THE CREATOR 4K UHD BLU-RAY REVIEW incl. HMV BRISTOL
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- čas přidán 18. 01. 2024
- Review of the new 4K UHD disc release of the 2023 movie The Creator. Very wide image aspect ratio of 2.78:1 with Dolby Atmos sound. Near hour long documentary on how this one was made is on the Blu-ray disc also included. I purchased this one from HMV in Bristol and so a look at this great store is included at the conclusion of this video.
- Krátké a kreslené filmy
*_I gotta say, it's damn important you show that physical stores still exist!_*
That's how I feel so I do what I can. Many people around the world comment that they wish they had something like HMV. They have just opened in Brussels I think so they're on the way back in a big way right now. John.
@moviecollector5920 not to horn in on the conversation, but I am one of those people. Every time I see a video with HMV I wish we had one here.
@@timothymathetes Today Brussels, tomorrow the world!
We have a nice one in ipswich not the biggest but still nice. @@moviecollector5920
I logged on just to say this! As well as visiting the Manchester store I always try and get my stuff online from HMV rather than simply defaulting to A*****.
I work at a hmv myself and physical media especially 4K seems to be doing good, plenty of collectors out there like myself and you! Great content mate love it!
Good to hear from you Lewis. I think you'll find HMV is getting increasing appreciation today. Hopefully enough of us have realized that we don't particularly want a world where just one retailer exists and delivers everything to your door. Keep up the good work. John.
If I have a choice of where to buy my 4k's from, I will always try to use HMV.
It's vitally important to support the only physical media retailer left on the UK high street.
Amazon and particularly Zavvi, don't care about or look after their customers (zero customer service interaction or availability) .
All HMV needs to do is introduce a music, or in the case, a film club. Charge a token fee to join, then reward members with 5% and then 10-15% discount dependant on spend - to reward loyalty/custom - you would clean-up!
Tech specs for anyone wondering:
- Main Camera body was the Sony FX3
- Lenses used were mainly the Kowa Cine Prominar and Atlas Mercury Lenses. I believe the atlas lens was the main one used for most of the shoot.
Thank you for clearing all that up cburg. John.
@@moviecollector5920 Actually, cinematographer Owen Soffer said that approximately 95% of the film was shot using Kowa Cine Prominar 75mm anamorphic lenses with a 2x squeeze. The Atlas Mercury and a few rehoused vintage spherical lenses were used for a handful of shots, but most of it was the Kowas. (Some of the shots using the Volume LED backdrops were shot using a Sony PXW-FX9 because the FX3 couldn't sync its refresh rates with the LEDs.) The combination of the 2x anamorphics and the image sensor in the FX3 actually yielded an aspect ratio of 3.55:1, which was cropped to the old Ultra Panavision 70 aspect ratio of 2.76:1. The film was finished at full width and the cropped sides were used as a part of the 270° ScreenX showings.
The FX3 can deliver usable images at up to 12,800 ISO, and they did a lot of very low-light shooting, so there's bound to be a little bit of noise from that, but less than you might think. On the other hand, they did also used custom LUTs based on a cheap one that Gareth Edwards had found online to give everything a Seventies feel. It's supposed to look gritty, and yes, they also wanted the anamorphic distortion at the edges of the frame that the Kowa lenses created. We'll have to disagree, but I think this UHD looks spectacular in terms of how it delivers the intended look for the film. It's easily one of my favorite discs from 2023, and one of my favorite films as well.
Amazing video as always John. The physical store is beautiful. Have a great day!
Morning José. We have these HMV stores all over the country which is quite amazing given how similar traders have disappeared all over the rest of the world. Only yesterday I was in the Newbury branch. Went it to get the latest Arrow Films release on 4K of CARRIE but they didn't have it so I ended up ordering it from them for home delivery. A review coming soon methinks. John.
Got my copy of this today. A very good, original sci-fi film. Great use of real world locations. Just goes to show you don't need a mega-budget to make a really good looking movie. 😊
Glad you enjoyed it Movie Peanut. It did still cost $80m though and I suspect the lion's share of that went on all the computer animation. John.
I really enjoyed The Creator a lot.
I think I'll like it a lot more now I've got over the disappointment of the image quality. I still rather like the film in spite of that though. John.
The video store was my fav part of your "Review"...I am jealous. 😃
It's nice to be able to include an HMV store every now and then Bob. The Bristol branch is another great one. John.
Saw The Creator on the bigscreen on its Theatrical run, I remember how epic it looked in the theatre 🎥 the 4k bluray really had a lot of grain and colours looked mute, shame that they only used a BD-66 for the 4k bluray release.
But what it lacked in Picture Quality it made up with the excellent dolby atmos sound very impressed with the sound mix, but most off all the bass was really dynamic 🔊💥🔊
enjoyed the movie 🎬 and welcomed into my 4k bluray collection.
Appreciate your review 💿👌
Another report of it in the cinema was that it was poor so it's possible we're all getting varying results from all this electronic equipment. I would have checked for something wrong with my system but I had to check another disc of HUNTER KILLER before and after watching THE CREATOR and that was so much better it could make you weap. The second copy of HUNTER KILLER also had the 4K fault so that's another one destined for the scrap heap. John.
I love having a look at the HMV stores. I'm so jealous. I have no place like that to shop here in the southeast US. I could easily spend many hours and far too much cash in a store like that.
Only 8 hours on a plane Steve and then a few hours hassle at the airport and tube, train or bus into central London. HMV is once again open in the original store on Oxford Street in the West End. And there's FOPP just down at Cambridge Circus too. In the meantime I hope to bring highlights of HMV stores to you in these videos occasionally. John.
Did you use to have the Virgin Megastores in the US?
I think they were taken over by Zavvi in the UK. who then closed them and became the worst on-line retailer I have ever had the displeasure to deal with.😫😭
If I ever visit London one day, since that's one of my dream goals, I need to make a stop at an HMV. This is more physical media than I could imagine. On my Birthday three days ago, I had gone to a store like this in New York City called Book-Off, which even though it is a bookstore, downstairs had a plethora of DVDs and Blu-rays and I loved it. I even got myself copies of “Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor” on Blu-ray and “Ghostbusters II” on 4K. With Bristol's HMV, I am looking at paradise. Thanks for the introduction, John!
If you do manage to get to London Vincent then the original HMV store on Oxford Street has reopened. It was founded in 1921 I think. Might have been 1923. It's been occupied by another retailer for the past four years or so but now HMV and back to good health they're back in that historic store. Let's hope the interest in vinyl records continues because that's the biggest driver of their renewed success. FOPP is also in the West End of London so you'll have a couple of the best video and music stores in the country to spend time in. I did a video on FOPP about two years ago so take a look for that if you haven't seen it. It's the most successful in terms of sales per square foot of any video/music shop in the country.
John.
Thanks John, another honest review in the bag… so here’s what I noticed about this review…
1) Obviously, the ‘nonsense’ comment at the end (which l mentioned on the last review), but more emphasised this time…
2) The thoughtful background music during the tour of the Bristol HMV
3) The pre-title introduction was in an aspect ration of 2.78 to 1 to mimic the film you are about to review…
4) You emphasised the work ‘squeeze’ as much as you can out of the disc video with adjusting settings on the player and projector, right after discussing ‘squeeze’ anamorphic lenses…
Cheers!
The aspect ratio at the start only came about because I wanted to make it more interesting than just looking at me so that was an accident Stephen. Apart from that I think you spotted how I put this video together. I did have a few notes to remind me of roughly what to say and in which order. I was going to use the word 'rubbish' at the end instead of 'nonsense' but I paused when I got to it and then decided on 'nonsense' again.
John.
I picked up 4 films at my local HMV today, 3 4Ks including Casablanca and The Last Picture Show and the BFI's blu ray edition of Fanny and Alexander which I think I'll watch tonight.
I enjoyed The Creator and was quite moved at the end. That kid was excellent and a perhaps testament to how good the director is at working with actors.
Good evening Mr. Braddock. Well done for supporting your local HMV again. I don't like the thought of shopping centres completely bereft or music and video stores so it's just as well so many of us are shopping with the only remaining chain store of its type over here. With regards to The Creator, I was a little distracted by the rather poor image quality but now that I'm aware of it I don't think it will have the same negative impact next time around and I should be able to enjoy the actual film even more than I did. John.
The camera they used was the Sony FX3, the introductory prosumer camera in Sony’s cinema line of cameras. It’s a full 35mm frame camera that actually has unbelievable low light capability at around 12800 ISO with a dual gain native ISO setting, which allowed a great deal of flexibility for the team shooting the film in lower light scenes. The look is a combination of the high ISO setting, the older lens they used, and as mentioned, some haze and darkness to effectively cover up CGI. I love this film and how it looks, and as a filmmaker, it was extremely inspiring how an established filmmaker in Hollywood used an affordable digital cinema camera compared to an extremely expensive RED or ARRI camera.
That is all very welcome information so thank you. I hope other film makers will look at this film and learn from it though so that no one else attempts anything quite the same way again. It won't do cinemas any good and they're already in terminal decline so we don't want to hasten that up any more. It also won't do the 4K disc market any good. Panasonic seem to have better quality prosumer cameras so if you do something along these lines in the future maybe look at their entry level cameras. I have a couple of older prosumer Sony's and their low light capability isn't much good so perhaps it's a characteristic of the brand. Thanks again. John.
@@moviecollector5920 I watched The Creator at my IMAX, which is the San Francisco AMC Metreon, the second largest IMAX theater in the country (technically the largest because the largest that is in New York is not 1.43:1, it’s 1.9:1, but Metreon is). I saw Oppenheimer on 70mm 3 times in that theater and The Creator, while obviously not nearly as high resolution, was a visual delight and looked incredible on that massive screen. The FX3 is a significantly superior camera to all of the Panasonic Micro 4/3rds cameras and even their full frame cameras, it’s not much of a competition in my opinion, just based on the specs and capabilities and comparisons I’ve seen online. Not only would I love to see the camera be used again in a studio film, I would praise it!
I find HMV competitive price-wise. The one near me in Liverpool is a lovely store. It’s very very long depthwise and rather than being on 2 floors, is split level making it feel even bigger.
Even when they are more expensive I still use HMV. Without them our shopping centres aren't going to be the same. And CEX probably wouldn't have enough second hand discs coming in to keep their shelves stocked either. John.
@@moviecollector5920 The quirkiest HMV is in Crawley where you go up some "blink and you miss it" escalator. I'm also very pro-HMV as it's a case of use them or lose them. Dave
One of the best of 2023 was amazing in screen x and 4k laser. I projected it in 2k xenon. I loved the look it's beautiful
It seems that many do like the almost poor Super 8 look so you're not alone Mike. It's not the disc's fault though as you know because you saw it in a cinema. Irrespective of that, I still rather enjoyed the film it's just that the poor image quality distracted me somewhat. I'll be able to look past it next time around though. I can't think of a worse looking 4K disc in my collection but I do prefer how it looks to Gemini Man but that was originally mastered for 3D to be fair. John.
Watched this twice at the cinema in one day, first in IMAX with Laser at Empire, LSQ then at Odeon, West End (non-Dolby Cinema). Preferred the latter, surround sound wise.
Thank you John.
I bet it looked terrible on that 90 foot wide faux IMAX screen in The Empire Cheekster. I was going to say what a farce it was to pass this one off as IMAX but I decided against it. I can't bring myself to go back in that once great cinema now and it's the same with the Leicester Square Theatre known as the Odeon West End for the past 30 years or so. That was another great cinema and I was heartbroken a few years ago to see there was just a hole in the ground where it once existed. Quite fitting that the replacement is in a hole in the ground though! John.
Thanks for your great videos specially this one showing us the great HMV store I’m going to check out the new-reopened HMV in Oxford street London the buy The creator on 4K & a couple of vinyl LP’s I hope it looks good on my 65” TV, I always enjoy watching your videos John thanks.
I need to get up to Oxford Street too but a trip to the BFI IMAX is probably coming up so I'll do it then. As for The Creator, it should look very good on your telly so don't worry about it. If you'd told me your TV was 8 feet wide I'd have started to worry. John.
Thank you, John. I share your distaste for the word “like.” I recall my parents and my friends’ parents influencing the way we spoke and speak today. In my youth I was constantly chastised for grammatical errors or inconstancies. Our family valued reading, which by extension exposed us to various aspects of language, storytelling, and communication. I believe a lot of our proclivities and habits came from our parents, siblings, and friends. I am very glad my father was a stickler for language because formulation of language is the bedrock of good communication, a quality you have John. Regards, Joe O’Donnell
I find I listen to others and pick up on words they use that are incorrect in usage or inappropriate or are often repeated for no good reason. If I then find that I'm doing something similar I tend to be aware of it and I've been like this for a long time. I suppose I'm always analyzing things and generally solving problems or working out solutions and that seems to help when it comes to communication. I'm glad it's not only me that notices so thank you in that regard Joe. John.
John, thank you for the excellent review - really very much appreciated
Thank you Henry and you're welcome. John.
Always been a big fan of HMV, got quite the 4k collection, will be watching my 4k release of The Creator at the weekend
I hope you enjoy it Gareth. Just be prepared for the image quality to be a little underwhelming and that should help to have a good time. John.
@@moviecollector5920 Thanks John
Thanks John for review.
You're welcome Craig. John.
Another great review John.
I hope you didn't get arrested by the HMV store police 😅
Morning RRRRRRRRRRoberto. I'm writing to you from Bristol police station...
4:55 I very much relate to the experience of not enjoying a film as much as I should because I'm focusing so much on the PQ 😄
It was a little annoying to tell you the truth. But now that I know it's not really up to snuff I should enjoy it a whole lot more whenever I watch it again. Expectations are sometimes important and they were for me with this one. John.
Unfortunately I missed this at the cinema but picked up the 4k blu ray and watched it last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I thought the look of the film fit perfectly with the story and remarkable considering the cameras used. Thanks for your review as always
I think this one is better suited to a telly and probably not an enormous telly of 7 feet wide or something like that. If I'd have just watched in on my little box the poor image quality wouldn't have bothered me so I'm glad you found it suited the movie. Several people have told me the same so you're certainly not alone there. John.
Hello again. The Creator 4k. I watch the 4k with Dolby Vision, I know the disc only features HDR, but I decided to try it because of the poor video quality and I must say the DV improves a great deal the viewing experience. I recommend it for this particular 4k . Thank you again.
That's a tip worth trying for anyone with the capability Maritrini. Thank you. It might be a bit like putting perfume on a pig but even a minor improvement to the rather shocking image quality of this one would be worthwhile. John.
Just discovered your channel and I must say I have never watched such a beautiful review because of the sheer knowledge you have and how thoroughly everything is treated. I like learning about technical issues. Not just the regular reviews from a scriptwriting and directorial point of view
Definitely going to dive deep into your videos.
A thankful greetings from the misty Castillian plateau.
I hope the weather is better with you in Spain than it has been here lately. Don't answer that because of course it will be!
THE CREATOR is probably the worst image quality I've seen on 4K disc but it's not the disc's fault, this was how it looked from the start. It's interesting how many are able to accept this one looking so poor whereas other much better looking 4K's have been widely criticized because people think they should have looked even better. It's a funny old game. Anyway, good to have you here and I hope you find a few interesting videos to watch. I started this channel in May 2020 I think so there are quite a lot to look at but you'll probably find '2001 A Space Odyssey on 4K: Why does it look so good?' a good place to start. My review of The Fifth Element compares the 4K directly to my 35mm print and so does my rather long review of the 4K of Alien. I included the 35mm trailer for the 1989 Batman in my review of that 4K which illustrated quite successfully that the 35mm trailer looks strikingly similar to the grading applied to the 4K home video disc. That's upset quite a few people because I've been told consistently that there's too much of something called 'teal' applied to that disc. I think they mean blue or green but I did wonder if they meant 'penguin' from Batman Returns!
John.
@@moviecollector5920 Thank you very much for taking the time to reply 😊😊
Usually have misty days on and off in winter in Valladolid but very long Summers later.
I was trying to figure out if it was worth ordering a copy of The Creator (haven't watched it yet). Not so fond of modern chock-full CGI films and somewhat "afraid" of 4K ruining my experience with films like 2001, Alien, Blade Runner and many more because of the miniatures, matte paintings and so on. I own quite a few 4k because of the beautiful editions being released every now and then.
Again thanks for commenting. Tons of respect for your work. Will be checking those you mentioned and more for sure.
¡Hasta pronto!
@@darkalo1984 Watching 2001, Blade Runner and Alien on any telly doesn't do them any favours and I don't care how bit a telly may be. But the 4K discs of each if you have a video projector and a massive white wall to project them on will put you back into a cinema to see them at almost their best. They are like owning your own 35mm prints but remember that some of 2001 A Space Odyessey comes from a dupe negative as the original negative was used more than any other to strike 70mm prints and it suffered more damage than most as a result. It's not exactly 70mm quality on 4K but we wouldn't expect it to be. I haven't watched any of these films on my telly but the models still look better than anything computer generated through my video projectors. Occasional model shots in 2001 look a little obvious perhaps but still better than CGI to my eyes.
John.
@@moviecollector5920 That's my concern. 4k resolution giving away too much the magic of those old-school special effects.
A projector might as well as be the path to follow from my 55" 2018 QLED Samsung instead of a new TV set. Duly noted.
Thank you 📽️
@@darkalo1984 I did watch Alien on a telly years ago but the image quality was standard definition so everything still came across well. Video projection is so good for so little outlay today that I don't really understand why so many movie enthusiasts stick with television. A cheaper television and a budget 4K video projector is surely the way to go. As you already have a good telly then you'll have the best of both worlds. I know everyone tries to say a screen is also required but that's complete cobblers. A painted matt white wall is the best of all. Put black card or material around the perimeter of the projected image and you'll be in a cinema in your home. John.
Love the movie love the disc great video
That's good to know on both counts - the movie and this video. Thank you. John.
For the subtitles, on players you can actually adjust the subtitle placement, I have a 2.40:1 projector screen and the subtitles did spill out, but on my Panasonic player I used the subtitle placement adjustment setting when you open up the options menu on the player and set it to +9 to have the subtitles on the image and all is good, hope this helps!
I didn't know that Lighthouse so I shall have a look. Thank you very much for the guidance which will be a big help when it comes to situations like this in THE CREATOR. If my Panny has the option and assuming it actually works, I'll move the subtitles up and leave them there so all 'Scope movies are okay.
John.
I watched my copy of this the other day. Didnt see it at the cinema. I was really looking forward to it but found it weirdly unengaging despite it seeming to tick all the boxes that i look for in a sci-fi movie. Glad to support it though and will give it another go sometime.
I expect it's the sub-standard picture quality Paul. We'll both be ready for it next time so it shouldn't be a disappointment and we'll be able to more fully enjoy the actual movie. John.
I wish we still had HMV in Australia.
They've just opened a store in Brussels I believe Mr. Fister so if the upturn in fortunes continues you never know what might happen in the future. A lot depends on enthusiasts for movies and music valuing HMV and not simply using the stores as a browsing facility to decide what they want to purchase from a certain dreaded on-line retailer who is bent on destroying our shopping centres. Sounds like they've pretty much succeeded in Australia! John.
Watched it on UHD disc last night and went in knowing nothing. I was completely involved and I enjoyed the visual references to other movies, as well as the overall look and sound of the film. I also thought they got (particularly in one crucial scene) an amazing performance out of a 7 year old child.
The last act could have gone in a few directions but the easiest was not chosen and it neatly wrapped up the story in it's own way.
More like this please! (PS - It looked absolutely fine on my OLED)
Shout out for HMV Darlington too!
It looks fine on my telly too Keith. Glad you enjoyed it. Not a big screen film perhaps. John.
@@moviecollector5920Should be able to watch it tonight on my OLED. I’ve heard there say the visuals are a bit disappointing. Unfortunately, I think most new movies are mastered for OLED these days so may not look anywhere near as good on a projector. Fortunately there are a lot of huge TVs coming on the market at lower prices so you might be able to get one that’s 9 feet wide with great HDR for not too much money soon;).
It didn't look too bad to me. It was definitely a bit soft and lacking in detail, i.e. resolution. The HDR was great though.
Apparently part of the problem is that the 4K disc is a 66GB one rather than a 100GB so the bit rate isn't anywhere near as good as it should be.
Perhaps they'll do another release some time with a better bit rate and a 100GB disc.
The movie itself was ok too, I think. Did they leave it open for a sequel? I think they might've.
@@jim_herd Morning Jim. It's not the disc that's at fault, no doubt about that because people have reported in the comments on here that it looked just as poor in cinemas. There's nothing that can be done. And when you think about how some perfectly good discs get slagged off because some have an axe to grind with a studio or an individual director, you'd expect this one to be the most vilified 4K disc release so far. In other words, they've got away with it. John.
@@moviecollector5920 I thought it looked fairly good on the whole but I do reckon you need a self-emissive display for it to do so unfortunately. Even the cinema disappoints.
I saw the new Indiana Jones and The Meg 2 at Odeon Surrey Quays. Both looked terrible. I finally realised it was because they left the door open and light coming in onto the screen. I’ve not been back.
Great video as always John, i did like The Creator movie, i would love to get loose in one of those HMV shops, saw so many movies i would love on your walkthru lol
HMV have never had such an enthusiastic following Paul. I think a lot more of us appreciate them because they've survived the onslaught from Amazon and seem to be coming out on top. John.
Nice work John 👍 I only watched this last night on Disney plus....I was also disappointed in the image quality...was a lot of digital noise around bright objects....but could be to do with the compression....im sure the 4k disc would be better.
Morning Roy. I don't think it's the compression, it's the poor image quality and that was a deliberate choice made to get the funding to actually shoot the movie. I hope no one else sees this one as a good example in that regard. John.
I picked up a copy of The Creator too. I’m a fan of the muted colour palette looks some films have and I don’t mind the tricks Mr Edward’s employed here, he did a similar thing in Monsters which I love.
From what I understand the video noise comes from them pushing the ISO really high. I’ve yet to watch this, I’m sure the wife and I will get around to it this weekend.
I do love having a HMV in Wakefield but its UHD selection isn’t the greatest and I’d love for them to expand it as there are loads of films I’d pick up while browsing I’m sure.
We're lucky to still have the HMV chain. It seems that there's nothing else quite like it anywhere else in the world. As for The Creator, don't expect anything like the usual 4K disc image quality and you should find that you're able to simply enjoy the film. Expect a vibrant, sharp-as-tack picture and you'll struggle with it like I did. I did still enjoy it but not as much as I hope to when I watch it again. John.
Great video! I watched the 4K DCP of The Creator in theatres and it was noticeably very soft even without the grain. Btw HMV looks so exciting!! If I ever make a trip to the UK I’m definitely visiting one
CEX in India is basically dead in terms of physical media sales. They used to have a lot of BluRays and DVDs in 2013 era, but now its only console discs
Evening KD. The original HMV has re-opened on Oxford Street in the West End of London so if you ever fly into Heathrow you'll be able to visit that store and also the offshoot FOPP down at Cambridge Circus just up from Leicester Square and east from Piccadilly Circus along Shaftstbury Avenue. I suppose we've still had quite healthy disc sales in Britain as a result of HMV so CEX have had a good second hand supply coming through as a result.
John.
I saw this movie in theaters while not being the best movie I’ve ever seen I definitely was refreshed to see a non franchise sci fi action film with relative originality that was also well made
It's just such a shame that it looks so poor Cheetahluv. I expect this 4K disc has been panned like no other release before it because of that but in spite of its low quality I do still rather like the film and if/when I do watch it again I'll be prepared for the disappointing image so it won't distract me anywhere near as much.
John.
@@moviecollector5920 interesting it looks marvelous in the theater so would you say that I’m missing nothing from just having the blu ray
Brilliant as usual, I totally agree with you about the use of the word like as used by people today
I think we need some sort of education programme to re-teach people how to speak 'proper'... like! John.
Btw, John, during tour of HMV there was the 4K of ‘My Fair Lady’…. Have you reviewed that disc? Absolutely stunning… cheers
Yes, I did review My Fair Lady. Some of it is slightly less well defined owing to sections being a dupe neg. That's the same as with 2001: A Space Odyssey. They both look as good as they do owing to their 65mm origins. John.
@@moviecollector5920 thanks John, I found it after a search (which I suppose I could have done before asking). Maybe I should search all your videos before asking stupid questions again… anyway, the title was on the shelf at HMV Bristol which prompted the thought! Have a good weekend. Steve.
@@stephenfielding8914 Don't worry about that Stephen because there are about 150 videos up there now and I struggle to remember some of them myself.
Wish we still had an HMV store in the US. 😢
They're doing well and have just re-opened a store in Brussels so you never know. John.
Another great video john it's so important to have hmv on the high street could you do the wicker man 4k review at some point
I might take a look at The Wicker Man Dave. Might have to wait a while though as I can't really afford every 4K disc that comes out. John.
I’m picking this disc up from HMV to watch over the weekend, hope it doesn’t look too bad on a 55” inch screen. Luckily I already watched this on a more appropriate scope screen and the image quality wasn’t too bad. The cinematography and sci-fi art direction really elevated the picture in my opinion. The third act wasn’t as interesting as the first two but it was good to see an original science fiction blockbuster even if the story is quite derivative.
Evening Jbird. The rather poor image quality did distract me somewhat but I still enjoyed the film and now that I know it's not really up to snuff in terms of picture quality I'll be ready for it next time. It should still look very good on your telly so don't worry about that. Much more than six or seven feet wide and it would probably start to look a little wishy washy though. John.
Sad to learn you didn't like it. I have not seen it but I was looking forward to it as I loved Rogue One. Cheers.
That was the hook for me too Mike but as long as you know it's one of the most lacklustre 4K video discs so far you should be prepared and able to look past that. I still rather like it in spite of that initial disappointment. John.
salut belle vidèo comme toujour sur la revue du 4k
Merci Alain. John.
Hi John! I'm giggling but yes of course I'll tell you how much I appreciate YOUR hmv stores again lol. (ok tongue is out of cheek now) but havn't seen this film yet but sounds like I'd probably enjoy a look at this one. Reviews have been mixed on the movie itself but great sounding 4ks can be worth a buy too so perhaps if I enjoy the film.. Hope all is well across the pond and have a great weekend! Cheers. D in BC!
I think you need an annual shopping trip to London now that the original HMV has re-opened on Oxford Street Dave. Maybe if the BFI IMAX ever get an annual 15/70 long weekend festival on the calendar a whole bunch of us would be able to meet up and watch the best quality movies along with trips to HMV, FOPP, Forbidden Planet and any other stores I can think of that might be interesting. Richer Sounds for example, but we may have trouble all fitting in there because their stores are deliberately tiny to keep costs down and sales per square foot up.
John.
Thanks for this review, John.. I hope you could also review, Sleepy Hollow, one day…
I can't drag up much enthusiasm for Sleepy Hollow yet Rick. I do have it on DVD and have since it was first released. I do like it but possibly not enough to want to buy a copy on 4K. One day maybe. John.
Your voice is incredible!
I don't know about that but kind of you to say. Thank you. John.
@@moviecollector5920 love your channel. Keep up the great work 📽️
Thanks for the review, I was looking forward to this one as I was fascinated with the unique approach to how it was made, shame it impacted the image quality on 4k but as the superimposed CGI required it....
That's if the image quality was ever there in the first place Colum and I don't know if it was to tell the truth. I should enjoy it a whole lot more in the future though as the poor image quality was a distraction, particularly as I intended to do a review video. John.
Think I've got to give this one another shot, got a bit distracted by the references or inspiration it took from both Star wars and Blade runner. Saw Sisu there in the HMV part, such a great movie (Could have been the result of Tarantino making av Mad Max in the north of FInland during WW2).
I suppose just about every science fiction is using references from Star Wars and Blade Runner if we analyze them so The Creator is no different. A few people have mentioned spotting SISU on the HMV 4K shelf. I don't know anything about that film so will take a look to see if it's up my street. John.
great review. I really liked this movie. It's not the best but it was entertaining. I streamed it at home and it looked solid. I hope to buy it on 4k bluray since I love sci-fi so much. I really can't believe what the director was able to accomplish with only 80 million.
It is probably the worst quality I've so far seen on a 4K disc Luis so keep that in mind if you are going to purchase a copy. The DVD might be the best option but the colours are more realistic on the UHD disc than on the Blu-ray. I don't think it would make much difference to most people with it looking so poor though. Despite the disappointment I did still enjoy it but now that I'm ready for a movie that looks so lacklustre I think I'll be able to enjoy it far more if/when I watch it again. It did look fine on my telly though so that's an important point I should make. John.
@@moviecollector5920 maybe that is it. I saw it at the movies and at home on 4K OLED. I actually liked it more the 2nd time I saw it.
that's funny because i was actually looking to buy it on 4K yesterday! i haven't seen the movie yet but i want to support gareth edwards because there aren't too many unique voices in hollywood anymore. i mos def pick it up!
I like it Funk but try to be a little prepared for the image quality not being quite what we'd usually expect and I think it will be far more enjoyable than I found it. I expect to enjoy it a lot more second time around now that I know it's a little lacklustre to look at but does appear to have been a choice on the part of the film makers. John.
yes i understand what you mean when you show the images in your video. it looks a little "washed out" but like you said, it's probably a decision they went with to capture maybe a more "realistic" look at the world and to mask some of the CGI. i could buy it on blu ray but i think the 4K well be worth it, plus you get the blu ray so i think that's what i'll do. thanx for the info and video as always John! cheers!@@moviecollector5920
and also one more thing,he usually shoots his movie with this type of "dull" image that's not super colorful. if you look at his godzilla 2014 movie and star wars rouge one you'll that it's his style of shooting@@moviecollector5920
I saw this movie twice in the theater and I thought it was spectacular. Its a little sad to hear it doesn't look fantastic. But I will get this soon enough. Great review
It did look the same in cinemas so if it didn't bother you in a cinema then you should be more than happy with the 4K disc. Best on a telly though as it's not a big screen movie because of the poor image quality. John.
Thanks for this quick review of an interesting low budget approach to large scale filmmaking project. I admire Gareth edwards to trying this method and getting a really good result. The story flows well, it's full of unique locations, further enhanced by layers of visual embellishments. Acting, costumes and overall production design is excellent. Overall I liked the movie but I particularly admire Gareth testing the water with new techniques. It's these new techniques that gives this film a unique look and feel. It's a look I'm happy with and would love to see more high quality movies made at tihs budget level. Let's be honest it wont compare with large format negatives or sensors - then again why should it! John, your harsh critish of it - although braodly accurate I'm sure needs to be put into context with the experimental nature of the shoot and mastering. Keep up the good work.
Well said Siddique. There is much to admire but I do hope other film makers don't copy it and make the same mistakes. I expect the excessive CGI took most of the enormous $80m budget but there was so much it had to be lower quality so why shoot in good quality if the effects would then stand out as poor? It all makes sense but the way to do this the same way is to have less computer animation but at higher quality and therefore retain good overall image quality. The example has been set so let's see if others learn from it. It's an interesting release but probably won't do cinemas or the 4K disc format any favours. Trying to pass it off as IMAX wasn't sensible either. I hope I wasn't too harsh because others will no doubt really rip into this one because I can't recall another 4K that looks quite this bad even though Gemini Man would still take the top spot in that regard (but that is for different reasons).
John.
@@moviecollector5920 John, why it looks 'bad' in 4K is something worth looking into (I saw the movie as a regular DCP at a normal 2K screen - the brightness was not great in that auditorium and then again 'blown up' and projected with twin 4K projectors at a digital IMAX - here it looked much better but I did notice that the file was being pushed to it's limits) but I suspect it's because the source digital file is relatively low quality - compared to IMAX, 70mm and perhpas even well shot and lit 35mm. The Sony FX3 has full frame 4K sensor and I guess with an anamorphic lens the whole sensor is exposed with a squeezed image) It would be interesting to see if this file could be upscaled in the future... Oh and he also used minimal mobile or nonexistant additional lighting, relying on natural ight where possible.
@@SiddiqueHussain21 I think it's more comparable to a poor Super 8 print but I would be prepared to put with a Super 8 print that looked similar if it were the old days and there was no other alternative. I don't think it would have been possible to shoot this one on any film gauge though as it requires so much more knowledge and decent lighting. An interesting production but I do hope others learn from it and don't try to copy the example exactly. John.
@@moviecollector5920 I'd rather like to see a poor Super 8 print projected onto an IMAX screen and how it holds up. Somehow I doubt it would.
@@SiddiqueHussain21 I've projected Super 8 over 30 feet wide. A lot depends on how much light you can punch through the tiny frame but with the best prints you'd be able to see they are better than the general quality of The Creator. Video projection is a different kettle of fish as punching light into a DLP chip isn't an issue so that side of it would undoubtedly be better. John.
John in two minds about the Creator think I will wait for when its on offer at HMV. Speaking of which the staff at my local branch tell me what new releases they will actually have in stock on release date and how many copies of each title. Very useful to know this info.
I probably should have advised people to buy the DVD if they want a copy of this one Mike because it won't look much worse. As for your local HMV staff, they sound like they enjoy their jobs and want their business to survive. They do seem to have a good bunch working for them in general across all the branches I've been into in more recent years. That certainly wasn't always the case in the past. John.
Excellent review today as was your last one of The Proposition. Top notch HMV store there although as you say not as big as the Leicester HMV. Glad the manager was able to confirm what I always knew which is that physicl medium will always come back as demand rises and long may it continue!!
Evening Dark. I think the fact that people once thought they could pay Netflix a nominal monthly fee and get everything in one place ad infinitum was a myth will result in more and more returning to purchasing discs just so that they know they will have access to a film because they own a physical copy. John.
@@moviecollector5920 True and not only that, to get a particular film, you could end up subscribing to multiple services costing a lot. Also these services can remove films without notice, increase prices, throw in adverts (queue Amazon Prime) and censor or change the film to meet their views or woke agenda. Yep, physical medium always for me besides, its better picture quality than streaming, better sound and you get a load of extras and finally, you get to hold it and keep it forever without the threat of it being removed!!👍
Hello mate from Australia. Love your content, so informative.
I recieved my import blu ray copy of "The Creator" yesterday. (As all Disney /Fox etc physical media has ceased here its expensive imports from here on. 😢 )
I Cant speak for the 4K but my Blu ray has ithe subtitles in the picture area and not the black bars. I wonder if both formats are different.
That's interesting Blair. I shall have to have a look sometime because the Blu-ray is in the 4K pack. It was a daft thing to do but the people doing this sort of work often don't have much comprehension of cinema. Even people in cinemas have little knowledge of cinema!
John.
I'm not particularly a fan of this film, as I had no connection to the heartfelt moments at all, however, i hope those that enjoyed the film can enjoy the 4K blu ray despite the picture inconsistencies. Great review and thank you for taking the time to record it
The strory, the plot and almost everything else besides photograopy and cgi are a Big disapointment
I rather like it in spite of the impression I may have given. It was the disappointment of the poor image quality that detracted for me though but now that I know it's like a poor Super 8 print I'll be ready for it next time around and hopefully be able to look through it. John.
That’s my local hmv store as sadly the last in the area for physical disks now that they have closed the ones down in bath and cribbs! We have to keep this store open!
I didn't know the Bath store had closed Lee. I was only in there a few months ago. I didn't know about Cribbs Causeway going either. The same manager ran both. John.
Phew! Just checked and Bath still seems to be there: hmv.com/store-finder/hmv-bath/
John.
Bath definitely still there. Was in there today!
@@michaelwaters3530 Thank you for the confirmation Michael. I rather like visiting Bath and having HMV there to make it all the more worthwhile visiting. And that branch of CEX too. John.
It's getting pretty good reviews especially for a £80 million Film which is a snip these days.
I like my Science fiction and probably would of bought it had it not been that I'd bought about 20 films recently and the fact it's on Disney plus .
But I will check it out Tomorrow and if I like it and it has any repeat value I will buy it.
Looking fwd to Contagion 4K bought it years ago and Seems COVID had given it new interest.
I heard " The Abyss" is NOT getting a UK release ??? 😡
Morning Rikaard. If you like The Creator it might be best to purchase the DVD as the low quality nature of it might be best suited to DVD. It's not a big screen movie but does look fine on televisions. It must be getting completely panned by 4K disc reviewers as I've seen so many much better looking movies get panned recently. I know it's often down to a lack of understanding but this one is probably the worst quality I've seen on a 4K disc other than Gemini Man and that had the 3D excuse to fall back on so not really comparable. John.
But John I 'like' the videos that you do. Ha ha ha!! Yes, some people have limited vocabularies! Another great review, keep them coming. 👌
Like, thanks Glen, like... I think, like. John.
Good review as always! I wonder can i watch 2 76 1 format on my 2 39 1 screen ?
You're gonna' need a wider screen! The only thing to do is to close the masking up or if that isn't possible then to leave white areas showing top and bottom. Actually, you need a white area at the base to read the subtitles. John.
Ok! Thanks! 👍
I believe they only used the Nikon for location scouting and for the filming when it comes to small cheaper cameras, FX3 from Sony was used
Shame they didn't use the Nikon then because it surely couldn't have looked worse than the Sony. John.
7:30 ahhh!!! The dreaded "Like" bug.
My son just had a friend round and he was talking about his brother having a cough as said "Like" almost every other word. It drives me potty! My wife looked at me, as no doubt she could hear my lip being firmly bitten.
I'm glad I'm not the only person who feels this peculiar phenomenon sweeping the youths
😂
Some adults do it and it's not just children under the age of 45 Martyn! I sometimes imagine myself throttling someone who's saying 'like' all the time... like. John.
Thanks.
You're welcome Daniel. John.
I saw this in Imax (digital, sadly not film) and I was impressed with the image, I don’t believe it was shot with any imax cameras but was supposedly optimised in post production for an imax presentation - i would hope this has been carried over to the 4k release. I thought the grainy look worked for it to give it an unpolished indie feel, and help blend in the practical and the visual effects instead of them usually standing out - it has a LOT of small effects shots, many of which are removing elements instead of adding them.
The picture quality issues you describe made me think about how some movies suffer a bad final picture because of the effects house’s handling of the footage (if you have ever seen the 1999 Lost In Space movie, you will see just how badly every shot of the ‘blarb’ creature effects shots were damaged in that movie, as opposed to the rest of the film - they almost look like the negative was put through a silver nitrate wash as was done sometimes to bleach the colours, back before there was the level of digital control there is today. I wonder if there was something similar going on here, not the treatment, but the work of the effects houses resulting in mis-matched shots from the effects houses due to the large number of effects shots present and likely turnaround time to get the movie completed on schedule, and if they maybe had to try and match quality and colour correction in post. It’s a shame if so.
I do remember being very aware of the anamorphic qualities and warping at the edges of the frame, especially early on, it became less evident in the latter scenes which were on the station which I wonder if they used different camera equipment for scenes shot on a stage.
Re the proposition, I mentioned I managed to order the 4k from Cex, the second hand store for £12. I wasn’t sure if it was the collectors edition or a regular release, but it arrived today and seems it is the collector’s one with the booklet and poster, and thankfully it’s in ‘as new’ condition, so for anyone looking to pick it up but unable to find it, for the price it was well worth picking up second hand. So hopefully I can find time to get a watch in of that!
Andrew
I hoped that copy of The Proposition would be the special edition Andrew. I'm not sure I've seen a standard edition so maybe they're all the special pack. As for The Creator, I was going to mention the IMAX claim fiasco but I thought I'd probably said enough about the poor image quality. There is no way it's 'Optimized For IMAX' so I now think that's a label they put on a movie to make people think there's something extra special about it. IMAX is 1.43:1 whereas this is 2.78:1. IMAX simply need to get movies on screen that may bring the punters in and that seems to be what the 'optimized' label is attempting to do. People are easily fooled.
I think I was offered a Sony FX3 when I was in the market for a new camera about three years ago but it was only HD whereas the Panny I opted for was a 4K with lots more bells and whistles. If the evidence of The Creator is anything to go by it's also better in low light conditions. Mind you, I don't know how well it would do with a whacking great Kowa 'Scope lens in front of it. I think it's the low quality of the shoot combined with getting all the computer animation finished in time that resulted in the poor image quality. It did spoil the enjoyment for me but next time I'll be ready for all that so I should be able to enjoy it for what it is.
By the way, Men In White Coats did some of the best of the effects work for the Lost in Space movie and an old friend was running the place at the time. I went in there one evening and saw how all this sort of thing was done and output back out to negative 35mm stock at the end of each day. All very interesting... but how awful to sit at an SG all day in a dark room. That told me it wasn't my next career step in IT.
John.
@@moviecollector5920 i think there were something like 6 different effects houses working on Lost In Space, because it had so many elements it was very ambitious but needed so much computer time for then early CGI, and the Blarp creature ones i remember there being something thot happened to every shot it was in, It was one of my first dvds and i think they mentioned something about it in the extras or commentary about something going wrong but they didn’t have time to redo the work since it took the time back then to put it back on to the negative since there were no digital projectors yet. Probably something that they could easily fix digitally now but won’t spend the money on it, it’s not exactly something of note like Star Trek The Motion Picture where they’ll go back to it now.
I watched this last night and thought it was a bit grainy in parts. Good story and I enjoyed the film. Shame the picture let it down a little though
And the bigger you project it the worse it looks Clayton. I'll be ready for it next time though so hopefully it won't spoil it so much then. John.
Ah yes, the HMV where I bought the Battle Royale 4k UHD. Nice collection they have over there (though a tad pricey, as I can easily find 2 for 30 euro deals (or even cheaper!) in the EU). The Creator is very nice as well, might pick it up some day!
The difference is that you can visit an HMV and buy something on the spur of the moment just by looking at the shelves. Web dealers don't have the overheads and they certainly don't have the enjoyment of being able to mooch around for as long as you like... unless you like the aggravation of looking through loads of individual listings on a web page. I do occasionally buy from web dealers but more often than not that's the HMV web store. I value them still existing in our shopping centres.
John.
@@moviecollector5920 Oh absolutely, so do I. Totally agree with you there. :)
Healthy signs for Film Print screenings continue, John. The IMAX 70mm screening of Oppenheimer i attended at the BFI IMAX 2 weeks ago was sold out (the announcer commented on that despite the film now being on home releases). And I see a upcoming screening of Tenet there in IMAX 70mm, has sold out to Members of the BFI only, so tickets can't be offered to non-members!
I was interested to get to see TENET again but it's a lot of money each time. I think it's sold out because Christopher Nolan is going to introduce it. Let's hope it's going to have a lot of people in there who have never seen IMAX and are therefore in for a BIG surprise. By the way, the BFI IMAX is getting a 15/70 blow up from the lowly 4K video master of the DUNE sequel so that should be interesting. John.
@@moviecollector5920 Oh yes, that's right Nolan is getting a BFI Fellowship so is also doing a sit down interview about his career on the same day. Funnily enough tickets for that are available. Yes, Dune was said to receive an IMAX 70mm release, but in the end it didn't happen. I suspect Warner Bros weren't sure if it would be successful to risk it (releasing it on their streaming platform the same day didn't help confidence). However due to its success, I think it will happen with the sequel.
@@davidjames579 The BFI IMAX have the only 15/70 print coming to the UK David so I suppose we both know where we'll be seeing it. I'll have to take a look for tickets to the Christopher Nolan interview now you've told me it hasn't sold out. If I go to that I'll have to wangle my way into the screening of TENET somehow too. John.
@@moviecollector5920 I should have added that with the Nolan Interview tickets you put your name down and if you're name is drawn, you then get to pay for it. Such must The BFI be anticipating demand. Good luck, and with getting in for Tenet! A pity WB aren't leaping on Oppenheimer creating a taste among the public for film, by playing it at Vue The Printworks in Manchester and The Science Museum in Kensington. 35 and 70mm prints of Oppenheimer are still playing in the UK!
@@davidjames579 The IMAX Corporation want to get IMAX back out into the world David so it's not the whole industry that's ignorant... or rather, appears to be ignorant. I wouldn't be surprised if there are vested interests wanting to ensure cinemas remain in terminal decline as they've put all their eggs (and their future career prospects) in the streaming bandwagon. John.
The "film grain" was incredibly noticeable when I watched this film in "Imax". I definitely think it wasn't a stylistic thing and was most likely visual noise from the low-end digital cinema cameras. I actually quite enjoyed the look of it even considering that.
I was going to mention the absolute farce of purporting that this was an IMAX film but though I might be spelling it all out a little too much how poor I thought it looked. I also wondered if perhaps they had a version that had successfully applied image noise reduction for cinemas but thanks to you James I now know that was not the case. I still rather like the film and I think I'll like it a lot more when I finally watch it a second time. John.
Even with the visual noise in mind, what they produced with consumer-grade cameras is really impressive. I do think in a couple years time -when the technology catches up a bit more- this will probably be the way to go for original narrative/non-franchise filmmaking. @@moviecollector5920
It actually WAS a stylistic thing from the LUTs that they applied to the image. Yes, there's a bit of noise from the cameras, not because they're low end, but because of the low-light, high ISO shooting. But everything is supposed to look grainy and gritty.
@@cabal3747 Thank you for confirming that Cabal. We did sometimes get Super 8 prints that looked similar but they didn't tend to sell well as a result. John.
it was a stylistic choice. it was shot at ISO 12800
Great review as ever even if I really didn't like the film myself.
Speaking of top notch Sci-Fi, I was a bit disappointed that though the BFI were showing Dune part 1 there's no sign yet of a double bill of 1 &2? I would have thought that even though the films are long it would be the perfect way to watch them. Especially for people like myself that live a decent distance from London.
I'm still hassling them to do a 15/70 IMAX long weekend festival so enthusiasts can fly in from all over the world for three or four days of the best image quality in the world. The DUNE sequel is being printed onto 15/70 and the BFI IMAX are getting one of the prints so that should be an improvement even though it's only coming from the lowly 4K video. I'm not going to be in any particular rush to see it but I will do so. Before I do I'll re-watch the 4K disc of the first film... or I'll try to as the last 20 minutes or so are somewhat blacked out! Okay, a little exaggeration there but you probably know what I mean. John.
They use the same camera I own : Sony FX3. It's crazy.
I bet the images you produce from your FX3 look better than the somewhat drab look to THE CREATOR Steve. Not all of it is drab but it tends to give that overall impression. John.
Thank you so much for this video, you told the truth about this particular 4k. I bought it myself 5 days ago on 4k, and I still cannot believe the lousy video quality. It has nothing to do with the super panavision format, they have simply used a smaller disc than they should have to give it its outstanding video quality on 4k, so It is a nightmare to watch, at least for me. It isn't worth the money for a 4k at all, I should have chosen the blu-ray. Pitiful they launch 4ks with this image quality. So so sorry I bought It. It is 2024 after all.
Evening Maritrini. A few people in the comments on here have confirmed that this is how it looked in cinemas so rest assured it's nothing to do with the 4K home video disc. If the quality isn't there to start with then there is no way of improving that situation. I rather like the film in spite of its sub-standard picture quality but it won't have done cinemas any favours (already in terminal decline) not the 4K disc market. No doubt other CZcams reviewers have slagged this one off more than any other 4K release so far but I will always try to find the positives in any movie irrespective of how awful the image quality may be. John.
@@moviecollector5920 Thank you so much for your comment. I see eye to eye with with, I also like the.movie ,,.I already did when I saw it in a theatre, but I wrongly thought the 4k format would even improve that.experience. From a fellow collector to another.,. everything is better in physical media. Again many thanks. Greetings from Bilbao, in Northern Spain.
@@user-ve1lz9dm6j There are a lot of cinemas operating with old video projectors so it's always possible a movie will look better on 4K home video disc than it does in those out of date cinemas but in the case of The Creator the quality was never there in the first place. It was a deliberate choice though and as much as I would never have opted for that choice myself it seems to have been a necessity to guarantee the $80m funding to actually make this one. I hope no one else looks at is as an example of how a cinema movie should look though.
I hope the weather is better in Bilbao than it is over here right now!
John.
Yes, John, I would not have chosen that image quality either, but funding is what it is. Quite cold ❄️ over here, but I suppose less than in Bristol. All the best, Maritrini.
I wished we had HMV!!! Tell them to come to America!!! Best Buy are not doing anymore movies!!! It looks like they have great deals also. We don’t have anything like HMV in the states😢
There is Bull Moose that Jeff at Films At Home tells us about occasionally. I think they're only in a few States over the Eastern side though. HMV do seem to be on the rise though and opening a store in Brussels could be the next step in world domination so keep your fingers crossed. John.
Well HMV was in Canada years ago and I have several CD's directly purchased from HMV in Japan sadly they closed those down. But it shows they could if desire was strong but sheer size of US might rule out expansion
@@mikewilding3199 I do think it's our little over populated island that makes the HMV chain here viable Mike. That may be the only good thing that's come out of all the rubbish that's gone on here over the past 27 years or more. John.
Thank you, John. For me i enjoyed the movie but as you said the video quality is poor also the aspect ratio was a poor choice.
The aspect ratio would have worked if we still had huge, extremely wide screens Theo and it had have looked similar to the quality achieved for the original three-strip Cinerama productions. Apart from Christopher Nolan's IMAX 15/70 productions those days have long gone now but get this director into shooting with large format films and he just may pull off something special in the future. John.
This was projected letterboxed in my Aussie cinema.
To be fair there won't be many cinemas able to mask this one off fully. Others don't even have masking which is a good indication of what a state cinema has got into. John.
@@moviecollector5920 Yes, I thought they hadn't moved the borders, but it was obviously the 2.35:1 configuration.
Saw 'The Creator' at the local Vue (yeah I know) I rather enjoyed it. Apparently it was shot of the Sony FX3 - some say all of it was shot on that camera with a special rig they made for it. So I am very interested in your view of the image quality John. As an aside, I think that it may not have done that well at the box office, particularly in the USA, because the Americans are seen as the enemy in the film. They tend not to like that in the land of the free. I seem to recall that the wonderful 'Master And Commander' film changed the plot a bit from the novel for a similar reason. It is an American ship that is the enemy in the book - as it was set in the War of 1812 - so they changed it to a French ship in the film version. I will purchase Creator. I am looking forward to 'Poor Things' being released on disc as I loved that when I saw it a few days ago. And I simply cannot wait for Godzilla Minus One to be released. I noticed in your video that they have released 'Sisu' I think I might pick that up this weekend as that was great fun. Hope all is well, chat soon, Chris
There is a Nikon R6 or something listed in the cameras used Chris as well as a DJI Mavic 2 drone. All this does seem to explain why the end product it not up to par but I expect it would have been beautiful if it weren't for the addition of all the computer animation everywhere which surely forced a downgrade in image quality to disguise so much of it. Master and Commander is among my favourites. Keith (BFCC) has a 35mm print and that's what we used to get the Super 8 prints done. I hope he's looking after it.
The Bristol HMV is pretty terrific. It's not as big as the Leicester branch but it's not too far off.
John.
I went to see this at an imax theatre and it was clearly not imax filmed, i actually can’t remember that much about it the story was that weak, i thought it might at least look good…no, not even at the cinema, totally underwhelmed by it and i think the public have been hoodwinked with the title “ The Creator” as if this movie was going to be some kind of revelation in movie history….it’s not, not even a 4K release can make this movie a hidden gem.
Still, i see plenty of people buying the 4K disc because the slipcase looks nice 😂, you can guess i’m not a fan….. keep up the good work John, you make great content on youtube
Using the IMAX name won't do that company any favours with this movie. It probably won't do the reputation of 4K discs any favours either now that you've caused me to think about it. However, now that we know it looks poor we may be able to simply watch it next time and enjoy it for what it is rather than what we wished it was. John.
A refreshingly meditative film in my opinion (although I have mixed feelings of the film). I knew that I was in good hands when "Clair de lune" started playing
My only problem is that last half sort of goes against the language that the film established: the handheld "gorilla" approach that I absolutely loved and realised and grounded the CGI sequences. But the last half just felt like your run if the mill sci-fi ending.
I have to admit to not being particularly involved in the movie. I was a little distracted by the poor image quality and it didn't pull either myself or my wife in. It probably will do next time around though as we'll be expecting something that looks a bit sub-standard and it won't bother us anywhere near as much, if at all. John.
I watched it last night…I thought it was a great film but I really didn’t like the aspect ratio that they chose and as you said the image quality was very poor. Black levels were bad and the added grain did the overall presentation no favours at all. The Dolby atmos track was good though.
A lot of us have been disappointed with the image quality and that's spoiled the fun of the film itself for us. But now that we know it's probably the worst looking movie to get a theatrical release in decades we'll be prepared for that if/when we watch it again and it won't distract us anywhere near as much. There are plenty of good and interesting aspects to this one to warrant a second viewing sometime and the sound is one of them, that's for sure. John.
I found this on IMDb which perhaps explains some of your disappointment with the image:
"Gareth Edwards tried to make this film as traditionally as possible. In preparation for filming, he visited a virtual reality studio and was confused by seeing a poster explaining the process of filmmaking on the wall. Upon inquiring why such an obvious poster was on the wall, Edwards was shocked to find out that it was over 100 years old. Edwards then decided to take a different approach and talked the studio into letting him film without green screen, and filming on-location, using smaller cameras, using guerrilla-filming techniques, employing Industrial Light and Magic and then adding in the sci-fi elements later."
I think I will watch this on streaming and avoid the 4K UHD purchase unless I really like it.
I did actually see that very section on IMDB Henri. It's a shame he didn't use film stocks from 100 years ago as the end product would have been far, far sharper. It would have been nitrate back then so about as sharp as anyone could ever wish for but black and white only of course. Colour was around but extremely expensive and cumbersome so not a viable option. I suppose they'd have still had to have downgraded the picture quality for the computer effects though. John.
3:55 It's not all about size John. It's what you do with it that counts 😄
Disgraceful behaviour Troy! John.
@@moviecollector5920 🤪😉🙈
Nice
Thank you Victor. John.
2:00 yeah low end Sony prosumer level cameras are notoriously noisy when shooting low light. I knew it was going to look like that as soon I read what cameras they were using. It does have a unique feel to it because of that but not one that’s going to look great when blown up
And it was being passed off as IMAX. What an utter farce! But now that I'm ready for an underwhelming picture I should be able to simply follow the story and everything else next time. John.
I really want to see this film that you featured today, but I haven't been able to yet. I couldn't help noticing Blade Runner 2049 in the footage of the HMV, and I thought to ask you if you like it because I really do think it is quite a good film. Cheers.
I've tried to like Blade Runner 2049 Timothy but it suffers badly by being called 'Blade Runner 2049'. If it had have been a standalone film nothing to do with that 1982 masterpiece then I suspect I'd like it a lot more. But I'm thinking about finally giving the 3D disc in the pack a try sometime to see if I find it suits the film better. I don't much care for wearing the glasses though but every now and then I rather enjoy it if I leave it long enough between 3D screenings. John.
@moviecollector5920 I didn't get a 3D disc with my copy, which is fine, because I really don't have a means of showing 3D. I realize that the first film is special to many people, but I've only seen the version known as The Final Cut, and I keep wondering if the better version is the original theatrical cut, because I like 2049 a great deal more. It's true that Harrison Ford isn't in it much, but he's really good when he is. The way he says to the vilan, "her eyes were blue," makes the moment work. And he's got a lot more energy than he did in his last film.
@@timothymathetes Without seeing the original version of Blade Runner I don't see how it's possible to understand it fully. That version is on a Blu-ray in my 4K pack of Blade Runner. The sequel has quite a lacklustre look to it by comparison but it's probably still one of the best looking movies shot on video that I've seen. It's possible it was successful and highly regarded because of the 3D so that's why I finally want to give it a go. I don't know when I'll find the time though. Maybe I'll have another look at the 4K and do a review video if I think the 3D fills in what I think has been missing viewing it flat. John.
@@moviecollector5920 that would be great. I would be very interested indeed.
I am really sad that there are going to be many announcements of places stop offering Physical media across the year :(
As long as HMV survive Oliver, that's the main thing. At least, it is in Britain. They have just opened a store in Brussels apparently so if the upward trend continues they may be coming back to other parts of the world. John.
I hope so John, I really do!@@moviecollector5920
My Sony 4K player has the ability to adjust the height of the subtitles, and I assume all 4K players do. You might check it on yours. My God, I also despise the use of the word "like" and am constantly trying to break the habit in my 10 year old daughter! It's gotten so bad that when someone under 40 speaks without resorting to its use, I generally compliment them on it. Is this a huge problem in the UK also? I'm in the United States and it's a rampant problem. Always enjoy your videos, John!
It's like a huge problem over here, like! I think a few generations have been watching too much US television as it wasn't like this when I was a youngster. We were all taught and encouraged to use the English language when I was at primary school so perhaps it started going wrong in the mid-1970's. As for the subtitles, these are printed into the copy of the movie and not subtitles you select so there is no control over where they are displayed. It doesn't really matter because you get the jist of what is going on even if you can't decipher the lingo. John.
Completely agree with most of what you said, really disappointed in the PQ of The Creator but it is a good movie
I did still rather enjoy it Derek despite the disappointing picture quality. John.
Welp, I dug it!
I think I'll be able to watch it next time around without the poor image quality adversely affecting the overall impression anywhere near as much. John.
Just shoot on 16mm film and you'll get the beautiful grainy quality you're looking for without having to add horrendous looking digital aftereffects.
Much of this was like a poor Super 8 print though Richard so 16mm would have been too much of a step up. John.
No nonsense videos here. 👏
Only mine James! John.
Hi,
It was accomplished on a 50m budget. It’s actually good value for money.
That’s probably why all the grain was added and that’s a shame indeed
$80m Bruno. I suppose that is about £50m. That still seems like a lot of money to me but I bet most of it went on the computer animation. John.
@@moviecollector5920It’s a lot of money for me too :-) But, for this kind of movie, it’s probably about 3 times less than what it usually costs to make and promote.
Take care, John.
The movie was shot on Sony consumer cameras on ISO 12800 (!) Hence the look.
At least it should mean no one ever tries it again so it's not all bad. John.
We need to have more of these kinds of mid-budget genre movies, so there isn't so much riding on each one to succeed. It's an interesting technical exercise, but not a great movie. The feeling of disappointment reminds me of Chappie and Elysium, though this isn't as actively bad as where those Blomkamp flicks end up. Makes me want more sci-fi from Joseph Kosinski.
It still cost $80m though. I expect most of it went to the computer animators. Despite my disappointment I did still rather like The Creator but it's not exactly the greatest movie ever made. John.
I had high hopes for this one, but it just turned out to be okay. I felt nothing during the whole movie, maybe another watch will change my mind, but something tells me...probably not.
It's possible that the second time around we'll be ready for the disappointment and be pleasantly surprised. Sometimes a lot is down to expectations. John.
Yeah...the trailer blew my mind, but the actual movie was a let down@@moviecollector5920
Possible spoilers! Plot-wise I was hoping for a really excellent film, but I was disappointed. Too many plot holes - particularly how the amazing robot was made. And when his friend squinted inside its head and pronounced an amazing list of things the robot could do…
I did notice that sequence too Richard but it was all complete nonsense so I didn't let it spoil things any further than the image quality already had. An interesting film was in there if I could have looked past the haze and noise better than I did. John.
It's a £300m budgeted film made for about £80m
Low quality video does appear to have facilitated doing the computer effects for a fraction of the normal cost Andy. But that poor image quality rather spoiled the movie and neither my wife nor I were particularly engaged with it. Now we know it's a bit sub-standard we should enjoy it more next time. John.
Thought this was a little dull and out of focus when I saw it at the cinema (Cineworld). Assumed it was the projector, but maybe it’s how the film looks.
Well, it might have been slightly out of focus too Mark but it is the overall look of the movie. John.
You don’t get the best experience at Cineworld tbh. Saw Wonka recently and it didn’t even fill the screen!
@@marksmadebyrobots When I was living in the West End and in a top cinema just about every Friday evening we had the amazing presence of a trained projectionist who took pride in the work and had a sense of showmanship. Today most cinemas have someone who knows how to press a button. Motorized masking often doesn't exist any longer and even fewer have curtains across the screen. No wonder it's on the way out. John.
I've owned a few different projectors, I had the optoma hd161x which was a great projector but it suffered terrible with film grain, it made some movies unwatchable as it looked like digital noise, I've changed to an Epson 9400 and the picture is outstanding, even with grain in a movie it still looks amazing.
Probably teaching you to suck eggs but make sure any option for 'Sharpness' is either off or minimized. The process of scanning a film exacerbates the appearance of film grain in the first place but then any added sharpness finishes it off with the end result you've just described. It is possible to get a video projector to look like film but it can take time and a starting point of having a pretty good idea how film actually looks. Good to know you're having better success with your new Epson.
John.
@moviecollector5920 I understand that, but my optoma has major issues with grane, all the reviews highlighted it, but it wasn't expensive and all other features were great , I then went for the 4k benq w5700 which I loved but was to dark for 3d, so the epson 9400 was my next one, which I love as its a great with 3d and 4k , p.s. love your cinema room, my cinema is in my living room , I have an atmos 7.4.2 and 100" manual pull down screen , but my wife won't let me full convert it with dark walls and sound dampening etc , agh well I'm happy for now
@@lipstickpig The best cinemas of all time didn't have dark walls so that's not necessary. And given you're in a living room and therefore will have plenty of furniture, nor is anything to deaden any possible echo. If you also have carpets then that's even better. For 20 years we had our home cinema in a living room in a flat in the centre of London and we loved it. That's why we have the ten foot roll down screen (currently awaiting re-deployment into the living room here) because the room was ten feet three inches wide and the screen area was across a massive window/balcony area. With the current home cinema we now have the advantage of being able to use the wall so things are back to their best finally.
Strange that a particular video projector can exacerbate film grain even further. There must be a sharpen element built into it which was a mistake-a-to-make-a.
John.
Thought this was a superb science fiction film.
Just imagine what else would get made if mid budget films were financially successful.
$80m still seems like an awful lot of money to me Andy. I think perhaps the streaming markets are more important than we realize now because cinema seems to be approaching the end game. I do have hopes though but it all depends if the industry learned from the success of OPPENHEIMER. With the biggest auditorium in Britain being the sliced up Empire with only something like 730 seats I think that tells us everything about the terminal decline of cinema. Without cinema though, poor looking movies might become the norm as you don't need anything exceptional to look great on a television. John.
@@moviecollector5920 it's a huge amount of money, but not when the big tent poles cost £150-300 million.
I will eternally remain optimistic on cinemas, I have to!
Netflix will still produce 90% bilge, but some industry people must have paid attention to the ridiculous success of Barbie, Oppenheimer and anything that Tom Cruise makes.
We just need more stars coming through like Cruise, Nolan and Tarantino that love the big screen.
I have very imp. question & you can give the perfect answer as per your long viewing experience. How close these remastered The shining, The Shawshank Redemption 4k discs, latest HDR projectors come to real 35 mm or blow up film projection?? Leave 65mm IMAX aside as it can’t be bought unless we have spare warehouses.
Regards
Sukhpreet
India
I think I just answered this Sekhpreet but if it went missing then it is possible to get close to how a 35mm print looks with a budget 4K video projector. Film has a generally darker appearance and it just takes patience and plenty of fiddling to get a video projector to closely mimic the look of film. Take a look for my review on The Fifth Element and Batman and you'll see 35mm being compared directly to 4K video projection. John.
I will check your reviews of Batman & Fifth… thanks 🙏🏽 John the re-Creator.
Isn't the 'grain' more to do with the relatively cheap camera and the resolution it was capable of??
I did suggest that as a possibility in this video so it may be. John.