8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving, with an obnoxious slob of a shower ring salesman his only companion.
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean, Kevin BaconComedy | 100% |
Holiday | 60% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono (224 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
German: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish 2.0=Espana, Spanish Mono=Latinoamerica, Portuguese=Brasil
English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 0.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Paramount has released the classic 1987 Comedy 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/Dolby Vision video. No new audio is included. This two-disc set also includes a Blu-ray disc with new bonus features.
The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles boards the UHD format with a decidedly underwhelming 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD presentation. The picture
appears to fall victim to unnecessary processing; it seems that grain has been removed and the image smoothed and softened, only to have an
artificial grain returned. The result is an uneven image that looks nothing like the rich, organic, natural film texture that should be in evidence (and
sometimes is) from beginning to end. The image should have been a home run for filmic purity on a format well capable of revealing that; this is a
simple image with very
little complexity about it, but the end result is a picture that has been clearly tampered with, lessening sharpness and reducing all of the good, natural
characteristics in favor of bad, unnatural characteristics. There is still some decent natural sharpness evident here and there; skin details are
occasionally
rich and some of the shoddy interiors at the Braidwood Inn, even with relatively poor light, manage to show some grime and wear around the room, but
this is a far, far cry from what could have been, and frankly what should have been.
The Dolby Vision grading hardly offers any sort of tonal revelation, either. True, the image enjoys some additional depth, but with that depth comes
some crush. When Del's "dogs are barking" on the plane and he's rubbing his feet, his black sock entirely melts into the picture; it's a black glob and
only when he removes the sock does the shot become clear. General tonal stability is fair on various clothes, cabs, and other colors throughout the film,
but the palette never really sparkles or dazzles. This is a fairly flat and muted Dolby Vision grading that does offer improvements over the Blu-ray for
color stability and depth and white balance, but overall, it's not very interesting. This is a disappointing catalogue UHD release overall, disappointing
because it should look better and disappointing because this is a classic film that deserves a far better treatment than this.
Rather than remix for Dolby Atmos, Paramount has simply chosen to drop the existing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack onto this UHD. For a full audio review, please click here for a full audio review.
This UHD release of Planes, Trains & Automobiles includes extras on the UHD disc and on disc two, which is a Blu-ray, though not the Blu-ray
feature film. Instead, it is a second disc devoted to a pair of new extras: deleted scenes and audition footage. All of the extras on the UHD disc are
identical to those found on the old Blu-ray (please click here for full coverage of the legacy extras). A
digital copy code and a non-embossed slipcover are included with purchase.
UHD:
Planes, Trains & Automobiles is such a wonderful little movie. It's a Comedy first and foremost, but there's an underlying element that makes it even better than the sum of its laughs: its heart. This is really the story of a developing friendship and not just a display of one misadventure after the other. It's about coming together, working through problems, and gaining an appreciation for and understanding of the needs of others. It's the perfect movie to watch on a down a day, a day when the world seems to be closing in, when hope seems distant, when the future looks bleak. It's a movie that doesn't hide the fact that life has its ups and downs, but it also serves as a reminder of how people must choose to make it through the tough times, to look on the bright side, to never lose site of the end goal, to find the silver lining in the darkest cloud, to anticipate the best even in the midst of the worst. That's its real strength, and there's nothing more noble than that. Paramount's new UHD is disappointing. Enough said. Skip it.
1987
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