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soundchaser wrote: Wed Nov 15, 2023 6:18 pm If I’m not mistaken (it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it), A Tale of Winter features a pretty major spoiler.

Yes it does, but would a first-time viewer be attentive enough to put that together? Maybe. At least they left the simpy, groveling boyfriend character off the cover. These Rohmer covers are pretty lazy and unimaginative for such a long-anticipated set.

Thrilled to see McCabe & Mrs. Miller getting a 4K upgrade. They needed to upgrade the cover as well. Mrs. Miller should be represented, and it just needs something more to attempt to convey the slippery essence of the movie. It's a fine picture of Beatty as McCabe but belongs on an inner sleeve or something. Not cover material.

Recently saw Nothing But A Man for the first time. Great film. Likely purchase. Uninspired cover, though Mr. Kurtz's succinct affirmation of its fitting simplicity is noted.

The Roaring Twenties is a somewhat overrated Walsh in my book. The cover is cool except for the attempt to shoehorn in Priscilla Lane, which unbalances the image. Who needs her anyway? Weak link in the film.

Haven't seen The Heroic Trio films but these covers are probably the best of the month, and my favorite of the painterly style covers that have come out in the last couple of years.

Days of Heaven [4K] (Booklet)

Restoration notes found at the bottom of this page.

cdnchris wrote:Days of Heaven [4K] (Booklet)

Restoration notes found at the bottom of this page.

Thanks for the pictures and the restoration notes, Chris. I hope I‘m not a burden with my excitement for this release but I‘d appreciate your brief thoughts about the picture quality if you have the time before your official review. Thanks in advance!

Oh no, it's not a problem. Sorry it took a bit to respond, but I've been preoccupied with other things.

I haven't been able to sit with it yet, but at a glance, it looks really good. It's clear Criterion did the restoration, not Paramount. Pixel logic did the disc but nothing stands out so far. HDR/Dolby Vision is interesting because it looks like SDR levels much of the time with a handful of hotter spots, but the gradations are clean.

When I can, I'll take some SDR screen grabs.

Also, to add on to the cover arr, like the Blu-ray, this one says "under nonexclusive license from Paramout." I still think this is the only title worded like that.

cdnchris wrote: Mon Nov 20, 2023 3:59 pm
Also, to add on to the cover arr, like the Blu-ray, this one says "under nonexclusive license from Paramout." I still think this is the only title worded like that.

I believe Benjamin Button has the same verbiage.

cdnchris wrote:Oh no, it's not a problem. Sorry it took a bit to respond, but I've been preoccupied with other things.

I haven't been able to sit with it yet, but at a glance, it looks really good. It's clear Criterion did the restoration, not Paramount. Pixel logic did the disc but nothing stands out so far. HDR/Dolby Vision is interesting because it looks like SDR levels much of the time with a handful of hotter spots, but the gradations are clean.

When I can, I'll take some SDR screen grabs.

Also, to add on to the cover arr, like the Blu-ray, this one says "under nonexclusive license from Paramout." I still think this is the only title worded like that.

Thanks for your first impressions, this is really promising and honestly far beyond what I was expecting after Walkabout. It’s interesting that it’s a non-exclusive license, so maybe they’re opening up to licensing their titles to other countries or actually plan something themselves later on. In the meantime, this’ll surely do well and could have been a lot worse.

I always liked the old Daniel Webster cover, but this one is great and the woodcut-esque style is fitting

Agree with Domino

I agree, that Daniel Webster cover is great, but I feel like the old cover is a bit better, I liked the painted aesthetic and the oddly comforting yet sinister Devil popping out with not only his red outfit but the green landscape he’s surrounded by contrasting with the dark blue of the farmer and Webster’s surroundings/clothes. But I also love the shadows of this cover too along with the tempting glimmer of the gold. In short, they’re both good.

rare movie that gets a cover change and both covers are good. trying to think of another example off the top of my head. I'm impressed the new one is able to pull off the double title without making the cover too busy - it looks great!

other covers look slapped together in just a few minutes, but props for including the native script on one, a practice I wish more labels did often

To Die For seems really rushed, it looks like a bad fan-made cover on Reddit, which is a bummer because that's a film I've been wanting to catch up with for a bit. Love Saint Omer though, and The Runner looks really cool. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed feels... off. I don't hate it but it just feels like there could have been something done to better serve the film. I like the simplicity of the photo, but I feel like there is a better way to strip it back even further rather than live in a weird middle ground.

The DW/All That Money Can Buy cover is an all-time great (but why no 4k?). I like the still chosen for To Die For but the font is very bland.

Sorry they're late, but here are the rest of December's titles:

Blast of Silence
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio [4K UHD] (Booklet)
The Red Balloon and Other Stories (Booklet)

I’m kinda ok they didn’t use the Janus poster for Werckmeister Harmonies

That I Am Cuba cover is such a downgrade from Milestone's DVD. Ugh.

That I Am Cuba cover is a bit of a letdown. I'm glad they kept it simple with Werckmeister. Although, there are at least a thousand stills in the film they could have used if they wanted to get creative.

I'll get pictures up, but the packaging for Trainspotting is... something. I do like the look of it, but a little impractical. It uses slots, but it's thankfully easy to remove the discs.

And to confirm, it is licensed from Paramount.

They sent me the Blu-ray edition of Blood Simple by accident, so I'll post that when I get the 4K. Here's the rest:

Apu Trilogy [4K] (Booklet)
Lone Star [4K]
Chantal Akerman (Booklet) - The dimensions are standard, like Malcolm X and WALL-E
Trainspotting [4K] (Booklet)
Mudbound (Booklet)

I'll get the restoration info up later, along with last month's titles.

Blood Simple [4K]

And here are the restoration details for everything (outside of Mudbound, which had no details), found at the bottom of each page:

Apu Trilogy
Blood Simple
Lone Star
Chantal Akerman Masterpieces
Trainspotting

McCabe and Mrs. Miller [4K]
Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons (Booklet)
The Heroic Trio / Executioners [4K]
Nothing but a Man
The Roaring Twenties [4K]

Chris, what is this suppose to be from The Roaring Twenties

[Not Chris but] I think it’s just an Art Deco design flourish. You can see something similar behind Bogart and Cagney on the front cover. There’s a similar design on the music stands in front of the band in their club: