A24 Stop Making Sense Restoration 4K UHD (1 Viewer)

[titch]

No email here. I placed my order on 1/28 and it hasn't shipped yet.

Maybe it's because I went all-in and ordered the Stop Making Sense coaster set and the Dance Like Me: A Stop Making Sense Companion Zine, as well? I don't normally go for lots of tat, but in this case, I lost my mind.

Stop Making Sense Coaster Set

Better than it ever was. Six red acrylic coasters to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stop Making Sense.

shop.a24films.com

Dance Like Me: A Stop Making Sense Companion Zine

Issue 23 celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Talking Heads' concert film, Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme. Is the reason critics hail it as "the best concert film of all time" because it has the best dancing of all time? That's not for us to say, but we can teach you how to...

shop.a24films.com

For what it's worth, I would probably order lederhosen made of curtains - if Disney decided to do so - with a super-duper 4K UHD Sound of Music release

 

[jayembee]

No email here. I placed my order on 1/28 and it hasn't shipped yet.

Well, I got the email, and assumed that my copy had been shipped (their page for the release did say that they would be start shipping on 5/8) but I hadn't gotten a tracking number yet. I logged in to check my order, and there's still no tracking number, and the order status is still "unfulfilled", so

I also placed the order on 1/28.

 

[Kyle_D]

I am also still waiting on a shipping confirmation. My order was placed on 1/29.

 

[Kyle_D]

My copy was shipped today...


View attachment 221560

Did you actually get a shipping/tracking number? I also received that email, but my order is still listed as “unfulfilled” when I look at my order history.

 

[titch]

Did you actually get a shipping/tracking number? I also received that email, but my order is still listed as “unfulfilled” when I look at my order history.

Indeed I did - the package is being shipped with FedEx and is currently in Memphis. Hopefully, I should receive it next week.

 

[jayembee]

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that my wife and I just got home from a day of fun with friends, and I discovered my copy of Stop Making Sense had arrived with the mail today. Oddly enough, my account on their site still shows my order status as "unfulfilled". If you see anything in your Informed Delivery originating from Secaucus, NJ, that will probably be your copy.

The bad news is that I'm too tired to give it a spin tonight.

 

[titch]

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that my wife and I just got home from a day of fun with friends, and I discovered my copy of Stop Making Sense had arrived with the mail today. Oddly enough, my account on their site still shows my order status as "unfulfilled". If you see anything in your Informed Delivery originating from Secaucus, NJ, that will probably be your copy.

The bad news is that I'm too tired to give it a spin tonight.

Ah - I will be looking forward to hearing your review!

The first impressions I have read on this release were posted yesterday on Quadraphonic.com:

"Just gave the extended cut a spin, might be my preferred way of watching this now, Cities and Big Business/I Zimbra fit perfectly well into the flow.

The new 4K remaster is stellar, no DNR (thank god) but a nice crisp image, with tight grain. The Dolby Vision is nice although the only actually bright thing is the lamp in This Must Be The Place.

The Atmos is killer. It could stand to be a touch more adventurous, leaning towards a front heavy and audience in back experience but opens up as the film progresses, with Life During Wartime when things start really picking up. Synth solos swirl around, backing vocals like Heaven (not Tina! Caught that this time, her mouth doesn’t move… must be someone off stage) float in the rear heights, and when David puts the mic near the cowbell in Take Me To The River it does some fun things in the heights/sides/rears.

Exploring the special features reveals a few things:

The two new songs are available as separate videos that use the same 4K remaster footage… but are Dolby Digital 5.1 for some reason, and lack Dolby Vision. Notably this is the only 5.1 on this disc (minus the Atmos fold down) as it is lacking the two previous 5.1 mixes. There’s a transfer of a very worn VHS of David Byrne (and later on some of the other extended band members) practicing choreography to absolute silence, and a compilation of the band being interviewed on TV back in the day and in 2023. There’s also the pre-existing director commentary that is advertised to be “remixed using archival material”, which I haven’t gotten to yet but seems interesting.

The most baffling inclusion, however, is the old home video version on Laserdisc. Other than the 4:3 framing, this inclusion seems to serve no point as the new extended cut seems to be the same thing, just in 4K, with Dolby Vision, and Atmos (where as the laserdisc transfer is limited to stereo). If the new restored/edited version of this cut, done better, is on this disc, why include a worse version? I’d rather have the two 5.1 mixes on this disc to make it feel more “complete”.

The book it comes inside is… strange. Lots of pages but most of them are just scans of film strips, the same image over and over just slightly different. The content it does have is however, interesting, such as scans of the editor’s notebook, who seems overwhelmed by the project, and diagrams of camera placements, call sheets, etc. The disc slot is in the front cover of the book and has one of those “push to release” disc holders that… has imprinted on the first few pages of the book. On paper its a neat package… in practice it’s a bit odd.

As a huge fan of the film I’m glad I have it, but have to admit it’s a steep price for something that can’t really be called definitive. I have to wonder if a cheaper non deluxe version is coming later down the line… if so and you don’t want the book and slipcase and bells and whistles that’s probably the version to get".

 

[sbjork]

Ah - I will be looking forward to hearing your review!

The first impressions I have read on this release were posted yesterday on Quadraphonic.com:

"Just gave the extended cut a spin, might be my preferred way of watching this now, Cities and Big Business/I Zimbra fit perfectly well into the flow.

The new 4K remaster is stellar, no DNR (thank god) but a nice crisp image, with tight grain. The Dolby Vision is nice although the only actually bright thing is the lamp in This Must Be The Place.

The Atmos is killer. It could stand to be a touch more adventurous, leaning towards a front heavy and audience in back experience but opens up as the film progresses, with Life During Wartime when things start really picking up. Synth solos swirl around, backing vocals like Heaven (not Tina! Caught that this time, her mouth doesn’t move… must be someone off stage) float in the rear heights, and when David puts the mic near the cowbell in Take Me To The River it does some fun things in the heights/sides/rears.

Exploring the special features reveals a few things:

The two new songs are available as separate videos that use the same 4K remaster footage… but are Dolby Digital 5.1 for some reason, and lack Dolby Vision. Notably this is the only 5.1 on this disc (minus the Atmos fold down) as it is lacking the two previous 5.1 mixes. There’s a transfer of a very worn VHS of David Byrne (and later on some of the other extended band members) practicing choreography to absolute silence, and a compilation of the band being interviewed on TV back in the day and in 2023. There’s also the pre-existing director commentary that is advertised to be “remixed using archival material”, which I haven’t gotten to yet but seems interesting.

The most baffling inclusion, however, is the old home video version on Laserdisc. Other than the 4:3 framing, this inclusion seems to serve no point as the new extended cut seems to be the same thing, just in 4K, with Dolby Vision, and Atmos (where as the laserdisc transfer is limited to stereo). If the new restored/edited version of this cut, done better, is on this disc, why include a worse version? I’d rather have the two 5.1 mixes on this disc to make it feel more “complete”.

The book it comes inside is… strange. Lots of pages but most of them are just scans of film strips, the same image over and over just slightly different. The content it does have is however, interesting, such as scans of the editor’s notebook, who seems overwhelmed by the project, and diagrams of camera placements, call sheets, etc. The disc slot is in the front cover of the book and has one of those “push to release” disc holders that… has imprinted on the first few pages of the book. On paper its a neat package… in practice it’s a bit odd.

As a huge fan of the film I’m glad I have it, but have to admit it’s a steep price for something that can’t really be called definitive. I have to wonder if a cheaper non deluxe version is coming later down the line… if so and you don’t want the book and slipcase and bells and whistles that’s probably the version to get".

The laserdisc master is the only was to watch the original Jonathan Demme/Lisa Day extended cut with the original theatrical Dolby Stereo audio. The new extended cut is Atmos only. (You can watch the theatrical cut in 4K with the Dolby Stereo soundtrack, but not the extended version.) As someone who watched the original extended cut hundreds of times on VHS and Laserdisc, and who got rid of his Laserdisc years ago, I appreciate its inclusion. That's the version that's burned into my brain more than any other.

That said, the editing on the new expanded cut is much tighter during the added songs, so it's the one that I'll be watching going forward. Although it's important to note that Demme and Byrne agreed back in 1983 that the flow worked better without them. They were doing everything in their power to minimize repetition and keep building the momentum, and those songs didn't satisfy them in that regard. The theatrical cut is the true director's cut.

The commentary is the same one as the 1999 DVD commentary, but with all of the other band members edited out. It's baffling. Don't know why they did that. They added back some previously unheard material with Demme, but there are still endless gaps where the other band members were edited out.

Personally, I love the packaging and the booklet. The new documentary was excellent, too. I just worked through the Toho 4K release of Godzilla Minus One, which is one of my favorite releases of the year so far, and then worked on this one next, and it's also one of my favorites of the year. Gorgeous set.

 

[titch]

The laserdisc master is the only was to watch the original Jonathan Demme/Lisa Day extended cut with the original theatrical Dolby Stereo audio. The new extended cut is Atmos only. (You can watch the theatrical cut in 4K with the Dolby Stereo soundtrack, but not the extended version.) As someone who watched the original extended cut hundreds of times on VHS and Laserdisc, and who got rid of his Laserdisc years ago, I appreciate its inclusion. That's the version that's burned into my brain more than any other.

That said, the editing on the new expanded cut is much tighter during the added songs, so it's the one that I'll be watching going forward. Although it's important to note that Demme and Byrne agreed back in 1983 that the flow worked better without them. They were doing everything in their power to minimize repetition and keep building the momentum, and those songs didn't satisfy them in that regard. The theatrical cut is the true director's cut.

The commentary is the same one as the 1999 DVD commentary, but with all of the other band members edited out. It's baffling. Don't know why they did that. They added back some previously unheard material with Demme, but there are still endless gaps where the other band members were edited out.

Personally, I love the packaging and the booklet. The new documentary was excellent, too. I just worked through the Toho 4K release of Godzilla Minus One, which is one of my favorite releases of the year so far, and then worked on this one next, and it's also one of my favorites of the year. Gorgeous set.

Didn't take long for your rave review to be posted on The Bits, Stephen. "Overall Grade A+". Looks like this could be a candidate for "Release of the year".

Stop Making Sense: Deluxe Collector’s Edition (4K UHD Review)

With those nine simple words, a concert film legend was born. Stop Making Sense actually opens in an even simpler fashion than that, with Pablo Ferro’s distinctive hand-lettered opening titles appearing over an otherwise unadorned shot of the stage floor of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood...

thedigitalbits.com

 

[dpippel]

I finally got my shipping notice and my order should arrive by Friday. Can't wait!

 

[sbjork]

Didn't take long for your rave review to be posted on The Bits, Stephen. "Overall Grade A+". Looks like this could be a candidate for "Release of the year".

Stop Making Sense: Deluxe Collector’s Edition (4K UHD Review)

With those nine simple words, a concert film legend was born. Stop Making Sense actually opens in an even simpler fashion than that, with Pablo Ferro’s distinctive hand-lettered opening titles appearing over an otherwise unadorned shot of the stage floor of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood...

thedigitalbits.com

It is for me. Everyone else's mileage vary, of course.

 

[johnmcmasters]

I received my UHD copy last Thursday or Friday. Can't wait!!!

 

[dpippel]

Today was a good day...

 

[SeanSKA]

I watched mine on Saturday afternoon

Saw "SMS" on the first day it opened in 1984, and owned it on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and now 4k, so I have seen it at least 25 times. This new version is absolutely amazing, I saw details that I don't ever remember catching

It probably IS the 4k release of the year (unless someone puts out "Catch-22" on 4k before next January !)

 

[jayembee]

It probably IS the 4k release of the year (unless someone puts out "Catch-22" on 4k before next January !)

Considering that it would be Paramount that would theoretically be releasing a UHD of Catch-22, there's no guarantee that the end result would be a release of the year.

 

[titch]

And let's be real here: Catch-22 is not Stop Making Sense in the slightest.

 

[titch]

Today, all appointments are cancelled!

 

[titch]

I'm in the same camp, as the others, who have seen this on every cinema and home video version since its initial release. But the addition of subtitles on this 4K UHD lends Stop Making Sense a further dimension - I can now actually understand what David Byrne is singing about! Simply glorious.

 

[sbjork]

I'm in the same camp, as the others, who have seen this on every cinema and home video version since its initial release. But the addition of subtitles on this 4K UHD lends Stop Making Sense a further dimension - I can now actually understand what David Byrne is singing about! Simply glorious.
View attachment 222163

Good choice of screenshot. Like I said, I consider Found a Job to be the quintessential Talking Heads song. It's a paradigm of their sound and style.

 

[titch]

Good choice of screenshot. Like I said, I consider Found a Job to be the quintessential Talking Heads song. It's a paradigm of their sound and style.

Agreed. I remember when I first saw the movie nearly 40 years ago, I was unfamiliar with Found A Job, as it wasn't originally on the soundtrack album, which I had listened to before the movie was released. The original album had only a paltry nine songs: Psycho Killer, Swamp, Slippery People, Burning Down The House, Girlfriend Is Better, Once In A Lifetime, What A Day That Was, Life During Wartime and Take Me To The River!

When I watched the film and heard Found A Job, the whole movie came alive to me, but I didn't know what the song was! I went out to a record store immediately afterwards (those were the days) and tried to sing what I remembered of the song to the supercilious store clerks (think Jack Black and co. in High Fidelity). Needless to say, they rolled around on the floor in hysterics and hadn't a clue as to what I was babbling on about.

I had to purchase the entire Talking Heads catalogue up to then, to find it hidden on More Songs About Buildings And Food. Cost me a month's paper round wages, but started my love affair with the band.