Forbidden
Planet 4K
(1956/MGM/Warner + Blu-ray*)/Futureworld
4K
(1976/AIP + Blu-ray*)/Go
4K
(1999/Sony/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray*)/Tequila
Sunrise 4K
(1988/Warner/*all MVD/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B-/B/X/X Sound: B-/C+/B-/B-
Extras: B/B/C/C Films: B/B/C-/C-
Here's
four thrillers getting Ultra High Definition upgrades, including a
genre classic, underrated sequel and two unfortunate duds...
Fred
M. Wilcox's Forbidden
Planet 4K
(1956) is the biggest 1950s science fiction film production,
innovative, influential (including on Star
Trek)
and a landmark from a major studio producing a film in the genre (and
it was not alone in great films from the genre in that decade) has
finally received the deluxe treatment the film deserves. We
previously covered the film in two versions on disc, DVD and the now
defunct HD-DVD format in the same review at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4567/Forbidden+Planet+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80%9C
Smart
fun, a product of its time, yet somehow still ahead of its time, the
sets (especially in the digital era) hold up nicely, even when they
can show their age. The cast is great, Robby The Robot is legendary
and the music score is also a landmark. Along with Them!,
This
Island Earth,
Destination
Moon,
The
Day The Earth Stood Still,
The
Thing,
When
Worlds Collide,
It
Came From Outer Space,
Invaders
From Mars,
Godzilla,
Gog,
The
Quatermass Xperiment,
Invasion
Of The Body Snatchers,
The
Incredible Shrinking Man,
The
Blob,
The
Fly and
On The
Beach,
it is very essential viewing of the genre from that decade, though
there are more gems beyond that list.
This
is also what happens when a studio decides to back a single feature
film big time and something we do not see enough now, so add the
great extras and Forbidden
Planet 4K
is one of the best reissue restorations of a classic film for the
year!
Extras
include
reversible sleeve featuring original artwork options
Double-sided
fold-out poster
Reversible
sleeve featuring two original artwork options
Collectors'
booklet containing new writing by critics Frank Collins and Johnny
Mains, plus select archival material
DISC
1 - FEATURE (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
Restored
original lossless mono, restored original Perspecta stereo in 4.0
DTS-MA, and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options
Optional
English subtitles for the hard of hearing
Brand
new Feature Length Audio Commentary by film historians Kim Newman
and Barry Forshaw
DISC
2 - EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)
Unearthly
Aura,
a newly filmed appreciation of Bebe & Louis Barron's pioneering
electronic score by historian and composer Neil Brand
Watch
the Skies!: Science Fiction, The 1950s and Us,
an archival documentary
Amazing!:
Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet,
an archival documentary
Robby
the Robot: Engineering a Sci-FiIcon,
an archival featurette
Deleted
Scenes
Lost
Footage
The
Invisible Boy,
a bonus movie featuring Robby the Robot in his second feature film
''Robot
Client,''
an episode of The
Thin Man
TV series featuring Robby the Robot
Two
excerpts from MGM Parade
Original
Shooting Script
Theatrical
trailer
and
Image Galleries.
Richard
T. Heffron's Futureworld
4K
(1976) is the underrated sequel to the original Westworld feature
film from 1973 that MGM decided not to do despite Westworld being
their #1 film of that year, in part to focus on producing Logan's
Run.
You can read our original coverage of Futureworld
of its Limited Edition DVD release at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10751/Futureworld+(1976/MGM+Limited+Edition+DVD)+++C
Still
not as well known or well scene as it should be, I still consider it
one of Blythe Danner and the late Peter Fonda's best films, still has
its suspense, the futuristic concepts are as relevant today as ever
and many did come true, with more likely to follow. Standing out as
strongly as ever is the supporting cast, who really bring this film
up to an even higher level, sequel or otherwise, including Arthur
Hill, John Ryan, Stuart Margolin, Robert Cornthwaite, Angela Greene,
Darrell Larson, Alex Rodine, Dorothy Konrad, John Fujioka, Dana Lee,
Judson Pratt, Allen Ludden and Yul Brynner.
After
the robot massacre at Delos' three robot-filled adult luxury vacation
resorts, including Westworld, they have managed to start again (the
payoffs to the victims of the families must have been massive) so
they invite the world press to show why that will never happen again.
Tracy & Chuck (Danner and Fonda) are among the skeptical press
people investigating if this is too good to be true and sounds as
good as they say it is. Of course, something is going on and will
the find out or live to tell if they do? Ah, the good old days.
As
I was watching, I realized things have changed and companies just
flat out lie about safety and hope not to have to make a big payout
or worse if something goes wrong. Now the film is a time capsule of
when people and the public had higher standards, expecting more
safety and the truth about things. That does not hurt the film, but
just adds irony to the film's own healthy cynicism. As a result, it
is a must-see for all serious film fans, though I would highly
recommend watching the original Westworld
first to get the full impact of this sequel.
Extras
in this great slipcase packaging include a brand new Feature Length
Audio Commentary by filmmaker and film historian Daniel Kremer
Future
Present,
a brand new video interview with producer Paul N. Lazarus III
NASA:
Science Fact and Fiction,
a 1976 behind-the-scenes short film chronicling filming at the
Johnson Space Center, presented in high definition for the first
time on home video
Theatrical
trailer
TV
and radio spots
Image
gallery
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jeff
Marshall
and
a collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by David
Michael Brown, Barry Forshaw and James Rose.
You
can read more about the original Westworld
(1973) in its 4K version Arrow recently issued at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16762/Westworld+4K+(1973/MGM/Warner/Arrow+4K+Ultra+H
Plus,
we have also reviewed the entire revival series from HBO in 4K
elsewhere on this site, so that fully covers the franchise to date!
Doug
Liman's Go
4K
(1999) was intended as a hip, smart, clever, slick semi-action romp,
but it was a big disappointment to me and has aged very, very badly.
Here's what I had to say about it when it first arrived on Blu-ray:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8987/Go+(1999/Sony+Blu-ray
The
only thing you can say is ''look how young they were'' when you see
the cast, who are the only reason to look at this dud at all, Katie
Holmes, Sarah Polley, Jay Mohr, Scott Wolf and William Fichtner moved
on to bigger and better things. Too bad this did not work better.
Extras
in this great slipcase packaging include a brand new Feature Length
Audio Commentary with critics Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
Archival
audio commentary with director Doug Liman and editor Stephen
Mirrione
From
the Word Go,
a brand new interview with screenwriter, co-producer and second unit
director John August
A
View Askew,
a brand new interview with actor Desmond Askew
Archival
making-of featurette
14
deleted scenes
God,
John August's 1998 short film featuring Melissa McCarthy, shot using
the short ends of film stock from the production of Go
with much of the same crew, presented in high definition for the
first time on home video
Optional
audio commentary on God
with John August, Melissa McCarthy and editor Douglas Crise
Theatrical
trailer
Image
gallery
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ben
Beach
and
a collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by David
Michael Brown and Michelle Kisner, and original production notes.
Robert
Towne's Tequila
Sunrise 4K
(1988) was a release with high expectations since its writer/director
had given the world Polanski's Chinatown,
The
Last Detail,
The
Yakuza
and did work on many other scripts for other key films. Mac (Mel
Gibson) is a former drug dealer who does not get to be former for
long as a Mexican cartel is about to go after him as old friend Kurt
Russell is now working for local government narcotics operations.
The DEA wants to take Mac down just the same and believes a beautiful
woman no one would suspect (Michelle Pfeiffer) is now running his
operation.
Well,
it tries it be Noir-like and Towne is capable of such a thing, but
here, it all never gels as no sparks really fly between Pfeiffer and
the male leads, the situation is a bit formula and boring, the leads
seem a little out of their element and Gibson is harder to take in
recent years to boot. Even without that, I was disappointed by the
film, as if it thought it could be a counter to Miami
Vice,
which I was never a big fan of (and the later feature film remake was
much worse) making this a curio at best. The leads do look good, and
the supporting cast including Raul Julia, J.T. Walsh, Arliss Howard,
Arye Gross, Budd Boetticher, Ann Magnuson and Tom Nolan actually
holds up better than the rest of the film oddly. If you're still
curious, you'll just have to see for yourself.
Extras
include a Feature Length Audio Commentary by producer Thom Mount
California
Dreaming,
a brand new interview with producer Thom Mount
From
Chinatown to Manhattan Beach,
a brand new appreciation of Robert Towne by Lucy Bolton
Sunrise
to Sunset,
a brand new interview with 2nd AD Robert Roda
Sin
City,
a brand new interview with actor Lala Sloatman
Image
gallery
Theatrical
trailer
Collectors'
booklet featuring new writing on the film by Sean Hogan and Josh
Nelson, and excerpts from American
Cinematographer
and
a reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.55 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Forbidden
Planet 4K
is very impressive, especially for its age and how some of the
effects have aged, though others have held up along with the great
set design better than you might expect. The older transfer for
Blu-ray and HD-DVD was fine for its time, but this is much more like
it, even when the mumps and distortion of the old CinemaScope
anamorphic format shows. Even the 1080p 2.55 X 1 digital High
Definition image on the sold-separately Blu-ray
included is a littler better than that older HD master, also used on
the last DVD edition, which we also covered.
For
the record, the film was issued in several full color formats at the
time, including EastmanColor, AnscoColor (which MGM's labs was using
at the time, later known as MetroColor) and PatheColor, but not
Technicolor as some people have thought, assumed or misidentified
when seeing a given copy of the film in color. Either way, the
labwork MGM did was some of the best in the business, which is why
this film looks so good today.
The
restored sound options include PCM 1.0 Mono that is passable,
restored original Perspecta stereo in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 4.0
lossless mix, and DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 audio mix that is the
best of the three, yet the semi-stereo of the Perspecta mix is also
very interesting and worth watching the film with once.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Futureworld
4K is
very impressive, especially for a film by American International, but
it is a better-looking film than it ever got credit for. Filmed to
look high quality and to match the 1973 Westworld,
they skipped any scope format, but I really like the look and
compositions here. The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfer on the sold separately Blu-ray is also really nice, but no
match for the 4K edition. The previous HD master was used on a
Blu-ray and the DVD we reviewed, which was issued before that older
Blu-ray. They were fine for the time, but the 4K here is going to
surprise many and the hard work put into this film (the studio was
using it to become a mini-major and maybe a major studio) finally
gets its due.
The
PCM 1.0 Mono is good for what it is and about as good as we have
heard it on home video, but it is sometimes limited and why not at
least a stereo upgrade of some kind? Fred Karlin again does the
music score and it is as effective as in the first film.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image Go
4K
does look better than its older Blu-ray version, but it was never the
best-looking film to begin with and always had an odd softness to it
any and every time I have seen anything of it until this 4K scan.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is on par with the old
Blu-ray version, but this was never a sonic stunner of a film either
or like later Liman films.
The
2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Tequila
Sunrise 4K
is on par with the original 35mm print I saw when it first opened,
but I thought the look was nothing special despite being lensed by
the Conrad C. Hall, A.S.C., it is professional and consistent of
course. The same goes for the
sound, here in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo (you can decode it
with Dolby Pro Logic or its variants) and 4.0 lossless mixes, with
the 4.0 being better but not a sonic revelation of any kind. This is
still the best the film will ever look or sound.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
