The Last Castle 4K UHD (2001)

[Danespina]

Originally Posted by loxly

unobstructed view says March 05 street date

it is also 29.99 there, quite a bit cheaper than amazon.ca right now

Heck yeah, saved me $14.

[Kikrok]

Not that it bothers me, but I just read the film review for the 4K release, and the reviewer says that at the end the flag is raised upside down for all the prisoners to salute. That's actually NOT what happens, since it's raised the right way, but that's what the Redford's character wanted Gandolfini's to think he was gonna do.

[jvonl]

Originally Posted by Deadsoon

Maybe it’s me but I have never been able to sit through a movie Robert Redford was in. He’s just so bland as an actor.

Not even Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Wow!

[Member-222782]

Watched this last week. First time watch. It was OK. It's a military prison so I wasn't expecting grittiness or extreme barbarism on the part of the guards. I've watched too many shows on TV about US military institutions or prisons that feature super clean, gleaming high-tech facilities so my expectations were lowered lol. None of the characters in the film, including prisoners, were ever menacing-looking, particularly Gandolfini. Well, except maybe one prisoner. Scary to think there's actually a prison for rogue soldiers, though.

[loxly]

Originally Posted by jvonl

Not even Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Wow!

The Sting
Brubaker
The Natural
Sneakers

lots of good movies with Redford

[mulscul]

Originally Posted by loxly

The Sting
Brubaker
The Natural
Sneakers

lots of good movies with Redford

Also Spy Game
3 days of the condor

[BorisKarloffice]

Originally Posted by jvonl

Not even Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Wow!

Or The Sting????????

[Danespina]

Originally Posted by Kikrok

Not that it bothers me, but I just read the film review for the 4K release, and the reviewer says that at the end the flag is raised upside down for all the prisoners to salute. That's actually NOT what happens, since it's raised the right way, but that's what the Redford's character wanted Gandolfini's to think he was gonna do.

Was this ending changed because the movie released so soon after 9/11? Or was the flag always suppose to be rightside up?

I only ask cause I read that DreamWorks had to send out apologies for distributing press-kits that featured a upside down flag. This image is also featured on this releases main menu.

[Kikrok]

Originally Posted by Danespina

Was this ending changed because the movie released so soon after 9/11? Or was the flag always suppose to be rightside up?

I only ask cause I read that DreamWorks had to send out apologies for distributing press-kits that featured a upside down flag. This image is also featured on this releases main menu.

Interesting info you got here ! I didn't know anything about that, and I read a bit on the internet about the press kit having the upside down flag you're talking about. But I'd be surprised if it wasn't voluntarily misleading the audience and a striking visual to get people to notice the movie. Cause as the scene is shown in the movie - Gandolfini's reaction to seeing the flag actually raised properly, and showing that Redford was indeed a patriot before all - it makes a lot of sense that this was the one and only ending. I know editors can do magic tricks (I know, I am one ) but having the flag raised upside down isn't nearly as striking an ending for Reford's character and the overall movie. And again, the reaction shots to the raised flags tend to make me think that this was the original ending.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by loxly

The Sting
Brubaker
The Natural
Sneakers

lots of good movies with Redford

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

[Danespina]

Originally Posted by Kikrok

Interesting info you got here ! I didn't know anything about that, and I read a bit on the internet about the press kit having the upside down flag you're talking about. But I'd be surprised if it wasn't voluntarily misleading the audience and a striking visual to get people to notice the movie. Cause as the scene is shown in the movie - Gandolfini's reaction to seeing the flag actually raised properly, and showing that Redford was indeed a patriot before all - it makes a lot of sense that this was the one and only ending. I know editors can do magic tricks (I know, I am one ) but having the flag raised upside down isn't nearly as striking an ending for Reford's character and the overall movie. And again, the reaction shots to the raised flags tend to make me think that this was the original ending.

Agreed that the ending makes sense as is. Must of just been a timely release.

In The Valley Of Elah also featured the topic of an upside down flag, but that was written definitively afterwards.

[Hellraiserfan]

Anyone know a solid site to find reviews for this 4K? Want to find out if it's worth replacing the Blu-ray.

[Jodi]

Originally Posted by Hellraiserfan

Anyone know a solid site to find reviews for this 4K? Want to find out if it's worth replacing the Blu-ray.

From High-Def Digest:

Video: 4/5
Kino Lorber Studio Classics brings The Last Castle to 4K Ultra HD with an HEVC-encoded 2160p presentation aided by Dolby Vision HDR and sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative. This looks to be sourced from the same 4K scan used on Paramount’s own 2021 Blu-ray release of the film, just with a Dolby Vision HDR grade added and in higher resolution. The film itself has a very washed-out, grey look that doesn’t immediately lend itself to 4K format, though I could tell black levels have been slightly enhanced and are remarkably sturdy in both exteriors and interiors. The transfer really only wows in close-ups and shadows, though it’s very hard for me to recommend this presentation over the already great 2021 Blu-ray. If you’re looking for some better refinement in the highlights, then this release is more than worth the upgrade. The desaturated look of the film is handled capably by the encode and offers a very high bitrate throughout, and I didn’t notice any damage to the source, as it looks to be in terrific condition. There’s no DNR or smoothing to note, either.

Audio: 4/5
The Last Castle is presented with two audio options: a lossless 2.0 track and a 5.1 surround track in the DTS-HD MA codec. For the purpose of this review, I played the 5.1 surround track and found many moments where Jerry Goldsmith’s powerful score lending terrific weight to the proceedings. Surround channels are used mainly during the action sequences when the soundscape really opens up with terrific sound effects. Bass is appreciable and the source is in terrific condition with no damage to note.

[Danespina]

This has reversible cover art for those who didn't realize.

[HDTV1080P]

The Last Castle is a R rated 2001 movie that was released on the 4K Blu-ray format on 2-20-2024. The Last Castle is one of my favorite Robert Redford movies when it comes to the military genre, however sadly the movie was a financial disaster at the box office with a several multi-million dollar loss. The budget for the Last Castle was $72 million dollars and the box office sells was only $27.6 million dollars. Hopefully the studio can make up some of those losses on home video. The Last Castle has a large cult following and is very popular with people that have had a military career. I enjoyed the outstanding performance of James Gandolfini and Robert Redford. The reason for the R rating is for language and violence. According to the very interesting audio commentary track this movie might have earned a NC-17 for violence from the MPA, however the director Rod Lurie decided to make some changes and cut back on the violence for a fight scene in the movie to make sure the movie earned a R rating from the MPA. A total of 92.7GB of space out of 100GB is used on the triple layer BD-100 disc. A total of 45.4GB of space out of 50GB is used on the dual layer 2K Blu-ray disc. The movie along with the audio commentary is in native 4K with Dolby Vision HDR on the BD-100 disc. However all the other extra features are located on the enclosed 2K Blu-ray disc. Some extra features in 1080P using the MPEG-4/AVC codec while other extra features are 480i using the MPEG-2 codec.

On my year 2016 OPPO UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player the triple layer BD-100 disc and the dual layer BD-50 disc played back perfectly fine with no issues (flawless playback even while doing several reverse scans). Nice lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio. Because of limitations of my display the native 4K Blu-ray disc was downscaled to 2K SDR.

[Pieter V]

https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=6055

[Danespina]

Originally Posted by Pieter V

https://caps-a-holic.com/c_list.php?c=6055

Was so interesting to watch this with added clarity after all the times I've seen it on DVD.

I'm a bit disappointed to see the 4K color grade dulls the blues (a defining color of the movie) into almost grey-ish territory.

That fire shot (still 13) looks like a bit of a mess on Kino's release.

The added sharpness was still a revelation for me.