UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Good, the Bad and the Ugly-- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Reed Grele]

Looks fine to me. Colors (especially greens) much improved. I do notice a slight yellow cast in certain scenes, but nothing particularly bothersome. Projects beautifully. I didn't even notice any issues with the shadow detail or crushing, but then I don't have "RAH vision" . IMHO, the best it's ever looked!

 

[Robert Harris]

Looks fine to me. Colors (especially greens) much improved. I do notice a slight yellow cast in certain scenes, but nothing particularly bothersome. Projects beautifully. I didn't even notice any issues with the shadow detail or crushing, but then I don't have "RAH vision" . IMHO, the best it's ever looked!

Absolutely, the best it has looked on any home video format.

 

[Tommy R]

So is this out of print already? I placed my order on BestBuy.com a week ago, which was before the release date, and it still says it’s delayed and they will work on shipping it “within the next few days”. It’s said that for a few days already. And it’s not available on Amazon anymore.

 

[jayembee]

No, it's not OOP. They've sold what has been sent to them, and need to wait until they get more in.

At this point, the 5000-copy O-sleeve is pretty much gone, but the disc will continue to be offered by Kino until (a) they lose the license, (b) it stops selling and they add it to the "While Supplies Last" sale, (c) they abandon physical media altogether, or (d) the heat death of the universe.

 

[Carl David]

No, it's not OOP. They've sold what has been sent to them, and need to wait until they get more in.

At this point, the 5000-copy O-sleeve is pretty much gone, but the disc will continue to be offered by Kino until (a) they lose the license, (b) it stops selling and they add it to the "While Supplies Last" sale, (c) they abandon physical media altogether, or (d) the heat death of the universe.

I will be importing to the UK when it comes down a bit.

It's currently £45 ($63) to import off ebay at the moment.

Once it is down to £30 ($42) I will make the purchase.

 

[rdimucci]

Wild differences in color grade:

Based on these caps, the SEP 2009 Blu-ray looks the best to me. Seemingly accurate color, and for some reason, much sharper than any of the others. Overly-sharpened? Perhaps. But pleasing to me, anyway. How do I find that disc?

 

[Chewbabka]

Based on these caps, the SEP 2009 Blu-ray looks the best to me. Seemingly accurate color, and for some reason, much sharper than any of the others. Overly-sharpened? Perhaps. But pleasing to me, anyway. How do I find that disc?

I’ve never watched the 2009 disc, but I wouldn’t make a decision based on stills from a poorly compressed YouTube video. Or stills in general. This new disc is gorgeously filmic. I really doubt a 2009 encode on a 50gb disc could come close to how gorgeously filmic this 4k looks in motion.

This video is really only useful for roughly comparing the color grades.

 

[DVDvision]

A fine video from a fan, all 93mn of it, will tell everything you want to know about this and past releases.




Indeed it could have been more finely handed out regarding the contrast, but Kino had to work from the already color timed scan, not the raw scan files which are unavailable.

I can understand GBU fatigue, as fans had to contend with frustrating releases for years. But now that finally come a milestone in the Leone catalogue, a near perfect version, in 4K, no less, some display indifference and nitpick about it not being in HDR and go "I'll wait for the inevitable HDR release"...

That is not with that attitude that the Leone catalogue will reach greater heights. I mean people bought every bad release under the sun, and when finally comes the dream version, they don't get it just because one feature is missing? Has the world gone mad? You vote for quality releases with your wallet, so buying botched releases like the precedent Kino, while not getting this one, is not sending the right signal.

For the first time, we have the near exact international edit of the film (there's only a couple of frames I might debate, yes frames), with fantastic sound from the Laserdisc. It's the best commercialy available version of this film in any format. It's like a fan dream come true.

So sure, there might be on the horizon a box set with this one + the italian cut (thought I doubt it for legal reasons) and HDR. But it won't change a lot really just like the Django HDR disc does not improve x 2 the already awesome looking 4K non HDR release.

As you remember, for years I lamented the state of the Leone back catalogue and the shoddy way it's handled from the right owners on this thread here. Now we passed a major step toward the catalogue finally being handled the way it should be, with respect for both the late director and the fans. It's a great moment in Sergio Leone video history.

 

[Carlo_M]

UPS surepost does seem to be the slowest way to ship something from KL to me. It may take an entire week. The price we pay for free shipping…

 

[B-ROLL]

UPS surepost does seem to be the slowest way to ship something from KL to me. It may take an entire week. The price we pay for free shipping…

That's not Kino's fault. I accidentally clicked on one-day shipping and it took five business days to get from KY to AZ.

I placed an order from Zavvi(US) (part of a sale 2 for $35.00) 6 individual items were sent from Guernsey (Holy Cow! ) on the same day "Air-Mail PRIORITY" - I just received the fifth one today and they were sent two weeks ago.

 

[Chewbabka]

That's not Kino's fault. I accidentally clicked on one-day shipping and it took five business days to get from KY to AZ.

I placed an order from Zavvi(US) (part of a sale 2 for $35.00) 6 individual items were sent from Guernsey (Holy Cow! ) on the same day "Air-Mail PRIORITY" - I just received the fifth one today and they were sent two weeks ago.

Surepost can be a dreadful service though. Even worse is UPS Mail Innovations, their even lower-cost UPS-USPS hybrid. I’ve had packages sit in the transfer stage already in my city for 5 days. At least Surepost is sometimes delivered by UPS if they have other deliveries for you or nearby, which they say saves 1 day, but depending on your post office, can save a few.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Even worse is UPS Mail Innovations, their even lower-cost UPS-USPS hybrid. I’ve had packages sit in the transfer stage already in my city for 5 days.

Makes me shudder just thinking about it. It has happened to us way too many times.

 

[Chewbabka]

Makes me shudder just thinking about it. It has happened to us way too many times.

And it’s always something you’re eager to watch!
My copy is this was sent MI and I was relieved it only sat in the post office for a day, and I was able to watch it Friday night. UPS or USPS did pulverize the case though. Since it’s out of stock, Target gave it to me for free

 

[jayembee]

Hunh. My packages from Kino usually take only 3-4 days from when they send me the shipping notice to when they arrive. The longest. A couple of times, it took 6 days, but those were in the late fall when the Postmaster General was wrecking havoc with USPS delivery (and the second time was also during the usual Christmas pipe-clogging).

 

[B-ROLL]

Hunh. My packages from Kino usually take only 3-4 days from when they send me the shipping notice to when they arrive. The longest. A couple of times, it took 6 days, but those were in the late fall when the Postmaster General was wrecking havoc with USPS delivery (and the second time was also during the usual Christmas pipe-clogging).

In the past 3-4 business days was the norm. Now it can be anywhere from one week to two weeks.

 

[Robert Crawford]

In the past 3-4 business days was the norm. Now it can be anywhere from one week to two weeks.

For me, last December/January was that way, but not now. I got my recent order with Battle Hymn and Horizons West on May 6th after it shipped on May 3rd.

 

[lark144]

For me, last December/January was that way, but not now. I got my recent order with Battle Hymn and Horizons West on May 6th after it shipped on May 3rd.

It depends what vendor you use. From Amazon, things come fairly quickly; sometimes they even send a guy in a car to drop stuff off--but from other sites, such as DD, it can still take up to two weeks or more. Though I must say I haven't had any trouble with UPS Innovations, nor with Kino--that is, once Kino actually ships. During the sale, it took Kino a month to ship the thing, but once it went out, it showed up very quickly. Likewise with THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. That came a few days after I ordered it. btw, I think the disc looks GREAT! It hasn't looked this good since I first saw it on that huge screen at the DeMille in 1968. Yes, the shadow detail is a slightly murky at times on faces, but it's really not a problem, nor all that extreme. Mostly you don't notice it. The only time I saw any kind of an issue was with the circular plaza Lee Van Cleef rides across in the beginning at sunset. It takes a second to make out what it is he's riding across. But compared to to the lack of shadow detail on many Fox Technicolor films from the 1940's, this is almost nothing. No problem, really. But then, I don't project. It may be more of an issue there. Still, the color is fabulous. The detail is fabulous. Finally, we have a video version that's very close to what I saw originally. I love it.

 

[titch]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is a film that demands to be seen on the largest possible screen!

 

[Robert Crawford]

It depends what vendor you use. From Amazon, things come fairly quickly; sometimes they even send a guy in a car to drop stuff off--but from other sites, such as DD, it can still take up to two weeks or more. Though I must say I haven't had any trouble with UPS Innovations, nor with Kino--that is, once Kino actually ships. During the sale, it took Kino a month to ship the thing, but once it went out, it showed up very quickly. Likewise with THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. That came a few days after I ordered it. btw, I think the disc looks GREAT! It hasn't looked this good since I first saw it on that huge screen at the DeMille in 1968. Yes, the shadow detail is a slightly murky at times on faces, but it's really not a problem, nor all that extreme. Mostly you don't notice it. The only time I saw any kind of an issue was with the circular plaza Lee Van Cleef rides across in the beginning at sunset. It takes a second to make out what it is he's riding across. But compared to to the lack of shadow detail on many Fox Technicolor films from the 1940's, this is almost nothing. No problem, really. But then, I don't project. It may be more of an issue there. Still, the color is fabulous. The detail is fabulous. Finally, we have a video version that's very close to what I saw originally. I love it.

Currently, that's not the case for me. My orders once they shipped from DD, Kino, Amazon and BB orders have pretty much reached me the same amount of time as before the pandemic. That wasn't the case 5-6 months ago, but currently I haven't had items items delayed once they shipped in the last 2-3 months or so.

 

[Tommy R]

Any idea on when this will be available again? My pre-order on BestBuy.com is still active but has said it’s delayed and they are working on getting it out “within the next few days” and it’s said that since a couple days after the street date.