DVD Review: Kubrick Box Set
06-20-01, 11:30 AM
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Ok, so there have been too many transfers of Kubricks films and way too many mistakes made. Finally Jan Harlen opens up his eyes to the world of DVD and BAM! a new transfer is started!
The 2001 Kubrick Box set is totally amazing!
First off, the problems:
Not enough extras, Same boxes as the old ones, same menu's as the old ones and no reasoning for keeping it the same!
Now for the good stuff:
Full Metal Jacket, Shining, Barry Lyndon and Clockwork Orange. What they did to these films is totally amazing. Not only is the picture quality greatly improved, but the audio is in TRUE STEREO, no fake stereo, no mistakes on the re-mix, its totally perfect! For any Kubrick fan, these movies alone will make you sit down and cry because for the first time EVER these films are avaliable in Stereo! So, time for the review..
The picture quality on all 4 films has been remastered from what looks like the original negative, due to no black dots being in the film, only white ones. The MPEG encoding on the disk is so-so, could be better, but since only the films are on each disk (besides the shining and trailers) they can use the least compression, hence better picture quality.
I'd rate the picture quality a 4.0 out of 5.0. The original box set's quality rated a 2.0, so thats how much of a differnece this new set is.
The only down side is that all the films (besides 2001) are NOT ANAMORPHIC! which is too bad, but since they are either 1.66:1 or full frame, who cares?
The audio is something to write home about. Not only has the much needed dynamic range come back to the films, but the stereo surround mix is truly in 5.1 DD. Meaning, the voices are on the center channel ONLY and the music is on the front left and right speakers only with a echo on the rears, depending on the scene and movie. There are NO surround effects in any of the films that arn't music related. The shining has birsts of music coming out of the rears during the opening sequence, which is very kool. It is funny to hear the music kick in because it sounds SO MUCH BETTER then the original, and the quality of sound is greater then the voice center channel track. The process of re-mixing is located on this site, do a search for Kubrick.
The audio score is 3.5 out of 5.0, due to the amazing job they did, but lacking in over all quality, which they could do nothing about. The original audio score was about 1.0.
The documentary is excellent and even the documentary on the shining is excellent and re-mastered in 5.1, hehe..
There is one more thing about this box set that needs to be said. Lolita is re-mastered and looks amazing, and DR. Strangelove is the same edition as the NEW SE that came out recently. Identical, besides the box!
But, 2001 is a prize! It not only sounds better then it ever has, but its anamprohic and looks very stunning!
The box is worth the money for anybody who likes Kubricks films, no matter if you have a stereo or not. Plug in some headphones to your DVD player and listen to Clockwork Orange in stereo and flip out! Listen to The Shining and be scared! Full Metal Jacket's music will haunt you and Barry Lyndon will make your eyeballs pop out of there sockets due to the amazing picture quality and remastered sound track. This box is nothing to mess with, its almost perfect!
The 2001 Kubrick Box set is totally amazing!
First off, the problems:
Not enough extras, Same boxes as the old ones, same menu's as the old ones and no reasoning for keeping it the same!
Now for the good stuff:
Full Metal Jacket, Shining, Barry Lyndon and Clockwork Orange. What they did to these films is totally amazing. Not only is the picture quality greatly improved, but the audio is in TRUE STEREO, no fake stereo, no mistakes on the re-mix, its totally perfect! For any Kubrick fan, these movies alone will make you sit down and cry because for the first time EVER these films are avaliable in Stereo! So, time for the review..
The picture quality on all 4 films has been remastered from what looks like the original negative, due to no black dots being in the film, only white ones. The MPEG encoding on the disk is so-so, could be better, but since only the films are on each disk (besides the shining and trailers) they can use the least compression, hence better picture quality.
I'd rate the picture quality a 4.0 out of 5.0. The original box set's quality rated a 2.0, so thats how much of a differnece this new set is.
The only down side is that all the films (besides 2001) are NOT ANAMORPHIC! which is too bad, but since they are either 1.66:1 or full frame, who cares?
The audio is something to write home about. Not only has the much needed dynamic range come back to the films, but the stereo surround mix is truly in 5.1 DD. Meaning, the voices are on the center channel ONLY and the music is on the front left and right speakers only with a echo on the rears, depending on the scene and movie. There are NO surround effects in any of the films that arn't music related. The shining has birsts of music coming out of the rears during the opening sequence, which is very kool. It is funny to hear the music kick in because it sounds SO MUCH BETTER then the original, and the quality of sound is greater then the voice center channel track. The process of re-mixing is located on this site, do a search for Kubrick.
The audio score is 3.5 out of 5.0, due to the amazing job they did, but lacking in over all quality, which they could do nothing about. The original audio score was about 1.0.
The documentary is excellent and even the documentary on the shining is excellent and re-mastered in 5.1, hehe..
There is one more thing about this box set that needs to be said. Lolita is re-mastered and looks amazing, and DR. Strangelove is the same edition as the NEW SE that came out recently. Identical, besides the box!
But, 2001 is a prize! It not only sounds better then it ever has, but its anamprohic and looks very stunning!
The box is worth the money for anybody who likes Kubricks films, no matter if you have a stereo or not. Plug in some headphones to your DVD player and listen to Clockwork Orange in stereo and flip out! Listen to The Shining and be scared! Full Metal Jacket's music will haunt you and Barry Lyndon will make your eyeballs pop out of there sockets due to the amazing picture quality and remastered sound track. This box is nothing to mess with, its almost perfect!
06-20-01, 11:43 AM
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I fully agree. The complaints about anamorphic aside (which don't affect the vast majority who have no 16x9 TV sets), and the Eyes Wide Shut masking (a whole other thread) this is truly what Kubrickophiles have been waiting for.
The only thing I would wish for is that (albeit at a higher price) remastered versions of Kubrick's 3 'official' pre-Lolita features be included:
But those titles are available separately and at decent quality, so that's not really a big issue. I'm very happy with this box--SK is my favorite filmmaker and this finally does him justice.
The only thing I would wish for is that (albeit at a higher price) remastered versions of Kubrick's 3 'official' pre-Lolita features be included:
- [*]
- [*]
- [*]
But those titles are available separately and at decent quality, so that's not really a big issue. I'm very happy with this box--SK is my favorite filmmaker and this finally does him justice.
06-20-01, 01:20 PM
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All of the pre-Lolita films are owned by MGM, except for Spartacus which is owned by Universal (right?). But since MGM doesn't like a) put their DVDs in other companies box sets, and, b) wouldn't have remastered those movies anyway (just like Columbia didn't remaster Dr. Strangelove), I don't think it's too big of a deal not to have them. And of course we'd never see a Criterion disc in a Warner Brothers box set, and nobody wants that non-Criterion Spartacus...so there you have it.
06-21-01, 11:17 AM
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Agreed on all points... These discs are outstanding... Watched Clockwork last night and I was just floored at how nice the transfer was. A big, big, big Zhivago thank you to Warner for this set. 
Also agree on the MGM films... They're fine. And Criterion did a great job on Spartacus as well.
Also agree on the MGM films... They're fine. And Criterion did a great job on Spartacus as well.
06-21-01, 09:50 PM
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Kubrick box
I feel that if warner wanted to, they could get the rights and put his other films in the set, but that would require them to re-master the movie.. something they arn't willing to do. Lolita remastered was enough I guess, maybe it was going to be too large of a project.. But Spartacus on Criterion is great and needs to be left alone.. its a wonderful print and a nice transfer from the 70mm restration interpositive.. It would be nice to see ALL his films together, but it won't happen for a long time..
