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Criterion Goes Blu!!! - Page 81

post #2401 of 2452
12/2/12 at 9:16pm
Interesting that just the dream sequence shot is so grainy (in the other shots, Criterion and Universal seem to have equivalent detail and vary only in color). Taking a look at the DVD screencaps, it looks like that dream sequence was the only scene that showed heavy grain even at standard def on all releases. This leaves me wondering if Universal DNR'd an optical for these shots to match the grain level of the rest of the film, or could it really be all just a contrast difference? Frankly I was never going to buy the Universal one anyway though--wrong cut--so the Criterion is looking good to me. I prefer Criterion's color in most cases too, even without a reference. All the artificial lighting should push everything closer to the harsh & pasty end of the spectrum IMO.
Edited by CatBus - 12/3/12 at 1:25am
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post #2402 of 2452
12/3/12 at 4:51pm
Maybe I am reading it wrong but it seems the following review is saying the Criterion Brazil is not a new scan:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Brazil-Blu-ray/39343/#Review
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post #2403 of 2452
12/3/12 at 5:09pm
How many Universal Criterions are new scans? like 2?
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post #2404 of 2452
12/4/12 at 6:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wuther View Post

Maybe I am reading it wrong but it seems the following review is saying the Criterion Brazil is not a new scan:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Brazil-Blu-ray/39343/#Review
It's definitely not, it's the same one as for their DVD set from 2006, also used on the Fox BDs. To my eyes the Universal master looks like the newer of the two.
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post #2405 of 2452
12/4/12 at 11:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dvdmike007 View Post

How many Universal Criterions are new scans? like 2?
In The Mood For Love was new. Any others? Not sure. Brazil certainly isn't.
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post #2406 of 2452
12/4/12 at 7:39pm
ITMFL, The Game, Being John Malkovich, Design for Living and Ride With the Devil were new. Traffic and Fear and Loathing were Universal masters. Dazed and Confused and Videodrome were the old masters from the Criterion DVDs. Brazil is probably the same master from the 2006 Criterion DVD (the anamorphic version). Quadrophenia has some major differences from the Universal BD (comparison here), so I guess it was new. I don't know what it says in the booklet.
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post #2407 of 2452
12/5/12 at 3:35pm
It seems like Criterion is using its name from the laserdisc days more than anything. They used to have the power and money to do all their own scans on the latest equipment and produce high quality documentaries. Now, it seems like we end up with either whatever HD masters the studios allow them to use, irrespective of quality, or Criterion is using out of date 2k or lower scanners in-house with all the problems associated with them. Criterion ought to cut deals with the various studios to share costs and have Laser Pacific use their top-of-the-line 6k and 8k scanners and transfer the original elements of the classics for posterity's sake. Then the studios pay Criterion to do the extras and release them. Work with Marty Scorsese and his film preservation board and the Library of Congress.

Nowadays, the majors feel like classics and catalog titles won't sell in large enough batches to bother, but we still need them lovingly restored with the best equipment and restoration software or they'll be lost to the ravages of time due to studio neglect.

Somebody's gotta do it.
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post #2408 of 2452
12/5/12 at 5:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Hitchman View Post

It seems like Criterion is using its name from the laserdisc days more than anything. They used to have the power and money to do all their own scans on the latest equipment and produce high quality documentaries. Now, it seems like we end up with either whatever HD masters the studios allow them to use, irrespective of quality, or Criterion is using out of date 2k or lower scanners in-house with all the problems associated with them. Criterion ought to cut deals with the various studios to share costs and have Laser Pacific use their top-of-the-line 6k and 8k scanners and transfer the original elements of the classics for posterity's sake. Then the studios pay Criterion to do the extras and release them. Work with Marty Scorsese and his film preservation board and the Library of Congress.
Nowadays, the majors feel like classics and catalog titles won't sell in large enough batches to bother, but we still need them lovingly restored with the best equipment and restoration software or they'll be lost to the ravages of time due to studio neglect.
Somebody's gotta do it.

You are exaggerating, Wages of Fear looks to be from an old dvd master to me. Catalog BD titles are, as they have been up to now, more of a mixed bag, sometimes poor, sometimes great, sometimes only ok. Some distributors that look hopeless can suddenly put out two near impressive pq in a row like StudioCanal with The Man in the White Suit & The Colditz Story, on the opposite coin a studio with a good run suddenly puts out a stinker or two.
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post #2409 of 2452
12/6/12 at 11:44am
Anyone get The Following yet? I hope if does not look like what I just saw in motion
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post #2410 of 2452
12/6/12 at 12:47pm
Why? Basing any opinions on a torrent is ludicrous. I have the BD of Mulholland Dr. and for kicks compared it to the 13GB torrent. 13GB mind you, not a mere 2, 4 or 8.

And the differences were obvious. Did the torrent looks better than the DVD? Hell yes. Better than broadcast HD. Yup. But it fell apart switching between it and the actual Blu-Ray it was ripped from.

Death to torrents.
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post #2411 of 2452
12/6/12 at 12:54pm
That's why I asked,I did not make a single definite statement.
Plus torrents? Is this 1999? Did I say I downloaded it?
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post #2412 of 2452
12/6/12 at 4:05pm
We will all find out in about a week.

UPDATE: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Following-Blu-ray/55340/#Review

That is a hell of a good review of the Criterion release.
Edited by Matt_Stevens - 12/6/12 at 5:26pm
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post #2413 of 2452
12/6/12 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dvdmike007 View Post

Anyone get The Following yet? I hope if does not look like what I just saw in motion
Not sure what you saw and haven't seen it myself yet. But Nolan supervised a new 4K scan of the 16mm negative and is apparently thrilled with the Criterion BD:

"I actually spent almost two years restoring the thing which makes me feel very old. But we had never been able to get it looking the way it was intended to and the way it did on its very first 16mm prints which screened at the San Francisco and Toronto film festival. So we ended up with a 35mm blow-up, but I was never happy with it. I was never able to finish it quite right so we spent a couple of years on it. I got the Criterion guys involved and IFC did it with me and Criterion got a really beautiful Blu-ray. I know it sounds like I’m selling my Blu-Ray, but I really want people to take a look at it because it is beautiful and it was really fun to be able to strike some 35mm prints that look the way they’re meant to. We screened that at IFC it was really good." Source
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post #2414 of 2452
12/7/12 at 5:09am
Two or more torrents have already hit the net. That amazes me. The BD isn't even out yet. Such a shame. Especially since the kind of grain inherent to 16mm will just re-compress into a mess of mush.

The review (link posted earlier) is ga-ga over how good it looks and knowing it was transferred at Cinelicious, a company that understands DNR and EE can result in an ugly mess, I know we are in for a treat.

EDIT: DVDBeaver has their input up. No comparison to the old DVD since they couldn't find it.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_reviews_58/following_blu-ray.htm

Now this is how B&W 16mm should look.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_reviews_58/following_blu-ray_/large/large_following_blu-ray_09.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film4/blu-ray_reviews_58/following_blu-ray_/large/large_following_blu-ray_01.jpg
Edited by Matt_Stevens - 12/7/12 at 5:42am
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post #2415 of 2452
12/7/12 at 7:53am
From the caps at blu-ray.com it seems like there's a myriad of digital noise overlaying the image (not so on the Beaver caps, but usually they're not very accurate.)

Actually, the majority of BD.com caps for Criterion titles have been looking like they have too much digital noise from compression. Since I don't own most of them, I don't know if they're from the disc or a result of the capture method.
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post #2416 of 2452
12/7/12 at 11:46am
We are using beaver reviews as a benchmark now, lol
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post #2417 of 2452
12/10/12 at 1:44am
Here's an interesting article on Criterion cover design.

The Man Who Knew Too Much: In-House Design at The Criterion Collection
http://www.aiga.org/the-man-who-knew-too-much/
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post #2418 of 2452
12/10/12 at 11:54am
http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?art=part&x=414&y=258&action=1&image=6&cID=1402&cap1=16778&cap2=16766&lossless=#vergleich
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post #2419 of 2452
12/10/12 at 8:13pm
Good gravy. That DVD looks VHS in comparison. Talk about shocking.
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post #2420 of 2452
12/11/12 at 4:10am
Night and Day that one
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post #2421 of 2452
12/11/12 at 10:58am
I'm a little curious about the Qatsi Trilogy has anyone had a chance to preview this set? The new Bluray set looks quite impressive! I saw the original quite some time ago and just being mesmerized!
Edited by Robin howarth - 12/11/12 at 11:03am
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post #2422 of 2452
12/11/12 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin howarth View Post

I'm a little curious about the Qatsi Trilogy has anyone had a chance to preview this set? The new Bluray set looks quite impressive! I saw the original quite some time ago and just being mesmerized!

I've seen all 3 on DVD and was unimpressed with PQ. Unless these are fully restored and new transfers I'd expect to be underwhelmed by PQ.
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post #2423 of 2452
12/11/12 at 1:34pm
FOLLOWING has shipped biggrin.gif
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post #2424 of 2452
12/11/12 at 3:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt_Stevens View Post

FOLLOWING has shipped biggrin.gif

Have you seen it before? If so: any good?

Thanks,
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post #2425 of 2452
12/12/12 at 7:13am
Yes, it's one of the best directorial debuts I have ever seen. it came out the same year as Pi and I think of them as equally impressive. They are wildly different films and all they have in common is B&W 16mm photography and a first time director. That and they are both terrific.

FOLLOWING is short at only 70 minutes but tells an intriguing tale. It might be for everyone, but it was and is my cup of tea.
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post #2426 of 2452
12/12/12 at 1:29pm
I really would not go that far, its nice and has some flashes of cool ideas but never fully comes together
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post #2427 of 2452
12/13/12 at 7:37am
To each their own. Personally, I rarely buy something without having first seen it.
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post #2428 of 2452
12/15/12 at 4:30am
http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?cID=1420#auswahl
#
Fox Criterion

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/multi_comparison.php?art=part&x=375&y=208&action=1&image=4&hd_multiID=34&cap1=517&cap2=17158&disc1=53&disc2=1833&lossless=#vergleich

Universal Criterion
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post #2429 of 2452
12/17/12 at 1:14pm













Yes Badlands!!!!! Ugh that art!
How can the blob be that good, and badlands that bad!
I get the feeling zodiac is on the way next year also.

Badlands Extras:
Quote:
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Making “Badlands,” a new documentary featuring actors Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek and production designer Jack Fisk
New interview with editor Billy Weber about director Terrence Malick’s unique approach to editing
New interview with producer Edward Pressman
Trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda

Edited by dvdmike007 - 12/17/12 at 3:54pm
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post #2430 of 2452
12/17/12 at 5:20pm
The Fox DE Brazil is identical in the caps to the Criterion version except it is in the correct OAR.

I look forward to the Blob, finally!
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