Your 10 favorite films ever (!) and their blu-ray/UHD releases. Are you happy with them? (1 Viewer)

[Douglas R]

I want to buy this. Did you notice any audio sync issues that have been reported by many?

Can't say I noticed them.

 

[TheMovieDude]

In 99% of cases the 4k UHD is an improvement over the existing Blu-Ray. It's just a matter of how much better. Sometimes it's negligible, other times it's a massive improvement depending on the transfer and whether or not Dolby Vision or HDR10 is added. But the real question is how much does this improve your "overall enjoyment" and appreciation of the film? Can that even be quantified or measured and how much is it worth spending to upgrade?

 

[Alan Tully]

I’m really happy with Blu-rays, & I don’t think my 74 year old eyes are 4K anymore. It’s when a film really needs a new scan/transfer (The Wild Bunch, Where Eagles Dare etc.) that I get interested - I do tend to buy the 4K/Blu-ray combo these days (instead of just the single Blu-ray)…not that I’m buying many discs these days, not a lot of catalogue releases that interest me (get with the program, Warner!) & don’t get me started on new movies!

 

[Konstantinos]

An addition as I just watched 1 hour of the UHD of Amadeus (one of my 10 favorite films in the first post).
Generally I'm very happy with it, although to tell you the truth the yellows in the night scenes mostly, did baffle me at first.
(especially that dance scene in the main titles sequence). But, I got used to it.
I had first seen Amadeus on TV, and then on DVD, and I'm sure it wasn't that yellow.
But anyway, I guess this is what it looked like in the theater. I hope..

 

[Camps]

Well, among my top 10 is The French Connection, and of course for their blu ray a few years ago the geniuses at new owner Disney thought it would make great sense to delete some politically incorrect dialogue.

 

[Indy Guy]

The newest of my top 10 is almost 40yrs old! Films released later than that have not been able to make the same kind of impression these films were able to have on me as a younger person building the foundations for adult life.
Now, I know too much about the workings of the world to be as captivated as I was when first experiencing these films.
Stars reflect the quality of the disc version

Listed in order of release;
*Bride of Frankenstein 4K ☆☆☆☆
*Wizard of Oz 3D ☆☆☆☆☆
*20,000 Leagues Under the Sea BR☆☆☆☆
*The Ten Commandments 4K ☆☆☆ The color timing is way into "desert orange" without equipment tweaking.
*7th Voyage of Sinbad BR Arrow ☆☆☆☆ Technical limitations of the stop motion process would need a yet to be invented process to improve the clarity and soft resolution of processed effects shots.
*Sleeping Beauty BR ☆☆☆☆ My ultimate candidate for 4K with its Technirama negative.
*Mary Poppins BR ☆☆☆+ Room for improvement.
*Camelot BR ☆☆1/2 This is a weak transfer with incorrect color tones sapping the splendor of the film's Oscar winning sets and costumes. Also, the BD sound recording is incorrect with both missing and added musical cues.
*Raiders of the Lost Ark 4K☆☆☆☆☆
*Big BR ☆☆☆☆ The extended version flushes out several characters and strengthens the emotional angst of Josh Baskin. Truly the best essay of what is missing from most corporate creativity.

 

[TravisR]

Well, among my top 10 is The French Connection, and of course for their blu ray a few years ago the geniuses at new owner Disney thought it would make great sense to delete some politically incorrect dialogue.

Don't blame Disney, it was William Friedkin.

 

[Konstantinos]

Well, among my top 10 is The French Connection, and of course for their blu ray a few years ago the geniuses at new owner Disney thought it would make great sense to delete some politically incorrect dialogue.

Wait a minute!
The blu-ray doesn't have deleted dialogue, does it?
I think the dialogue was deleted AFTER the last blu-ray release.
I have this one:

The French Connection Blu-ray (SteelBook) (United Kingdom)

The French Connection Blu-ray Release Date June 2, 2014 (Limited Edition | Remastered). Blu-ray reviews, news, specs, ratings, screenshots. Cheap Blu-ray movies and deals.

www.blu-ray.com

 

[Camps]

Don't blame Disney, it was William Friedkin.

The provenance of this decision is indeed murky. The line that it was actually Friedkin's decision (counterintuitively, to put it mildly) seems to have come from this Criterion statement (since the edited version streamed on Criterion Channel):

“THE FRENCH CONNECTION is a 20th Century Fox film title that we have under license from Disney, its current owners. This is the only version that has ever been available to us for streaming. The question you raise has come up when we have played the film in the past, and according to our licensor, this is a “Director's Edit” of the film.”

I can't find any corroboration from Friedkin or any close confidant, and indeed he was certainly ailing by the time of this hitting the news, and was gone (in August 2023) shortly thereafter. So I take the response that it was his decision with a grain of salt. In fact the blowback to this decision plus the silence on whose decision this was (among living persons, that is) just underscores the old saying that "Victory has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan"....

 

[Camps]

Wait a minute!
The blu-ray doesn't have deleted dialogue, does it?
I think the dialogue was deleted AFTER the last blu-ray release.
I have this one:

The French Connection Blu-ray (SteelBook) (United Kingdom)

The French Connection Blu-ray Release Date June 2, 2014 (Limited Edition | Remastered). Blu-ray reviews, news, specs, ratings, screenshots. Cheap Blu-ray movies and deals.

www.blu-ray.com

Apologies, it was HD streaming versions (including Amazon and Criterion Channel -- see my note above).

 

[Robert Crawford]

Disney is the easy target to blame but I think Friedkin deleted that line of dialogue.

 

[TravisR]

The provenance of this decision is indeed murky. The line that it was actually Friedkin's decision (counterintuitively, to put it mildly) seems to have come from this Criterion statement (since the edited version streamed on Criterion Channel):

“THE FRENCH CONNECTION is a 20th Century Fox film title that we have under license from Disney, its current owners. This is the only version that has ever been available to us for streaming. The question you raise has come up when we have played the film in the past, and according to our licensor, this is a “Director's Edit” of the film.”

I can't find any corroboration from Friedkin or any close confidant, and indeed he was certainly ailing by the time of this hitting the news, and was gone (in August 2023) shortly thereafter. So I take the response that it was his decision with a grain of salt. In fact the blowback to this decision plus the silence on whose decision this was (among living persons, that is) just underscores the old saying that "Victory has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan"....

I have no evidence (so take my thoughts for what they're worth) but Friedkin had no problem going back and making changes to his movies and I'm not aware of any other Fox movie that Disney has made similar edits on. That means that this was either Disney's first time doing it and the reaction was negative enough that they changed their mind on editing any more movies or Friedkin just made another change. It's much easier to believe that Friedkin made another change than that Disney backed off.

 

[Camps]

I have no evidence (so take my thoughts for what they're worth) but Friedkin had no problem going back and making changes to his movies and I'm not aware of any other Fox movie that Disney has made similar edits on. That means that this was either Disney's first time doing it and the reaction was negative enough that they changed their mind on editing any more movies or Friedkin just made another change. It's much easier to believe that Friedkin made another change than Disney backing off and risk being branded as racist by the internet for "un-editing" movies.

Fair point. Alas, unless Friedkin's widow Sherry Lansing imparts some insights, we'll never know for sure ....

 

[Robert Crawford]

Fair point. Alas, unless Friedkin's widow Sherry Lansing imparts some insights, we'll never know for sure ....

I know for sure.

 

[Konstantinos]

So, if the film is released in 4k it will be the censored version?
If yes, no thanks! I'll stick to my blu-ray!

 

[Robert Crawford]

So, if the film is released in 4k it will be the censored version?
If yes, no thanks! I'll stick to my blu-ray!

Who knows? I think a new 4K scan might occur with the last physical media release about 13-14 years ago.

 

[tenia]

Top 10 :
#1 : Sunset Blvd. Happy with the BD, but the master is getting old.
#2 : 12 Angry Men. I'm sticking with the Criterion BD so far, waiting for a release that combines the new better 4K master with a non-filtered soundtrack.
#3 : Early Summer. Very happy with the 4K restoration, available on BD only.
#4 : Persona. Happy with the Criterion BD(s).
#5 : Once Upon A Time In The West. Currently sticking with the Paramount BD, which is aging poorly, but the 4K restoration isn't good enough to me.
#6 : The Godfather. Fine enough with the UHD.
#7 : A Woman Under The Influence. Currently keeping the Criterion DVD boxset for sentimental value, but have bought the BFI (UK) BD. The movie definitely needs a new remaster.
#8 : Goodfellas. Currently sticking with the 2015 BD.
#9 : Mulholland Dr. I had the French 2-DVD set, then the Criterion BD, then the Studio Canal BD, and will soon upgrade to the UHD. I do think the movie has been lavishly remastered over the years, and that its current presentation is very good.
#10 : The Tree of Life. Have the French BD (for extras) and the Criterion BD, which I think is very fine for what it is, but it'd most likely would warrant a UHD release.

 

[Konstantinos]

#5 : Once Upon A Time In The West. Currently sticking with the Paramount BD, which is aging poorly, but the 4K restoration isn't good enough to me.

I'm curious, what is the problem with the 4k restoration?

#6 : The Godfather. Fine enough with the UHD.

IIRC there was some controversy about the UHDs of the Godfathers?
I have stuck to my blu-rays.

#8 : Goodfellas. Currently sticking with the 2015 BD

Yeah, I would like to buy this film too, but the 2015 BD doesn't seem too good to me, and I don't want the new restoration either where they have "fixed" things and the colors also seem somewhat weird.
By the way, the 2015 BD is the same with the 2007 BD, but they have just added a lossless audio track?

EDIT: I guess I was wrong about that: The 2015 BD is different than the older BD:

GoodFellas • US 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray vs. US 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

as it seems here in a comparison of the UHD to the 2015 BD the latter doesn't have the "fixes", right? (eg look at the car down in the screenshot which vanishes in the UHD)

GoodFellas • DE Ultra HD Blu-ray vs. US 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray

caps-a-holic.com

#2 : 12 Angry Men. I'm sticking with the Criterion BD so far, waiting for a release that combines the new better 4K master with a non-filtered soundtrack.

The Criterion BD doesn't have filtered soundtrack?
I have the Kino UHD, but I didn't notice anything. I guess I would notice it in a direct comparison though..

 

[tenia]

Once Upon A Time In The West 4K restoration is noticeably filtered (and on top of that, the most commonly available UHD only has been given a sub-par encode by Paramount).

For The Godfather : I don't believe the UHD releases to be as good as they could have been, but it was a fine enough upgrade, that I managed to get at a quite discounted price, and I'm happy with the additional cuts included for Godfather 3. All in all, that's why I wrote it's fine enough.

There was a controversy regarding Goodfellas' UHD, which in the end might have boiled down to a dubious implementation of HDR. I bought the 2015 BD back then, and this issue made me not upgrade (at least not yet) to UHD, though it might be worth for me to have a new look at it.
IIRC, the 2015 BD uses the 4K remaster of the movie that served as a basis for the 2016 UHD.

The Criterion BD of 12 Angry Men doesn't sound that bad though it's already quite filtered, but the Kino UHD is even worse in this department. Since I'm OK so far with the Criterion BD (because those aren't cheap to upgrade), and that I tend to think the movie will be upgraded to 4K closer to me (France), I chose not to buy the Kino UHD, at least not for the moment. There's a German UHD upcoming, I'll see how it fares.