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Kaleidescape | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

A documentary look at the perpetually obscure but hugely influential pop duo

by Dennis Burger
updated August 10, 2023

I think it’s reasonably safe to say that your interest in any documentary about a pop duo is probably largely contingent upon your familiarity with and love for the band and its music. That creates something of an interesting conundrum for The Spark Brothers, the documentary about brothers Ron and Russell Mael, who’ve been performing together since 1968, first as Halfnelson and, since 1972, as Sparks.

Wait, who? Exactly. Despite having a relatively successful music career spanning five decades, chances are good you’ve never heard of them unless you live in LA, Germany, or the UK. And that’s ultimately kind of the point of this film. In a sense, it’s a 140-minute answer to the questions, “Who are these weirdos, why do so many musicians love them, and how the heck have their teetered right on the edge of success for so very long?”

I’m not quite sure what I expected going into The Spark Brothers, since my impression of them—what little impression I’ve managed to cobble together over the decades—is mostly one of an aloof and enigmatic duo who’ve always been just a weensy bit too clever and ahead-of-their-time for their own good. I’ve seen interview clips here and there over the years—mostly in the heyday of MTV—and they always came off as a bit pretentious and too-good-for-you.

And the intro of this Edgar Wright-helmed doc does nothing to dispel that notion. The first few minutes play right into the brilliance, mystery, enigma, and theatrics. And once that’s all done, just to give anyone watching the film who’s never heard of the band the same assumptions the rest of us already had, Wright starts tearing down those walls to create an interesting and intimate portrait of two siblings who love each other, love their art, and never really seemed to care too much about commercial success anyway.

It is, at times, a tender exploration of their lives and music. It is, at other times, a silly and irreverent takedown of the music industry and the whimsical and capricious winds of pop culture. But what it always is, from opening credits to the end, is sincere, vulnerable, and honest.

And even if you’ve never heard of the band or any of its songs—despite the fact that they influenced or inspired everyone from Depeche Mode to Duran Duran to Red Hot Chili Peppers to They Might Be Giants—I think you’ll be a fan by the end. But not necessarily of their music. Given that they’re impossible to categorize in terms of genre and change their style with every album, it’s hard to say if you’ll dig any of their tunes. But you’ll certainly be a fan of these delightfully kooky, gracious, humble gentlemen and the shadow they’ve cast on 50 years’ worth of popular music, even if they never got the spotlight for more than a split-second.

And much of that comes down to the way the film was shot and edited. For one thing, The Spark Brothers is just visually spectacular. Yes, it’s comprised mostly of talking heads looking into, or just to the side of, the camera. And there’s also the expected collection of old photos and archival film and video. But Wright also makes liberal use of traditional 2D animation, animated collages, and even some 3D that looks like either claymation or CGI to illustrate anecdotes for which no visuals exist.

This is the sort of film I’d normally treat like an audiobook with accompanying visuals. I might be inclined to put on a documentary of this sort in the background while I’m painting D&D minis or practicing my Rubik’s Cube algorithms. But The Spark Brothers grabbed my attention from the giddy-up and refused to let go.

Kaleidescape’s Ultra HD/HDR presentation certainly didn’t hurt in that respect. It’s true that the HDR doesn’t call attention to itself for much of the film—especially the old videotaped segments, tattered photos, and 16mm film from the ’50s and ‘60s. But it’s there when it’s needed, and it’s applied judiciously to give the image some pop and pizzaz when appropriate, especially toward the end.

I could say much the same about the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. It’s mostly a front-channel affair, and a dialogue-heavy one at that. But the surround channels are employed with laser precision to expand the soundfield when such is called for. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the mix is just how dynamic it is. Woe be to those who try to cram this punchy and at times energetic mix through TV speakers or a cheap soundbar. It’s not going to tax your amps, exhaust your subs, or remind you every second just what a good investment all those extra speakers around the room were, but it’s still an artful and deliberate mix that serves the film well.

These days, so few films are keepers for me. I’ve grown accustomed to the tenuous libraries available from all the major streaming services, and actual film purchases are getting fewer and farther between, but The Spark Brothers is an absolute keeper. Normally, a doc of this nature would be a one-time watch. After all, there’s nothing else to learn after one viewing, is there? And most films of this nature hinge on controversy, scandal, interpersonal conflict, backstabbing, and an absolute refusal to take any real personal responsibility. But here we have a film with no real salaciousness, bickering, or substance abuse, or orgies or tales told out of school. And yet it’s so visually and narratively interesting that I can’t wait to watch it again.

Dennis Burger is an avid Star Wars scholar, Tolkien fanatic, and Corvette enthusiast who somehow also manages to find time for technological passions including high-end audio, home automation, and video gaming. He lives in the armpit of Alabama with his wife Bethany and their four-legged child Bruno, a 75-pound American Staffordshire Terrier who thinks he’s a Pomeranian.

PICTURE | The HDR doesn’t call attention to itself for much of the film but it’s there when it’s needed, applied judiciously to give the image some pop and pizzaz when appropriate

SOUND | The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is mostly a dialogue-heavy front-channel affair, but the surround channels are employed with laser precision to expand the soundfield when such is called for

Review: Total Recall (1990)

review | Total Recall (1990)

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Kaleidescape | The Empire Strikes Back

Kaleidescape | Casablanca

The action and effects still hold up in the 4K HDR/Atmos release of the 1990 Schwarzenegger original

by John Sciacca
updated August 9, 2023

The 1990 version of Total Recall. has been given a 30th-anniversary 4k HDR/Atmos release. Based on the story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick, Recall is directed by Paul Verhoeven, and it definitely has his stylistic thumbprint all over it, especially in the over-the-top gun violence and massive bullet wounds and in-film adverts, which are heavily reminiscent of his other films RoboCop and Starship Troopers.

With a huge (for the day) budget of $65 million, the movie features elaborate sets, makeup, costume design, and world building. Mars feels like a fleshed-out, alien world that has been colonized by humans, including various mutations from intense radiation, and the interiors—especially the location of the alien artifact—seem appropriately huge. Practical special effects abound throughout, as well as some relatively new for-the-time CGI, and the film actually won an Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Originally shot on 35mm film, this transfer is taken from a 4K digital intermediate. Some film grain remains but it’s never distracting. The film certainly didn’t receive the massive grain-reduction smoothening Terminator 2 did. Most scenes—especially those filmed in the bright outdoors—are clear and sharp. Don’t expect the ultra clarity, sharpness, and detail of modern digital images but you’ll definitely appreciate all the detail the source material has to offer.

Especially impressive in its day was the scene of Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) pulling the tracker roughly the size of a golf ball out of his nose. While this would have certainly been a CGI effect today, it was accomplished with the use of an elaborate, incredibly realistic looking puppet, and the effect still holds up, even under 4K’s enhanced resolution, where you can really appreciate the detail that went into creating it. The same goes for the mutant Kuato.

Some scenes, such as on board the subway, look a bit soft. Even within scenes, there can be a bit of inconsistency. When Quaid is in the Rekall offices, the fine check print in McClane’s (Ray Baker) jacket alternates between crisp and defined to soft and unstable. The added resolution also reveals the limitations of the video screens.

What really pops from the new HDR color grading is the vibrant, deeply saturated reds of Mars. From the opening credits, you get searing, neon reds, giving a glimpse into what’s to come. HDR also gives pop to the bright lights on the subway and the neon lights and signs in Venusville, Mars’ red-light district. Blacks are also deep and clean, providing a solid background for the rest of the images to pop.

Sonically, the new Dolby Atmos mix is fairly reserved by modern standards, with most of the mix taking place in the front of the room. But you do get a lot of width across the front, with action spread far left and right. The mix also does a great job with the dialogue, which is clear and understandable throughout.

The height and surround channels are used extensively to expand the musical score, with the additional speakers being deployed for a far more room-filling experience, especially inside the Last Resort Club on Mars where loud music booms from all around.

The sound mixers took some opportunities to extend sound effects into the room to heighten certain moments. Aboard the “Johnny Cab,” we get some nice creaks and groans happening overhead; during gunfights there are some ricochets into the surround speakers; subway announcements emanate from the height speakers; reverb sounds in the mine shafts; and wind swirling and blowing overhead when there is a atmosphere breach.

While Total Recall shows its age in parts—some of the scenes between Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone are a bit groany—it remains a fun action ride, driven by near constant action and a good bit of depth to the story. If your only experience with Total Recall is the disappointing 2012 Colin Farrell remake or from watching the film on DVD, this new 4K HDR remaster is a must-watch.

Probably the most experienced writer on custom installation in the industry, John Sciacca is co-owner of Custom Theater & Audio in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, & is known for his writing for such publications as Residential Systems and Sound & Vision. Follow him on Twitter at @SciaccaTweets and at johnsciacca.com.

PICTURE | The 4K transfer can’t provide the ultra clarity, sharpness, and detail of modern digital images but you’ll definitely appreciate all the detail the source material has to offer

SOUND | The Atmos track is fairly reserved by modern standards, with most of the mix taking place in the front channels but with some effort made to extend sound effects into the room to heighten certain moments

Review: King Creole

review | King Creole

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This black & white Michael Curtiz-directed Elvis Presley melodrama translates particularly well to 4K HDR

by Dennis Burger
updated August 8, 2023

So often, when we techie types attempt to explain the benefits of High Dynamic Range to the masses, we fall back on clichés like “blacker blacks!’ and “brighter highlights!” as if that were the beginning and end of the story. If anything, though, Kaleidescape’s 4K HDR release of King Creole—Elvis Presley’s fourth film and the last before he went into the Army and came out the other side as an amphetamine-addled self-parody—proves that this simple explanation is woefully inadequate when it comes to explaining the actual benefits of HDR video.

Compare the 4K HDR download of the film to the Blu-ray release (the best you’ll find on disc, since the 4K transfer is a digital exclusive), and you’ll see that the blacks are no more blacks, the whites no more vibrant. The difference HDR makes is on the journey from one end of the value scale to the other. What the 4K HDR download has that the 1080p disc doesn’t is a proper richness and nuance between those two extremes. Rather than merely cranking the overall brightness of the image to drag it out of the shadows, this transfer allows the bright spots to shine and the darkness to revel in its inkiness, while also allowing for some middle ground. The result is an image that’s wholly dimensional, with believable depth and oodles of texture that’s lost in the overly contrasty 1080p transfer.

It helps, of course, that the film was beautifully shot to begin with. Director Michael Curtiz (best known for Casablanca and White Christmas) and cinematographer Russell Harlan (who deserves more credit for the success of Robert Mulligan’s To Kill a Mockingbird) approached this musical melodrama as if they were filming Olivier instead of Elvis, and their choice of New Orleans as setting lends the film a gritty verisimilitude that’s positively captivating.

It isn’t just the HDR treatment that helps push this download into must-see territory, though. The 4K transfer also reveals fine details—the filigree in the iron terrace railings on Bourbon Street, the fine mesh of screen windows—that simply get lost in the 1080p transfer.

The visuals alone more than make up for Creole’s occasional shortcomings—the uneven performances (especially by Dolores Hart of The Virginian fame) and the often-laughable lip-syncing during Elvis’ barnburner performances. There’s also the weird sexual tension between Presley and Carolyn Jones, who slinks her way through every scene in a way that’s wholly distinct from her turn as Morticia Addams on the small screen just a few years later. When Presley’s down-on-his-luck Danny Fisher and Jones’ gangster concubine Ronnie share the frame, there’s a dangerous energy that’s unmatched by most films of the era. Watching them together, one can’t help but wonder what could’ve been—what Presley’s film career might have been like if Colonel Parker hadn’t kept the King on a leash, forcing him to take roles in fluff like Girls! Girls! Girls! and Viva Las Vegas when he returned to the spotlight a couple years later.

But go too far down that road and one also can’t help but wonder what King Creole would have been had James Dean lived to play the role of Danny Fisher, which was written for him before it was rejiggered as a musical about a New Orleans singing sensation rather than as a straight drama about a New York boxer.

We’ll never know, of course. But I do know this: King Creole has never truly thrived on home video until now, until our residential display technology finally caught up with the capabilities of good old-fashioned film stock. Indeed, the film sounds better than ever, as well. True, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 remains a mostly mono affair except during Elvis’s musical numbers, when the soundstage comes to life thanks the multitrack recordings of those songs. But much like the rest of this wonderfully and captivatingly imperfect film, somehow it just works.

PICTURE | The images in the Kaleidescape 4K HDR download are wholly dimensional, with believable depth and oodles of texture that’s lost in the overly contrasty 1080p Blu-ray transfer.

SOUND | The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is mostly a mono affair except during Elvis’s musical numbers, when the soundstage comes to life thanks the multitrack recordings of the songs

Review: Inception

review | Inception

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Kaleidescape | Tenet

Kaleidescape | The Godfather

Christopher Nolan’s dream-within-a-dream fest translates especially well into 4K HDR

by John Sciacca
updated August 7, 2023

After the mental calisthenics of watching and trying to unpack Tenet, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to return to another of my favorite Christopher Nolan time-bending films, Inception, when I saw that a 4K HDR transfer was available for download from Kaleidescape.

The core plot is actually fairly simple—getting someone to do something you want them to by planting a simple idea into their subconscious that they believe is their own. But it is the path of getting there that is so complex and visually stunning to watch, as Nolan creates dream worlds within worlds within worlds, with time expanding exponentially the further down you go. What takes seconds in “real life” might equate to hours or even decades multiple dream-levels deep.

Similar to lucid dreaming—a dream where the person is aware they are dreaming and can then exert control over the dream universe—Inception allows for group dreaming where an architect designs and builds the dream world, which is then populated by others who can control the dream, with the actual dreamer filling out the world with the characters of his subconscious mind. (If you’ve seen the film, you’ll understand—if you haven’t, trust me that it actually makes a lot of sense.)

The dream worlds are often filled with fascinating MC Escher-like architecture—entire city blocks that twist upwards at 90 degrees to fold back onto the world, rooms filled with never-ending staircases, topsy-turvy gravity, and cities disintegrating as the dreamworld collapses.

While I don’t think of Inception as an action film, it actually has a surprising amount of action, with the dreamworlds filled with car chases and numerous shootouts. One of the final dream levels—a heavily fortified hospital on top of a snow-covered mountain—always reminds me of a level of a Bond-like video game, using snipers, stealth, and force to overcome a large force on skis and tracked vehicles to infiltrate a massive complex and achieve the objective.

Originally shot on 35mm and 65mm film, there’s no information on the resolution of the digital intermediate used, but there’s tons of detail and resolution in nearly every frame. Closeups reveal loads of facial detail, and you can especially appreciate the detail, design, and fabric texture in the actors’ clothing. For example, in the opening moments, we see Leonardo DiCaprio lying in the surf, and there is sharp line texture and detail in his jacket. Later in the snow-mountain scene, you can appreciate the slightly pebbled texture on the leather accents of their uniforms, or a delicate white-on-white pattern on one of Ken Watanabe’s shirts. There are the occasional shots in soft focus, but this appears to be more a limit of the original material.

While the film has a generally muted greyish, overcast, or steely-blue color palette, there are still plenty of opportunities for the HDR grading to improve the viewing experience. One big difference over the Blu-ray transfer is the enhanced pop of the white shirts worn by many of the actors, and the brightness of the overhead lighting in rooms. The early scene in Watanabe’s castle especially benefits from this, with the lighting looking far more realistic and bathing the room in a rich, warm, golden glow. Interior scenes also benefit from rich shadow detail while still delivering bright highlights either from light streaming in through windows or internal lighting, and the added contrast also benefits the snowy scenes, providing more detail and depth to the white-covered landscape.

The 5.1-channel DTS-HD Master mix is pretty dynamic, with plenty of subtle ambient and aggressive surround effects to place you in the action. From street sounds at a Paris café, to a freight train whizzing past in the side surrounds, to the creaking and groaning of an elevator shaft and cabling, to dynamic gun fire and bullet strikes discreetly placed around the room, to the distinct sounds of objects exploding in air, Inception’s sound mix is active and entertaining.

The film also features some truly massive and immense low-frequency information that will take your subwoofer—and walls—to their limits. From the opening scene, the sounds of waves crashing at the beach pound your room with bass. Even more aggressive are the deep —and lengthy—bass signals when a dreamworld is collapsing, or the crashing of an avalanche.

Nolan re-teams with frequent collaborator Hans Zimmer for the score, and it’s often an aggressive, dynamic, stress-filled mix that assaults from all corners of the room. The finale is heightened by the score, which is like a constant assault on the senses and will get your heart pumping. One of the songs, “Mombasa,” reminded me of the frenetic electronica and bass assault of a Blue Man Group track.

Inception remains incredibly entertaining, and as visually exciting and entertaining as any modern film. With a new 4K HDR transfer, the film looks better than ever, making it the perfect time to revisit this modern classic.

PICTURE | Originally shot on 35mm and 65mm film, there’s tons of detail and resolution in nearly every frame

SOUND | The 5.1-channel DTS-HD Master mix is pretty dynamic, with plenty of subtle ambient and aggressive surround effects to place you in the action

Review: On the Waterfront

review | On the Waterfront

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The Elia Kazan/Marlon Brando classic gets its best home release to date via Kaleidescape’s UHD download

by Dennis Burger
updated August 6, 2023

On the Waterfront isn’t Elia Kazan’s best film. I’ll get crucified for admitting that opinion but compare this effort to Kazan’s next feature, James Dean’s East of Eden, and the uneven performances of Waterfront start to become a little more distracting.

But only a little. On the balance sheet, On the Waterfront is a powerful and at times shocking work that, while a product of its time—as any good work of art is—remains vibrant and accessible today. Only Leonard Bernstein’s score, which is often heralded as a masterwork but in truth runs a bit too maudlin and sappy in some of the film’s most poignant scenes, really anchors the film in the past. But that was true when it was released in 1954. Simply put, the score is too often a throwback to the melodramatic orchestrations of the late 1930s, and while I love it as a work in and of itself, sometimes it just conflicts too much with the imagery to which it’s attached. (Incidentally, this is another thing that makes East of Eden work better overall.In the year between, Kazan seemed to have learned when to leave music on the cutting-room floor.)

If all of the above sounds overly critical, it isn’t intended to be. I absolutely adore this Marlon Brando vehicle, warts and all. In fact, I may love it all the more for its flaws, since the film is ultimately about flawed humans. It’s also a film about honesty and fairness, themes that also ring through in its presentation, especially in Brando’s intense portrayal of former boxer Terry Malloy, who testifies against a mobbed-up union boss at great personal cost.

It’s a film I return to frequently, but what drew me in for my most recent viewing is Kaleidescape’s Ultra HD presentation. Unsurprisingly, On the Waterfront only seems to be making the jump from high-def to 4K purely in the digital domain, which means Kaleidescape is the film’s only opportunity, for now, to shine in all its high-bandwidth 4K glory. Frankly, it’s such a grainy and gritty film that I’m skeptical whether streaming could do it justice without becoming too noisy—even high-quality streaming formats like Vudu, which often excel with the hyper-slick, digitally assembled output of today’s Hollywood but struggle with the organic nature of old celluloid stock.

At any rate, it takes but a few moments of comparison between the Kaleidescape 4K download and the excellent Criterion Blu-ray release from 2013 to see what a difference UHD makes. In the famous “I coulda been a contender” scene in particular, the 4K really brings out the subtlest, but most important details, like the sheen of sweat on Rod Steiger’s face, as well as Brando’s, as the scene ramps up in intensity. It’s true the 4K resolution also brings with it an enhancement of the film’s prominent grain (which was overly sanitized in the streaming version presented on the now-defunct Filmstruck streaming service) but that’s part of Waterfront’s visual charm and it’s nice to see it maintained here.

Speaking of the visuals, the Criterion Blu-ray release was noteworthy for its inclusion of three versions of the film, all identical in terms of content but differing in their aspect ratio. On the Waterfront was shot at a time when movie theaters were transitioning from 1.33:1 (the shape of your old standard-definition CRT TV) to wider aspect ratios like 1.85:1 (similar to the shape of your new UHD TV). As such, director of photography Boris Kaufman shot the film so it would work on screens of either shape. But he chose to compose the action for the less-common 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The Blu-ray release included all three compositions.

The Kaleidescape download is solely 1.66:1, and if a choice had to be made to include only one version, this was the right call. This tighter framing enhances the intimacy—and indeed the intensity—of the film, without cutting out key visual details, and the black bars along the left and right of the image are so slight you’ll forget they’re there within minutes.

Unfortunately, you’ll still need to download the film twice if you want to see the included bonus features: A short documentary, an interview with Elia Kazan, and a photo gallery. These are available only with the DVD-quality download. Honestly, though, you’re probably better off skipping these and saving space on your hard drive. Most of the compelling bonus features for the film remain with Criterion, including the excellent audio commentary by authors Richard Schickel and Jeff Young, as well as a number of wonderful interviews.

The goods news is, you don’t even really need those, either. On the Waterfront stands on its own two legs, and forced to choose between the superior presentation on Kaleidescape and the superior historical perspective afforded by the Criterion release, I’d opt for the former any day.

PICTURE | 4K really brings out the subtlest but most important details in the famous “I coulda been a contender” scene but also enhances the film’s prominent grain

Review: Ford v Ferrari

review | Ford v Ferrari

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by Machines of Loving Grace

This Oscar-nominated account of the Ford/Ferrari racing rivalry effectively puts you in the middle of the on-track action

by John Sciacca
updated August 5, 2023

The old adage “fact is stranger than fiction” applies more to crime dramas like CSI and Dateline, but in the case of Ford v Ferrari fact can be more fascinating than fiction. In the midst of one of its longest sales slumps in years, Ford is looking for a way to re-energize the brand and make its cars relevant to Baby Boomers, who are coming of age and looking for something more exciting to drive. Lee Iacocca’s (Jon Bernthal) solution is to tie the Ford name to winning, specifically at the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans where Ferrari has long ruled, including a string of six wins in a row. When Ford’s bid to purchase Ferrari is rudely rebuffed by “il Commendatore” Enzo Ferrari (Remo Girone), Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) decides to go all-in on winning Le Mans, spending whatever it takes, and hiring the top race-car designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to put together a car and team helmed by veteran British driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale).

If you avoided FvF during its theatrical run because you’re not a car lover or a racing fan, rest assured this film still offers plenty to keep you engaged through its just over 2½-hour runtime. Watching history unfold with a story not many outside the auto or race industry are familiar with is interesting enough, but the dynamic between Shelby and Miles is what really makes the film engaging.

Shot in ArriRaw at 4.5K resolution, FvF is taken from a 4K digital intermediate; and the movie looks terrific, with tons of detail and texture in every scene. The images aren’t overly enhanced with unnatural sharpness but use every pixel for truly high-resolution visuals that bristle with detail. An early scene has Bale working on a car wearing a shirt with a tiny and tight check pattern that reveals every fine square. Closeups show every pore and line in actors’ faces, and the paint jobs on the cars have a glossy, liquid sheen. You can also appreciate the various textures in different suit and shirt fabrics and interiors.

Many of the scenes are shot outdoors, and the day scenes frequently have the sky in that certain shade of powder blue that reveals a bit of digital noise, but this just gives the images a more film-like quality. While HDR isn’t used aggressively, it does provide wonderful shadow detail, adding depth and dimension. Night race scenes benefit in the form of deep blacks while still showing bright headlights. And I’m not sure that the Ferrari’s rosso corsa color actually pushes the boundaries of the wider color gamut but it does pop off the screen.

Beyond these visual qualities, it is the director James Mangold’s (Logan, 3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) dynamic filming style, angles, and editing of the racing scenes that make FvF so exhilarating. I frequently had to remind myself I was supposed to be reviewing the film instead of just enjoying it in order to pull myself back from the engaging images and story to take note. The race scenes pull you in with various perspectives, from driver view, to low follow, to over the shoulder, to tight on the drivers. You can feel the tension and stress both the racers and the cars are going through as they click through the “eight-and-a-half miles of country roads for 24 hours” at Le Mans.

As good as the images are, race cars are the soul of this movie, and it’s the vehicles’ dialogue through their engine sounds that pulls you into the action. From the opening shots—even before the production credits have finished – there is a swirl of cars racing all around the you with race announcers in different languages filling the room. The crash and bang as they shift up through gears, the throaty room-filling bass of the natural aspirated engines revving up to red line, the cars braking late and hard into a corner—the audio puts you right in the car and sounds fantastic.

Frustratingly, 21st Century Fox refuses to provide Kaleidescape with the Dolby Atmos soundtrack so the download was limited to the 5.1-channel DTS-HD, but that still does an admirable job of putting you square in the action, and the Atmos upmixer provides a nice sense of immersion. Even non-race scenes are filled with ambience, from the sounds of mechanics working, to the echoey expanse of the Ford factory, to the spaciousness of the outside world. My only quibble with the audio was that dialogue—especially Bale’s—was occasionally difficult to understand. I don’t know whether this was due to the noise of the racing drowning out the voices, or just the heavy accent Bale used for Miles.

Ford v Ferrari is an entertaining and dynamic film that looks and sounds fantastic in a luxury home cinema, and one that should be on the very shortlist for your next movie night.

PICTURE | The movie looks terrific, with tons of detail and texture in every scene

SOUND | The 5.1-channel DTS-HD mix does an admirable job of putting you square in the action

Review: Honeyland

review | Honeyland

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This Oscar-nominated documentary eschews most of the usual documentary conventions but is worth a look for the visuals alone

by Dennis Burger
updated July 31, 2023

Honeyland is unlike any documentary I’ve ever seen. There’s zero narration. None of the participants looks at or speaks to the camera. There’s no indication of where the story unfolds, except for a handful of references to Skopje, the northern Macedonian city that apparently isn’t too far from the little stretch of mountainous land where the bulk of the action takes place. What you do manage to pick up from the film will mostly be gathered from hard-won context clues. And in the end, I don’t think any of that really matters.

At its heart, Honeyland is a film about a middle-aged woman named Hatidze, a beekeeper who lives in harmony with nature and has a rule of always leaving the bees with exactly as much honey as she takes. “Half for me, half for you” she says as she harvests her hives. Soon after we meet her, though, her peaceful existence is disrupted by the arrival of nomads who drag their trailer into the plot of land next to hers with a pack of farm animals and an unruly pack of loathsome children. Hatidze does her best to teach the patriarch of this traveling brood how to harvest honey sustainably, to no avail.

If it sounds like a simple story told simply, that’s because it is. But the way in which it’s told—without context, without explanation, without larger connective tissue—makes it as intriguing as it is inscrutable. When you get right down to, the visuals are the star of the show. (Spoiler warning: In digging around for any info about the film after the credits rolled, I learned that the filmmakers edited purely visually, ignoring their audio recordings until the final cut was locked down. And it shows.)

To get a sense of what I mean, watch the film’s trailer—perhaps the most honest and representative teaser I’ve ever seen. It’s a one-hundred-percent faithful condensation of everything this film is. Imagine another 87 minutes of exactly this, and you’ll have a pretty good indication of exactly what unfolds on the screen and how.

While limited to HD resolution even via Kaleidescape, Honeyland still exhibits more detail, crisper edges, and a richer overall look than you’ll find in most films shot and released in UHD. From the craggy terrain in and around Bekirlija to the dim and dingy interior of the hut Hatidze shares with her dying mother, every location is rendered stunningly, and every frame is a printable work of art.

And despite being of no concern to the filmmakers while editing, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack brings the environment to life almost holographically. Every gust of wind through every sparse patch of grass, every flickering flame, and every stirring swarm of bees is delivered as if they’re emanating from the air rather than speakers in a room.

But, for as masterfully shot and edited as it is, I found much of Honeyland difficult to watch, and I’m not sure I’ll be returning to it any time soon—though part of me wants to, now that I have a better understanding of what’s going on. What keeps me from pressing Play again mostly boils down to several scenes involving child abuse (primarily verbal, but certainly with threats of the physical) and animal cruelty, which genuinely upset me to the point of near physical illness. So, if you’re squeamish about such things, perhaps it’s best that you take a pass.

If you can get past that, though, Honeyland is just such an unabashedly weird film that it’s worth at least one viewing. It’s a stark reminder of the importance of sustainability. But that message isn’t delivered preachily. In fact, the film is just as stark a reminder that sustainability is, at times, something of a luxury, especially to those for whom scorched-earth capitalism represents the ever-elusive but tantalizing promise of an escape from abject poverty.

If that gives you the impression that Honeyland is something of a Sisyphean tale, I can’t really argue with that. But it is a beautifully made documentary in the purest sense of the word, and its numerous critical accolades aren’t unwarranted.

PICTURE | While limited to HD resolution, Honeyland still exhibits more detail, crisper edges, and a richer overall look than you’ll find in most films shot and released in UHD

SOUND | The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack brings the environment to life almost holographically

Review: The Blues Brothers

review | The Blues Brothers

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The 4K HDR extended edition not only looks better than expected but also shows that the shorter cut is the better movie

by Dennis Burger
updated July 29, 2023

If nothing else, the 4K HDR release of The Blues Brothers: Extended Edition demonstrates just how far home video has come in the past 20 years. And if you’re not familiar with the provenance of the longer cut of the film, perhaps a little backstory is in order.

Director John Landis originally intended The Blues Brothers to be a three-hour roadshow with an intermission. Studio heads balked after a test screening and forced him to cut the movie down to 148 minutes, then again to 133 minutes for the final theatrical release. When Universal destroyed most of the elements for the original film in 1985, it was believed that only the 133 cut and its negative survived—until, that is, the son of a theater owner was caught trying to sell a print of the 148-minute cut on eBay in the early ’90s. And it is from this print that all deleted scenes and alternate cuts for the extended cut were sourced.

Back in the DVD era, the discrepancies between the quality of the original camera negative and of the lost-and-recovered print weren’t that blatant. Sure, you could tell that some scenes were a bit grainier, a little less detailed, a little more washed out, but it was hardly a distraction. In the HD era, the disparity started to become substantially more apparent.

Fast-forward to the UHD release of The Extended Edition, and I honestly find it nigh unwatchable, if only because the portions of the film scanned from the original camera negative are so utterly gorgeous it makes the preview-print footage look that much worse by comparison. After the opening credits pass by, The Extended Edition is simply a chaotic audiovisual rollercoaster, with one scene looking sharp, detailed, well-balanced, and properly saturated, with exactly the right amount of organic film grain, and the next looking like a blown-out, overly contrasty mess of crushed blacks, faded highlights, and about twice as much grain as it should have. It’s honestly such a distraction that I had trouble sitting through the extended cut, despite the absolutely fabulous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio mix included with the Kaleidescape download.

Thankfully, purchasing the extended edition on Kaleidescape also comes with the theatrical cut, fully restored in UHD HDR as well, so I decided to give it a watch, despite not having seen the shorter edit in over a quarter-century. And what I took away from that viewing surprised me. When you get right down to it, the studio was right. The shorter cut is a better movie; better paced, more consistently funny, and with the focus more consistently where it belongs—on the musical numbers.

The original theatrical cut is also a better home cinema experience from beginning to end. Again, the opening and closing titles—which had to be sourced from what I believe is the interpositive, not the negative—don’t quite measure up to the quality of the rest of the transfer. But that aside, I never would have imagined The Blues Brothers could look this good while still looking true to itself.

And it isn’t merely the enhanced detail brought about by the 4K scan. HDR also allows enhancements to shadow depth, bringing details out of the darkness that have never appeared in home video presentations before.

Granted, the real star of the show is still the immaculate DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio mix, which doesn’t suffer from the tonal and fidelity inconsistencies that plague so many films of the era. Sure, the pre-recorded musical numbers shine brighter here, with deeper bass and better transparency than the rest of the mix, but dialogue and sound effects are still clear and well-presented, and the occasional surround sound effect doesn’t sound at all out of place. A lot of that probably comes down to the fact that the film was originally mixed in four-track stereo, with discreet left, center, and right channels and a mono surround channel, making it a little easier to conform to our modern surround-sound channel layout. But whatever the reason, The Blues Brothers sounds absolutely as wonderful here as you would hope.

In a weird way I think I’m grateful the 4K release of the extended cut revealed what a mishmash that version of the movie is, visually speaking. If not for that, I probably wouldn’t have returned to the theatrical cut and discovered just how much better it is. I’ve spent the past few decades treating the longer cut as the film proper, viewing the theatrical cut as a sort of historical artifact, when we should actually view these different cuts from exactly the opposite perspective. The extended edition is really just an incredibly long bonus feature, and one that quite frankly overstays its welcome.

If the only version of The Blues Brothers you know is the compromised, intermediate extended cut (it was, after all, the only version available on DVD for the longest time), I encourage you to give the shorter theatrical cut another shot—especially in its newly restored 4K/HDR form, it’s simply the best version of the movie that actually exists.

PICTURE | It’s hard to imagine The Blues Brothers could look this good while still looking true to itself, with the 4K scan bringing out enhanced detail and with HDR enhancing the shadow depth, bringing out details that have never appeared on home video before

SOUND | The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is immaculate, free of the tonal and fidelity inconsistencies that plague so many films of the era

Review: Tenet

review | Tenet

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Christopher Nolan’s epic spy thriller is frequently chaotic and confusing but makes for undeniably great demo material

by John Sciacca
updated July 29, 2023

As a fan of Christopher Nolan’s work, I went and saw Tenet at a theater, renting out the entire auditorium for a private watch party, and I’d been looking forward to its home video release ever since. I left that first viewing of Tenet confused. The story is incredibly complex, with physics concepts like entropy and inverting (or reversing) entropy being key plot points.

Further complicating Tenet is Ludwig Goransson’s often aggressive, kinetic soundmix and blasting sound effects that pummel you almost constantly, especially during key sequences when you’re struggling to keep up with who is where (and when). Then there’s the fact that characters are frequently speaking behind masks, which makes some of the dialogue all but impossible to understand. And it just adds to the frustration when you’re constantly asking yourself, “What did he say?”

While there’s still a good bit I don’t fully understand—maybe on a third or fourth viewing!—I will say I got far more out of a second viewing, thanks to the foreknowledge of why people were doing things and some other visual clues Nolan throws in if you know what to look for. And, with apologies to Mr. Nolan, I think Tenet actually works better at home.

There are a couple of ways to watch Tenet, and depending how you do so will also affect your viewing experience. Watching the 4K HDR version from digital retailers like Kaleidescape, you’ll see a constant 2.20:1 aspect ratio film. However, those watching the physical disc (4K or standard Blu-ray) or watching the HD version of the film from Kaleidescape will see the film in alternating between 1.78:1 and 2.20:1 aspects, switching to 1.78:1 for the scenes shot on IMAX. If you’re watching on a traditional direct-view TV, or have a 16:9 aspect-ratio projection screen, you will likely enjoy the alternating aspect ratio, as the big action scenes will get bigger, filling your entire screen. But if you own a widescreen projection system the constant 2.20:1 ratio is likely preferable and less disruptive.

Shot on 65mm film and in IMAX and taken from a true 4K digital intermediate, Tenet looks gorgeous. It doesn’t have that tack sharpness of movies shot digitally but looks like a movie shot on film in all the right ways. Film grain is absolutely minimal, and the images just look natural and terrific.

Edges are sharp and defined, and closeups bristle with detail. Much of Tenet takes place in the world of billionaires, and the trappings of luxury are beautifully displayed. You can really see and appreciate the character styling in the fine detail, texture, patterns, and prints in the clothing worn by the main characters. Daylight shots of the Amalfi Coast are also just stunning to look at, with the beautiful array of colors and sharply defined buildings contrasted against the craggy cliffs and water.

Blacks are clean, clear, and dark, and we get plenty of bright highlights in the form of explosions or bright lighting. Colors are bright and punchy when called for, like bright yellows of safety vests, or the red-orange of fireballs, or the warm, golden hues of a candlelit dinner. Throughout, Tenet delivers reference-quality video.

Presented in a 5.1-channel DTS-HD Master Audio mix (Nolan famously eschews immersive mixes like Dolby Atmos), the mix is both fantastic and damnably frustrating. It’s fantastic in the way it is just filled with atmospheric sounds both subtle and overt in virtually every scene. Interiors are densely layered with little sounds that fully place you in that space. While not an immersive mix, my Marantz’s processor did a wonderful job of upmixing the 5.1-channel track to provide a fully hemispherical presentation. A scene where gas is filling a room literally fills your room with the hissing-jets of gas coming from all around.

Dynamic sounds are both dynamic and loud. Gunshots sound fantastic, having appropriate weight that engages the subwoofer and delivers the zip and snap of close misses, with bullets slamming into things with appropriate force. Both the opening opera scene and later gun battle on the highway are perfect audio demos to show off your system.

You’ll also never need to wonder if your subs are working, which is a part of why the audio mix can be so frustrating. Bass is frequently on the verge of being overwhelming or crossing over into just walloping you with low-end for no apparent reason, often from the musical score, which frequently is filled with a steady, deep, low-frequency hum, pulse, and throb. But when things blow up, your sub needs to be there to deliver, and it will produce couch-rattling, chest-stomping bass.

Dialogue intelligibility is still a very mixed bag. At its best, you can understand what characters are saying; at its worst, dialogue is so drowned out by background effects and music that it’s impossible to understand, or even hear at all in some cases.

But this is the audio mix Nolan wanted, and it’s the audio mix we’re stuck with, warts and all. Nolan says he likes viewers to experience the confusion and disorientation his characters would be feeling, and that he uses “dialogue as a sound effect, so sometimes it’s mixed slightly underneath the other sound effects or in the other sound effects to emphasize how loud the surrounding noise is.”

Whether you love it, hate it, are confounded by it, Tenet is an experience that plays wonderfully in a luxury home theater. And seeing giant practical effects play out on a big screen—yes, they literally blew up that 747—in pristine quality is worth the price of admission alone.

PICTURE | Although shot on 65mm, film grain is absolutely minimal and the images just look natural and terrific.

SOUND | The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is filled with atmospheric sounds both subtle and overt in virtually every scene but dialogue intelligibility is frequently poor

Review: Gattaca

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