Kino Lorber 4K releases?

[Paul Heroy]

I'm curious who has bought or viewed any 4K releases from KL and how they've been? 

I browsed this month's Sound & Vision reviews (in the good ol' print mag!) and they included 4 x 4K releases from Kino Lorber. I wasn't familiar with this reissue company before but they've obviously been around a while. The S&V review included The Usual Suspects, In Bruges, Tropic Thunder and The Score. 

I looked up TUS and see some complaints about the coloring - the bluray.com review is pretty critical in this respect to the extent of wondering if the master approved by the cinematographer is what we actually see on the disk. The review of In Bruges doesn't note such problematic areas but doesn't seem to think much was gained vs the 1080p BD. In terms of Audio there are no Atmos or other modern immersive mixes, just the carryover surround from the BD releases. 

I've never seen In Bruges but wanted to before viewing seeing The Banshees of Inisherin, so that's the one I'm most interested in. There are also no digital codes, which will be a positive for some of you lol.

[David Vaughn]

I'm curious who has bought or viewed any 4K releases from KL and how they've been?

I browsed this month's Sound & Vision reviews (in the good ol' print mag!) and they included 4 x 4K releases from Kino Lorber. I wasn't familiar with this reissue company before but they've obviously been around a while. The S&V review included The Usual Suspects, In Bruges, Tropic Thunder and The Score.

I looked up TUS and see some complaints about the coloring - the bluray.com review is pretty critical in this respect to the extent of wondering if the master approved by the cinematographer is what we actually see on the disk. The review of In Bruges doesn't note such problematic areas but doesn't seem to think much was gained vs the 1080p BD. In terms of Audio there are no Atmos or other modern immersive mixes, just the carryover surround from the BD releases.

I've never seen In Bruges but wanted to before viewing seeing The Banshees of Inisherin, so that's the one I'm most interested in. There are also no digital codes, which will be a positive for some of you lol.

Paul,

I've tried to get review copies from them for years, but our Blu-ray/4K review editor gets the priority for S&V and this site doesn't have enough traffic for a "minor" studio to send screeners. I personally haven't seen any of their 4K releases. 

[AVSCraig]

I've bought quite a few 4K discs from Kino Lorber. Tropic Thunder, A Fist Full of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, The Good, Bad and Ugly, Eastern Promises, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Silence of the Lambs, and I have Death Wish on order. I'm way behind watching movies, but I have watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind all the way through, and it looked good. That's always been a pretty rough looking film, but there were definitely improvements. 

Hopefully I'll get a chance to watch all of these discs early next year.

[Paul Heroy]

Paul,

I've tried to get review copies from them for years, but our Blu-ray/4K review editor gets the priority for S&V and this site doesn't have enough traffic for a "minor" studio to send screeners. I personally haven't seen any of their 4K releases.

David - that kind of points to another question I had in the back of my mind. I know you do occasional reviews for S&V but obviously post a lot here that aren't there. Do you post these reviews elsewhere or just here? This is a pretty small site so if it's just here... I'm a little surprised, and impressed you are able to get the screeners that you do.

[David Vaughn]

David - that kind of points to another question I had in the back of my mind. I know you do occasional reviews for S&V but obviously post a lot here that aren't there. Do you post these reviews elsewhere or just here? This is a pretty small site so if it's just here... I'm a little surprised, and impressed you are able to get the screeners that you do.

Paul, just here (very occasionally for the magazine). I'm doing K-scape reviews at S&V now (two per month). If I were just starting out, I wouldn't get the screeners if I just wrote here. Thankfully, I've been at it since 2004 and have some great studio contacts that know that I'll review anything that I request. While the traffic here is low, for the studio to turn a profit on a screener they only need 4 or 5 copies of the disc to sell from that review, which is pretty easy to attain (even with a small readership). Both my daughter and son-in-law worked at a Hollywood PR firm that does work for the major studios and they are shocked how many screeners go out to "major" publications and never get even a mention on their site, but they can't alienate them either because when they do cover a title, it gets A LOT of coverage

[SRW1000]

Both my daughter and son-in-law worked at a Hollywood PR firm that does work for the major studios and they are shocked how many screeners go out to "major" publications and never get even a mention on their site, but they can't alienate them either because when they do cover a title, it gets A LOT of coverage

That part is kind of surprising, since there's such a push for "content" even in the bigger publications, if for nothing other than their online presence, that you'd think they'd be happy to get and use the free fodder.

Glad to hear that you're able to get review copies for our benefit here.  Your reviews certainly play into what I rent and eventually buy.

Scott

[Paul Heroy]

We may be small, but we're the right demographic!

[David Vaughn]

That part is kind of surprising, since there's such a push for "content" even in the bigger publications, if for nothing other than their online presence, that you'd think they'd be happy to get and use the free fodder.

Glad to hear that you're able to get review copies for our benefit here.  Your reviews certainly play into what I rent and eventually buy.

Scott

Thanks Scott. 

I started reviewing in 2004 for Home Theater Spot--Kris Deering recruited me and I almost quit after the first movie--"My Bosses Daughter," which up until today is still one of the three worst movies I've ever watched. Thankfully, it got better after that one!

Kris eventually moved on to the Secrets website and Ralph Potts stepped into the mix. To this day, Ralph and I are very close friends and speak on the phone often and have gone on a couple of vacations together (even though we live on opposite coasts). I started writing at Ultimate AV in 2006 after meeting the editor at a HD DVD event. He eventually got the editor position at Home Theater Magazine and brought me along to do movie reviews and the occasional equipment review. When HTM and Sound & Vision merged, they decided to adopt the S&V name (I preferred HTM myself).

I kept reviewing movies for The Spot for a little while, but had a falling out with the former owner (who was quite a piece of work), but when it sold the new owner asked if I wanted to come back and do reviews and so I did. Throughout all that, I kept my contacts alive, which is why I still am able to receive screeners today (although not from all studios and not all titles). 

What's so funny from the entire endeavor is when my daughter graduated from UCLA, she wanted to stay in LA and I forwarded her resume to the owner of a PR firm who I had known for more than 10 years to get some feedback on it and he ended up hiring her. While at that job she met her future husband...so long story short, if I didn't start reviewing movies in 2004, my daughter would have never met her husband! 

[bmoney]

I have gotten countless movies now soley I n David’s reviews here. So it’s working to an extent   keep it up

[David Vaughn]

I have gotten countless movies now soley I n David’s reviews here. So it’s working to an extent   keep it up

Hopefully I've hit more than I've missed

[SRW1000]

Thanks Scott.

I started reviewing in 2004 for Home Theater Spot--Kris Deering recruited me and I almost quit after the first movie--"My Bosses Daughter," which up until today is still one of the three worst movies I've ever watched. Thankfully, it got better after that one!

Kris eventually moved on to the Secrets website and Ralph Potts stepped into the mix. To this day, Ralph and I are very close friends and speak on the phone often and have gone on a couple of vacations together (even though we live on opposite coasts). I started writing at Ultimate AV in 2006 after meeting the editor at a HD DVD event. He eventually got the editor position at Home Theater Magazine and brought me along to do movie reviews and the occasional equipment review. When HTM and Sound & Vision merged, they decided to adopt the S&V name (I preferred HTM myself).

I kept reviewing movies for The Spot for a little while, but had a falling out with the former owner (who was quite a piece of work), but when it sold the new owner asked if I wanted to come back and do reviews and so I did. Throughout all that, I kept my contacts alive, which is why I still am able to receive screeners today (although not from all studios and not all titles).

What's so funny from the entire endeavor is when my daughter graduated from UCLA, she wanted to stay in LA and I forwarded her resume to the owner of a PR firm who I had known for more than 10 years to get some feedback on it and he ended up hiring her. While at that job she met her future husband...so long story short, if I didn't start reviewing movies in 2004, my daughter would have never met her husband!

That's a really interesting journey over the past two decades.  Funny how life sometimes takes us down paths we could never have imagined, like your daughter and son-in-law.  And it's cool to see how you and Ralph have created a friendship out of your review backgrounds.  It's something readers can actually pick up in the comments of your reviews.

I have to agree with you on the publication dropping the HTM name.  One wonders what we'll see in the future of S&V, with the latest editorial emphasizing how the magazine will be trending away from home theater and spending more time on the living room experience.  I wouldn't think that would affect the movie reviews much, unless there's less emphasis on the technical aspects, which would be a shame.

Even though I don't have plans to buy a Kaleidescape, I've been reading the reviews to see how they compare to their physical counterparts.  One of the members of our local enthusiasts group asked if there were any reviews of KS titles, and I gave him a link to the curated selection of your reviews (Director's Intent: Kaleidescape 4K | Sound & Vision(soundandvision.com)).  He was happy to finally find a place to get some KS-specific reviews.

Some of this fragmentation is creating its own set of problems; there's no longer a single place to get all content.  This was the case before with premium cable stations, but much of that content would eventually make it to disc.  Now you've got KS with the best possible version of a title, the exclusive products on streaming services, and discs that have some crossover between the two along with content not available from the other two.

That's where sites like this can help out, supplementing the reviews that are published in other sources, and giving some attention to the technical parts of the shows that mainstream sources don't even touch upon.

Scott

[Paul Heroy]

Finally got around to watching The Usual Suspects tonight, then came back thinking there had been a review of it. There wasn't, just this thread. I had forgotten all about my questions from last year so really didn't watch with that in mind.

It'd been so long since I'd seen it that aside from knowing the big main reveal, I'd forgotten most of the movie. Watched it with a niece & nephew (23 & 17) and was a bit worried that the slow burn start would lose them before it started coming together but they stuck with it and enjoyed it. I talked about this being a fantastic example of the literary device of an "unreliable narrator" - it's so well done that even knowing that it's hard to pick up on just what bits are what, until near the end. 

[David Vaughn]

Finally got around to watching The Usual Suspects tonight, then came back thinking there had been a review of it. There wasn't, just this thread. I had forgotten all about my questions from last year so really didn't watch with that in mind.

It'd been so long since I'd seen it that aside from knowing the big main reveal, I'd forgotten most of the movie. Watched it with a niece & nephew (23 & 17) and was a bit worried that the slow burn start would lose them before it started coming together but they stuck with it and enjoyed it. I talked about this being a fantastic example of the literary device of an "unreliable narrator" - it's so well done that even knowing that it's hard to pick up on just what bits are what, until near the end.

Absolutely fantastic film. I haven't upgraded to the 4K and unless it goes on a crazy sale, probably won't. How as the new 4K transfer to you?

[bmoney]

One of the best films. Ca. Watch it over and over.