Coverart isn't a biggie with me, but I have to agree about the U.K. cover being better than the Region A. By the way, the U.K. coverart is the same as the 1997 SD DVD Region 1 release while this BR coverart is the same as the 2001 SD DVD Region 1 release.
Thanks Richard for your thoughts about the BD of "In the Line of Fire".
Please don't get me wrong -no personal insult- but I completely disagree with your review as concerns PQ:
It is a VERY ordinary transfer. The BD obviously derives from a dated HD master with fake sharpness created by a more than healthy amount of edge enhancement. The picture appears to be heavily grain-reduced and filtered, although not as pervertedly digitally processed as the FOX stinkers "Patton" and "The Longest Day".
Not a disaster, but no recommendation for purists and people who like the film-like look.
In addition to that, I noticed for the first time Sony using the paranoid BD-plus "non-feature" with minutes of loading time on my Sony S1.
Something tells me that almost each BR release and review is going to be debated with disagreements about the PQ. Personally, I noticed the picture not having a lot of fine film grain, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the disc. We have to strive for the best presentation on BR, but I have to wonder if purists will ever be really happy with most of these presentations?
Right, personally I will never ever be happy with THESE kinds of presentations...
But there were examples of the "perfect" high definition transfer in the early days of HD DVD and Blu-ray:
"Bullitt", "The Getaway", "Blazing Saddles", "That's Entertainment Box Set", "The Chronicles of Riddick", "The Searchers", "Forbidden Planet", "Serenity", "The Last Samurai".....
But these are "used-to-bees". The majority of transfers that we get right now are pure digitally manipulated shit. (pardon my language)
The incapable product managers of the major studios are going to kill the format Blu-ray for the serious film lovers and cineasts with their excessive grain-elimination,wax-figures presentations.
No offense taken! I did mention the lack of grain, but I had no other version (not even the LD) to compare it with, so it was not apparent to me whether any significant digital processing had been done. Usually with older films I have an earlier version to compare it with, but not in this case.