4K - 8K Resolution and/or Dolby Atmos/DTSX Content Reviews

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Chad Stahelski's crew started as a stunt coordination team. They worked with Keanu on The Matrix and eventually had enough momentum that they decided they could do it themselves and the result was John Wick.

Yeah, I thought that was interesting.

Sometimes the best writers and directors are were just stunt people (Stahelski) and b-list actors (Taylor Sheridan) and high-school dropouts.

 

[j_garcia]

We watched 28 Years Later in Dolby Cinema. It is a mixed bag. The first half is excellent, but the second half is a jumble of not so good. There are interesting moments during that second half, but it kind of fizzles a bit. The young actor does a great job; no doubt we'll see more of him in other films. They have already shot the next film, The Bone Temple, which will possibly release in Jan. Third likely based on how these two do. Even though I enjoyed it, I'll say rental for this one.

We watched How to Train Your Dragon last week in Dolby Cinema. It is good, perhaps slightly better than the animated original. It is the same director, so not surprising that it remains mostly unchanged, and that is a good thing. This one has a lot of Atmos activity and looks amazing. Worth seeing in theaters IMHO.

Have tickets for F1 next Tues evening with the guys in Dolby Cinema

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

We watched 28 Years Later in Dolby Cinema. It is a mixed bag. The first half is excellent, but the second half is a jumble of not so good. There are interesting moments during that second half, but it kind of fizzles a bit. The young actor does a great job; no doubt we'll see more of him in other films. They have already shot the next film, The Bone Temple, which will possibly release in Jan. Third likely based on how these two do. Even though I enjoyed it, I'll say rental for this one.

I heard it is a mixed bag. Heard the director tried to be "creative" with the cameras, which to me is a bad sign. I don't want the camera works to be too "creative". The only thing I want to be creative is the plot/writing, not the camera work. Focus on the damn story/writing.

 

[j_garcia]

I think there are only a few scenes where iPhones were used. It did not feel cutting edge.

This looks cool though. Opened today.

The Newest Alamo Drafthouse Is a World-First Godzilla Cinematic Experience

Alamo Drafthouse and Toho are teaming up for for a major new partnership... starting with a Godzilla-themed theater.

gizmodo.com

 

[Movie2099]

I think there are only a few scenes where iPhones were used. It did not feel cutting edge.

This looks cool though. Opened today.

The Newest Alamo Drafthouse Is a World-First Godzilla Cinematic Experience

Alamo Drafthouse and Toho are teaming up for for a major new partnership... starting with a Godzilla-themed theater.

gizmodo.com

I've never been to an Alamo theater before. I've heard good things. The only thing that would bother me would be orders being delivered during a movie. Since we don't hit the theater as much anymore, it would be nice not to have any disruptions.

 

[Movie2099]

A few comments regarding some movies I watched last week. First would be the movie Incendies. I finally got my hands on the 4k copy. The movie is directed by Denis Villeneuve. It was one of his earlier movies before he blew up. I've only seen a couple of small clips previous to watching this. So, I knew almost nothing going in. Which is the best way to watch this movie. It is not happy movie at all, but it is one you must see if you are a DV fan. That's really all I will say. I don't want to get into too many details. It was a very good film, and I highly recommend it. I scored it 9/10.

This weekend I felt like watching the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. I have the 4k copy for the first one, which I hadn't watched yet, but knew from all the reviews it was going to suck. They were right! The 4k was pretty bad. It did come with Dolby Atmos, but being Disney, it was an ATMOUSE mess. The biggest issue was the DNR. They basically removed all facial details and smoothed them out. Except for a few characters throughout that had closeups like Gibbs. Otherwise, Jack, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan, etc.. they all had DNR all over. The ATMOUSE was horrible and almost zero bass. So, you can see big explosions and action happening, but the sound was not matching it at all. This is the perfect movie to show someone where they took a 2k DI and upconverted to 4k. It looks terrible.

THEN, watching the 2nd and 3rd on normal Blu Ray, WOW, were those WAY better. The blu ray's 5.1 DD sound was 10x better than the ATMOUSE on the 4k. The blu rays had tons of bass. You could actually see details everywhere because there was no DNR being applied. What a world of difference it was watching the blu rays vs that one 4k. I enjoy watching this trilogy every couple of years. They are great summer popcorn flicks you can just turn the brain off and enjoy.

 

[j_garcia]

I've never been to an Alamo theater before. I've heard good things. The only thing that would bother me would be orders being delivered during a movie. Since we don't hit the theater as much anymore, it would be nice not to have any disruptions.

Alamo has just opened 2 here in the last week and these are the first ones here. I've never been to one either. There are a few others like it here that deliver to your seat. I don't recall if they deliver once the movie started. I think the main difference is they have a larger menu that other theaters.

 

[dolynick]

I watched Into the Lost Lands last night. It was not not as bad as some of the IMDB reviews would have you believe. It's a post-apocalyptic fantasy western starring Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista. The story isn't as incoherent as some have claimed, it follows a logical path as it plays out. Most of the characters seem to be going for "cagey" in their interactions (which some might interpret as superficial or wooden), with hidden plans and agendas not stated until it's time for the big reveals. There is not a lot of world building and character development though. There are monsters, there are fanatical religious zealots, there are some magic powers. This is a movie where you just have to accept the premise and that the characters are doing what they do for their own various reasons. Not a thinking man's movie here, this one is just popcorn action.

Visually it was alright. It's overall a very dark movie with a lot of contrasting lighting. The whole world feels dim, gritty and oppressive. Picture quality was acceptable but there's heavy use of an overt bloom/glare on things that feels a little jarring, especially at the start until you get used to it. Nothing jumped out as being especially great or poor on the CGI front of the action, but I'd say that the world itself is the biggest visual star here. The broken, ruined and twisted remnants of the world stood out most to me.

Not a great movie, but it was an enjoyable enough watch for a fantasy/action distraction for an hour or two. 6 or 7 out of 10, although the latter might be a bit generous. I had lower expectations going in but was somewhat pleasantly surprised that things played out or were handled a little better than others had implied.

 

[j_garcia]

Dark City came. I watched a bit of the beginning and it looks great. There are still some grainy scenes, but the interior shots look damn good.

Finished off Jaws and started watching the new documentary. Very interesting stuff from the actors and Spielberg. The original author of the book and adapted screenplay is the news reporter on the beach, I had no idea.

 

[dolynick]

I gave the 4k of Enemy at the Gates a watch a few nights back. This one felt like a bit of a mixed bag.

For a lot of it, there definitely feels like an uptick in detail over the bluray. There are softer shots too where it's probably less of an upgrade and closer though. There's noticeable film grain but it's not overpowering.

Color saturation is surprising in this one. For a movie that is largely full of browns and shades of gray, the odd bits of color seem to stand out a lot more on the UHD than I recall in previous versions. I'm not sure if this is a bit of a flaw or intentional, but I'll lean to the latter and kind of felt that it was a nice surprise.

The HDR treatment feels like it might be a bit off on this one though. The general picture feels about right but highlights feel like they are over amped a bit. Fires and that sort of thing feel very vivid and bright, and it felt like they jumped out of the picture in contrast to the rest. It wasn't a terrible viewing experience, but it felt a bit jarring all throughout the film. Not sure if this was a stylistic intent or not.

The film itself is what it is. A known quantity at this point. This version feels like an upgrade over the previous versions, but I don't think you can call this one reference grade.

 

[Movie2099]

I gave the 4k of Enemy at the Gates a watch a few nights back. This one felt like a bit of a mixed bag.

For a lot of it, there definitely feels like an uptick in detail over the bluray. There are softer shots too where it's probably less of an upgrade and closer though. There's noticeable film grain but it's not overpowering.

Color saturation is surprising in this one. For a movie that is largely full of browns and shades of gray, the odd bits of color seem to stand out a lot more on the UHD than I recall in previous versions. I'm not sure if this is a bit of a flaw or intentional, but I'll lean to the latter and kind of felt that it was a nice surprise.

The HDR treatment feels like it might be a bit off on this one though. The general picture feels about right but highlights feel like they are over amped a bit. Fires and that sort of thing feel very vivid and bright, and it felt like they jumped out of the picture in contrast to the rest. It wasn't a terrible viewing experience, but it felt a bit jarring all throughout the film. Not sure if this was a stylistic intent or not.

I watched in 4.1 so no comment on Atmos content. The mix in the bed channels during the movie seemed fine and supported the visuals well.

The film itself is what it is. A known quantity at this point. This version feels like an upgrade over the previous versions, but I don't think you can call this one reference grade.

This must be the streaming version, since there is only 1 available copy of Enemy at the Gates on 4k, but it's a Japanese release only. Unless you purchased the Japanese copy?

I don't trust 4k streaming options. Especially for movies that don't have a true 4k disc release. They pop on Vudu and iTunes once in a while on older releases. Sometimes K-scape will release a 4k version on their service first to see how it sells. Then the studio will decide about making a 4k disc release. Nine times out of ten they will release the 4k disc of the movie. I do believe Con Air is one of those instances. They did a 4k restoration of that movie, but only available via streaming and K-scape with 4k disc release in the future.