Displaying items by tag: Filmmaker Mode

All right, we have a lot to report today so let’s get right into it. We’ll start with more new disc reviews, which include...

Dennis’ look at Rick Charnoski’s Warm Blood (2022) on Blu-ray from Factory 25 and Vinegar Syndrome.

Stuart’s take on Elia Kazan’s final film, The Last Tycoon (1976) on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classic.

And Tim’s thoughts on Jonathan Lynn’s Clue (1985) in 4K Ultra HD from Shout! Factory.

Enjoy those and watch for more all this week!

In terms of announcement news this afternoon, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and DreamWorks Animation have just officially set the CG-animated Trolls Band Together for release on Blu-ray, DVD, 4K Ultra HD, and Digital on 1/16—that’s right, next week! Extras will include a Sing-Along Version, 7 featurettes (including Fun in the Recording Booth, *NSYNC: Hi, Hi, Hi, Building the Band, Together Again, Animating Trolls, How to Draw, and How To: Hug Time Bracelets), 3 deleted scenes, and audio commentary (with producer Gina Shay, co-director Tim Heitz, head of story Colin Jack, production designer Ruben Perez Reynoso, and visual effects supervisor Marc J. Scott). The 4K disc will be a UHD-100 with Dolby Atmos audio (the Blu-ray will include Atmos as well). You can see the cover artwork below the break.

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has just officially announced the 3/26 Blu-ray and DVD release of Wednesday: Season One. It doesn’t appear that there will be any extras, but all eight episodes will be included. You can see the cover artwork at left and also below. [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents

Well, the big news this week is so big that we’re going to address it right off the top: In a sudden and unexpected move, Disney’s board of directors has ousted CEO Bob Chapek and re-hired Bob Iger. The news came out of the blue on Sunday night and seems to have taken everyone by surprise. Bob Iger of course was the company’s previous CEO, who took over for Michael Eisner—the man who’d served in that role for over two decades at that point—back in 2005. It was under Iger’s watch that Disney acquired Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and the film division of 20th Century Fox. He also laid the groundwork for the launch of Disney+ in 2019.

Chapek was no stranger to Disney, having joined the company in 1993 as the director of marketing for Buena Vista Home Entertainment. In this capacity he helped steer Disney through the “Golden Age” of DVD and eventually the launch of Blu-ray, which is how I came to know him. He was so successful in that capacity that he was promoted to president of Home Entertainment in 2006, and eventually took over at Disney Consumer Products (in 2011) and Parks and Resorts (in 2015), which seemed to make him a natural fit to become CEO of Disney himself when Iger eventually stepped down.

But apparently, Iger and Chapek did not often see eye to eye. Iger, who could (and probably should) have worked more aggressively to groom a clear successor to lead the company in his own image, failed to do so, resulting in Chapek’s elevation to CEO in 2020. But Chapek’s reign was troubled from the very start, stricken first by the COVID-19 pandemic and next by a series of public “self-owns” and media missteps. [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents

All right, we’ve got some news and more perspective on CES and the state of physical media here at the start of 2020. But first, we have more new Blu-ray reviews for you...

First of all, Dennis provides another perspective on Todd Phillips’ Joker on BD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. He seems to have liked it a little more than I did. Do check out his thoughts.

Dennis has also turned in a look at Aaron Schimberg’s Chained for Life on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

And Tim has a review of Richard Franklin’s Road Games (1981), now available in a new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Speaking of Scream, the company has just announced that their forthcoming Blu-ray Collector’s Edition of My Bloody Valentine is going to include new 4K scans of both the original theatrical edition and also the Uncut version mastered from the original camera negative. [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents

As you may have heard, the 2020 Academy Award nominations have been made, and they’re causing a bit of a stir as usual both for who was nominated and who wasn’t.

But before we get to that, we’ve got a new review for you: I’ve taken a look at Todd Philips’ Joker on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It’s a reference quality disc and a very good and well-made film that deserves its Best Picture nomination. I also think its star, Joaquin Phoenix, is likely to win a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the film. But Joker is not... I think... a masterpiece. You’ll have to read the review, in which I elaborate further. The disc definitely gets high marks for its A/V quality though—you 4K really don’t want to miss it.

Now then, we’ve got a couple of topics to cover today. First, as I mentioned, the Oscar nominations were announced this morning. [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents

So I spent a couple hours up in Hollywood yesterday afternoon to cover something pretty interesting…

At a press event at the Screen Actors Guild, members of the UHD Alliance, three major consumer electronics manufacturers, and leading Hollywood filmmakers officially announced a new partnership effort to implement Filmmaker Mode as an extension of the 4K Ultra HD spec.

The idea is to ensure that when you watch a movie at home in 4K on your new Ultra HD display, whether from a disc, stream, or cable/satellite broadcast, it will look exactly as it should. UHD Alliance research suggests that as many as 80% of people who buy 4K TVs never change the settings out of the box. This means irritating features like motion smoothing and unnecessary processing are being applied to the image by default – processing that actually takes the picture away from the filmmakers’ intent.

What the Filmmaker Mode will do is to allow the user – either with one push of a button on the remote, or with a very easy and obvious menu setting – to set the TV’s display parameters to most accurately display the 4K content. This would be a baseline setting for the image – any added adjustments signaled by HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision metadata would happen on top of that setting. [Read on here...]

Published in My Two Cents