To Live and Die In LA (1985) Kino Lorber 4K UHD Review: Like Your Work, Kino and MGM?

[@gunnoir]

"To Live and Die In L A" really was a period piece and had a very much an 80's vibe to it, love the film. I saw it when it first came out, I was in my last year in college in 1985, always liked William Friedkin. Who by the way believed that film making was not a art, it was a craft, which I totally agree, and if course Marlon Brando also felt thus way about films. I enjoy you're reviews.

[@CuriousEnthusiast956]

@gunnoir 'film making was not a art, it was a craft'. Depends on the mentality taken. And 'filmmaking' is a making of a piece of art, good or bad, so i'm not sure what William Friedkin is trying to get at. Sounds even a little pretentious, at least to me.

[@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r]

Ohhhh this is gonna be good. It's about time someone covered this god awful release of one of my favorite films ever.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

I'm just glad other people at least know it's screwy. If you just looked at what passes for reviews they claim it's great and some even put atop their best of the year lists!!

[@Petersonmgee]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderWhich picture transfer do you prefer? Arrow or Kino?

[@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r]

@@PetersonmgeeThe Arrow transfer definitely. Its literally no contest. The Kino 4k is a mess

[@PaperlessWriter]

Cool, I just today read your review of this film. Maybe I will stay up a little while longer:)

[@MosesWine]

Great review! I wish others would review audio the way you do. More often than not, it seems like reviewers just say "its the same as last time" without actually checking. Many reviewers actually have no history with the films they're reviewing, which makes their opinion rather uneducated. Kino and MGM seem to have a history of bad audio in the 4k era and hit and miss video. Silence of the Lambs got rave reviews but the video and audio were screwep up. I think many people know about that one. I have not heard much about The Manchurian Candidate 4k though. The audio on that is SOOO bad I sold my disc after one viewing. It does not even include the origingal mono mix, which was restored previously. Why exclude it? Again, it got glowing reviews.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

You hit the nail on the head. The reason why I started doing my own reviews is there wasn't any review that covered all areas in the way I hoped they would. So I decided to just do it myself. Audio is the no 1 most overlooked aspect and frequently is problematic as hell but never discussed. It's also painfully obvious when people don't have experience with a title or didn't do even just a bit of research beforehand... I've been meaning to cover The Manchurian Candidate. There's a big chunk of Frankenheimer's filmography I've got to cover and to be honest I want to do them all. The Train for example has always had lesser audio compared to the LD mono but I'm about to look at the UHD.

[@dr.impossibleofcounterpunc1984]

😊😂 The music contract is waiting to be signed. Forget reviewing films, the BIG TIME AWAITS. Hollywood. Multi-millions in the bank and that mansion house in Beverly Hills you always wanted. As for To Live & Die. Since MGM got paired with Amazon, things really have gone down the drain. I'll be keeping my Arrow UK edition as the best standard for the film. As always, Crusader, great back history of the film on physical and thank God you exist. Cheers.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Thank you!!! I'm just glad people got my silliness. I thought I was nuts with all the goof songs....

[@TheEternalOuroboros]

I've watched it and I thought it was a great 4k. The specks and shakes gave it some character.

[@traffikkone3840]

Wonderful video. I actually recently saw this film on 35MM, and was really excited to pick up that 4K since i missed the Shout release. What a shame. I'm just exhausted with these transfers getting screwed with, or the audio being botched with these releases.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

I WISH I could see a print of TLADILA someday. I hope you really enjoyed it! It's a shame with this UHD as you can tell the 4K master was newer but the various issues start to pile up and the audio situation is just sad.

[@traffikkone3840]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Keep your eyes peeled on Alamo. They were the ones who were showing it. I love that they often do 35MM screenings. It's a blessing for folks like us who take film preservation seriously

[@slave_to_cinema]

Friedkin-stein. It is indeed a damn food idealistic crusade wandering through these releases. Thanks for your work Crusader. Keeping me laughing and appreciating what you do.

[@landonfredricks9029]

Something I didn't know I needed in my life are the Damn Fools renditions of "Wait" and "Kino Disc Problems" instant classics, 5/5, highly recommended!

[@_wave___]

excellent review work. always look forward to these videos where you analyze all the prior releases and combine with current release.

[@tinypurplefishes2903]

Never seen the film before, but I saw this Kino release on sale for $10 and couldn’t let it go for that cheap. Phenomenal film, definitely my new favorite Friedkin! I already heard about the 2.0 audio so I just went with the 5.1 mix instead. It sounded solid and I could ignore most of the picture flaws throughout the movie since I was so invested. This release will hold me over until I can get ahold of the Shout release or some new release comes out. Not perfect, but Kino has definitely put out better and also definitely put out worse

[@derrickmcleod9549]

Thank you for this review … I have never seen this film and it has been on my list for awhile … your comments about the film have encouraged me to get off the fence … I have ordered the Arrow blu ray to start.

[@tyrannozilla]

Have you thought about doing a video on Neon Genesis Evangelion? Regardless of your feelings about the series (I like it for what it is), it would be interesting to hear you discuss the various home video releases it has received over the years.

[@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r]

Oh yeah I would love Crusader to cover the series one of these days. The home video history would be very interesting to see

[@tyrannozilla]

Yeah. Also, another user named RetroBlasting made a review of the series. He wasn't too kind on it, but it was an interesting, if not biased, take. Give it a look when you get the chance and decide for yourself.@@Eva01-jy2qu7pu9r

[@JimAllder11]

You are legitimately crazy LOL that was funny. Too live and die in KL should go platinum.

[@1165mac]

Perhaps with Friedkin’s recent passing interest in creating a truly archival version is on the horizon. The film itself isn’t one of my favorite Friedkin films, but I recognize its classic status and quality crafting. My favorite Friedkin is Sorcerer followed by The French Connection and The Exorcist.

[@garymoviefan4294]

Thank you so much Spence for 3 great videos on this film. Although I love it as much as you do, I will refrain from buying the 4K since I already own the dvd, blu ray and Arrow combo pack. I also think I have the LD....in any event, you saved me money!

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

It sucks especially because the new UHD master does have improvements but the drawbacks are certainly bad.

[@87PoleDancer]

Just curious: what is your home theatre setup? For example your OLED Settings and Audio setup? I have a Sony A95K, with a Dolby Atmos setup, and am using a Panasonic DP-UB9000 UHD Player to play my 4K movies on, and I found this transfer and audio quite excellent. Now I don’t know much about remastering’s and encoding and all that, but I’m just curious what do you consider to be good? What are you basing this off of? It’d be nice if you did a side-by-side comparison of picture and audio for your reviews, just to strengthen your argument, because I’m not that convinced. I came across your channel when looking for an American Graffiti 4K review, and I’ve watched a few more after that to hear differing opinions, which there are. I can’t remember the channel, but they were saying that it depends on how the film was lite, which results in a less grain structure (if I’m understanding that correctly. It did make sense to me at the time LOL). I’m a Lighting Technician/Board Op in the film and television industry here in Toronto, Canada, and I’ve heard that before, it’s how you light the scene, that makes a difference. It also depends on the camera and lenses, etc., etc. I never understand the DNR, grain and al of that other mumbo-jumbo talk that reviewers like to use when reviewing a new 4K disc. I just ask for further clarification, that’s all.

[@jonathannoble9465]

I have an oled too and thought it looked great. Might be the reason it masks the flaws? Idk It would be nice to have examples of what he’s talking about but his videos are so well thought out and presumably time consuming already that would just be too much work.

[@jonathannoble9465]

24:34 🤷‍♂️

[@popey129]

Man . I ordered it today 😢

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

See what you think when you get it. The picture master is really weird because it’s better yet also worse in other areas when compared to the old Shout and Arrow releases. Unfortunately there’s not a release of this film that’s absolutely perfect across the board. While I have some definite issues and questioning things in the new 4K master on the Kino disc’s picture quality-The bigger problem is the audio which has a lesser version of the 5.1 and completely defective 2.0.

[@popey129]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Will do.

[@austinwillcut4919]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I bought this sometime last year.

[@shinycheeto5779]

I watched the 4K recently. 1st time watching the film. I loved it. Great movie. Great ending. I watched the 5.1 mix. Sounded alright to me. Only issue I really noticed was some colors were over saturated here and there. Music was a little loud to in comparison to rest. But I don’t have previous releases to compare to. I guess I was too caught up in the movie to notice issues mentioned in video. Idk. Thought the 4K was solid

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Glad you loved it! For a first viewing I think the UHD with the 5.1 will seem good. Once you start digging a little deeper, you’ll notice things like the print damage and some of the grain weirdness. Then if you look at the defective 2.0 audio and/or older copies it becomes a bit more apparent. It’s hard to really choose between them because the 4K master has a lot of positives, but has different drawbacks to the older versions and has the audio problems so I’m a bit torn on what version to recommend to people.

[@thischannelisdeleted]

When will you review The Exorcist 4K?

[@MixedMucus]

I have the standalone Blu-ray of the Kino release. Watched this with the 2.0 audio and always thought that was just the way the original audio was mixed. Sucks to know that it's actually borked! 😮

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

If you compare with the 2.0 on the Arrow BD while it's not as good as the LD you'll notice a DRAMATIC quality increase overall because it's not defective like the Kino track.

[@Solid.State.Scouter.]

I'm sure, you get requests all the time for reviews but would ever consider doing a review of Kino's release of the original Mad Max? I'm not a huge fan of Kino for all the reasons you mentioned in so many of your reviews, but I have that release and it seems OK to me, but I'd love a more informed opinion on it! Actually, I'd love a review of that and Warner's Mad Max Anthology as well just to see what you think of them!

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

It's been on my to do list for too long! There's a LOT of ground to cover on the MM trilogy especially in audio and transfer!

[@Solid.State.Scouter.]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Agreed, there really is a lot to go over, specifically with regard to the first two films. I hope we get a deep dive on the 4ks for all 3 movies soon, but in the meantime keep up the great work!!

[@shaneday2255]

Is there some way you could provide examples of the audio issues?

[@krisjs1767]

Thank you!

[@slave_to_cinema]

Kino's gonna put a contract out on you lol

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

I'm sure they have a picture of my channel somewhere on a dartboard. One thing's for sure: I'm never, ever going to get a single review copy no matter how many honest Kino reviews I've done or Kino titles I've purchased over the years. I've done positive reviews when they did well but I'm sure they won't pay attention to those.

[@andre_deboer]

cant wait to see this movie. you have good tips

[@thischannelisdeleted]

How’s the 2.0 audio on the previous Arrow/Shout/MGM blu-rays? What’s the best audio on the blu-rays?

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

The 2.0 is only on the Arrow/Shout and is good but not as good as the LD. Thankfully it isn't defective like the Kino track. The MGM releases only had the 5.1 remix.

[@thischannelisdeleted]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderBesides the LD, would you recommend the MGM 5.1 for a first time listen? Or Arrow 2.0? Very excited to check out this film. Thanks!

[@movietv20249]

This is likely the best we are going to get for this film. Don't forget, the film isn't streaming anywhere still.

[@jeffcarlin5866]

There was A LOT of print damage on this release -- and I noticed a lot of blocking in the grain.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

I’m glad it wasn’t just me who noticed!! The damage and marks were consistent and surprising to see that many. And the stagnant grain was very noticeable in spots.

[@jeffcarlin5866]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I sold my Arrow disc...and then I was cussing like a sailor while watching the Kino Lorber disc. The specks and scratches and debris are VERY distracting. I will probably sell my K.L. disc and buy the Shout! Factory disc.... Oh, the pleasures of collecting....

[@blaman327]

I've seen both this new 4K master and an original print in theaters and they seemed really similar. This is clearly the best release of this movie overall. Nobody wants to watch a 4:3 laserdisc instead of a 4K, be real.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@blaman327 The old 4:3 video master is definitely pretty rough, but it has the best audio presentation by far. I just wish the new scan had been properly mastered and handled by everyone involved, including properly restoring the audio so it at least sounded as good as the old Vestron master. As it is, I can’t recommend the new 4K master as it’s very much a toss up between it and the previous HD master in terms of each having its own issues. Personally, if given the choice, I’d probably stick with watching the arrow Master, which also avoids the consistent damage in the 4K master. The 4K master also has lesser or defective audio on both tracks, so that doesn’t help.

[@OldFashionedCinephile]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader This is not related to To Live and Die in L.A., but did you ever say that the 4K UHD of Blade Runner: The Final cut did not include a "certain" sound mix.

[@zacharia827]

KL is L.A.ME

[@zachthezombie]

There is parts when you sing you sound like Terence and Phillip lol

[@hansfeld5233]

Do you ever review movies that you aren't interested in?

[@barrysuss4421]

NERD!!!