
Roustabout (1964)
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)

I would assume that most would look at these films and think they are not worth restoring and I agree that compared to lots of other films they are of little artistic merit. But Elvis films were a genre of their own, most were box office hits and do represent a large part of pop culture at that time, they are historically important.

while the last two above are bad, the others were highlights of Elvis film career. King Creole being his finest film. It would be fantastic during restoration if they found the cut songs from King Creole, GI Blues, Blue Hawaii, Girls Girls Girls and Paradise Hawaiian Style.

Regards
Anthony

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I actually think "Gladiator" is a more substantial visual upgrade than RAH seems to feel.

When I watched the BD a few months back, I thought it looked great, and I didn't expect a substantial upgrade from the 4K.

However, the HDR makes a big different for the 4K - when I flipped between the BD and the 4K, I thought the 4K's colors were substantially more dynamic and vivid.

Definition is also clearly better.

"Braveheart" is also an upgrade, but since the source is "uglier", it seems like a less impressive jump to me...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I'm looking at the other nominees from 2000, and would say this position on Gladiator is debatable at best. Chocolat was a [pardon the pun] sweet movie, where some took issue with its deviation from the source novel, particularly with respect to the central "villain"; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a gorgeous film that in some ways left me cold; Erin Brockovich, while showing the world that Julia Roberts could act, is underwhelming, which leaves Traffic, which is a cinematic blind spot for me.

As for Braveheart, your argument is stronger there. My only blind spot of those films is Il Postino, and I would have gladly given the Oscar to any one of the other nominees, but especially Babe, which is a wondrous cinematic achievement of the kind most frequently ignored by the Academy these days.

In 1995, the best movies didn't get nominated. "Se7en" and "Usual Suspects" were the cream of the year's crop, but they got no BP love.

Among the actual nominees, "Apollo 13" was/is my pick. I'm not a big fan of Ron Howard as a director, but he did well with that one.

Were there some notable 2000 releases that didn't get a BP nod? Probably, but I can't think of them off the top of my head...

 

[Lord Dalek]

I'm looking at the other nominees from 2000, and would say this position on Gladiator is debatable at best. Chocolat was a [pardon the pun] sweet movie, where some took issue with its deviation from the source novel, particularly with respect to the central "villain"; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a gorgeous film that in some ways left me cold; Erin Brockovich, while showing the world that Julia Roberts could act, is underwhelming, which leaves Traffic, which is a cinematic blind spot for me.

And therein lies the rub.

 

[Robert Harris]

among the many great films on that list I hope there is room to restore the Hal Wallis Elvis Presley films:
Loving You (1957)
King Creole (1958)
GI Blues (1960)
Blue Hawaii (1961)
Girls Girls Girls (1962)
Fun In Acapulco (1963)
Roustabout (1964)
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)

I would assume that most would look at these films and think they are not worth restoring and I agree that compared to lots of other films they are of little artistic merit. But Elvis films were a genre of their own, most were box office hits and do represent a large part of pop culture at that time, they are historically important.

while the last two above are bad, the others were highlights of Elvis film career. King Creole being his finest film. It would be fantastic during restoration if they found the cut songs from King Creole, GI Blues, Blue Hawaii, Girls Girls Girls and Paradise Hawaiian Style.

Regards
Anthony

Most don’t need restoration.

 

[John Hermes]

Most don’t need restoration.

Just a release...that's the hard part.

 

[Tino]

I think Braveheart was the best nominated film of 1995 and absolutely deserved to win all it’s Oscars. Can’t wait to own the UHD.

Ditto Gladiator.

 

[John Hermes]

among the many great films on that list I hope there is room to restore the Hal Wallis Elvis Presley films:
Loving You (1957)
King Creole (1958)
GI Blues (1960)
Blue Hawaii (1961)
Girls Girls Girls (1962)
Fun In Acapulco (1963)
Roustabout (1964)
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)

I would assume that most would look at these films and think they are not worth restoring and I agree that compared to lots of other films they are of little artistic merit. But Elvis films were a genre of their own, most were box office hits and do represent a large part of pop culture at that time, they are historically important.

while the last two above are bad, the others were highlights of Elvis film career. King Creole being his finest film. It would be fantastic during restoration if they found the cut songs from King Creole, GI Blues, Blue Hawaii, Girls Girls Girls and Paradise Hawaiian Style.

Regards
Anthony

Elvis and the missing John Wayne films. Among many others.

 

[Robert Harris]

Just a release...that's the hard part.

Clean-up

 

[John Hermes]

Clean-up

and release.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I think Braveheart was the best nominated film of 1995 and absolutely deserved to win all it’s Oscars. Can’t wait to own the UHD.

Does this mean you think there was a better unnominated 1995 film?

 

[ABritch]

Clean-up

I'd be satisfied with a good clean-up and release in HD on Blu-ray. But, restoration from the original film elements would ensure these films were preserved forever. I was also thinking, if they had to go and find the film elements for the Elvis films they might find the songs that were filmed but cut prior to release.

 

[Tino]

Does this mean you think there was a better unnominated 1995 film?

Come to think of it....No.

 

[John Hermes]

I'd be satisfied with a good clean-up and release in HD on Blu-ray. But, restoration from the original film elements would ensure these films were preserved forever. I was also thinking, if they had to go and find the film elements for the Elvis films they might find the songs that were filmed but cut prior to release.

They didn't seem to keep much of that kind of stuff back in the day. :-(