PDB said:
I haven't downloaded it but I know kk650/kingkong made a regraded version where he fixed the contrast.
Many thanks for pointing me into the right direction, PDB. I even had the chance to grab a copy in the meantime. The effort which was done is amazing and the result is definitely better and colorwise closer to the DVD for sure, however clipped whites still clip which was expected since kk650 can't perform magic and create detail which has been gone already, so my search is still valid, I'm afraid.
TheHutt said:
Well, in Germany it was released as "Director's Cut" theatrically. Though it still omitted one 12-second scene.
I want to add that in the meantime, the fully uncut "integrale version" or whatever it is called, has been released in Germany as well:
http://www.ofdb.de/film/991,Léon---Der-Profi
That's why, most German versions are correctly declared as "cut" there despite no violence has been cut whatsoever.
Oddly enough that the "how old are you? - scene" had ever been missing in the first place, it was never dubbed to German. Instead, you'll get English and subtitles.
However, the exact "cut" of the movie is not my concern here. My concern is the totally screwed up dynamic range and clipping which lets this great movie look like some cheap video production in bright scenes. I'll never get it which total idiot decided this. Probably the brilliant director himself - the human mind is facinating.
ElectricTriangle said:
Jonno said:
As for Memento, there have been two transfers, haven't there? Are they both equally poor?
Here is a comparison of the Memento disks. They look okay (and look similar to the DVD) except the new US transfer, which has been contrast boosted.
Regarding Memento, another favourite:
Similar story: The new director approved transfer is just plain stupid. Maybe too much success or too many drugs, we'll never know for sure. Not only the contrast is awfully boosted as well, but also the black&white-scenes are heavily filtered lowering the detail.
I personally stick to the original US-release despite its outdated MPEG-2 codec. But it looks as authentic as the movie probably looked in the cinemas. The German, Spanish I think and the Japanese one seem to have been all created from the same master but with different codecs (MPEG-2 vs. AVC). No big difference as far as one can tell from the screenshots, though.