James Bond 007 Thread — Page 2

I have to say cap, I disagree on this one. These covers are much, much better than the batch they did for the UE ones. While I'd be happier with some poster art (and who wouldn't be?), these are solid photoshop jobs that conform to the norm. I especially like the ones for From Russia and Goldfinger, but we can agree to disagree.

It was moved back a page on the "My Two Cents" archive. Check them out here.

:(

All covers now displayed. Someone likes color filters obviously.

http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/collecting_dvd_uk_2012.php3?s=collecting&id=03258

I have to admit though that - to be fair - only a few of them actually look really cool. Spy Who Loved Me is pretty awful.

I'll get OHMSS for X-mas, then The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker sometime next year.  With that TOS Star Trek Soundtrack box coming out, I can't go all out and pay for Bond films that I don't respect. My SE DVD's still play, so I am sticking with that format for the films that I seldom look at. Besides, I will most likely return to LaserDisks of them anyway. 

http://www.facebook.com/JamesBond007/app_491936157484488

This on the official facebook page uses new HD youtube clips from each film and does indeed utilize the new Blu-ray masters that have been floating around.

The previous released discs are essentially being reissued, with DN, FRWL, GF, TB being colored wrong.

On the new issues: YOLT is desaturated just like the UE. OHMSS has been re-timed but still not correctly, Goldeneye is cropped with the alternate color timing, and the rest virtually resemble their UE editions just in 1080p. Nothing has been altered for these remaining titles save for some tweaks to OHMSS's coloring.

Of course judging by youtube clips isn't the best method, but still it's pretty obvious.

Of the new discs, I think the standouts will be LTK and TND for image quality and probably DAF for sheer image detail. (Though not color)

DuracellEnergizer said:

Wow, those really are shitty covers. Moonraker looks especially bad.

Maybe that's because Moonraker is especially bad. :P

doubleKO said:

I'm not overly familiar with the Bond films, but I'm pretty damn sure there was no mgm.com in the sixties.

Yeah, I hate that they replace the logos.

Still cropped incorrectly no new transfer with real theatrical colors and film grain no sale.  Thanks for the info on Goldeneye Captain Solo.

Will have to stick with the original DVD and non anamorphic laserdisc unfortunately since i don't exactly have a scope print lying around and the ability to project it.

Only the Pre Credit sequence was ever released on super8mm.  That and the trailer.  Never a full feature.

I think it was from chc and had stunning color.

Did the New Blu ray even use the theatrical DTS from Goldeneye or the new one which was crap?

If not maybe someday some person will cap the laserdisc audio.

Is there a single film Lowry has worked on on BD that looks like a film and not a dodgy video mess.

The Star Wars trilogy looks like shit but that was done at 1080P back in 2004, not sure when the BOND transfers were done.  I am glad that at least Raiders of the Lost Ark was not dumped to BD from previously existing 1080 master.  Lucasfilm/Spielberg/Paramount also made sure to keep the grain intact and match the theatrical color timing.  If only Fox/Lucasfilm could have only done the same for the star wars oot.

Well at least it is not like with Bond like Lucas and star wars.  They did not insert bad cgi into the Connery films or replace Sean Connery with Daniel Craig in some of the scenes.

Too much DVNR and wrong colors but no Lucasized versions either.  Nor are the real versions of the movies being replaced and left to rot in a vault for an inferior bastardized "original vision" which changes every five years.

Until the disc is out we won't know for sure, but every HD version and preview is still the cropped image.

The UE used a remix in DTS which lacked the bass impact of the original, though I've never heard the DTS LD version. The problem is extracting that DTS form the LD but maybe ti will be possible to find the DTS theatrical discs for GE, TND and TWINE (ES track!). The SE DVD audio should be exactly the same as the LD Dolby track, I don't think there's a difference save for maybe a bit of compression.

Lowry= bad for film fans.

Don't be too certain about Raiders. the 35mm looked different to me, some say this about the IMAX as well, and there are some shots leaking from the BD which show some definite changes. But these of course may be a bit more negative accurate, though I doubt it.

Thanks to Harmy's outstanding work, I'm now wondering about trying to de-specialize the Bonds, but I don't think the grain manipulation and related tweaks could ever match.

http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/35739618/0/James-Bond-GoldenEye/ListingDetails.html

Come on, it's not that hard people!!

This is gorgeous.

Okay, here goes:

YOLT
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146293/picture:0

OHMSS
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146305/picture:0

DAF
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146309/picture:0

The Spy Who Loved Me
Set 1
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146533
Set 2
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146534

Octopussy
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146326/picture:0

AVTAK

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146331

The Living Daylights
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146334/picture:0

Goldeneye
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146274/picture:0

Goldeneye vs. HDTV:

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146323

Tomorrow Never Dies
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/146280/picture:0

What we're seeing here are some general tweaks, with vast amounts of picture detail for the ones with a 4K scan, and a relatively unimpressive look for those from the video masters.

YOLT looks far improved, and I'm quite surprised at how well these caps look. It isn't fully there with the 60's Technicolor look but it is a thousand times better than the UE. It also reveals that some of these transfers have contrast boosting.

OHMSS is along similar lines, color miles better but still not fully accurate. That said the boosting is far worse here:

ZE COUNT SAIS YU SHOULD HAFF A VERR NICE SUNTAN SAIR HILLARY!

Also it has vertical lines in places as have been seen on YOLT and a few other titles in this remastered series.

DAF was one of the few stunning UE titles, and I was looking forward to see how it made the jump to BD. I still don't know what to make of it. The colors are different, the blacks are very deep, detail incredible but overall the image appears different. What this could be is detail and visuals coming off the negative that haven't been seen since 1971 theatrical prints, but I'm not so sure.

To my eyes it appears that on these early titles the BD team tried to go for a general look more akin to Technicolor printing of the era. While not quite successful, it is commendable that they tried to somewhat represent the film's intended visuals, despite their favoring of contrast. And again, on DAF I still don't know.

Then we come to the problem child. TSWLM has looked horrible on video since it's fist appearance on disc/tape. The print was always worn, hazy, washed out in places and never provided an experience of a lavish Bond adventure. The UE made massive color shifts and changes in addition to being riddled with edge enhancement. So, since this was still an "unrestored" title coming from a video master I wasn't expecting anything other than heartbreak again.

I don't know how they did it. Some kind of magic has been worked here, because this is the best Spy has ever looked on video. Gone almost completely are the color problems, gone is the massive EE and fine detail is actually present. The film was shot with quite a bit of diffusion and soft lighting, and this is finally showing up for the first time in ages. Colorwise this is pretty accurate, and further underlines all the inherent flaws of the UE.

OP and AVTAK look like more detailed versions of their UE counterparts. AVTAK still has the heavily cropped teaser opening and slight cropping for the feature. Both retain their modernist color leanings.

TLD looks like a higher res version of the UE, and for that I'm glad. This UE like LTK was a little different in color but all for the better in most cases. Glad they didn't fix what wasn't broken.

Goldeneye looks to be a big problem again, but not for the reason you would think. The cropping has been fixed...but at a cost. The film has been riddled with DVNR so much that even in screencaps the compressed and cropped HDTV cap blows it away. I was personally stunned to see the amount of grian in motion on the HDTV version a short while ago and looked forward to the BD just for this. Guess not!

TND looks rather bland actually, just 1080p over 480p.

Singles over time with custom covers for me.

Hm. Considering that there have been further tweaks to some of these, I wonder if From Russia with Love has had its cool tint removed... or, at the least, subdued some.

Nope. The previously released films are the exact same discs with new labels glued on. Same menus, transfers everything. Also, the Cork-Scivally docus on the 9 titles newly released are NOT upgraded to HD.

Nice summaries, Solo & Falcon (hey, you guys make a good team. What can I say?) Thanks for giving your opinions. I have to say that Falcon's screenshot compare shot demonstrates the extent of the DNR far more than Captainsolo's; if you think the latter was exaggerating, check out the latest screen compare that was posted.