Just watched Gemini Man in 4K UHD Blu-ray. This is one of the two US 4K UHD releases with High Frame Rate (HFR), the other one is also an Ang Lee film, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. It was shot in 3D 4K HDR HFR (120 FPS) which is the highest technical achievement in film so far. 4K UHD disc has this film in 2D 4K HDR HFS (60FPS), 3D 4K and 120FPS aren’t supported formats (no home video formats known to support these). I believe only a handful theaters showed these films in their respective format. So, how do I feel about the look of this film? I am not sure. It definitely has the soap opera look, you notice it within minutes of the film starts. It is also super sharp. In many scenes it felt like you were really there. I also own Billy Lynn and I felt that it was very suitable for HFR, I am not too sure on Gemini Man. I think it is something too new and I need to watch it again to develop any opinions on it. Overall, I liked the film. Excellent action scenes, perhaps “none others like it” type experience due to HFR. I would highly recommend this 4K UHD disc just for its technical merits alone but the film isn’t bad either, with some very good action scenes.

Oh another note, after watching Gemini Man on 4K UHD BD I continued watching The Man in the High Castle on my Apple TV 4K in supposedly 4K HDR. Oh my, what a disappointment after coming from true 4K. Streaming 4K right after watching a 4K discs was like watching VHS after a Blu-ray.

Man I remember seeing the first Hobbit film right when it came out, it released in a high frame rate, and the whole thing made me want to throw up from motion sickness. I'm sure it was more to do with the 3D combined with the high frame rate, but I remember the whole thing just making me sick.

I watched Joker last night and The Lighthouse ( 2019 with Willem Dafoe ) the night before. I liked them both. Very strong performances from both Dafoe in The Lighthouse ( his accent / dialect is fantastic ) and
from Phoenix in Joker. The character development in Joker was amazing. Video and audio on the US Blu Ray were superb, too. I usually do not watch films from the DC universe but Joker most certainly did not feel
like a typical DC film. I have always considered Phoenix to be one of the best actors in history but if he does not get the oscar for this it would be a crime.
The Lighthouse had some mindblowing cinematography and deservedly received a oscar nomination for it! The film is a bit strange and you do not really know what is happening at times but the superb cinematography and the fantastic performances by both actors most certainly make up for it.

@ substance - I think that a film shot in 60 fps looks really strange. I kind of have a hard time getting used to it. It does however work very well in documentaries.

A 4K HDR stream still looks better than a 1080p stream. I have found numerous 4K videos on youtube that look quite alright to me even though a genuine UHD Disc looks better, naturally.

Even regular Blu-ray easily blows away any 4K streaming I’ve seen but I haven’t tried out everything of course.

I also recently watched the Joker UHD, it was solid. Really showed his descent into madness and we shared his inability to tell reality from fantasy. Reminded me of the Shining in some ways, but (blasphemy) I liked Joaquin's performance better than Nicholson's!

4K and it's excessive Framerates tend to make films look disturbingly WEIRD to my eyes...

Oh no, is that that jittery stuff I hate when I saw bluray on a TV at someones house and it was pushing frame rates to more or
something like that???

Yet another reason to stick with the horrible PQ of LD and even the dreaded DVD.......

Ironically I felt that the only part of Billy Lynn that actually took good advantage of HFR was the Thanksgiving celbration. Having seen Lee depict it in his earlier films including The Ice Storm and Brokeback Mountain, it was clear that he was able to pull off a very different yet satisfying take on a concept that he's already familiar with.

Other than that, I didn't feel any actual need for the HFR overall. Its 3D on the other hand is very well made with excellent composition and depth. I'd easily rather watch it in 24fps/3D over 60fps/4K with HDR.

Got the DVD delivered for the 3rd and final Outrage film, "Coda". Dissapointing. The events of Beyond don't seem to have had a huge effect on the world but another war starts, only thing is Kitano is hardly in it until the end. It all seemed...pointless..the characters and killings and locations (love all the beautiful rooms and properties in Yakuza and all gang flicks) are all better in the first two movies.

It would be curious to know what someone of your technical appreciations thinks of the "soap opera effect" (falsified high framerates) versus native high framerates.
Both are initially jarring to me but the annoyance tends to disappear if the material was actually filmed at a higher framerate and therefore has 30 or 48 or 60 individual frames being played. That interpolative stuff HDTVs do never sits, recycled frames make for a very ugly experience.

Short question: does it feel like watching fast forward in stasis?

Kagemusha (The Art of Akira Kurosawa collection). One of my lifelong ambitions is to watch all of Kurosawa's movies. Thanks to my genlock device and DVDO I was able to watch Kagemusha like a Japanese lord. I was worried the subs I got wouldn't fit the uncut full length version but it was all good. Now this is a movie> after watching Outrage Coda I'd forgotten what a good movie was like. Half of it is like a good Noh play, I recommend wearing a Yukata and sipping good sake when you watch it. The packaging on this set is supurb, like the Godzilla Heisei CAV sets it's another TOHO release that is presented superlatively, you can't ask for a more perfect release. I saw a whole set on Yahoo (14 movies?) for like Y10,000, almost grabbed em but I bought too much this month already and shipping won't be cheap...another thing for later..I got this in a Hard Off in 2015 for 300yen I think..


Art of Akira Kurosawa, The: Kagemusha (1980) (Uncut) [TLL 2420]

Great movie, one of Kurosawa's best.

Akira Kurosawa...... cannot type enough great things about his films........
Get after Red Beard, one of my all time favs.....
7 Samurai is a gold standard.
Honestly I dont know which is better, Yojimbo or Sanjuro.

Kubrick and Kurosawa films are must views ...... true artists in their craft of lights and shadows......

Yeah I want to see them all. Especially interested in The Hidden Fortress for its influence on Lucas.

Also need Full Metal Jacket on LD one day, have two versions of 2001. Need to actually see Clockwork Orange one day.

Roger that forper...

Clockwork Orange was banned in the UK due to hooligans imitating the characters in the movie.
My favorite "game" depicted in Kubrick's masterpiece was " HOGS OF THE ROAD "......
Favorite line from the script was at the climax of the film at the very last scene.
Will not spoil it for you.....
Make sure you check that film out man.
Clockwork Orange is Malcolm McDowell's best work imo....
Although "Tank Girl" is a close runner up all....

Cheers

They are both amazing in their own right but I have to say Sanjuro, what an amazing film, I've seen it 3 or 4 times and
the end gets me and I know what's going to happen too.

Unfortunately I haven't seen Red Beard but have seen a large share of his works.
Even saw Dreams at the theater when I was too young to really appreciate it, need to watch that one again.

That ending to Sanjuro has quite the finish.....
One to remember to be sure.

Yeah rein-o, red beard is one epic story containing several small stories within the main narrative.
One of the best, and the last time Mifune and Kurosawa worked together.

Check it out man !

Yeah it was banned here too, pretty low bar for banning in Aus tho. The fact doesn't make me want to watch it more, the fact that it's Kubrik makes me want to watch it. However English hooligans and surrealism aren't that interesting to me, The Vietnam War and US Marines in the Battle of Hue, as well as near future Sci Fi and good effects are incredibly interesting to me. Hence I've seen those films many times. I still want to watch Clockwork Orange because his other films have blown me away so much. We didn't think of Kubrik as "arty" or anything growing up, we just thought FMJ was just another great bad a** Vietnam war film along with Hamburger Hill and Platoon. But FMJ was something special for sure, different but technically so perfect when I look back at it. I remember a Vietnam War history book in the school library had a still from the film in its section on Hue. It was so realistic it's editors failed to realise it was from a movie or they thought they could pass it off as a real photo. I remember Hand Job getting wasted by a sniper coming around the corner of a building and then an M48 Patton putting HE into a sniper nest. So bad a**. So real.

I'm still saddened every time I think of what A.I could have been had Kubrick not passed away prior to it being made.