Sony Pictures Classics Releases 30th Anniversary 4K UHD Box Set

Sony Pictures Classics Releases 30th Anniversary 4K UHD Box Set

by | Dec 6, 2022

I vividly remember the first time becoming totally immersed with an “Arthouse film” It was in 1992, in a little dinky hole-in-the-wall cinema in San Francisco. I sat there completely mesmerized watching, and as far as I can tell, a “near-perfect” movie, as every component of it’s filmmaking was simply superior in every aspect. The movie was “Howards End”.

The tiny theater consisted of less than fifty uncomfortable seats, but that didn’t matter much, as I was glued to how the the story moved along with Emma Thompson’s nuanced performance as Margaret Schlegel, a character I would never forget, along with the masterly Sir Anthony Hopkins.

The adapted screenplay written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala of Merchant/Ivory fame resonated with me, that I inspired to seek out the original writings by the author himself, E.M. Forster. When everyone else was collecting Batman memorabilia, I was collecting anything “Howard’s End”.

The film went on the following year to win three Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Thompson. It also happened to be the very first Sony Pictures Classics movie ever released.

Thank you Sony Pictures Classics for not only for introducing me to “Howard’s End”, which was absolutely my “Best Picture” favorite from that year, but also to the countless movies that were released in the last three decades.

Over the years of festival going, I would flip through the programs as an active movie festival goer, always looking for thought provoking films, both domestic and international. If I see the name “Sony Pictures Classics” as the distributor, then I knew right off that it was going to be a high quality film.

I still can’t believe it’s been thirty years.

To commemorate, Sony Pictures Classics just released since their 30th Anniversary 4K UHD set and it’s a beautiful package. It is the perfect gift for that someone who not only collects 4K UHD movies, but who appreciates finely designed packaging.

One of my gripes of buying physical media is that more than 90% of the time, you just get an amaray case along with the paper insert and Blu-ray. I used to love collecting Digi books Blu-Rays in my collection. Here, you have a 24-page booklet, featuring an all-new essay from renowned film critic David Thomson about the history of Sony Pictures Classics, along with information about each of the included films and an introduction from SPC co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker.

This 11 movie box set includes iconic award-winning masterpieces from world-renowned filmmakers, unforgettable performances from global luminaries, and fan-favorite stories that have resonated across the years: ORLANDO, THE CELLULOID CLOSET, THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, RUN LOLA RUN, SLC PUNK, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE, VOLVER, SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK, STILL ALICE and CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. Each film is presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range.

Notably, ten out of the eleven titles have never been released on 4K. (Only Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released in 4K) Also, the set includes hours of archival special features across the eleven films, plus a few newly added materials, rounding out this set.

It would be a wonderful present for the holidays, even if it’s just for yourself.

ORLANDO

Synopsis: Tilda Swinton and Billy Zane star in this hip, sexy and wickedly funny look at an English nobleman who defies the laws of nature and comes back to life as an English noblewoman.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • English 2-Channel Surround DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Audio Commentary with Director Sally Potter and Actress Tilda Swinton
  • Select Scenes Commentary
  • Orlando Goes to Russia
  • Orlando in Uzbekistan
  • Jimmy Was an Angel
  • Venice Film Festival Press Conference
  • An Interview with Sally Potter
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

THE CELLULOID CLOSET

Synopsis: Narrated by Lily Tomlin, this exuberant, eye-opening movie serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of gay men and women on the silver screen.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • English 2-Channel Surround DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Audio Commentary with Filmmakers Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, Lily Tomlin, producer Howard Rosenman, and editor Arnold Glassman
  • Additional Commentary with Author Vito Russo
  • Collection of Outtakes
  • Interview with Vito Russo
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN

Synopsis: From Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of AMELIE and DELICATESSEN, comes a fantastically twisted fairy tale chock-full of curious characters, spectacular stunts and unforgettable visuals.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • French 2-Channel Surround DTS-HD Master Audio
  • NEW Audio Commentary with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
  • Audio Commentary with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Actor Ron Perlman
  • Making-Of Featurette
  • “Les Archives de Jean-Pierre Jeunet”
  • Interview With Costume Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier
  • Theatrical Teasers & Trailer
  • Optional English subtitles for the main feature

RUN LOLA RUN

Synopsis: A thrilling post-MTV, roller-coaster ride! Time is running out for Lola (Franka Potente). She’s just received a frantic phone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), who’s lost a small fortune belonging to his mobster boss. If Lola doesn’t replace the money in twenty minutes, Manni will surely suffer severe consequences.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • NEW Audio Commentary with Director Tom Tykwer and Editor Mathilde Bonnefoy
  • NEW, Making-Of Featurette
  • Audio Commentary with Director Tom Tykwer and Actor Franka Potente
  • Still Running Featurette
  • Believe” Music Video
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English subtitles for the main feature

SLC PUNK

Synopsis: It’s 1985 and Stevo is that rare animal: a punk rocker in the Mormon stronghold of Salt Lake City, Utah. He just graduated from college with honors and now his life is a nutty roller coaster ride of rock shows, stealing cars, beating up rednecks and non-stop partying with his buddy, Heroin Bob, and his girlfriend. But with the scene getting lame and Stevo going nowhere fast, he has to put his punk ideals to the test.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • NEW Revisiting SLC PUNK – a new interview with Director James Merendino
  • Audio Commentary with Director James Merendino and Actors Matthew Lillard & Michael Goorjian
  • Comic Book Gallery
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON

Synopsis: An epic set against the breathtaking landscapes of ancient China, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon combines the exhilarating martial arts choreography by Yuen Wo-Ping (The Matrix) with the sensitivity and classical storytelling of an Ang Lee film. The result is something truly unexpected: romantic, emotionally powerful entertainment.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • Mandarin Dolbv Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • Audio Commentary with Director Ang Lee and Writer / Producer James Schamus
  • Audio Commentary with Cinematographer Peter Pau
  • Introduction by Director Ang Lee
  • 7 Deleted Scenes (in 4K HDR)
  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – A Retrospective
  • The Making of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • English “A Love Before Time” Music Video
  • Mandarin “A Love Before Time” Music Video
  • A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh
  • Photo Gallery
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English subtitles for the main feature

THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE

Synopsis: His father killed in the brutal fighting of the Spanish Civil War, ten-year-old Carlos is sent to live at the desolate Santa Lucia School, now a makeshift shelter for war orphans. Soon after his arrival, Carlos has a series of seemingly supernatural encounters: strange shadows, voices and, most frightening of all, the apparition of a brutalized young boy. Turns out that Carlos is not alone in seeing these strange phenomena, many other children have experienced the “One Who Sighs,” as the entity has come to be called.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • Audio Commentary with Director Guillermo del Toro
  • Audio Commentary with Director Guillermo del Toro and Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro
  • Guillermo del Toro Introduction
  • Director’s Thumbnails Track
  • Director’s Notebook
  • Que es un fantasma? Featurette
  • 4 Deleted Scenes with Director Commentary
  • Sketch, Storyboard, Screen – 6 Scenes
  • Making-Of Featurette
  • Summoning Spirits Featurette
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English subtitles for the main feature

VOLVER

Academy Award-winner Pedro Almodóvar (2003, Best Original Screenplay, Talk to Her) comes VOLVER, a comedic and compassionate tribute to women and their resilience in the face of life’s most outrageous tribulations. A luminous Penélope Cruz leads an ensemble of gifted actresses, including Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). Raimunda (Cruz) and her sister Sole lost their parents in a tragic fire years ago…or did they? Superstitious villagers claim that the girls’ departed mother, Irene (Maura), has been seen wandering around their Aunt Paula’s home. When Irene appears to Sole, she explains that she has returned to set right her daughters’ troubled lives and reveal shocking secrets that will impact everyone!

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • Audio Commentary: Director Pedro Almodóvar and Actor Penélope Cruz
  • Making of Volver Featurette
  • Interview With Pedro Almodóvar
  • Interview with Penélope Cruz
  • Interview With Carmen Maura
  • Tribute to Penélope Cruz
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English subtitles for the main feature

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

Synopsis: From Charlie Kaufman comes a visual and philosophic adventure. Theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Hope Davis), is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • The Story of Caden Cotard Featurette
  • NFTS/Script Factory Masterclass
  • Infectious Diseases in Cattle Roundtable
  • In and Around Synecdoche, New York Featurette
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

STILL ALICE

Synopsis: Alice Howland (Julianne Moore), happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a diagnosis of Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease, Alice and her family find their bonds thoroughly tested. Her struggle stay connected to who she once was is frightening, heartbreaking, and inspiring. Also starring Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth and Hunter Parrish.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • 3 Deleted Scenes
  • Directing Alice Featurette
  • Finding Alice Featurette
  • Interview with Composer Ilan Eshkeri
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Synopsis: Amid the summer splendor of 1980’s Italy, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire that will alter their lives forever.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
  • DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  • Audio Commentary with Actors Timothée Chalamet and Michael Stuhlbarg
  • Snapshots of Italy: The Making of Call Me by Your Name Featurette
  • In Conversation with Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Luca Guadagnino Featurette
  • “Mystery of Love” Music Video by Sufjan Stevens
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature
To 4K or Not to 4K?…That is the question…

To 4K or Not to 4K?…That is the question…

by | Dec 21, 2018

Funny how most consumers felt they were future-proofing their DVD player when they replaced it with an HD-DVD or Blu-ray player just ten years ago, just a few years after flat screen HDTV’s were initially introduced to the consumer market, replacing the traditional bulky CRT (cathode ray tube) televisions that hardly ever changed much since it was invented back in the Fifties.  Yet again, it seems history is about to repeat itself thanks to the advent of the latest Ultra HD technology or 4K.

4K “everything”, whether it’s Ultra HDTV’s, computer monitors, projectors, cameras, phones, media streamers, or Ultra HD Blu-ray players has become the hottest consumer trend in the market this holiday season.  It seems everyone wants a piece of the format.

In fact, according to the forecast by ABI research, they have predicted that more than a third of all households globally are anticipated to be 4K UHD TV’s by the end of 2021.  It will be very soon that the Ultra HD TV Market will be the new top-shelf standard of High Definition

Let’s face it, your standard 1080p HDTV that you bought is already looking drabby  compared with the latest technology.  Ultra HD TV’s or 4K televisions with its 3840×2160 lines of resolution has four times the pixels (as opposed to standard HD with 1920×1080 lines of resolution), translating into four times the sharpness. Not to mention, they are a dramatically thinner, lighter, and faster.

You get the picture?

The same obsolescence applies to Blu-Ray technology which has been the de facto standard for the last ten years.  Like Ultra HD TV’s compared to the standard HD TV’s, with the latest Ultra HD Blu-ray, you get double the resolution as standard Blu-ray, but you also get four times the sharpness.

Now with an ever-increasing number of UHD Blu-ray players out on the market today, is it worth upgrading your Blu-ray player to an Ultra HD Blu-ray player?

According to Victor Matsuda, the BDA Promotions Committee Chair, who was here promoting and representing the Blu-Ray Disc Association at the most recent Pepcom showcase in San Francisco; it certainly is and the HDR Side by Side demo at their booth clearly indicates his answer.  It is not just the number of pixels of resolution that makes it a “must own”, but it’s the contrast and color; the HDR (High Dynamic Range) and its WCG (Wide Color Range) that gives a whole gamut and spectrum of colors; from the darkest of darks and the lightest of lights with a higher bit rate which gives much more information. It’s much more immersive and realistic to the viewer.

Matsuda says that today’s consumer can become a “superhero” when they partner their 4K TV with an Ultra HD Blu-ray player. “You’re becoming a superhero for the family, but you’re not a real superhero for the family unless you get that super hero partner.”, Matsuda continued, “You have a Robin for every Batman, there’s a Tanto for every Lone Ranger, and that superhero partner for the 4k UHD TV is Ultra HD Blu-rays.”

The UHD Blu-ray player is the “Swiss knife for your entertainment center at home…it plays hard disks and plays all your streaming as well.”, Matsuda continued, “90% of the Ultra Blu-rays have HDR (the mandatory HDR-10 or proprietary premium HDR of Dolby Vision), but just make sure your 4K television supports HDR, as well. Pretty much all the major brands do support it: LG, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic…”

Matsuda explains; “Number, one, it’s the best quality that you can get for the TV, especially now that you have internet-based services and products…the disks are not reliant on any internet speed services.”  In other words, you don’t need a high-speed internet connection.  In order to stream and have a proper 4K experience with HDR you need at least 25mb per seconds as your internet speed to stream Apple or Netflix.

However,  currently only 20% of households have that as an average speed, though it is up from last year from 14%, and only 30% -35% have HDR on their internet-based product. With the future of 5G technology, this percentage is expected to increase dramatically.

In regards to Ultra HD Blu-ray catalog titles, as a general rule of thumb, studio movies that do well at the box office get released on the Ultra 4K format, however, Matsuda sites that there are three more factors that are helping bringing out titles. There is a demand for episodic television, such as “Game of Thrones”, and, older movies, such as the “Twilight” series which Lionsgate will be re-releasing. He also says that even smaller film studios are contributing to the mix.

Sales of Ultra HD Blu-ray players has seen a dramatic increase in year-to-year sales.  According to Matsuda – There has been a 66% increase from 2016 to 2017, as well as an increase in the number of disk releases; from 250 in 2017 to 430 titles in 2018.

“This is going to be the last format for Blu-ray players”, Matsuda remarked, which is itself a pretty surprising and bold statement coming from the Association that represents the technology. 

If you do have a 4K TV with HDR, or intend to buy one soon, maybe it’s time to future proof your disk player yet again, but this time, become a superhero for it.