The Damn Fool's: Worst Physical Media Disc Releases of the Year Awards 2022
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- #bluray #4kuhd #physicalmedia #discawards
Here we go: My first specific worst discs of the year awards. This is to highlight 2022 physical media releases in particular that are problematic, flawed, full of a lack of care or errors, technical problems or downright shameful "restoration" work. In preparing my best of the year list I kept finding more and more negatives that spawned this video instead of my usual dishonorable mentions. I do this as a means to generate discussion, encourage studios and labels to do better work, inform others and potential customers of what they're getting into.
This was not aimed at any one entity in particular but there is one label whose releases are so badly done on a perpetual basis that they are the primary reason why I did a separate worst of the year awards.
00:00 Introductory goof
00:00:48 Introduction and Welcome
07:16 RELEASE PRACTICES CATEGORY
07:53 Cheapest Feeling 4K UHD: Casablanca-Warner Bros
10:02 Cheapest Feeling Blu-ray: Arsenic and Old Lace-Criterion
11:46 Worst Cash Grab Reissue: UK Deluxe Anniversary Dr. No Steelbook and boxset
14:19 Worst Customer Feedback: Kino Lorber
16:35 Worst Label or Studio of the Year: Paramount. No Contest.
23:40 SPECIAL FEATURES AND EXTRAS CATEGORY
23:49 Least Impressive Extras Standard Blu-ray-Arsenic and Old Lace Criterion
24:32 Least Impressive Extras 4K UHD-Casablanca Warner
25:42 Least Impressive extras Boxset-The Godfather Trilogy Paramount
27:36 ARTWORK AND PACKAGING CATEGORY
27:38 Least Effort in Artwork-UHD Casablanca Warner
28:48 Worst Packaging-The Godfather Trilogy UHD Paramount
32:21 PICTURE TECHNICAL CATEGORY
33:00 Worst Restoration-The Godfather Trilogy Paramount
36:51 Worst problem in a studio master-Rich and Strange Kino
40:59 Most Disappointing Release of the Year-The Godfather Trilogy Paramount
42:11 Most Unnecessarily Problematic Releases of the Year-A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More 4K UHD-Kino Lorber
48:34 Worst Blu-ray Encoding: The Godfather Trilogy-Paramount
50:54 Worst 4K UHD Encoding: TIE: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance-Paramount AND The Craft-Shout Factory
53:47 Laziest Disc Encoding: Arsenic and Old Lace-Criterion-Pixelogic Media
55:54 Worst Picture Quality: The Godfather Trilogy 4K UHD-Paramount
57:41 SOUND TECHNICAL QUALITY
57:43 Worst Audio Presentation: MULTIPLE WINNERS:
The Most Dangerous Game-Eureka *Eureka is the only label who provided an alternate audio presentation
Planes Trains and Automobiles-Paramount, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance-Paramount
1:04:12 Worst Audio of the Year: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More 4K UHD-Kino Lorber
1:07:07 Most Disappointing Audio: The Most Dangerous Game-Eureka, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Godfather mono, The Godfather Part II mono-Paramount
Casablanca mono, Singin' In The Rain mono-Warner Bros
The Apartment UHD mono-Kino Lorber, High Plains Drifter UHD-Kino Lorber refusing to include original mono
1:16:19 Overall Most Disappointing Audio: A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More UHD-Kino Lorber
1:16:55 Worst Of The Year Overall FINAL CATEGORY
1:17:13 Worst Animated Release of the Year: The Batman Complete Series-Warner Brothers
1:21:19 Worst Discs of the Year
1:21:38 Top 10 Worst Discs of the Year Blu-ray and 4K UHD
1:22:06 #10: The War of the Worlds UHD/When Worlds Collide Blu-ray-Paramount
1:23:45 #9 and #8 A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More UHD-Kino Lorber
1:24:35 #7 The Godfather Part III UHD-Paramount
1:25:20 #6 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance UHD-Paramount
1:27:16 #5 Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl UHD-Disney
1:28:36 #4 Platoon UHD-Shout Factory
1:29:04 #3 Planes, Trains and Automobiles UHD-Paramount
1:32:28 #2 The Godfather Part II UHD and Blu-ray-Paramount
1:35:03 #1 The Godfather UHD and Blu-ray-Paramount
1:49:37 Worst UHD, Worst Blu-ray and Worst Boxset: The Godfather Trilogy UHD and Blu-ray-Paramount
1:57:56 Summary
1:59:03 Special Award of Video Infamy-Paramount
2:01:07 Final Summary - Krátké a kreslené filmy
This is the best movie review channel on CZcams. Your attention to detail is 2nd to none. Definitely appreciate your info. Great job 👍🏻
Tealification is my biggest annoyance. Revisionist 4 K scans that look green 😭
This is probably going to sound very cynical, but is the reason these new 4K restorations so consistently get the color grading off because they want to avoid laypeople looking at side-by-side comparisons and not seeing a difference, and do not convincing them to upgrade? I can’t understand why else a more archival approach wouldn’t be taken more often
Its more or less that companies aren't caring enough when handling physical media due to streaming crap and lack of care for their quality control over these new transfers. As long as it meets the requirements of simply being 4K and includes HDR grading, thats basically enough for them so they don't have to do the hard work of using the best sources possible in their remasters. Which is a common problem that is bound to get worse over time of course.
Thank you this was informative & entertaining … keep up the great work.
The Godfather UHD set is completely revisionist. The color timing is so modified from the earlier releases that it is a different movie. GF and GF2 were released with a golden veil patina that enhanced the setting of the early 1900s thru the 1950s. This idea exploded in the Blu-ray website forums where the moderators had to lock the thread. Agree the DNR and added digital noise painted on after wards is messy. What gets me is the “Coppola Restoration” blu-rays had the golden veil color timing and it was per Coppola’s and Willis’s vision and supposedly completely approved. The UHDs blows that up with a nuke.
Yeah, it’s a shame that thread is still locked so there’s not one place to discuss it. I expected going in that the color would be an issue but honestly it took a backseat to everything else. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and that no one else had talked about it. I asked around first and some people said they had heard some bad things, but no one said anything until now really.
Really enjoyed this video! Thank you so much. Very thorough walkthrough, and you really let them have it 👍🏻
Thank you! Like everyone else I hate to point out issues but sometimes they really stand out.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader So, is the end-takeaway here that the 2008 Coppola restoration trilogy bluray release in your opinon is the best home media release of the godfather films?
@@tullebob1683 Yes. I still have a few more editions to hunt down and check for a possibly better sounding mono on 1 and 2 but other than that the original Blu-rays are the way to go.
The only exceptions are if you like any of the re-edited cuts or the new Coda cut of 3.
Can’t wait for the 2023 and 2024 editions to mention the 4K restorations of Cameron’s films and American Graffiti, holy hell those are the absolute definition of how you DON’T restore films. As you said, if I knew these would be the results, I think I’d be happier if they ignored them.
Yep and to think that I thought the Fleischer Superman Warner Blu-ray was going to be the worst release of the year. Graffiti is worse than I ever expected. I knew the Cameron remasters whenever they did finally drop if they ever came out would be atrocious, but I didn’t expect this whole new realm of insanity. This is a dangerous new precedent for all films and should be rejected by everyone wholesale as its an insult to the original works themselves.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderGod, the Fleischer Superman shorts genuinely hurt to think about. I’m genuinely surprised how Warner miraculously has both a competent restoration team and an incompetent one simultaneously, truly an impressive feat! American Graffiti is possibly the worst film restoration I have ever seen in my entire life, it is SHOCKING how god awful it is. Granted, it did make me laugh first time seeing it, though I ended up being disappointed/upset the more I saw. Even more baffling seeing Universal Restorations are typically pretty well done! I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was mostly Lucasfilm at fault, but still. Just abysmal. Regarding Cameron, I was cautiously optimistic, I did have hope when the encoder stated that there was plenty of nice grain to be seen! So, that was a lie. The absolute DNRing to high hell and the use of AI, oh my god. And the fact that Cameron went “People don’t appreciate the work put into restorations, sometimes it took me a week of hard work!” I’m sorry, but he needs to shut up. Hard work my ass. However, I do believe by looking at these pathetic results and the pathetic methods used, that the restorations took about a week max. Even then, that’s being generous. Apologies for the rant, I’ve loved the films since I was a kid and it’s a genuine shame THESE are what Cameron’s “Perfect Results” look like.
Also, off topic, but what is your stance on Eureka’s release of Pandora’s Box (1929)? Read there’s some controversy around the restoration used.
@@Ifrit007 it’s certainly a crazy time in the world of film, restoration and new masters. 4K And HDR opened up a whole new world of possible revisionism but now Cameron and what ever mess he has applied to pre-existing masters of his own films is a new level of utter filth. Warner is an absolute mess and you never know what the studio label releases will turn out like. Yet the Archive division does the absolute best they can, and remains the best label in the US.
Graffiti is so bad it makes anyone who loves film cry. In both picture and sound they actually damaged the atmosphere of the film. It’s techniscope so it’s supposed to be ultra grainy and they took everything out and did new digital tweaks left traces of all of their work everywhere, and the sound remix actually dials down the level of the music.
I haven’t seen that version of Pandora’s box you mention, but to be honest, nothing surprises me anymore. I try to never discuss a master or something until I can actually look at it myself and put it under the microscope. In the audio realm, I especially have no clue how bad things are going to be until I’m making direct comparisons or looking at a wave form.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Oh absolutely! Cameron’s attempt at restoring his classic works to 4K is one of the worst I’ve ever seen, and makes me doubt the rumors about StudioCanal’s T2 4K 3D restoration having a proper restoration with grain. So Cameron really must love that extremely ugly digital look. I’m sorry, but that man needs to be as far away from all archives and restoration labs as humanly possible. I genuinely hope MGM can restore Terminator 1 without him, I really do.
Warner is indeed a mess, as we all know, the Studio label is simply inconsistent and can have pretty good restorations/releases but a lot of the time, they bomb extremely bad. Yet their Archive Division is one of the best I’ve seen from a studio, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if they’re the ones that help Criterion with the Criterion-Warner releases.
God, yeah, American Graffiti, again, possibly the all time worst restoration I have ever seen in my entire life. At least when it comes to official restorations. As much as I hate the restoration, can’t act all too surprised because holy hell George Lucas and Lucasfilm are the masters of destroying his older works. They really want us to keep using the terms “George Lucas” and “George Lucas’d” regarding awful revisions and botched restorations. It’s quite ironic, how George Lucas is such an avid lover of film and does so much with his foundation to restore so many film, a lot of those restorations are some of the best on top of it, yet seems to almost be purposefully destroying his own works. It’s so bizarre to me. I know that’s not what he’s doing, but it damn sure feels like it.
Yeah, it’s an odd situation. Though one thing of note is that this was done around 2009-2013, around the time of restorations like Metropolis, The Fight Against the Mountains, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It’s not too too bad, it has grain, pretty clear picture, and the music is actually pretty great. However, it just has this oddly washed out look, is very… gray? I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s not the usual black and white look you’d expect, and it’s not sepia as some said either. It’s hard to explain but the black and white looks off. There is occasional loss of detail which eh. However there’s this very jarring and laughable glitch where you’re supposed to see a coin fall, however someone digitally removed it seeing the tool thought it was a dirt mark. That and there’s issues with subtitles at certain points. I do think the Deutsche Kinemathek is a great archive, but man, that restoration wasn’t it, chief. It got so much flack that Janus Films, when putting Pandora’s Box on the list of films they own, seem to be using a 2K transfer of the 1997 restoration, if that’s not telling, I don’t know what is.
What a world, smaller archives/filmmusems, foundations, smaller organizations (like Cinema Preservation Alliance) and certain Blu-ray publishers do a better job than most studios.
Also, I remembered your Most Dangerous Game segment of this video, and if you’re interested, BFI Three Films by Ozu set has a similar thing going on with the two sound films, where they have a restored track which sounds filtered, but also an unrestored track that sounds more natural, albeit noisy. All I will say, thank you BFI!
The one thing I’m getting upset with as we move from SDR to HDR is people getting upset with how movies look when compared with previous formats. The new formats are far superior wrt color gamut and brightness. Just because a film looked one way on tape going back to 1980s doesn’t mean it’s color timing was correct. Even Blu-Ray was limited to 8-bit in REC709 colorspace just slightly wider than the 8-bit video color space on DVD.
Unless anyone here has seen a print from a master negative no one knows the filmmaker’s intent unless he was involved in the new version. Just because a filmmaker approved a transfer for a legacy format doesn’t mean they won’t take liberties to make changes when new formats have more capabilities.
Look I agree that some of these releases are given no care but the disc market has significantly shrunk in the last decade so much that studios are less likely to put effort into smaller to mid tier titles.
As someone that started with VHS and laserdisc to DVD to Blu-Ray to UHD Blu-ray I never would have thought the studios would have let consumers have content in such a high quality.
I just discovered this channel. Underrated.
Veeery long video but worth every second! Thank you for your effort. Just wondering, do you have any thoughts on The Godfather Trilogy on 4K? 😉PS: Revisionism seems to have become a common nuisance of many facets of our live: books, movies, politics, science. It's not a new thing as historians will point out but technical advancements (like AI) will amplify the problem to a new level, I'm afraid.
What's pathetic about Paramount messing up so many releases is that their Blu-rays of "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius", "Yours, Mine, and Ours (2005)", and "Good Burger" all prove that they can do way better when they want to.
Thanks for this.As someone just starting to collect 4K discs I have started to realise that it’s not always a wise move to buy a 4K you might be initially excited about,when a Blu-ray will suffice or not if that’s rubbish too.
This will help me weed out the rubbish and focus on buying just excellent to great 4K transfers.😊
I have a very limited budget for 4K and Blu-ray discs; this video will help me save money. Thanks Spencer
Glad I was able to help some. I wish the Dollars films weren’t so problematic still. The UHDs of the first two are still better than previous releases but thankfully they’re relatively cheap and go cheaper during Kino’s site sales.
I guess anything with some sort of noise-like pattern counts as “grain” and “film-like” to the eyes of most consumers and reviewers, which explains the Godfather Trilogy’s positive reception. It’s like what RAH described in his review of Liberty Valance. That luma component of grain is apparently enough to trick most. If the fact that most people call VHS “grainy” didn’t make it clear that most people don’t know what real grain looks like, I don’t know what will.
No clue what happened with the audio on The Apartment. A friend shipped me all his LDs so I could rip the audio for them, The Apartment was one of them, I ripped it, he sent it in to Kino and they did their work on it. Now, to be fair, you have to do a lot of work to sync it to the 4K master due to dropped frames in the LD, so using part of the DVD/BD mono or even the 5.1 downmixed is necessary for sections not covered in it. That’s to be expected in a re-sync. I guess they decided to do additional work on it while syncing it because you “might as well” if you’re going to the effort to sync it. I thought the UHD sounded fine, but that’s just me. A disappointment, sure, but a major improvement over the older audio tracks.
Oh I didn’t realize you were the one who had sent them the LD mono. It sounds close-ish but it’s not quite as good as the LD track. I was rather perplexed as to why they would mess with it. Still it is better than the MGM audio Arrow had to use. And the old MGM dvd was really bad sounding.
Syncing is indeed a pain especially with dropped frames. I’m not very good at it myself.
The stuff going on with chroma and luma these days is part of this new realm of more sneaky revisionism. I try to be as tech literate as I can but I start to run out of terminology trying to describe stuff. I still can’t put my finger on exactly what all is going on in Liberty Valance.
That Casablanca 4K looks like a budget release lol. These major studios just don't give a damn about physical releases anymore and they think streaming is the future......it's not.
All the new Warner releases are like this except they’ve added a 100 logo. Endless cut corners hdr10 only and recycling legacy extras and old BD discs.
Just subbed and have been very excited by all your meticulous content. Love the channel! Would love to have you on for a live stream or an interview about the state of home video.
Thank you!! Sure, I’d love to.
It would be nice if you gave a review of what are the BETTER or BEST version of these films to buy if these are the worst.
1:22:06 I grabbed the Australian Imprint Blu-ray of 'The War of the Worlds' because it was dirt cheap and used the same 4K scan as Paramount and Criterion (Unfortunately Criterion's releases are routinely $52.99 in Canada, I often look for alternatives). It has the same problems mentioned as Paramount's own UHD, namely colour timing and og audio. But I'll live with a blue Mars and a pretty good LPCM Stereo mix compared to the frozen grain and out of sync audio on the Special Collector's Edition DVD. There's always someone better, and there's always someone worse too.
Thank you Spencer. At least I know which discs not to reward with purchases. Personally I tend to care more about the special features and in particular whether the disc comes with an audio commentary track or not. But I’m so glad that there are people out there who care about film preservation and accuracy and fidelity to the original presentation of the audio and video and color of the film. But even I get super annoyed when they change the color grading and apply DNR too much. There is nothing wrong with film grain.
I hope that you also might consider doing a best of show to cover the releases from 2022 and the first part of 2023 so far. I liked your best of 2021 video. For me, the release of the Director’s Cut of Star Trek The Motion Picture in HD is quite an unexpected pleasure which I always hoped would happen, kind of like finding a complete version of Metropolis in Argentina after all the years of searching.
As an aside, there are a couple of recent interviews on the Cereal at Midnight Ypou Tube channel with Frank Tarzi, the head of title acquisitions at Kino Lorber. He goes into factors and considerations that he deals with in terms of how he decides which movies and TV to acquire to release on physical disc (and streaming and theatrical as well). It’s pretty interesting stuff.
I’m just waiting on one more disc to finish my best of list. Indeed I hate having to say anything negative but even when people’s intentions are good it doesn’t excuse revisionism and making poor choices that will get baked into the version of the film in release.
I’m glad more companies are doing interviews like that so people can get a sense of the business side. That’s why I try to stress that it is a business at the end of the day and a lot of issues are baked into studio masters provided to boutique labels. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t put in care and effort into every release. Some labels do this on every release and others simply don’t.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader oh I agree with all of your points about the lack of attention to quality. And you are also right about the tone of defensiveness and denial when issues are brought to the attention of Kino Lorber online!
I looked back on the Godfather reviews and I can’t find any that are even slightly negative. I’ve only watched it once so I can’t compare it to earlier versions but you really took a bold stand on this one.
I really felt it needed it. You’re right in that there’s nothing negative outside of Robert Harris making a few statements and talking about the color on the home theater forum thread. The only place where you’ll see any other mention of these massive other issues is where I’ve asked about it wondering if anyone else had seen them.
Exactly, he's talking nonsense. The Godfather trilogy looks and sounds amazing. Best it's ever looked and sounded by miles.
@@Revolver1981 that may be your opinion, but I’m certainly not talking nonsense. The color revisionism is one thing, but to have that degree of problems especially with DNR and frozen grain in addition to not properly restoring the original audio is inexcusable.
@Honest Blu-ray No pal. The fat man said it's a restoration we can't refuse.👍🏻
@@Revolver1981 you must believe everything ‘films at home’ says. Dude is a layman so is a casual media enthusiast trying to disguise as a hardcore one. He admitted it himself during his Rocky 4K review.
If you take requests, I would very much like to see you do a video going into detail on Paramount's 4K restoration of War of the Worlds. That's a movie that means the world to me, no pun intended, and to see what Paramount has done with it (everything from darkening the picture in an attempt to mask the wires, to lying about digitally erasing the wires in their press release, to the new audio mix, which is the very definition of revisionist) is nothing less than heartbreaking.
That’s one I need to tackle plus When Worlds Collide and the baffling color timing choices they made there. I’m reviewing Secret of the Incas which is a new Paramount scan released by Kino that shows some of the same odd color choices.
It’s best to stick with the Criterion BD of War of the Worlds because of Paramount shenanigans.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I bought the Criterion disc when it was released and returned it. You're right, that disc is the best presentation of the Paramount restoration, but the Paramount restoration is so fucked that the only way to fix it is to start over from scratch. Which Paramount likely won't let happen until the next format comes along, but when that happens, they'll do it themselves, and most likely find new ways to screw it up. Normally, it's a cause for celebration when a major studio takes special interest in one of their catalogue titles; Paramount has proven themselves the exception to that rule.
Thanks for the great informative video. I found the last year a few blu rays in my collection that don't work well anymore . They stop playing somewhere in the middle, or do not play at all. This is very concerning to me. I never had a dvd or cd that stopped playing. Could you maybe give your thoughts about the durability of discs.
I did some videos on the dvd disc rot situation with Warner Bros discs that came from the run of bad manufacturing at a certain plant. Warner HDDVDs are very notorious for disc rot but the DVDs don’t often get discussed.
Blu-ray rarely has this problem but there are a certain group of titles from Criterion and others that have rot issues also because of bad manufacturing plants. It’s the same scenario as older Warner discs.
Other than these particular examples, usually the only discs I’ve ever found with rot issues are very early DVDs from the start of the format or things like the awful DVD-18s Universal used for a while.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader thank you for your reply. I knew of some of these issues eg Criterion. . I will look up your vids about disc rot. To be honest I am doubtful it's disc rot for the blurays I found. I will mention them just FYI ; The Fly (Cronenberg) American Gangster , Cloverfield , Manhattan . cheers
Great reviews! And here I am ripping both For a Few Dollars More and A Fistful of Dollars....I'll have to be extra observant reviewing both.
I recently happened on this channel (seems to me that the algorithm should have pushed your videos earlier, tbh). Already one of my favorite movie/physical media channels. (I love the laserdisc discussions.)
I’m shocked to finally hear someone trash the Godfather 4Ks. On my TV/player (both decent, with good picture settings), the first Godfather was nearly unwatchable in HDR10. Watching it with HDR off or in Dolby Vision was much better, but still “meh.”
It’s weird that it’s been five or six years since Criterion has been one of the top-tier boutiques.
Imagine what VinSyn, Severin, Eureka, Arrow, Indicator, Radiance, Imprint, or Second Sight would have done with that Godzilla box set, or with the many world classics Criterion continues releasing without commentary tracks and with few excellent extras. (The upcoming Arrow 4K release of Criterion’s Bruce Lee box looks like another example of a rival label going the extra mile the way Criterion should have done.)
Criterion releases are must-own because of the movies themselves and the good transfers-almost never because of the special features.
By contrast, I often find that a VinSyn or Severin release feels “essential” even when the movie is mediocre, because the extras are so terrific. Similarly, Indicator’s releases often feel amazing even when the transfer isn’t great.
This really surprised me about the godfather uhd box set, i have the set but Will have to look at again to see what you Are taking about, i do agree about when they suddenly turn up the hdr and its so bright like you mentioned about the Window scene its jarring how bright it suddenly is.
I was completely surprised as well after all of the glowing positive reviews elsewhere.
I appreciate you taking another look. What I wanted to do with this video was to get a conversation started with everyone and see what people think.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader also could someone tell the studios Who release our beloved movies not to change the the colors but just enhance what is already there, good example is terminator 2 i Hope Cameron Will not alter the way true Lies looks when that hits uhd.
Dude, what's your opinion of Vinegar Syndrome's picture quality and audio quality? They're doing a new sale tomorrow at noon. I challenge you to buy a title or two and see what you think. I personally LOVE their 4K releases of Six-String Samurai, Scanner Cop, Beastmaster, Roadhouse, Cloak & Dagger, and Freeway. I've got around 80 of their titles so far. Severin also has a sale going on this weekend. Don't be afraid to branch out beyond the major studios. I've been very pleased.
The Godfather 4K packaging is complete shit, it looks like a counterfeiter slapped that together. I've seen bootleg packaging made with better quality than that. The disc holder coming unglued is atrocious and inexcusable, they just didn't give a shit.
Exactly!! It was damaged inside and out brand new and is ultra generic.
Great stuff mushy
I also forgot to add the standard release to Casablanca you had in your hands that picture on the front I’m pretty sure is from Angels With Dirty Faces 1938 and as you correctly stated not even from Casablanca very poor of Warner Brothers cheers Carl .
How do you feel about Disney’s 5.1 remasters of their old films(including Muppets, old Fox films, main animated movies, etc.)?
I can’t stand them. Disney has been remixing for decades as even most of their initial video releases on various formats were stereoized or early remix forms.
I thank you for your fantastic comments and being a longtime Bogart fan it is a real shame I had to import the special edition steel book all the way from the UK to Australia it is region free of course on the 4K disc but also on the Bluray . Nonetheless this fantastic release should of been available in most countries I’m just so glad Bogart went from playing Whip McCord to Roy Earle and Sam Spade in two years and speaking of Roy Earle Highly Sierra my favourite Bogart Film was a magnificent release in 2022 and I also thought your review was the very best on the internet a fan of your work regards Carl Australia.
I use to work in marketing in the UK. I don't want to sound like a "conspiracy theorist", but I often wonder if these media Corporations are deliberately becoming sloppy to push or nudge people over to the streaming platform. There seems to be some strange stuff going on with transfers with films. I wonder what will happen once physical is totally gone? I'm certain films that have been botched on 4K will probably look like new on streaming. Sounds suspicious to me. But it can always just be a coincidence of course, and I'm just making all of this up. 😊😂
You’re not too far off. There are numerous examples of things that have only been fixed for streaming such as the defective audio on Batman The Animated Series episodes. Or WB restoring other things and animation but keeping it streaming exclusive.
@Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader I admire you're analysing of the situation. Picking up on the technical aspects is one thing, but what goes on behind closed doors is another. It's going to be fascinating just to see where the lay of the land is in 20 yrs' time. By that time, the streaming market will be fully integrated as the no.1 platform for all media applications. Comparisons with physical over streaming from the past will prove whether the "conspiracy" was 100% right or wrong. But I think we both know something is afoot, dear Watson. Cheers...
As we've all discovered recently, the difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth is about two years.
An incredibly depressing video to watch as a collector….but appreciated
Paramount's Friday the 13th UHD was also off the mark for me. Very jarring HDR treatment there.
Now that we got these damn fools out of the way I'm looking forward to the Spencers!
It wouldn’t surprise me. I haven’t seen every release and didn’t mention all the other Paramount discs like that that I’ve seen people discuss issues with.
Haha that’s not a bad idea to have different names.
I was tempted to buy Friday the 13th on UHD... but then I found out the theatrical cut is Digital Only, and they chucked the mono mix.
That was nice of Paramount to save me some money like that.
I passed on the Friday the 13th UHD. I have the Shout Factory complete Blu-ray set. Presentation of the movies and extras are top shelf. I’ll stick to that.
The F13 HDR was crazy. So much detail just got blasted out of the image, which is either jet black or blindingly white.
It’s too bad, because the 4K is noticeably sharper than the recent Scream Factory blu ray. (Scream’s release still looks way better to me.)
This is not directly related to 2022 discs, but have you ever reviewed or compared the Paramount Presents edition of “The Sheik” to the earlier Kino Blu-ray?
I’ve been wanting to pick up that release but since it’s a Paramount presents title I must admit to being a bit leery. Especially for the higher price. I think there might have been additional restoration work done for the film in between releases but I’m not sure if it is better than the Kino version.
Thanks, I feel the same. I’ve read fairly positive reviews of the Paramount transfer but have found no comparisons with the Kino. My gut is just to stick with my Kino since it has a good commentary track and Ben Model score.
Will you do a best of 2022?
When I searched warner archive it still showed this series under their releases, is there some way to find and differentiate good DC releases from bad ones?
Basically, the only good ones are the ones warner archive got to do themselves and you’ll see it has their logo on the front of the case. They did mask of the phantasm, subzero, Teen Titans, Justice league unlimited, brave and the bold and a few others.
Thanks!@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
One telling issue and take away might be is that 4K does not always mean an automatic upgrade. It means for collector's like myself however, that the already excellent Blu-ray releases have dropped even further in price in the secondary market, which I am pleased with, although it is an obvious disappointment for fans of particular titles that ought to have been given the proper care it deserves, especially iconic, essential ones.
One complaint I have that seems quite fairly consistent is the 4K being DARKER, negating the higher resolution that one expects from the format, along with increased grain, which I feel can be quite egregious. But many releases I note are just beautiful, so I am not knocking the latest advances in restoration.
Good overview of the past year's releases. I guess my Godfather Trilogy on Blu-ray will be be remaining as is in the collection.
Like with any format I think you have to go on a title by title basis. So far I have seen some UHD‘s be brighter, and some be darker than earlier releases, but when done correctly, it’s usually fixing deficiencies of older releases. For example, I think that’s part of the dramatic improvement on Citizen Kane, Double Indemnity and Casablanca.
I think if you ran some reference 4K UHDs of more modern, but still completely film based titles, it would really help to convert people. I think Arrow’s UHD of Prince of Thieves is pretty much reference grade for doing HDR right along with the BFI’s release of Get Carter, and a number of others I’ve seen so far.
Some UHD’s will highlight deficiencies on older titles, or especially ones where the elements are limited. But you’re also getting benefits of having greater capacity on the disc, higher bitrates, and everything else.
So even when it’s minimal improvements like Citizen Kane, they are still pretty major.
Invaders from Mars does highlight a lot more of the baked in problems because it was a miraculous restoration to try and save that film. But I do think you still get benefits of having the UHD and the HDR is so tastefully done that it’s almost minimal.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader yes, a key element would have to be the condition of the negatives or a like source. Just imagining how more detail could be available with a surviving 35mm source of Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923) for instance. Other restorations of early films such as this has yielded very impressive results. It's really exciting to see what the latest tech is accomplishing.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader yes, I'm enthusiastic about UHD. It's funny but when I mentioned to a friend about the then upcoming release of Jaws on Blu-ray, he wasn't all that impressed. But when he saw a little film on the restoration, he quickly saw the potential leap over DVD. So even with diminished returns on each succeeding advancement, it is exciting to see what can be done with some titles, especially as they are essential for any film enthusiast.
To be honest, I certainly belong to the group of people who have untrained eyes, and I’ve probably watched The Godfather part 1 4K at least twice and I did not notice the flaws you mentioned once. However, I did think the transfer was unusually dark and overly saturated. 😅
That’s okay. To be honest it’s rather hard to try and capture these various issues even in doing screencaps so I’m having to try and figure out a way to have some visual references for my standalone review. It’s much more visible in motion particularly the frozen grain halos.
Once you see them it’s impossible to unsee them.
I think also it depends on what hdr type and display you might be using. Before jumping into 4k I had a lot harder time seeing modern issues in 1080p on a plasma. Now with a Sony oled and Panasonic UHD player they almost jump out at me.
You had me at "color revisionism.". Infamia!
When you do 2023 please add American Graffiti, what an atrocious release. I can't believe this was a restoration done with Lucasfilm and Universal for exhibition. And they created a new mix. How can they do something that makes the DVD look better. Or forces me to find the pre 1998 Laserdisc master.
Yeah it's definitely the worst UHD of 2023 no contest. It's already hard trying to figure out which is worse it or the Warner BD of the Fleischer Supermans.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader , i'd give almost anything to be able to see the IB tech presentation off the techniscope negative. If i wanted a film to look like video i would watch video.
hi there,
i just found another butchered disc by paramount…
For some reason they messed up the audio for the pulp fiction 4k blu ray…
i just started watching the film and when i got to the jack rabbit slims sequence i noticed there is way to much going on in the surrounds… so i compared it to the older versions… huge difference…
i think on the 4k they managed to route the L/R front channels onto the surrounds… sounds nuts… really frustrating…
i researched it online but couldnt find anybody complaining about audio issues… is it me or wtf is going on… maybe you want to check that out and have some fun…👍😎
The UK Studiocanal release of the 1976 “King Kong” wasn’t the greatest, with a weird looking transfer and sloppy outer artwork that literally has a generic stock photo of a gorilla representing Kong.
I don't think Warner Home Video should be allowed to release any more content
Already got CASABLANCA, but I still have my Blu-ray sets from years ago to compensate. Thankfully, I didn't get any of the others and crossed many off my list. Small comfort knowing that the people in charge of caring for these monuments give less of a shit than the ones they drop in the bathrooms. Fuck Paramount.
What would you consider the best of the best 4k display to watch your 4k movies on❓ What 4k display do you use if I may ask❓🙂
Personally I’d say the best OLED tv you can afford and in the US that pretty much means a Sony if you’re film focused over gaming. I have a A80j.
Worst company customer feedback/service is Severin. Good ol' Jayson.
Did they fix Liberty Valance in the 2024 release?
Should be the exact same disc.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader well that sucks
Wow, I was actually thinking about getting the godfather trilogy. Guess I’ll pick up an older release?
Definitely pickup the older Coppola restoration set on Blu-ray if you haven’t. That release is dirt cheap now.
If the couple of new 50th anniversary extras interest you or you’d like to see the new masters for yourself the UHD set does goes on sale for around $35 ish at some points of the year. To be honest I can’t recommend it at all unless you really like the new Coda cut of III.
My favorite is the acting prowess.
I trust you in everything you do
The godfather being so bad is surprising. I bought the set but haven’t watched it yet. So many bluray reviewers said it was fantastic.
That’s why it was really surprising to me. I had been really looking forward to seeing the new master everyone raved over once I got fully into 4K. I had kept up with all the information and the discussion on the color timing revisionism, so I knew what to expect there. But I wasn’t prepared for everything else which was ridiculous. And all of these problems are very similar if not the same stuff as what Paramount has done on a lot of other releases recently.
Definitely check it out for yourself and see what you think. I’d be curious to hear other people’s firsthand opinions. I think they definitely focused on trying to make it “pop” more and I think a lot of the stuff is more on the sneaky and subtle side.
But it should be seen and discussed by reviewers especially when it is painfully obvious.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I’ll report back with my findings for sure.
Pretty bad when Warner Archive is surpassing Criterion's efforts.
Also, I wonder how much longer Warner and Paramount will be around. Their stocks are cratering lately.
Maybe the issues with hdr is that our displays Are not properly calibrated to show hdr, so My next oled tv Will have to have filmaker mode, i have a 2016 oled the first gen i believe and with blu ray it looks great but with uhd its a hit and miss.
It is a good idea to double check settings and try to calibrate the best you can. I went through a whole period of trying to get all of my settings dialed in and get used to HDR10 and Dolby Vision before I started reviewing anything.
But the issues on the Godfather are not to do with displays as they are definite choices made by the people handling this master, and it is baked in to the new version. If you watch the new SDR Blu-ray releases you’ll see that the bright light is still there in the master just not as prevalent because you’re watching in SDR.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader what a mess, especially because this is such a great movie, well if they do a 60th anniversary 8k edition maybe they Will get it right lets Hope. I really Hope that some People at paramount see these very informative videoes that you make and take noticed.
The godfather 9disck version from zavie package is the best package of the year I have all version of godfather format and that's one of best
I had no problem with the Godfather collection. It looked and sounded fantastic on my system. And many others have said the same about the release. I guess we can just be thankful to have the film on 4K in the first place and it looks so much better than my original VHS copies I purchased many years ago. Maybe, you’re being just a bit hard on the release, but you’re entitled to your opinion on the matter.
Batman the animated Series Blu-ray was terrible everybody I heard said it was great😔 I love physical media her but it's so hard to pick out what format is becoming the headache like I seen other CZcamsrs saying The godfather on 4K is amazing best upgrade over previous releases and now and I see other ones like you saying it's terrible I don't know who to believe
BTAS really killed me with how problematic it was. That’s why my review was so long and detailed. It should’ve never been released in that state by WB and unfortunately similar issues persist in the other Warner DCAU releases I’m reviewing.
The Godfather issues are on the sneakier side which is why so many seem to have not noticed them I guess.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader well and your honest opinion and seem like you're the only one actually being honest and not saying good things just to get free stuff would you recommend someone who wants to own the series just to pick up the DVD set instead?
@@bobbyh15 I'm a bit mixed on it actually. I think it's important for dedicated BTAS fans to have both. The DVDs get you the broadcast versions exactly as-is with no issues like what is on the BDs. However the BDs are massively advanced in terms of the new scans done they just have issues of their own and are retimed in today's digital realm versus the DVDs reflecting the broadcast look exactly. Just make sure to get the older DVD editions and not the modern release which may be a new DVD from the HD master. I'm not sure if they did that or repressed the old discs with the BD art.
That packaging for The Godfather set looks pretty bad. Here in the UK it came in a digipack, which is still a little flimsy but much better than the alternative.
Casablanca pic on 4k
Is not a pic from the movie. It is from another of Humphrey Bogarta movies
And second is the ongoing batch between the studios and physical media
No matter what the studios say they want complete control because they think it will raise revenue for them digitally. Believe this lie is still in their mind set.They even ignored the truth that most cannot watch movies without using data they run out before the month is over
It's the illusion of Everything, Everywhere All at Once is ironically a belief many have🤯.
Paramount Top Gun Maverick was 2022 best 4k uhd?
Probably yes from a technical standpoint if you’re talking about new releases but my focus is primarily on catalog titles and there are some truly miraculous restorations that happened in 2022 with films thought beyond saving.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Beside your the only reviewer that gave Godfather Trilogy 4k uhd a big negative 4k picture quality with DNR, can you please give me another negative reviewer? Just curious 🤔
@@808physicalmedia9 Robert Harris, who did the original 2007 restoration, in his review and post on the hometheaterforum said there were a number of issues and that Paramount had gone for a more modern approach and how the film is now visually presented. He primarily only talked about the color revisionism, but he did allude to some other problems and didn’t go into detail I think out of trying to be polite to Paramount.
Here on CZcams, honest Blu-ray made a video recently about how bad it is. I am working on my own separate video review discussing the release on its own. Aside from that and people discussing the color problem the only other specific mention of these problems I know of is where I have posted on forums, asking other people if they noticed it because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I'm just confused & shock, that over 100 reviewers gave the Godfather Trilogy 4k uhd two big thumbs up & your the only one with a negative two thumbs up! Just doing the math & logic?
@@808physicalmedia9 that’s why I I’ve said I’m not sure why they gave it positive reviews. Because they’re definitely there and rather plainly obvious if you pay attention to them which a reviewer should be doing.
But they are more subtle and to be honest sneaky when compared to just completely DNRing some thing or covering everything in a certain color cast. They’ve also tried to make them really pop on a modern screen which I think also might distract people and give the impression that these masters are thus newer and fresher looking.
I got 2 of those, holy smokes are they really that bad
With each release I discussed on a particular issue I tried to explain positives and negatives. Some are merely problematic or have some art or packaging issues, while others have technical issues or flaws in masters.
Some are just plain awful and others were ruined by entities deciding to engage in tomfoolery.
The godfather trilogy uhd set is the same way I feel about the Indiana Jones uhd set, the back to the future uhd set, the Jurassic park uhd & the evil dead 1-2 uhd set.
Yea all the films technically look the best they ever have but not what they originally/ theatrically looked or sounded like. 4K has been great but every major studio is just one revisionist after another revisionist set. The lord of the rings uhd was just as bad too boot.
Only set in UHD that wasn’t revisionist was the mad max set.
In what way do you think the Back to the Future UHD was "revisionist"?
I guess thinking of other boxsets that were good I might say The Matrix though that has colour related controversies.
I enjoyed my viewing of the Mission: Impossible boxset though the fact that's Paramount makes me think there's probably some shit I didn't notice lol.
The Indy set was when I knew we were in a new realm for sure when every optical or effects shot had been messed with.
The original four Batman’s have problems too.
M:I seems to be ok but the original still does not have the theatrical LFE soundmix.
Actually Mad Max's freaking revisionist particularly in the sound of 2 (The Road Warrior) and Beyond Thunderdome, You got the proper color timing (and by that they actually graded the film) But is it worth having recalls just to have the 2.0 mix properly represented, or the previously fine 5.1 mix be chucked for a crap atmos mix. And it's still the truncated Australian version That was produced for every Blu-ray since the late 2000s Not the full thing nor the original R-rated release, It doesn't have the full speech but has the violence.
1:52:20 channeling Brando 🍊
This is why I don't collect DVD, Blu ray and 4K. I've given up.
The godfather UHD??
Yes unfortunately.
A lot of channels put the Trilogy as the best of the year 🤔🤔
@@angelmarquez5153 they did and to be honest I can’t agree with the acclaim it received. There’s quite a bit of stuff going on in the new master.
@Honest Blu-ray I don't know a lot about what goes on with this kind of stuff so when a lot of people with a big audience say it's good maybe they're right 🤔🤷🏻♂️
@@angelmarquez5153 Robert A. Harris, perhaps the ultimate authority on the Godfather restoration, says that it's not the original, it's not the Gordon Willis approved work of 2007-08, but it is a modern reimagining of the movie
I think this guy is my hero
after 2 hours I still can't tell for sure if you didn't like the godfather trilogy 4k release.
But, do you ever give any thought to the BUSINESS SIDE of physical media in the U.S…?? You complain about studios putting out cheap releases, but blu ray and 4K sales are continuously DOWN in the U.S. quarter over quarter. WHY would a studio invest so much money into a product that only 100 people are going to appreciate and be satisfied with…?? Do you WANT the studios to go out of business? Gotta make a profit to keep the machines running, and home video just doesn’t make them as much money right now. If all the studios went out of business because they’re wasting money on premium releases for every single movie in their back catalogue, THEN you’d whine and complain about there being no physical media at all! So, what the hell do you want??
I ALWAYS give consideration to the business side of things and practicalities of the business of both studios and boutique labels. I mention this throughout the video and none of the issues I mentioned would have required much if any time or money to address. All of these issues are due to oversight and lack of care or effort. The technical issues are entirely down to lack of care save for when boutique labels are provided problematic materials by studios or rights holders and have to work with what they’ve been given.
As for cheap feeling releases there’s nothing wrong with calling out a major studio release for cutting corners or not putting in full effort. The Godfather set packaging is extremely cheap which is why I pointed out the plain case of the BD version was a better and cheaper solution. Warner going hdr10 only for their catalog UHDs with minimal effort is the typical Warner studio practice of not caring very much about catalog titles which is tiresome. There’s no reason to not have better encodes and hdr10+ or Dolby Vision.
What I want is for the appropriate amount of time and care to be put in regardless of if it’s an ancient master being put on a disc or a new 4k master for a UHD. Quality effort costs nothing regardless of what the type of release is. The encode, picture and sound should be as good as they can be given the constraints of sources, budget and time. Other releasing entities do this perfectly fine on a continual basis. The Warner Archive outdoes the studio label with every release in all areas in spite of having minimal budgets and not being able to produce new extras.