Catch
Me If You Can 4K
(2002/DreamWorks/Paramount 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Hearts
Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse 4K
(1991/Rialto/Lionsgate 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)/On
Borrowed Time
(1939/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Under
Siege 4K
(1992/Warner/MVD/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B/B/B+ Picture: B-/X/B-/X Sound: B/B/C+/B
Extras: C/C+/C+/C Films: C/B/C+/C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The On
Borrowed Time
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Steven
Spielberg's Catch
Me If You Can 4K
(2002) is based on the true story of an elusive conman Frank W.
Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) impersonating all kinds of people he is
not and in positions he is not qualified to be taking, so an FBI
agent (Tom Hanks) goes after him and the results are lightly comical
(on purpose) as the director does a retro comedy-thriller in a past
style you do not see much anymore.
The
film is consistent in this style while the story moves at a leisurely
pace as leisurely as the past time period it takes place in, but it
never leaves those perimeters and as good as the actors are, nothing
was new to me here. This is also somewhat predictable, but also not
too challenging. A hit in its time, its fine for what it is, but
just a bit disappointing and only worth a look to see what it does
have to offer that works.
Extras
include Digital Movie, while the discs
add:
Catch
Me If You Can: Behind the Camera
Cast
Me If You Can: The Casting of the Film
Scoring:
Catch Me If You Can
Frank
Abagnale: Between Reality and Fiction
The
FBI Perspective
Catch
Me If You Can: In Closing
and
Photo Galleries.
Fax
Bahr, George Hickenlooper and Eleanor Coppola's Hearts
Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse 4K
(1991) is the first 16mm documentary to make it to 4K disc and though
I was surprised this happened as 16mm still does not get the respect
it deserves, they did it and it proves why 4K and 16mm film work well
together. We reviewed the DVD release of the film year's ago at this
link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6288/Hearts+Of+Darkness+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%
Proving
making a great film can be as difficult as taking risks on a
problematic one that does not work out as well as one would have
hoped (including Coppola films like One
From The Heart,
Megalopolis
and The
Cotton Club)
but proves that great filmmaking often takes great risks and it is
sad that most people do not get this. Press bashing (as recently
shown by the attacks on Coppola on Megalopolis)
show it is a bad as ever.
Anyone
who loves great filmmaking or what it takes to make a big epic should
see this if they have not already and know we can never have enough
ambitious filmmaking projects like this. Glad it got the upgrade.
Extras
include Digital Copy, while the disc adds a Making Of featurette.
Clarence
Brown's On
Borrowed Time
(1939) could have been a Twilight
Zone
episode or outright comedy, but is a slightly comical drama about a
grandfather (Lionel Barrymore) who is visited by Death (Sir Cedric
Hardwicke as Mr. Brink) to take him away, but 'Gramps' tricks him to
delay the inevitable. The problem is, it also starts delaying Death
visiting others and things get complicated.
Even
having a solid supporting cast with the likes of Una Merkel, Beulah
Bondi, Nat Pendleton, Grant Mitchell, Henry Travers, Ian Wolfe, James
Burke, Eily Malyon, Philip Terry, Truman Bradley and child actor Bobs
Watson smoothing out the background and making this more palpable and
the town more realized, the film just never becomes fully realized.
The issue is not that it was a Broadway play first as this never has
that fake, stagebound feeling some feature film adaptions of stage
material has. It just does not synergize into a fully fledged film
that works in the end, but is worth a look if you want to see what
foes and does not work.
Extras
include
an Original
Theatrical Trailer,
Screen Guild Theater radio drama version of the film starring Lionel
Barrymore, Agnes Moorehead as "Miss Nellie", Vincent Price
(pre-Horror icon) in the role of "Mr. Brink" and Ted
Donaldson as little Pud.
Last
and least, Andrew Davis' Under
Siege 4K
(1992) reminds us that for 15 minutes, Steven Segal was a big action
movie star, before he fell off the box office chart and never came
back. Never a fan, I reviewed this hit in the old, obsolete HD-DVD
format years ago at this link, though this film is more obsolete to
me than the format:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4557/Under+Siege+(HD-DVD
As
awful as ever, Tommy Lee Jones was just picking up a paycheck here
and is one of the few things that makes this mess not be a total
bomb, while Gary Busey is not bad here doing what he usually does or
did. From there, Segal's fighter-turned-cook has to save the day.
It has not aged well and was not that good to begin with. Now you
can see for yourself, but just don't operate heavy equipment and be
too tired when viewing.
Extras
include a
brand new audio commentary with director Andrew Davis and writer J.F.
Lawton
I'm
on a Boat (With a Bomb), a newly filmed interview with director
Andrew Davis
One
of the Guys, a newly filmed interview with actor Erika Eleniak
A
Tight Ship, a newly filmed interview with actor Damian Chapa
The
Introvision Files, a newly filmed interview with visual effects
supervisor William Mesa
Theatrical
trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring two original artwork options
and
a collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by Vern and
a serial fiction by Martyn Pedler.
Now
for playback
performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10;
Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Catch
Me If You Can 4K
does a sometimes uncanny job of keeping its period look, but there
are more than a few parts that are not up to the quality they should
be for whatever reason. Still, it is narrowly better than the old
1080p 1,85 X 1 Blu-ray transfer and the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is consistent and
professional throughout. Still, the image is off more than expected.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.33 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Hearts
Of Darkness 4K is the
best this film has ever looked and the transfer gets as much out of
the 16mm materials as possible, which is good since this is well
shot. The DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is a fine upgrade that gets as much out of
the sound as possible as well.
That makes it a great companion to the Apocalypse
Now 4K release or even
its predecessor set where the transfer was based on the three-strip
Technicolor reissue of the film about 25 years ago,, which are both
highly recommended.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Under
Siege 4K is as good as
this film will ever look and outdoes the old HD-DVD/Blu-ray master
from years ago, but despite looking better than it should and that it
is the best-looking transfer here technically, it still did not stay
with me. The lossless Dolby
Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) and PCM 2.0 Stereo
(with Pro Logic surrounds) are as good as this film will ever sound,
which has a few good moments,but was never a sonic demo for me or
anyone I knew. For fans only, if that.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer for On
Borrowed Time
can show
the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to
all previous releases of the film, well shot with the cleaner look
one associates with MGM films of the period. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix has been restored as
well as possible, but it is just too old and sonically limited, so
the picture is the more impressive of the two and the combination is
fine. This sounds as good as it ever will.
To
order the On
Borrowed Time
Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
