The Running Man (1987) - February 2013 (Olive Films)

[pro-bassoonist]

Hi Kdo

The current transfer the Lionsgate release uses has blanket filtering, which is the reason why you feel that the film looks soft.

Compression is also very problematic. You don't even have to project the film to tell that there are very serious technical issues that could be easily addressed with a new transfer. And you do not have to have a 4K scan to see substantial improvements in quality. A 2K scan will also produce marvelous results.

There is no reason why this film couldn't look every bit as impressive as Total Recall (I refer to Canal/Lionsgate's new release). And you will be hugely satisfied with the upgrades on a nice 50'+ TV set.

I hope you are well

Pro-B

[kdo]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Hi Kdo

The current transfer the Lionsgate release uses has blanket filtering, which is the reason why you feel that the film looks soft.

Compression is also very problematic. You don't even have to project the film to tell that there are very serious technical issues that could be easily addressed with a new transfer. And you do not have to have a 4K scan to see substantial improvements in quality. A 2K scan will also produce marvelous results.

There is no reason why this film couldn't look every bit as impressive as Total Recall (I refer to Canal/Lionsgate's new release). And you will be hugely satisfied with the upgrades on a nice 50'+ TV set.

I hope you are well

Pro-B

I am well, thank you, and hope you are also my friend ...

Sorry, I can't really speak for "Total Recall," I've never owned it on Blu-ray (just not a big fan of the film in general), but I do remember there being some controversy regarding the look of the newer (supposedly Verhoeven "approved") releases. In looking at the screenshot comparisons of the newer version compared to the old MPEG-2 release, contrast looks really blown-out to me, and for some reason the film no longer looks like a product of its time. While I don't want to turn this thread into a "Total Recall" discussion, I must admit that I actually prefer the overall look of the old MPEG-2 Lionsgate release . Oddly, I've noticed that at local stores, none of them is even carrying the "Mind Bending" edition anymore (which was priced only a $1 or $2 more than the old release anyway), they're only carrying the old MPEG-2 disc...Seems strange to me...

While I will agree with you that "The Running Man" isn't perfect, I still really like the way the Lionsgate release both looks and sounds, and it's what I'll be sticking with. To be honest, going off of what I saw in those screenshots, I'd prefer they not remaster it along the lines of what "Total Recall" received, but that's just me...As for the Olive and Lionsgate Blu comparison caps I posted, one question I have though, which hopefully you can help shed some light on, is how come the new Olive release (which looks to be virtually identical to the Lionsgate release, except brighter) is exhibiting a lot of print damage that wasn't on the Lionsgate Blu? Detail looks to be pretty much the same, yet there's no damage on the LG version, and black levels seem better there also...Olive generally does a great job on their releases, so I was kind of stumped when I saw that...