DEAD AGAIN Blu-Ray - October From Paramount

[AndyDursin]

$12 preorder pricing:

[Monterey Jack]

Unless this has a more recent master and/or additonal extras, I'm satisfied with the Aussie release. Yet another case where Paramount waited too goddamn long (although I'm glad they are stepping up their catalogue game for U.S. consumers).

[AndyDursin]

This is exactly why I didn't import this, BAD NEWS BEARS or BREAKDOWN. I told you this would happen!!

The disc will almost certainly have better encoding than the Imprint. I don't know if it'll be the same master or not, but it's cheap, so it's probably not a "Paramount Presents" special edition/4K remaster. Seems like it's priced like BAD NEWS BEARS, meaning it'll have the extras from the previous DVD (unlike Paramount's cheap $10 Blu-Rays). That disc did have a couple of new extras on it so we'll see.

[Monterey Jack]

For $12, I would definitely double-dip for an even marginal improvement in picture quality. At least the Aussie release came with a nice slipcover and a decent 16-minute audio appreciation from some film critic that obviously won't be ported over, so I'm still glad I bought it. And I'm certain any U.S. release of Breakdown will omit the copious Aussie extras package. From now on, however, I'll take a "wait & see" approach for Paramount films.

[AndyDursin]

It may well be that. I don't mean to dump on the Imprint line, you know I have a handful of them, but the encoding has been kind of hit-or-miss.

[Monterey Jack]

[AndyDursin]

I wish I liked this movie better but it was just an "okay" experience for me. Haven't had much reason to revisit it but glad it's getting a 4K remaster for the fans!

[Monterey Jack]

I love this movie, on a totally straight-faced melodramatic level as a teen and even more so as an adult, as I can appreciate the sly wit in the telling (and countless homages to the era of classic Hollywood thrillers). Both Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly and Roger Ebert dissect the movie's pleasures far better than I can.

https://ew.com/article/1991/08/30/dead-again/

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dead-again-1991

Anyways, thrilled this is getting a proper restoration, as Matthew F. Leonetti's cinematography should pop in HDR.

[Paul MacLean]

I liked this movie quite a bit when I saw it in the 90s. I really like how Branagh depicted Los Angeles -- not as the decaying, crowded, crime-ridden metropolis of Falling Down (which was admittedly, pretty accurate), nor the more common, blasé "Anycity, USA" quality of TV productions. Instead Branagh sought out those pockets of visual charm and architectural interest (which do exist here and there in LA) to create a visually-attractive and nostalgic sense of place.