UHD Review Superman 5-Film Collection UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Todd Erwin]

For many, Christopher Reeve is the one and only Superman, and Warner has included all of his films in their Superman 5-Film Collection boxed set.



Superman (1978)



Released: 15 Dec 1978
Rated: PG
Runtime: 143 min




Director: Richard Donner
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi



Cast: Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty
Writer(s): Jerry Siegel (character created by: Superman), Joe Shuster (character created by: Superman), Mario Puzo (story), Mario Puzo (screenplay), David Newman (screenplay), Leslie Newman (screenplay), Robert Benton (screenplay)



Plot: An alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest superhero.



IMDB rating: 7.3
MetaScore: 80





Disc...

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[Lord Dalek]

A load of missed opportunites and flat out screw-ups with this set. Embarassing.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Please summarize Lord the issues so that I my be spared reading all 4 (5!) reviews (threads). Thanks!

 

[Malcolm R]

Please summarize Lord the issues so that I my be spared reading all 4 (5!) reviews. Thanks!

Todd took hours to view and review them for us. You don't have a few minutes to skim/read them?

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Todd took hours to view and review them for us. You don't have a few minutes to skim/read them?

NO I don’t- Is that a problem? I want to know specifically the issues Lord has.
Todd discusses many issues that the Sakinds caused but I want to know specifically what Lord thinks is wrong with the set besides the first film’s lack of 7 track audio

 

[Lord Dalek]

Please summarize Lord the issues so that I my be spared reading all 4 (5!) reviews. Thanks!

- New transfer of S:TM reported by an "insider" not present

- 5.1 70mm mix on previous S:TM UHD removed for a vastly inferior 2.0.

- Richard Donner II is largely upscaled making its myriad of technical deficiencies more apparent.

- Superman II has pitch issues (which may have always been there)

- Superman IV has a weird Atmos remix with incorrect music cues.

That's about it.

 

[Sam Favate]

My copy arrived today. It’s an odd shaped box, with lots of wasted space. I get that the steelbooks can’t bump up against one another, but this is wider than it needs to be. I’m still hanging on to my Ultimate Collection DVD tin box set (most of which I replaced with Blu-rays).

Why can we never get a comprehensive box set? One that would include all the extras from prior releases, the first film’s three-hour cut, and so on?

 

[Todd Erwin]

Why can we never get a comprehensive box set? One that would include all the extras from prior releases, the first film’s three-hour cut, and so on?

I still have my DVD-18 of Superman: The Movie that includes the rather exhaustive Marc McClure-hosted documentary.

 

[Dave H]

- New transfer of S:TM reported by an "insider" not present

- 5.1 70mm mix on previous S:TM UHD removed for a vastly inferior 2.0.

- Richard Donner II is largely upscaled making its myriad of technical deficiencies more apparent.

- Superman II has pitch issues (which may have always been there)

- Superman IV has a weird Atmos remix with incorrect music cues.

That's about it.

Some of the screencaps of II I've seen seem to show some noticeable jaundice coloring on skintones. But II overall still looks like a nice improvement over the BD. The "insider" also claims he was told the more experienced colorist worked on III and IV, but not II which is rather puzzling if true.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Some of the screencaps of II I've seen seem to show some noticeable jaundice coloring on skintones. But II overall still looks like a nice improvement over the BD. The "insider" also claims he was told the more experienced colorist worked on III and IV, but not II which is rather puzzling if true.

Yeah I saw those. Caps-a-holic's colors are usually downsampled so I wouldn't say they're 100% accurate to HDR10.

 

[Dave H]

Yeah I saw those. Caps-a-holic's colors are usually downsampled so I wouldn't say they're 100% accurate to HDR10.

Agreed, but for image texture, detail, and color they are usually pretty good. The color issues were also noted by viewers of the disc on other forums.

I do think watching with your own eyes on your own set-up is what matters though.

Since I already own the 2018 disc, I just cannot justify the cost of the set especially since I'm mostly just interested in two films. $90 is a lot for that. Maybe by Black Friday it drops, or they get released individually at some point.

 

[Rob W]

Why can we never get a comprehensive box set? One that would include all the extras from prior releases, the first film’s three-hour cut, and so on?

For what it's worth, the three-hour cut ( which I despise ) is available with the Movies Anywhere file of the film included in the set.

And if you have the blu-ray of that cut, there is a fifth steelbook in the steelbook box which you could store it in. It's labelled "Superman Collectibles" but only contains a comic book and some cards. Only problem is there's no spindle for the disc.

 

[Sam Posten]

Please summarize Lord the issues so that I my be spared reading all 4 (5!) reviews. Thanks!

I say this as a moderator and not as a reviewer:
Reviewers are not here to dance for you or to spoon feed you. You can either accept that or not. Comments like this are rude no matter how you slice it. Get over yourself.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

- New transfer of S:TM reported by an "insider" not present

- 5.1 70mm mix on previous S:TM UHD removed for a vastly inferior 2.0.

- Richard Donner II is largely upscaled making its myriad of technical deficiencies more apparent.

- Superman II has pitch issues (which may have always been there)

- Superman IV has a weird Atmos remix with incorrect music cues.

That's about it.

Thanks Lord much appreciated!
Sounds disastrous especially if the S:TM transfer is inferior.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I say this as a moderator and not as a reviewer:
Reviewers are not here to dance for you or to spoon feed you. You can either accept that or not. Comments like this are rude no matter how you slice it. Get over yourself.

You misread my question to a member (who gave a one sentence summation of his take on all 5 discs) and not to a reviewer . The member was very nice and provided the details as we’ve talked before. .
And talk about rude at least I say please and thank you.
Next.

 

[Sam Posten]

You misread my question to a member (who gave a one sentence summation of his take on all 5 discs) and not to a reviewer . The member was very nice and provided the details as we’ve talked before. .
And talk about rude at least I say please and thank you.
Next.

Regardless of whom you were replying to you took the time to post in a thread about this topic to disparage the reviews. You aren’t worming out on a technicality

 

[Sam Favate]

I really hope Superman Returns doesn’t get lost. It’s obviously not included in this release, despite being a direct continuation of the Donner films. It deserves its own 4k release, and a steelbook too!

 

[JoshZ]

I really hope Superman Returns doesn’t get lost. It’s obviously not included in this release, despite being a direct continuation of the Donner films. It deserves its own 4k release, and a steelbook too!

I don't know what benefit Returns would have in 4K. The movie was shot in 1080p HDCAM, with a deliberately soft, filtered look attempting (and failing, IMO) to replicate the gauzy style of the original's photography. HDR wouldn't do anything for it either, as the movie was graded with flat contrast, elevated black levels, and drab colors.

It's a very ugly movie, forever limited by the poor decisions Bryan Singer made when making it.

 

[Dave H]

I don't know what benefit Returns would have in 4K. The movie was shot in 1080p HDCAM, with a deliberately soft, filtered look attempting (and failing, IMO) to replicate the gauzy style of the original's photography. HDR wouldn't do anything for it either, as the movie was graded with flat contrast, elevated black levels, and drab colors.

It's a very ugly movie, forever limited by the poor decisions Bryan Singer made when making it.

Yeah. I've not revisited the BD in ages (might have to soon now I think about it) but I recall reading the encoding was pretty rough on it.

 

[JoshZ]

Yeah. I've not revisited the BD in ages (might have to soon now I think about it) but I recall reading the encoding was pretty rough on it.

I do remember it having some pretty serious color banding. I'm sure that could be improved. But does that merit an upconverted 4K release, or would a new Blu-ray suffice?