Warner Bros. Pictures
The holidays are coming to an end, but you can still treat yourself to some post-holiday gifts especially if you upgraded to a new 4K television. There are plenty of current films available in 4K editions that will give your new TV and sound system a workout, but there are many classic films now available that benefit greatly from the Ultra-High Definition upgrade. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has been dipping into the Warner Bros. Pictures vaults to bring a select few classics to the new medium and they are definitely worth a look.
Gremlins
By now, most people (of a certain age, at least) know the story of Billy Peltzer and the invasion of little green monsters that nearly destroyed the peaceful town of Kingston Falls on Christmas, all because the rules for proper care of a mogwai were ignored (technically, the first violation — water — was an accident, and the second — feeding after midnight — was due to mischief on behalf of the recently born mogwai). Gremlins still holds up today, even if some of the extended moments of mischief feel like they go on a bit too long. But the puppetry work is still impressive, and it makes one wonder if the movie were made today would the creatures all be CGI? The movie also earns a lot of laughs for its homages to classic films like The Time Machine and Forbidden Planet, and the casting of classic stars like Dick Miller. And if you’re familiar with the catalog of Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg films up to that point, you can easily spot many of the Easter eggs Dante planted throughout the movie. The new 4K transfer looks terrific, with very light film grain, vibrant colors and deep blacks in the darker scenes that don’t cause any loss of picture detail. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 remix created for the 2009 Blu-ray is carried over here but upgraded to the lossless DTS-HD MA format. The film uses the surrounds mostly for atmospheric effects, generally gremlin mayhem, and spreads the film’s music out keeping the dialog front and center, never over-powered by the music or sound effects. The 4K package also contains a Blu-ray disc (the same 2009 release that is previously available) where all of the film’s extras can be found. The 4K disk only includes the two audio commentaries as bonus material to allow the video some breathing room. The extras on the Blu-ray include:
- Filmmaker commentary with Director Joe Dante, Producer Michael Finnell and Special Effects Artist Chris Walas
- Cast commentary with Director Joe Dante, and actors Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller and Howie Mandel
- Gremlins: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (6:00)
- Additional scenes viewable with or without commentary
- Three Theatrical Trailers, including one for Gremlins 2: The New Batch
- Photo Galleries
The set also comes with a Digital Code redeemable through Movies Anywhere which will unlock even more extras carried over from the 2009 Blu-ray release including:
- Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous: Making Gremlins (29:15) — A retrospective with Dante, Spielberg and Finnell among the talking heads with some insight into how the film got made, how it went from a straight horror film to a horror film with comedic elements, the battle over Phoebe Cates’ Christmas monologue, Jerry Goldsmith’s music, and a recollection from Zach Galligan about how they shot the wintery scenes in 100+ degree heat and how he was surprised when a scene portraying Billy as the hero at the end was changed without his knowledge. A nice, in-depth piece for fans of the movie.
- From Gizmo to Gremlins: Creating the Creatures (17:48) — Another featurette with the same creative team plus Chris Walas and Howie Mandell, the voice of Gizmo, detailing the laborious process of creating the mogwai and gremlins puppets and bringing them to life on the big screen.
- Hangin’ with Hoyt on the Set of Gremlins (4:18) — A sort of home movie following Hoyt Axton around the set during his down time.
- Digital Comics — Two animated comics versions of the film that starts with Gremlins: The Gift of the Mogwai (7:01), featuring Gizmo’s first night in the Peltzer home, and The Last Gremlin (6:40), which focuses on the department store chase and battle with Billy, Kate, Gizmo and Stripe.
If you already own the 2009 Blu-ray, the upgrade may not seem necessary especially if you’re someone who likes extras. The lack of anything new is a bit of a letdown, however the picture and audio quality are a vast improvement over the 2009 Blu-ray, which for all of its faults was a vast improvement over the original DVD release. That improvement alone is worth the upgrade.
The Batman Motion Picture Anthology
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has also polished the four Batman movies that began with Tim Burton’s 1989 classic. A quick perusal of the four films shows a breathtaking difference between the Blu-ray releases and these new 4K editions.
Batman looks substantially better than the Blu-ray with much finer grain, more vibrant colors and deeper blacks and a slightly re-framed image (and unlike Gremlins, the remastered edition of the film has also been carried over to the Blu-ray included in the package). The difference between the old Blu-ray release and the new 4K is substantial. And not just in video quality. The new Dolby Atmos audio track (also available on the Blu-ray — and note this remastered Blu-ray is currently not available as a stand-alone item) breathes new life into Danny Elfman’s score, clear and sharp where the Blu-ray was a bit muffled, and the surrounds are used to good effect to highlight gunshots, the roar of the Batmobile engines and other ambient sounds. A very impressive effort overall.
Extras on the Blu-ray are carried over from the previous Blu-ray release and include a Tim Burton audio track (also on the 4K disk), On the Set with Bob Kane, Legends of the Dark Knight: The History of Batman, Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight, Batman: The Heroes, Batman: The Villains, Beyond Batman, Batman: The Complete Robin Storyboard Sequence, Music Videos, and a Theatrical Trailer. The only drawback to this release (as with the other three films in the franchise) is the awful cover art used for all four movies. That’s easily overlooked though for what is a highly recommended upgrade, especially if you love the movie.
Batman Returns (1992) benefits ever more from the 4K upgrade since the film is much darker than the first, not just in tone but in the lighting design as well. Colors are vibrant and warm when necessary, dark scenes are inky without losing any detail and creating a much finer grain pattern than what was seen on the Blu-ray. This upgrade is also available on the included Blu-ray, but said Blu-ray is not available as a separate option. And as with Batman, the Dolby Atmos audio track gives new life to the score and the sound effects, using the surrounds to great effect while keeping dialog clear and unobstructed.
And as with the Batman set, extras are all carried over from the original Blu-ray release with no new additions. Extras include a Tim Burton audio commentary (also on the 4K disk), The Bat, the Cat, and the Penguin, Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight Pt. 4 – Dark Side of the Knight, Batman Returns: The Heroes, Batman Returns: The Villains, Beyond Batman, Music Video: ‘Face to Face’ by Siouxsie and the Banshees, and a Theatrical Trailer. Regardless of the lack of new bonus material, this is also well worth the upgrade from the Blu-ray.
Batman Forever (1995) also enjoys a significant video upgrade, giving much more brilliance to the color palette, and more details in the whites and blacks. The heightened detail reveals more grotesqueries in the Two-Face makeup, beads of sweat on Dick Grayson and more detail to the heavy rubber Batman and Robin costumes. And again, the upgrade is carried over to the accompanying Blu-ray, and while looking better than the old Blu-ray, still does not hold a candle to the 4K UHD disk. The Dolby Atmos audio is robust with very active panning across all channels to follow the action on screen and a booming base to accompany Batmobile engines, falling debris and thunder, all while keeping the dialog a priority. This is certainly reference material regardless of how you feel about the franchise now under the guidance of Joel Schumacher.
Extras carried over from the 2009 Blu-ray include an audio commentary track with Schumacher (also included on the UHD disk), Riddle Me This? Why is Batman Forever?, Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight Pt. 5 – Reinventing a Hero, Batman Forever: The Heroes, Batman Forever: The Villains, Beyond Batman, Deleted Scenes, Music Video: ‘Kiss From a Rose’ by Seal, and a Theatrical Trailer.
Finally, Batman & Robin (1997) is the most derided film of the four but wow, did Warner Bros. give us a major improvement over the image quality of the Blu-ray. Probably the most colorful of the quartet, the UHD upgrade now makes the colors pop with a boldness not seen on any home video format (and even theatrical presentations may have not looked this good). Not only do the reds, blues and greens shimmer, but the UHD upgrade offers much finer details and colors to the Mr. Freeze makeup, with costumes textures and production design all seen in a new light. And, of course, the upgrade is carried over to the Blu-ray but with much less effect. And as with the other three films, the Dolby Atmos audio track is bold, using the surrounds to great effect, highlighting the music and sound effects while keeping the dialog crisp and clear. Say what you will about the movie’s content, but this 4K edition makes the movie watchable.
Special features are also carried over from the 2009 Blu-ray and include a commentary track with Director Joel Schumacher (also on the 4K disk) vigorously defending the film and laying some blame at the studio’s feet for its desire to sell toys rather than produce a deeper story, Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight pt. 6 – Batman Unbound, Batman & Robin: The Heroes, Batman & Robin: The Villains, Beyond Batman, Deleted Scene: ‘Alfred’s Lost Love’, Music Videos: ‘The End is the Beginning is the End’ by The Smashing Pumpkins, ‘Look Into My Eyes’ by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and ‘Foolish Games’ by Jewel, and a Theatrical Trailer.
Any or all of these four films are worth adding to your 4K collection.
The Shining
Warner Bros. has also released a newly upgraded UHD edition of The Shining which was not available for review. The restoration was taken from a 4K scan of the film’s original 35mm negative and supervised by Stanley Kubrick’s long-time personal assistant Leon Vitali and Steven Spielberg. The transfer does have one controversial element in the aspect ratio, framed at 1.78:1 instead of the theatrical presentation of 1.85:1, Kubrick’s preferred theatrical aspect ratio although the film was shot at 1.33:1 for television broadcast pre-HD. The disk’s audio presentation is also controversial in that Kubrick’s original mono track is missing in action, replaced now by a remixed 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix which is said to make some of the music cues noticeably louder at times which may require volume adjustment while watching the movie.
Like the other 4K releases, this set’s bonus material is carried over from the 2007 Blu-ray release and includes Audio Commentary featuring Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown and Kubrick biographer John Baxter (also on the UHD disk), View from the Overlook: Crafting ‘The Shining’, The Visions of Stanley Kubrick, The Making of ‘The Shining’, and Wendy Carlos, Composer. Missing is the film’s Theatrical Trailer which may be included with the Movies Anywhere Digital copy (it’s also on YouTube for anyone who wants to see it).
Pan’s Labyrinth
Also available in 4K is the contemporary classic Pan’s Labyrinth which is said to offer a slight improvement over the 2007 Warner Bros. Blu-ray release (the film was also offered as a 2016 Criterion Collection Blu-ray that corrected the WB noise reduction and offered director supervised color tweaks but also suffered from compression issues). The UHD edition, not available for review, is said to offer more detail and sharpness, particularly in the outdoor, daytime scenes with the much darker scenes still seeing some improvement thanks to a lack of noise reduction. The included Blu-ray is the original 2007 release. Oddly, the UHD disk only includes a DTH-HD 5.1 MA audio track whereas the Blu-ray includes a DTS-HD 7.1 mix.
The Blu-ray also includes the original bonus features (but none from the Criterion release): Director’s Prologue, Audio Commentary with director Guillermo del Toro, Enhanced Visual Commentary, Featurettes – ‘The Power of Myth’, ‘Pan and the Fairies’, ‘The Color and the Shape’, and ‘The Melody Echoes the Fairy Tale’, The Director’s Notebook – Del Toro’s Notes and Sketches, Storyboard / Thumbnail Comparisons, VFX Plate Comparison, and Galleries, The Charlie Rose Show featuring Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, and Alejandro Iñárritu, Comics – The Giant Toad, The Fairies, Pan, and The Pale Man, and Marketing Campaign – Theatrical Teaser, Trailer, and TV Spots.
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