UHD Review Total Recall: 30th Anniversary UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

Got mine as well today. Didn’t watch it though. I don’t seem to be quite as consumed by this movie as some others. A couple episodes of GoT was more interesting to me.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Thanks Sam. I haven't seen it in a while so I went ahead and ordered.

 

[Carlo_M]

12 minutes in and I'm going to say it: unless the transfer makes a hard left turn up ahead, I do not see what all the picture quality criticism was all about. Any issues I've seen were attributable to, as Sam points out, soft focus or soft shots inherent to the original film.

If I'm grading the picture quality in comparison to, say, Dunkirk 4K. Then yeah it won't compare. But this is the best Total Recall has looked, and likely will ever look, and I don't mean that in an apologist way. I mean it's IMO actually a good transfer. Again, unless it makes a hard left turn, the first 12 minutes look great to me.

One thing to note. We here (and RAH especially) have noted that HDR application can be ... spotty and inconsistent. When I first popped in the film and had the black/red opening credits, my first thought was "oh boy, black levels suck."

And then I remembered the last 4K I watched was Unforgiven, which had HDR poorly applied, and for which on my Sony XBR900F I had to bump Gamma up from 0 to 1, and Black Level from 50 to 55 in order to not have it be a black-crush mess. That, and a few other HDR discs, have been known to have bad black level settings that can be somewhat mitigated by altering your display's settings.

I set the gamma back to 0 and the BL to 50 and restarted the film. Bingo. They had the HDR settings correct (or at least more correct than Unforgiven). So "flatlining" my picture settings on my TV (which is DV compatible, along with my Oppo player) really does this transfer justice.

I am going back to the movie and will update if I find the transfer degrades in further sections of the film.

I will air one gripe: the opening studio logo into to the disc is way to f'n loud. Not the studio logo intro to the film, the first one when you pop in the disc before you get to a menu. It's like 10db louder than the actual film soundtrack. I had to back it way off for fear that I was waking the neighbors. Then I had to turn it way back up when the film began because of the volume disparity.

 

[B-ROLL]

I will air one gripe: the opening studio logo into to the disc is way to f'n loud. Not the studio logo intro to the film, the first one when you pop in the disc before you get to a menu. It's like 10db louder than the actual film soundtrack. I had to back it way off for fear that I was waking the neighbors. Then I had to turn it way back up when the film began because of the volume disparity.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Just got it ten minutes before they closed down curbside. It certainly looks like a steelcase from the outside of the packaging.

and it does have the claim of only at Best Buy steel book sticker on the outside.

But Nelson bought from Amazon. So his and mine are not steelcase.

 

[Carlo_M]

But Nelson bought from Amazon. So his and mine are not steelcase.

Apologies I kind of got lost in the thread of comments. I thought you were indicating that BB advertised a Steelbook but wasn't delivering on it's advertisement.

It does indeed seem like the Steelcase is a BB exclusive, and costs more, so if you purchased from another retailer sadly it will not be a Steelcase. Before you return it (if you decide to) note that the Steelcases are now really hard to find. I will say I got antsy because in the 4-5 hours it took my store to locate and process my order for the last one in my immediate area, the 4-5 other Best Buys within 15 miles of me all went out-of-stock on it. So clearly this movie still has some rabid fans that are snapping up the few Steelcases that are out there.

It is still available via their website though, and may be at a local store depending on where you live.

 

[JoshZ]

I will air one gripe: the opening studio logo into to the disc is way to f'n loud. Not the studio logo intro to the film, the first one when you pop in the disc before you get to a menu. It's like 10db louder than the actual film soundtrack. I had to back it way off for fear that I was waking the neighbors. Then I had to turn it way back up when the film began because of the volume disparity.

The 4K remaster and disc encoding were done by Studio Canal and licensed to Lionsgate, which just distributes the title in North America. The obscenely loud menus and studio logos have been a recurring problem on Studio Canal discs for at least a decade. (I first experienced it on the Blu-ray for Contempt.) I believe I measured them to be 20dB louder than the movie on some titles. As a result of this, I've made it a habit to mute my receiver's volume before loading any Studio Canal disc and only unmute it when the movie starts.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Carlo, Johnny, yes, I opened the Amazon box and the Total Recall 4K disc is not a steel case. I thought it was because the image of the case on Amazon’s site has rounded corners and looked like a steel case. . Now that I did some searching for the steel case on the web and Best Buy’s site, I kind of want one! I see on the Best Buy app, it’s not available to ship, only at store or curbside pick up. I don‘t usually want every steel case but when there is a special occasion, for me anyway, then like Carlo, it’s worth the trouble and cost. I won’t go too much out of my way, but if I can get one, I’ll try. If not that’s OK.

By the way, I also got the remake with Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale. It was cheap, $9. I was always curious to see it. As I said, I tuned into the middle of it while on a business trip in the hotel room on a movie channel, but I avoided the ending in case I wanted to see the whole thing.

 

[cda1143]

12 minutes in and I'm going to say it: unless the transfer makes a hard left turn up ahead, I do not see what all the picture quality criticism was all about. Any issues I've seen were attributable to, as Sam points out, soft focus or soft shots inherent to the original film.

If I'm grading the picture quality in comparison to, say, Dunkirk 4K. Then yeah it won't compare. But this is the best Total Recall has looked, and likely will ever look, and I don't mean that in an apologist way. I mean it's IMO actually a good transfer..

I will air one gripe: the opening studio logo into to the disc is way to f'n loud.

Right on the money Carlo. I couldn’t agree more.

 

[Sam Posten]

Bunch of the extras got put on the web. Thanks @Adam Gregorich for the heads up!

 

[Dave Moritz]

Picked up Total Recall on 4K today so I can check that off my list.

 

[Nelson Au]

Ha, ha, I have that round tin DVD edition of Total Recall too! My old blu ray copy is the Mind Bending Edition from 2012.

 

[Carlo_M]

Okay, major gripe update.

First, the disc isn't programmed to allow your player to remember where you left off. That in and of itself is fine, quite a few discs are like that. What is the bummer? Oh yeah, you have to select the language again upon restart and get your ears blown off again by Studio Canal's stupid 20db louder logo. (which you can't FF past)

Oh yeah, I guess to cut costs on authoring slightly different versions for regions, French is the first choice, USA is the last. Which, whatever, I'm not about 'murica first. But...if you choose the wrong country by accident, you have to go and re-do the selection and get your ears blown off again by Studio Canal's stupid 20db louder logo. (which you can't FF past)

So now I just keep the volume muted until I start the film. And apparently will do so for any of their discs that I own.

 

[Carlo_M]

To wrap my thoughts up: I finished the film and it never takes a turn for the worse. The final shot is soft, but I believe this to be representative of the original film as opposed to any issue with the transfer.

I doubt this looked this good in theaters. Because of all the issues of film projection (cigarette burn markers, varying qualities of projectors, whether a theater chain cared enough to make sure the projector lamps were replaced at appropriate intervals, etc.) this 4K answers the question "what's the best possible reproduction of the original version of this film?".

Which makes the Studio Canal +20db opening logo issue all the more frustrating, because everything else is fan-freakin-tastic. I'm watching the Carolco hour-long doc, which is finally answering the question I've had in the back of my mind "whatever happened to Carolco?". Growing up as a child of the 80s, and in college in the 90s, Carolco seemed to be responsible for many of my favorite films growing up.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Okay, major gripe update.

First, the disc isn't programmed to allow your player to remember where you left off. That in and of itself is fine, quite a few discs are like that. What is the bummer? Oh yeah, you have to select the language again upon restart and get your ears blown off again by Studio Canal's stupid 20db louder logo. (which you can't FF past)

Oh yeah, I guess to cut costs on authoring slightly different versions for regions, French is the first choice, USA is the last. Which, whatever, I'm not about 'murica first. But...if you choose the wrong country by accident, you have to go and re-do the selection and get your ears blown off again by Studio Canal's stupid 20db louder logo. (which you can't FF past)

So now I just keep the volume muted until I start the film. And apparently will do so for any of their discs that I own.

Oh jeez, I watched the first third or so last night, and I’ve got this crap to look forward to? Studio execs who make this kind of decision have no respect for their customers. They should be taken out and...and...I don’t know, forced to walk 25 miles with a sign hung around their necks that says “I don’t allow auto-resume. I’m a bad person.”

I noticed last night that I’m not enjoying TR as much as I remember. You can see Arnold acting, and that’s not a good thing.

 

[Worth]

...I doubt this looked this good in theaters...

It didn't. I don't claim to remember exactly what it looked like after thirty years, but I remember thinking it had a very flat look.

 

[Carlo_M]

Haha I had the opposite effect. I’m enjoying it more. But hey, such is life.

til: Jerry Goldsmith did the opening score for the Carolco logo. Very cool. And now this documentary makes me want to get the Rambo movies in 4K. At least the first 2. Maybe 3.

for those who care about such things, the Carolco doc may be the hidden gem of this disc.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Haha I had the opposite effect. I’m enjoying it more. But hey, such is life.

til: Jerry Goldsmith did the opening score for the Carolco logo. Very cool. And now this documentary makes me want to get the Rambo movies in 4K. At least the first 2. Maybe 3.

for those who care about such things, the Carolco doc may be the hidden gem of this disc.

To each his own. I’m not hating it, it’s just not living up to my expectations.

 

[Carlo_M]

And to be brutally honest: me liking it, and me claiming it's a great film are often two distinctly different things. I definitely enjoyed it much more (it's been probably 15 years since I last saw it). But I also recognize this may fall squarely in the "guilty pleasure" category for me, like Big Trouble in Little China.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

But I also recognize this may fall squarely in the "guilty pleasure" category for me, like Big Trouble in Little China.

No need to be insulting to Total Recall, a genuine thought provoking action blockbuster.

I'm looking forward to watching this disc, whenever my copy shows up.