UHD New Releases, Reissues and Upgrades

[therewillbeblus]

I am posting here what I posted earlier under Shout! label, with the hope that someone is more likely to notice it here:
No one seems to have reviewed the 4K "Aguirre the Wrath of God" Issued by Shout! Factory. Does it look better than the bfi Blu Ray from their Herzog box? Is the Blu Ray included with the 4K the same as what was in the Shout! Herzog box, or is it different? Do we think the bfi will follow with their own4K version? I am surprised that this was completely ignored.

I can't compare, but from sampling my disc the level of detail looks incredible. Looking forward to nicolas et al's thoughts

[Finch]

A BR member mentioned that the Shout 4K does not have the German title card, only the English one.

[tenia]

Screencaps for Aguirre are available : https://slow.pics/c/2fkeLWPz

[rberrios15]

Question about Drive (2011). Looked through the archive and seems like the Sony might not be as good as the Second Sight but curious if anyone has seen both and been able to compare?

[rrenault]

Screencaps for Aguirre are available : https://slow.pics/c/2fkeLWPz

It's definitely a significant upgrade, although the color grading is a bit different, but I'll probably wait for either a BFI 4K or a digital 4K option on US iTunes.

[M-A]

Chroma noise is a bit rough (e.g. look at the hand on cap 3) and it doesn't have the original German opening titles (only the English translated ones). Maybe BFI will put out a superior disc.

[rrenault]

Regarding original German titles, the language of the credits tends to vary for some of Wenders’ films depending on the territory you’re in, but this doesn’t seem to be as much an issue for him. I was just curious.

[nicolas]

Regarding original German titles, the language of the credits tends to vary for some of Wenders’ films depending on the territory you’re in, but this doesn’t seem to be as much an issue for him. I was just curious.

Wenders? I suppose you mean Herzog. I don't think any of these new restorations matter to him as they aren't advertised as having been supervised by him (neither were the old masters as far as I can remember).

[Finch]

Requiem for a Vampire (Indicator)

[rrenault]

Regarding original German titles, the language of the credits tends to vary for some of Wenders’ films depending on the territory you’re in, but this doesn’t seem to be as much an issue for him. I was just curious.

Wenders? I suppose you mean Herzog. I don't think any of these new restorations matter to him as they aren't advertised as having been supervised by him (neither were the old masters as far as I can remember).

No no. I was talking about Wenders in reference to how the credits for Wings of Desire are in English on the Criterion release but in French on the Carlotta.

[eerik]

Wallace & Gromit: The Collection (BBC UK)

Lazy upscales with no HDR grading. Completely unnecessary release. Included standard Blu-ray seems to be a reprint of previous release, so at least you also get the untinkered versions.

[dwk]

There are reports that Scream Factory's Silent Night, Deadly Night UHD is region locked.

[MichaelB]

I am posting here what I posted earlier under Shout! label, with the hope that someone is more likely to notice it here:
No one seems to have reviewed the 4K "Aguirre the Wrath of God" Issued by Shout! Factory. Does it look better than the bfi Blu Ray from their Herzog box? Is the Blu Ray included with the 4K the same as what was in the Shout! Herzog box, or is it different? Do we think the bfi will follow with their own4K version? I am surprised that this was completely ignored.

A quick history lesson: at some point in the late 1990s, the British Film Institute took the deeply absurd decision to style themselves "the bfi" in all official communications, the italics being part of the intended effect. This was widely mocked, even to the extent of being cited in a book (R.L. Trask's Mind the Gaffe: The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English) as an example of something "pretentious, irritating and entirely unnecessary", a passage that was gleefully photocopied and stuck up on noticeboards all across the BFI.

Worse, this coincided with the rise of email as a major medium for both internal and external communication, and early email systems couldn't handle italics - so the irritatingly wanky "the bfi" became the utterly blah "the bfi", as though the organisation was so insignificant that it didn't even merit capital letters. And of course because emails from within the BFI didn't – couldn't! – use italics, people not unreasonably assumed that "the bfi" was the official form, and so started copying that, misguidedly thinking that they were doing this out of respect.

So it's no surprise that when the BFI underwent top-to-bottom rebranding in 2006, which included an all-staff survey as to what should be changed, the vote for reverting to "the BFI" was utterly overwhelming, and this duly happened with pretty much immediate effect. (Full disclosure: I played a not insignificant internal role in this myself.)

And yet people still use the pretentious version - and, worse, the erroneous form of the pretentious version - to this day. Which I daresay is a testament to just how annoyingly memorable it was, but I wish they'd stop.

[bugsy_pal]

I am posting here what I posted earlier under Shout! label, with the hope that someone is more likely to notice it here:
No one seems to have reviewed the 4K "Aguirre the Wrath of God" Issued by Shout! Factory. Does it look better than the bfi Blu Ray from their Herzog box? Is the Blu Ray included with the 4K the same as what was in the Shout! Herzog box, or is it different? Do we think the bfi will follow with their own4K version? I am surprised that this was completely ignored.

A quick history lesson: at some point in the late 1990s, the British Film Institute took the deeply absurd decision to style themselves "the bfi" in all official communications, the italics being part of the intended effect. This was widely mocked, even to the extent of being cited in a book (R.L. Trask's Mind the Gaffe: The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English) as an example of something "pretentious, irritating and entirely unnecessary", a passage that was gleefully photocopied and stuck up on noticeboards all across the BFI.

Worse, this coincided with the rise of email as a major medium for both internal and external communication, and early email systems couldn't handle italics - so the irritatingly wanky "the bfi" became the utterly blah "the bfi", as though the organisation was so insignificant that it didn't even merit capital letters. And of course because emails from within the BFI didn't – couldn't! – use italics, people not unreasonably assumed that "the bfi" was the official form, and so started copying that, misguidedly thinking that they were doing this out of respect.

So it's no surprise that when the BFI underwent top-to-bottom rebranding in 2006, which included an all-staff survey as to what should be changed, the vote for reverting to "the BFI" was utterly overwhelming, and this duly happened with pretty much immediate effect. (Full disclosure: I played a not insignificant internal role in this myself.)

And yet people still use the pretentious version - and, worse, the erroneous form of the pretentious version - to this day. Which I daresay is a testament to just how annoyingly memorable it was, but I wish they'd stop.

I used to quite like the old BFI logo with the "bfi" in italics inside a circle - from a design perspective, it was quite pleasing. It didn't of course include "the" in the branding.

I think their current logo is superior, and has the advantage of using the caps.

[nicolas]

Red category: Paris, Texas (Curzon & Carlotta FR), From Beyond (88 Films)
Blue category: Paris, Texas (Criterion)

The Good, The Bad, The Weird (Arrow) is disappointing. There’s no way around it - this should’ve been a knock-out release with a brand new master. Sadly Arrow received the old 2K DI (their booklet claims it’s a 4K SDR master - definitely not) with all sorts of unfortunate digital tinkering baked in, such as grain management and sharpening. Yes, FiM did the encode and thankfully so as the strong encoding prevents the flaws from being enhanced further but all the above won’t go away. Grain is inconsistent, thick and magnetic when present and textures are HD at the maximum.

FiM also did a HDR/DV grade and, while gentle, I don’t think that even this gentle touch-up is beneficial for the master as it’s so clearly locked in the HD realm without particularly spectacular dynamic range.

I love Arrow with all my heart but this master shouldn’t have been put out in 4K.

Bonus features include a 25-minute interview with Kim Jee-won, which is nice but all in all with this master, I don’t think this edition is one to write home about and, as sad as that is, Arrow’s least "necessary" 4K upgrade that comes to my mind right now.

[Finch]

Urgh I had sold my Korean BD. But good to know that I can replace it with the Arrow BD at least when the regular edition is available.

[nicolas]

Urgh I had sold my Korean BD. But good to know that I can replace it with the Arrow BD at least when the regular edition is available.

That should’ve been the only way for Arrow to do it in the first place. I’m puzzled why this master wasn’t flagged as ancient and not 4K-worthy.

[kekid]

Red category: Paris, Texas (Curzon & Carlotta FR), From Beyond (88 Films)
Blue category: Paris, Texas (Criterion)

Is the Blu Ray in the Criterion set the same as the Blu Ray they had previously released?

[Yakushima]

Red category: From Beyond (88 Films)

Nicolas, how does this new edition measure against Vinegar Syndrome's From Beyond 4K UHD (currently placed in the blue tier)? Thank you!

[nicolas]

Red category: Paris, Texas (Curzon & Carlotta FR), From Beyond (88 Films)
Blue category: Paris, Texas (Criterion)

Is the Blu Ray in the Criterion set the same as the Blu Ray they had previously released?

I don’t have the Paris Texas Criterion 4K but it is practically guaranteed. Criterion have that on their website: 1.66:1 (4K UHD); 1.78:1 (Blu-ray)

[nicolas]

Red category: From Beyond (88 Films)

Nicolas, how does this new edition measure against Vinegar Syndrome's From Beyond 4K UHD (currently placed in the blue tier)? Thank you!

I never got Vinegar Syndrome’s edition but hopefully someone on the other forum can compare. I only read so far that the VS encode turned out great, so the differences may be slim. What’s definitely exclusive to the 88 is a 4.0 LCRS audio mix that sounds great.

[nicolas]

StudioCanal Germany’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is poorly encoded with lots of macroblocking even though it’s a SDR master. It’s an ugly encode full of artifacts that shouldn’t be there. SC used the same scan and grade that’s on the Criterion.

In addition, there may be a potential audio pitch issue with the English 7.1 track. Compared to the German mix, the SC intro chime sounds noticeably brighter and "sped-up". In motion, I couldn’t see any sync issues but pitch may have been botched. —> I’m no audio expert and can’t tell otherwise. I’ve also never seen the film before, so this is all I can say <—

Criterion can’t do any worse than this, so better wait for their upgrade.

[Finch]

The Criterion FWWM 4K is bound to have Dolby Vision like Lost Highway and Blue Velvet did. Surprised that Studio Canal went with SDR only (for the German disc anyway, i don't know if the French are getting the same disc).

[nicolas]

The Criterion FWWM 4K is bound to have Dolby Vision like Lost Highway and Blue Velvet did. Surprised that Studio Canal went with SDR only (for the German disc anyway, i don't know if the French are getting the same disc).

Haven’t heard of a French 4K but I’ll be waiting for Criterion. I’ve only gotten the German Steelbook after Lost Highway surprisingly got a Fidelity encode. Hopefully Criterion’s doing a new scan and grade. While their BD encode is also garbage, they have the original 2.0 alongside better special features.

[Finch]

Added Kickboxer and Stir of Echoes to the OP, both Lionsgate. Note for the audio purists, neither disc has the original audio.

Universal's new Shaun of the Dead disc seems fine enough.

Also: The Blood on Satan's Claw (88 Films) 88 4K vs Odeon BD