The Matrix (1999)
An unmissable 20th Anniversary 4K screening of this highly influential classic. It's barely aged a day, especially the FX... unlike a certain other Sci-Fi film released a month after
'The Matrix' back in 1999. I was marveling at how much effort
The Wachowskis put into doing as much practical and as little with computers as possible (for a landmark CGI film). For example, they'll do one morph effect on an agent, then use clever slight of hand editing to do the next couple of changes, accompanied by the same distinctive morph sound, tricking us into thinking we've seen lots of morph FX. I was also struck by the writing. Unlike the sloppy sequels, this script feels like the structure was meticulously planned and every word was sweated over. So many lines have double meanings, or foreshadow later events and always dealing out just enough information to keep us informed but also to maintain the tension of the mystery. I love the visual references to the films of
Alfred Hitchcock and of course the
Bernard Hermann alike score from
Don Davis. The action is still thrilling and that
'Rage Against the Machine' ending still elicits excitement for future adventures (even with knowledge of the sequels existence).
Sadly the 4K transfer is very bad. They've clearly gone back and scanned the negative, with eye-watering levels of sharp detail but the FX shots look to be still locked at the 2K in which they were created, 20-years ago. So cutting back and forth between the two resolutions is less than seamless in a way that was never originally intended. Every shot has had the contrast pushed to the max, crushing the blacks and blowing out the whites. There was one noticeable shot where Morpheus pulls a curtain aside to reveal brickwork, except it wasn't there anymore, just a black void. The muted sickly green of The Matrix world and the harsh icy blues of the real world from the original release are of course long gone (to bring this inline with the sequels) but the colours are even worse in this new release. The shots often don't match, regularly inter-cutting footage tinted, blue, green, red, or purple. It's testament to the quality of the film, that the experience wasn't ruined.
This looks to show the transfer I saw:
Skip to 4.24 where Neo has bright pink lips and eyes. I'd like to see a comparison to the old DVD too.
Roy Orbison Black & White Night 30 (2017)
A 30th Anniversary re-edit of the 1988 all-star concert film
'Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night' in pristine HD (I've not seen the original version). Unlike other such events where old stars play with their younger admirers, they are pretty much just his backing band, content to share a stage, rather than the spotlight with their hero.
Elvis Presley's old TCB-Band are bolstered by the likes of
Bruce Springsteen,
Tom Waits,
Elvis Costello and
K.D. Lang. You'd never guess this was filmed a year before his death because Orbison still has the crystal clear voice of a Country angel. The smoky high-contrast black and white Cinematography looks so classy and timeless.