UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - JFK -- in 4k UHD (4 Viewers)

[PMF]

Ordered!!

 

[Wes Candela]

Leave it to Shout Factory and their Select brand to create a gorgeous boxed set of Oliver Stone's 1991 JFK, and go the entire Criterion route with extras and discs, all encased in a high-end heavy paper case - more on that later.

There are four discs in the set, housed in three different cases.

Case 1 holds 4k and HD discs of the Director's Cut.

Case 2 holds a Blu-ray of the Theatrical Version.

Case 3 holds the extras, both new and old, and there enough to keep a fan
busy for an entire evening.

The scan is gorgeous, and the resultant image beautifully mimics a premier print. Grain seems proper, while detail holds up nicely in 4k, especially in long shots.

Color, densities, black levels et al give us an exceptionally clean and stable product.

The outer box is unlike most, as it's very sold - not your standard heavy paper affair and tightly holds the three plastic shells, which aren't going anywhere.

Everything on the reverse of the box, as well as the individual shells are perfectly legible, a problem I've encountered numerous times in the past few months, where one simply cannot read much of anything due to choice of colors. This is perfect.

As I'm a bit space deprived, I'll remove the Blu-ray from the DC case, replace it with the extras disc, and store (or gift) the others.

A wonderful package (think holiday gifts) of a terrific film. Need a review?

Go here: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-jfk-1991

For those who may not know films of the early 1990s, it stars the guy from Yellowstone, along with a terrific supporting cast that you also not recognize inclusive of:

Sally Kirkland, Edward Asner, Jack Lemmon, Vincent D'Onofrio, Gary Oldman, Sissy Spacek, Laurie Metcalf, Joe Pesci, Walther Matthau, Tommy Lee Jones, John Candy, Kevin Bacon, Donald Sutherland, John Larroquette, and (in archival footage) Richard and Pat Nixon.

Hopefully, those who think that color films came around in the '80s will recognize a few of them.


Image – 10 (Dolby Vision)

Audio – 10 (DTS-HS MA 5.1)

Pass / Fail – Pass

Plays nicely with projectors - Yes

Makes use of and works well in 4k - 8

Worth your attention - 10

Slipcover rating - 8

Very Highly Recommended

RAH



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This has been my favorite film for almost 30 years now since I saw it opening night. I’ve been waiting for this 4K release upon receiving I got to say I was a little upset. Where is the theatrical cut in 4K?
but I agree Mr. Harris
The visuals are beautiful as I hoped
The audio… Just the drums in John Williams excellent score for this film sound phenomenal. .

hahahaha
It stars the guy from Yellowstone hahahahahaha

 

[SD_Brian]

Where is the theatrical cut in 4K?

See this post above with Oliver Stone's statement about the lack of 4K theatrical cut.

 

[Wes Candela]

See this post above with Oliver Stone's statement about the lack of 4K theatrical cut.

Will do. Thanks, Brian.

 

[Wes Candela]

See this post above with Oliver Stone's statement about the lack of 4K theatrical cut.

You know what as soon as he said, he just didn’t have the money to do it
That explains everything

I’m not privy to that end of the business.
he’s absolutely right films are changing. The blockbusters are changing. The landscape is changing and physical media is being saved by companies like shout, box, arrow, Lober, and not the major studios.

my copy came today. Just watching a few minutes of Richardson’s cinematography I was smiling



thanks again Brian. I appreciate the heads up. I’m glad to know what happened.

 

[owen35]

Finally got a moment, well 3 hours technically, to watch the UHD release. Wow! I was never really ecstatic with the BR release of the film (tried to watch a few months ago), but this is a fantastic release. It looks as good as I had imagined it would. It's great to see a film that you didn't think anyone would take the time to redo, and when they do it is as top-notch as this.

 

[Kyle_D]

I decided to watch the Theatrical Cut over the weekend, as I had only seen the Director's Cut in the past. The Blu-Ray looks excellent, and I may actually prefer the theatrical cut to the director's cut. It's not missing anything essential, and the film is even more frenetic in shorter form. While it would have been preferable for the Theatrical Cut to be included in UHD, the 1080p SDR presentation is good enough that I never felt like I was compromising or "missing out" while watching it.

 

[AlexNH]

See this post above with Oliver Stone's statement about the lack of 4K theatrical cut.

Or you could read mine, which was the first one here to post Oliver's Facebook thoughts.

 

[Robert Saccone]

Haven’t had a chance to watch this yet but is there any reason to hold onto any of the older releases?

 

[SD_Brian]

Or you could read mine, which was the first one here to post Oliver's Facebook thoughts.

It's not a contest, but if it were you'd be winning!

 

[SD_Brian]

Haven’t had a chance to watch this yet but is there any reason to hold onto any of the older releases?

I believe all previously available disc-based bonus features were carried over onto the new release.

 

[Steven Good]

Shout Factory didn't need to use three separate cases for their JFK release. Here's a shelf-saver cover I adapted from info & layouts on their three back covers, plus a scan of the original Warner digi-book front cover that faithful to the original theatrical poster because it is in full color...

JFK 4-disc UltraHD by sgood3, on Flickr

 

[PatrickDA]

I believe all previously available disc-based bonus features were carried over onto the new release.

Beyond JFK: the Question of Conspiracy isn't included on the Shout! Factory release.

 

[Wes Candela]

This would have been a perfect candidate for Dolby Atmos

Agreed
Actually… Super Duper agree

 

[Wes Candela]

I assume Stone and co. used the new film stocks available in the early-90's after Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsese, et al complained throughout the 80s about how poor the film stocks were. I recall films of '91-'93 looking remarkably better than films I saw in '88-'89.

Absolutely.
I noticed this also,
There are films from the late 80s and early 9 0s captured on absolutely horrible film stock in my opinion

in JFKs case, it's not just the film stock but it's the way Robert Richardson utilized it, how he chosen to shoot with it and capture the colors and THE LIGHT.

While Garrison is reviewing the warren commission, and we are flashbacks of the testimony given, the way the overhead lights highlight and capture the smoke coming off the cigarettes in the ashtrays of the lawyers

those wonderful shots by Robert Richardson, when the Dallas police officer stands up to gives testimony, and we get a close-up of his badge… Just for a few seconds… And then the light grabs it, and reflects off of it, beautifully in sync with the sound track

when the Dallas police officer stands up to give testimony, and we get a close-up of his badge… Just for a few seconds… And then the light grabs it, and reflects off of it, is beautifully in sync with the soundtrack

the Dolby Vision is in my opinion fantastic for this release

is in my opinion fantastic for this release I would have loved an Atmos track especially for John Williams's score

especially for John Williams's score

 

[Dave H]

I read Stone's comments about how the money wasn't there for a UHD BD of the theatrical cut, but given they did a 4K scan of it, I still wonder how much more it would have been to be included especially given the price of the set. It still puzzles me slightly. The bulk of the cost was already completed.

 

[Kyle_D]

I read Stone's comments about how the money wasn't there for a UHD BD of the theatrical cut, but given they did a 4K scan of it, I still wonder how much more it would have been to be included especially given the price of the set. It still puzzles me slightly. The bulk of the cost was already completed.

I confess ignorance to the cost of packaging, licensing, and replication costs, but the packaging here was overly elaborate IMO. It left me to wonder whether the Theatrical Cut could have been included in UHD if Shout had elected to save money on the packaging and used a standard 5-disc plastic case.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I read Stone's comments about how the money wasn't there for a UHD BD of the theatrical cut, but given they did a 4K scan of it, I still wonder how much more it would have been to be included especially given the price of the set. It still puzzles me slightly. The bulk of the cost was already completed.

It would most likely have cost thousands of dollars more to master and author an additional disc for the set, and the replication costs per added disc would have added a few dollars to total unit costs. Which doesn’t seem like much in the abstract but each release has a budget based on what the label feels it can recoup in sales and for better or worse they felt that would have crossed that threshold.

I confess ignorance to the cost of packaging, licensing, and replication costs, but the packaging here was overly elaborate IMO. It left me to wonder whether the Theatrical Cut could have been included in UHD if Shout had elected to save money on the packaging and used a standard 5-disc plastic case.

In theory perhaps but elaborate packaging is a big draw for a certain segment of the collector’s market that Shout was counting on, and it could very well be that losing those packaging elements would have depressed the number of copies being sold.

It’s a really fine line that companies like Shout have to navigate because the disc audience today isn’t a monolithic group with a single set of preferences; there’s a good number of people that prioritize video/audio quality above all else, but also a good number of people who prioritize the “collectability” factor and are looking for packaging (the same way people collected beanie babies and Funko Pops where it’s the object more than the content that’s prized).

 

[Robert Crawford]

It would most likely have cost thousands of dollars more to master and author an additional disc for the set, and the replication costs per added disc would have added a few dollars to total unit costs. Which doesn’t seem like much in the abstract but each release has a budget based on what the label feels it can recoup in sales and for better or worse they felt that would have crossed that threshold.



In theory perhaps but elaborate packaging is a big draw for a certain segment of the collector’s market that Shout was counting on, and it could very well be that losing those packaging elements would have depressed the number of copies being sold.

It’s a really fine line that companies like Shout have to navigate because the disc audience today isn’t a monolithic group with a single set of preferences; there’s a good number of people that prioritize video/audio quality above all else, but also a good number of people who prioritize the “collectability” factor and are looking for packaging (the same way people collected beanie babies and Funko Pops where it’s the object more than the content that’s prized).

I think many of us would have paid a few dollars more to include the theatrical cut in 4K/UHD. They already scan it in 4K.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think many of us would have paid a few dollars more to include the theatrical cut in 4K/UHD. They already scan it in 4K.

I don’t disagree - that would have been my preference as a potential customer as well.

But Shout’s been at this a long time and I guess they figured that there wouldn’t have been enough people willing to do so.