The Goonies (1985) 4K HDR10 review, UK UHD disc. HDR metadata: P3-D65 colour primaries. Mastering display levels: 4000/0.005 max/min nits. Maximum Content Light Level: 343 nits. Maximum Frame Average Light Level: 106 nits.
I'll literally start at the beginning with this one. When watching the opening credits with the police chase across town I was expecting the usual two minute's worth of grotty opticals, but I was gobsmacked when I realised I was watching cherry camera original and that the text overlays are sharp new digital recreations. This sort of thing is gaining more and more traction in the remastering realm and when it's done as pixel perfect as this - proper font, virtually the exact same placement as the OG titles - it's hard to complain. The staunchest purists will naturally be crying into their VHS cases as another one goes down, though it does of course open the door for more significant revisionism within the main body of the film (more on that later). So just from the first few minutes alone I knew I wasn't looking at "the same master" as the BD as some reviews have thought might be the case. The framing has been opened up some at the bottom of the frame as well. This is a brand new transfer for 4K, make no mistake.
What of the detail and grain in this 'brand new transfer', then? Well, it looks like it's been Nolan'd. Having watched Inception's UHD again very recently Goonies has a
very similar patina to it, that there's nothing like the sort of visibly sharp grain that we take for granted on 4K transfers of 35mm owing to the 'grain management'. But, like Inception, there's still a slight vestige of texture left behind that stops the image from looking distractingly waxy, it for me it tips just the right side of looking filmically soft rather than digitally smudgy, mostly. I say that because there's just a hint of trailing frozen grain here and there. The opticals look good though, I think that the subtitled shots of Mouth telling Rosalita about the drugs are the OG opticals rather than digital do-overs but because of the 'management' they blend almost seamlessly with the surrounding footage. The VFX composites (of which there are surprisingly few) still drop some detail, natch, but again blend nicely.
So, it's not super sharp but is it still detailed? Oh yes. There's a lovely crispness to exterior shots and close-ups also give you some extra information, it's the medium shots of all the Goonies crowded together than can sometimes fall off but that's as much on the photography as the transfer. Goonies was shot anamorphic (a favourite of Dick Donner's) and even with the best will in the world you're only going to get so much acuity from ana glass of this vintage. That's not intended to excuse the 'grain management' side of things as that's in play for sure, but with something like Inception you'll get more detail coming through despite the processing owing to the sharper, faster modern anamorphics, while Goonies isn't going to have much more to give. The detail on the UHD does still hammer the old BD, but as we haven't got a new 1080p rendition to compare it to then how much of the improvement is on "4K" and how much is on the new transfer in general is unclear.
A quick glance at the metadata will tell us that this is very much in the SDR realms of average brightess, MaxFALL being a mere 106 nits, and so it proves in actuality. This is not a Light Cannon grade that pumps out thousands of nits, but neither does that mean it's got no HDR because it's got it in spades versus the old BD. Again, maybe "old transfer is old" is the overriding factor in how blown out the highlights look on the old disc, but would we trust studios to preserve this newly uncovered highlight detail in a new 1080p rendition,
especially Warners? Nah, didn't think so, so taken on its merits this UHD batters the old BD for range.
You get all the usual refinements, the HDR extracting more information in skies, flashlights, speculars, the works. It doesn't do down to the level of seeing filaments in bulbs as the HDR highlights start clipping before that but it gets close, as what were just nondescript blobs of light in SDR have far more shape and volume, like the lanterns that the Goonies carry in the tunnels or the big flashlights that the Fratellis have. And it's great when you do get bit of light peeking out from somewhere else in the caves because it's just a blown out lump in SDR but far more nuanced and detailed in HDR, like the rock in the middle of the wishing well with the light shining down upon it. Indeed, those coins and the treasure later on have a lovely glint that's deadened by SDR. The MaxCLL metadata (for the brightest peak pixel) is even a bit puzzling to me, as there are certain moments which seem to have far more luminance than 340-odd nits.
Black levels are nicely tuned, looking dense in the brighter scenes but often staying above black in the darker sequences so as not to kill the shadow detail. Some shots may suck up shadow detail that's visible in the SDR version but it also works the other way (this isn't just some blanket grade), and then there's the perceptual difference that the beautiful HDR highlights add in those darker scenes, they look much more contrasty than the washed-out indifference of the SDR.
What of the complaints of it being "too dim"? I could say the same thing about the people making them, but that's much too obvious. Look, I don't doubt that they're seeing what they're seeing but we've been here so many times before: it's an HDR grade of a movie that takes place mostly in dark attics, dungeons, caves and grottos that keeps the average brightness level very much in SDR-esque levels and bolts on some beautiful highlights, it's almost like a Disnee HDR grade. As such, it's going to have the exact same struggles as those D grades do without any dynamic metadata to help it along: if someone is not watching in a darkened room then the HDR going to suffer for it. If someone jacks their SDR up to silly levels in comparison then the HDR is going to suffer for it. If someone's display is looking at that 4000-nit mastering display level (which has nothing to do with the brightness of the content itself) and mapping it down then the HDR is going to suffer for it. Some or all might be in play for any given person, so YMMV.
Colour wise this also has a kind of Nolany flavour to it, as skin tones often taken on a distinct orangey hue particularly in the first reel or two before they go underground (which doesn't do Robert Davi's pock-marked face any favours, giving an unfortunate 'orange peel' vibe). Not always, as some shots are very similar between SDR and HDR, but often. When they do go under then the heavy yellow cast from the candles and lanterns takes over, that glow looking richer and more golden than the thinner yellow look of the SDR, and Chunk's red coat has a nice amount of zing. Same for the fire at the beginning when the Fratellis spring Jake from jail, it's got that typical flat yellow SDR hue but is more vibrant in HDR. When they finally find the Inferno then the SDR carried across that yellower look into those scenes but it's been dialled out some for the HDR, which makes sense as the cavern isn't lit by masses of candles. The reveal of the ship for the first time looks VERY different between the two, I'll show this in a minute.
As there's not a lot of overt grain then the compression on this UHD66 disc doesn't have too much to worry about, although a couple of moments made me wince. One is when Chunk stops the car on the road, as it comes to a stop the headlights glare into the camera and some gnarly blocking appears inside the light. The other is at 57m22s onwards, there's a lantern on the right that looks very clipped and kinda 'fizzy' for the duration of the shot. Other than that it's fine, and the gradations of light and dark are handled quite superbly with no banding that I could spot there, although a few shots of orange faces can look a little solarised. The film transfer itself is very stable and spotlessly clean. Oh, and I had zero playback problems with the UK UHD on my Panasonic 820 player, no skips, freezes or stutters at any point.
On the face of it, it's easy to think Goonies might've been as 'managed' as it has been because of the woefully misguided "pro reviewer" reaction to stuff like Gremlins, but Beetlejuice looks seriously stunning (more on that in a future instalment of Geoffy Vision) so I'm not sure that this is some sort of edict from Warners going forward. The opening credits getting rebuilt is a major departure for Warners, Paramount and Universal have done it several times recently but this is one of WB's first AFAIK. To that end, have these decisions come from a higher power like Dick Donner or even Seņor Spielbergo (who's had the credits rebuilt on some of his movies in 4K)? So I'll give Warners the benefit of the doubt here. What we've got is a conspicuous - but not diabolically damaging IMO - amount of processing tied to a fresh, clean scan given a gorgeous little HDR grade that's an enhancement rather than a reinvention. As with Gremlins, anyone claiming it's too dark is simply not viewing it with the ideal display parameters.
Time for picatures! The camera is still oversaturating things slightly but they're a good enough starting point.
THESE IMAGES ARE NOT INTENDED TO CONVEY THE ENTIRETY OF EITHER SDR OR HDR WITH 100% ACCURACY BUT ONLY SPECIFIC ASPECTS. THEY CAN ALSO BE MUCH DARKER THAN THE CONTENT ACTUALLY APPEARS OWING TO THE EXPOSURE NECESSARY TO CAPTURE THE DYNAMIC RANGE.
Example of the redone credits. So much sharper and the font is thinner.
BD
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UHD
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Mama Fratelli in the car at the beginning. Looks kinda orangey in both, but seems a bit more so on the UHD. Car window has a mild green tint. Note the slightly opened up framing at the bottom and to the right.
BD
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UHD
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Fire at the disco!
BD
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UHD
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Joey Pants cackling with glee at the fire, I love how this looks in HDR. The HDR isn't as dark as that for shadow detail, the camera's exposure can't quite get it all.
BD
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UHD
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This is Kerri Green right after her on-screen credit fades out. The BD is a tired, grainy old optical while the UHD is cherry camera original. Nice.
BD
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UHD
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Troy's dad at the gate. Holy orange UHD faces Batman!
BD
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UHD
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Chunk's confessional. Very, very similar between both with maybe a touch more rosiness to his cheeks in the UHD.
BD
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UHD
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The reveal of the Inferno. BD looks dank and green while the UHD trends towards a much warmer look. And yes, the rocks in the background are slightly softer on the UHD.
BD
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UHD
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Corey and Martha yelling "Chunk!". This is where the colour flips, the BD is the warmer one while the UHD evens it out some and makes the water much bluer.
BD
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UHD
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Mama again saying "thank you, Mr Willy". Note the solarised look to the lines on her face on the UHD.
BD
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UHD
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Mikey saying goodbye to Willy. BD looks much bluer for the sky but the detail increase here is not subtle in the UHD.
BD
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UHD
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Okay, dig this. Remember when I said (many words ago) that the titles may not be the end of the revisionism? I think they've rejigged this shot of the ship sailing out into the bay, this is the really wide shot with the little ship in the far distance. It's zoomed in which is why it looks like crap in both but just look at the ship, how some of the details at the front are simply not there on the old optical composite, it was probably too small to pull a decent matte from. And look under the ship, there's a hard demarcation between the hull and the sea on the old shot but it's more diffuse now.
BD
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UHD
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Final shot of the movie. Trades in the cooler look of the BD for a much orangier glow from the sun. Also FAR cleaner for grain than the old composite, whether this is a redo or not I can't tell.
IGNORE the wibbly credits in the BD as I can't seem to keep my hand steady enough to get them during the multi-exposure HDR snap! It's the exact same frame but again, notice the extra information at the bottom of the frame.
BD
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UHD
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