Rolling Thunder 4K UHD (1977) Shout! Factory

[BluProofie]

This is an essential upgrade. Much better transfer.

[systemrok]

This was a blind buy for me. What a great gritty 70’s movie! And the transfer is really good, the outdoor scenes look exceptional.

[PipesDonatello]

Received this yesterday from Amazon. Watching it now and I have to say this is better on a second viewing. I watched it originally because of Tarantino's endorsement and I'm a sap for Texas movies, especially ones from the 1970s-1990s. At first I just liked it but there are nuances I've picked up on that make me enjoy it even more now. Definitely one I'll revisit again but probably as a double feature with another bleak 1970s movie or with another movie shot in south Texas.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by PipesDonatello

Received this yesterday from Amazon. Watching it now and I have to say this is better on a second viewing. I watched it originally because of Tarantino's endorsement and I'm a sap for Texas movies, especially ones from the 1970s-1990s. At first I just liked it but there are nuances I've picked up on that make me enjoy it even more now. Definitely one I'll revisit again but probably as a double feature with another bleak 1970s movie or with another movie shot in south Texas.

A recommendation: Handgun a.k.a, Deep in the Heart, a 70s' American rape-revenge drama and an in-depth study of the rape/gun culture of Texas, that actually is a British production shot in Dallas in the early 80s by a British filmmaker who was a collaborator of Ken Loach. My favorite first-watch this year so far.



This trailer is not bad, but the actual film is much more complex in a good way.

Handgun aka Deep in the Heart (1983) Official Trailer - YouTube

[amputd]

Originally Posted by PipesDonatello

Received this yesterday from Amazon. Watching it now and I have to say this is better on a second viewing. I watched it originally because of Tarantino's endorsement and I'm a sap for Texas movies, especially ones from the 1970s-1990s. At first I just liked it but there are nuances I've picked up on that make me enjoy it even more now. Definitely one I'll revisit again but probably as a double feature with another bleak 1970s movie or with another movie shot in south Texas.

You might want to give Red Rocket a try. It a dark comedy set in the Freeport area of Texas. Gritty film in its own way. Definitely captures a Texas vibe, though. Who’ll Stop the Rain isn’t set in Texas but it has the returning vet thing going as well and it’s an under appreciated film.

[GasmaskAvenger]

I haven't popped in Rolling Thunder yet, but I think it'd pair up great with The Farmer.

[t6p]

Originally Posted by amputd

You might want to give Red Rocket a try. It a dark comedy set in the Freeport area of Texas. Gritty film in its own way. Definitely captures a Texas vibe, though. Who’ll Stop the Rain isn’t set in Texas but it has the returning vet thing going as well and it’s an under appreciated film.

Seconding the Red Rocket recommendation. Really enjoyed it.

[johnny-torrance]

Well like OrbitDVD and seemingly everyone else in North America my copy arrived today with a loose disc, thankful it was the blu-ray and not the 4K though.

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by johnny-torrance

Well like OrbitDVD and seemingly everyone else in North America my copy arrived today with a loose disc, thankful it was the blu-ray and not the 4K though.

Yes, its these crappy newer black 4k cases they've started using, with really lame hubs that are pretty shallow and don't engage the discs well at all. Titles that ship in these newer cases typically have the discs pop off the hubs and fly around loose in the case. Ahhh, sweet progress

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by johnny-torrance

Well like OrbitDVD and seemingly everyone else in North America my copy arrived today with a loose disc, thankful it was the blu-ray and not the 4K though.

I must have been lucky, both the discs were tight on the hubs when it arrived. No scratches on either disc.

I was surprised to find that the UHD is actually a BD-100 disc, with 72gb of data on it.

[asacmurr]

Watched this tonight. Did anyone else think the grain looked a bit too clean? There’s absolutely consistent grain there, and I didn’t notice any huge compression artifacts or even DNR, but I felt the grain was a bit too refined for the type of film it is. A weird and blu-ray.com specific thing to mention, but idk what could’ve caused this unless the film was just THAT well restored? I’m probably just going crazy.

[nicwood]

Originally Posted by asacmurr

Watched this tonight. Did anyone else think the grain looked a bit too clean? There’s absolutely consistent grain there, and I didn’t notice any huge compression artifacts or even DNR, but I felt the grain was a bit too refined for the type of film it is. A weird and blu-ray.com specific thing to mention, but idk what could’ve caused this unless the film was just THAT well restored? I’m probably just going crazy.

Yes, I think so too. It's slightly filtered across the board similar to their Carrie UHD. It's absolutely a nice scan and a fine presentation but when looking at Shout's past (very good) UHDs, it's a slight letdown. That being said, the master itself is probably excellent. Maybe the encoder introduced the filtering to ease the process, similar to what the old Pixelogic did for Criterion all the time.

[asacmurr]

Originally Posted by nicwood

Yes, I think so too. It's slightly filtered across the board similar to their Carrie UHD. It's absolutely a nice scan and a fine presentation but when looking at Shout's past (very good) UHDs, it's a slight letdown. That being said, the master itself is probably excellent. Maybe the encoder introduced the filtering to ease the process, similar to what the old Pixelogic did for Criterion all the time.

I chalked Carrie up to just being a soft film inherently (which it is and might just add to that), but I haven’t seen the Arrow disc yet. Is that not as “filtered” then? I’ve seen mention of some “low pass filter” that Criterion uses often, but I’m not sure if they’ve done it on their 4Ks / only specific titles etc - or what it fully means.

I don’t think I own any fake grain titles to compare, but I initially assumed maybe they DNRed and fake grained some shots. The shot where one of the cops drops the lead off back at his house after a big scene had some weird smudginess on the background detail. But also most of the dark scenes seemed to look natural?

[Rollo Tomassi]

Originally Posted by asacmurr

I chalked Carrie up to just being a soft film inherently (which it is and might just add to that), but I haven’t seen the Arrow disc yet. Is that not as “filtered” then? I’ve seen mention of some “low pass filter” that Criterion uses often, but I’m not sure if they’ve done it on their 4Ks / only specific titles etc - or what it fully means.

I don’t think I own any fake grain titles to compare, but I initially assumed maybe they DNRed and fake grained some shots. The shot where one of the cops drops the lead off back at his house after a big scene had some weird smudginess on the background detail. But also most of the dark scenes seemed to look natural?

I believe Arrow's bluray of Carrie shows more grain than Shout's 4K disc. I posted some such on the Carrie thread a while ago.
Check out those caps:

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=3&x...0&l=1&i=0&go=1

I probably didn't pick the best example of those caps, but if you look through them you'll see what I mean. Arrow's 4K is VERY grainy in parts!

BTW: what's that Avatar? That Vincent fron Collateral?

[RiFiFi1955]

The main thing I noticed with the 4K was just how dark the interior scenes were. The daylight scenes looked spectacular but some of the darker interior you could barely see the image compared to the old master.

[emmet otter]

Originally Posted by RiFiFi1955

The main thing I noticed with the 4K was just how dark the interior scenes were. The daylight scenes looked spectacular but some of the darker interior you could barely see the image compared to the old master.

Dang, you aint kiddin' me
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Rolli...lu-ray/353807/

They do look quite dark. Gonna have to do a comparison later on.

[BluProofie]

Originally Posted by emmet otter

Dang, you aint kiddin' me
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Rolli...lu-ray/353807/

They do look quite dark. Gonna have to do a comparison later on.

HDR caps thst are downconverted are not accurate. The movie doesn’t look that dark in motion.

[asacmurr]

It's definitely pretty dark, but there's still a lot of detail in those scenes. I wasn't a huge fan of how HDR was applied on their Exorcist 3 disc, but I wasn't able to view it in Dolby Vision at the time so maybe on rewatch my opinion will change.

[asacmurr]

Originally Posted by Rollo Tomassi

I believe Arrow's bluray of Carrie shows more grain than Shout's 4K disc. I posted some such on the Carrie thread a while ago.
Check out those caps:

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=3&x...0&l=1&i=0&go=1

I probably didn't pick the best example of those caps, but if you look through them you'll see what I mean. Arrow's 4K is VERY grainy in parts!

BTW: what's that Avatar? That Vincent fron Collateral?

The caps for To Live and Die in LA (kino 4k vs arrow blu) show a similar thing. Interesting - will have to A/B the Carrie 4Ks.

Also yeah that's my profile pic haha. Found some artist that does weird bobblehead stuff like this and thought it was funny. Might change it eventually though lol

[Rollo Tomassi]

Originally Posted by asacmurr

The caps for To Live and Die in LA (kino 4k vs arrow blu) show a similar thing. Interesting - will have to A/B the Carrie 4Ks.

Also yeah that's my profile pic haha. Found some artist that does weird bobblehead stuff like this and thought it was funny. Might change it eventually though lol

Yes, I'd love to see some comparison caps of the Shout and Arrow 4Ks, as well!

Your avatar looks badass! Wonder if that artist also made a Die Hard portray of Willis?