Raiders of the Lost Ark

The film: One of the few perfect films ever made. Made for all those who still harbor a child's sense of adventure.

Presentation: The new 4K restoration on 35mm. Image has been cleaned up extensively with extreme brightness. Color is also extremely robust, almost seeming pumped up at times. Little grain present however. No snake reflection and no CGI cliff shot. The sound was similar if not identical to the DVD 5.1, but it was very underwhelming. Surrounds hardly ever used at all.

And for some reason the reel changes were all very badly placed, almost always right in the middle of dialogue. For example: Indy opening the book to show the picture of the Ark and opening the Well of the Souls.

The film: 4 balls out of 4. The new restoration: ??? Does anyone have memories of the original theatrical release? Wasn't it a bit dark in places? I bet this will be exactly how the Blu-ray looks and sounds, but hopefully we get the sound mix in a lossless codec for better fidelity. (Or maybe a seamlessly branched version with the reflection put back!)

Mirror Mirror

Who the heck thought paying for this was a good idea? A mess.

1 ball out of 4.