Casino 4k Blu Review

1. Casino 4k Blu Review Guide
2. Casino 4k Blu Reviews

In our review of the 4K Blu-ray, we note how the film “strikes an impressively naturalistic look for a fantasy film” - and it’s this quality that comes to the fore with the Sony X700. We’ve always lauded Sony for its natural-looking disc-players, but the X700 surpasses even that of the X800 in how it displays a wonderfully subtle. Not only is Casino one of my favorite Martin Scorsese films, it’s also one of my all-time favorite films. It’s easily one of the breeziest 3 hour films ever made. The 4K release improves on all old releases big time in terms of visuals and audio. In short, it’s a must own. A few words about™ Casino — in 4k UHD Blu-ray Universal's new 4k hits the limits of the software, in that nothing could be better. An exceedingly short few words. Casino is a modern epic film, that beautifully stands the test of time.

• Film/Program Grade: A
• Video Grade: A-
• Audio Grade: A
• Extras Grade: C

Review

After impressing audiences with his horror debut Get Out, which was not only a genre refresher but also dealt with racism in a darkly funny but easily absorbable package, all eyes were fixed upon Jordan Peele’s next move as a filmmaker. Would he fall prey to the sophomore curse or rise to the occasion with another entertaining piece of material? The answer came in March of 2019 with Us, one of the most discussed horror films of recent memory.

The film opens in the 1980s as the Hands Across America campaign, a movement to bring people of all backgrounds together to help put an end to hunger, is taking place. Late one evening, a young girl named Adelaide wanders away from her parents at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park, is eventually drawn into a hall of mirrors, and is horrified by what she finds there. Years later, Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) grows up to be a mother of two young children, Zora and Jason (Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex), as well as a loving wife to her supportive husband Gabe (Winston Duke). The four take a vacation together at a lake house in Santa Cruz, despite Adelaide’s misgivings about going back after what happened to her there as a child.

In the middle of the night, a group of four unknown people appear outside their house in red jumpsuits, unwilling to communicate or listen to reason. Despite Gabe’s attempt to make them go away, they descend upon the house, holding the family hostage in the living room. To their shock, the intruders look exactly like them. The leader, Red, the doppelgänger of Adelaide, explains that they are called the Tethered and have surfaced to destroy their above ground counterparts. Fighting to escape certain death, Adelaide and her family learn that not only are their doppelgängers more instinctual and self-driven than they are, but that their own encounter with them is only the tip of the iceberg.

Once again, Jordan Peele taps into something primordial in Us. It’s not a complex film, but more of one that, once the curtain is pulled back, you begin to notice minor details you didn’t pick up on before, making repeat watches valuable. The film explores the notion of identity, but also, when put to the test, whether one can rise above their situation and be as good or better than the ideal version of themselves. Granted, the Tethered are not the ideal versions of these people, but they are better in certain ways. For instance, Zora’s character participates in track at school, something she expresses a general boredom with early on. Meanwhile, her other self is not only a fast runner, but can outrun Zora when given the opportunity, which forces Zora to, in a sense, become more like her in order to survive.

The most-talked aspect of the film is its ending. If one pays close attention, the groundwork is laid for it at multiple points, making it a more natural conclusion than typical “twist” endings which often feel forced. A scene towards the end, wherein Red explains to Adelaide the entire backstory of the Tethered, is a bit problematic. Exposition was going to be a necessity at some point, but there’s a little too much here, it’s not presented in a terribly interesting way, and it steals too much narrative drive and tension from the moment.

Still, the response to Us was almost unanimous upon its release, with one critic even referring to it as “the best horror film ever made.” Ultimately, only time will tell what kind of impact Us will have on its viewers. With its multiple layers of ideas, as well as Easter eggs that coincide with those layers, the film is a stunning piece of work and a rollercoaster ride in the theater if you were lucky enough to see it with a good audience.

Us was shot digitally in the ARRIRAW codec (at 3.4K) using Arri Alexa cameras with Zeiss Master Prime lenses. It was finished as a native 2K Digital Intermediate, was upsampled for this Ultra HD release, and was graded for high dynamic range in HDR10 (as well as Dolby Vision). It’s presented here in the proper 2.39:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The image offers very good (though not terribly refined) detail and texturing—not as much as a native 4K image would provide, but it’s a modest improvement on the Blu-ray. This improvement is particularly appreciated in dark scenes, as this is a moody, brooding film where much takes place in the shadows. Even in daylight moments, the tone feels dark. HDR enhances the contrast well, with the darkest areas of the image inky black, while highlights are bold but shy of eye-reactive. The overall color palette is warm and earthy, and the wider color gamut renders more subtle shadings of skin, clothing, and vegetation. The colors are even richer in select scenes, an example being Adelaide’s escalator descent later in the film. Dolby Vision improves on this just a bit more, with 12-bit color lending the image an added measure of nuance and depth. Lighting in the film tends to be from natural sources. The only visual flaws are by design, including the use of analog TV and cell phone footage, as well as the softness of a split diopter shot.

The audio selection includes English Dolby Atmos, as well as Spanish and French 7.1 Dolby Plus, with subtitle options in English SDH, Spanish, and French. The Atmos track is a solid surround experience, though one that tends to be more low key at times, taking full advantage of ambience and low frequency activity over explosiveness. Sound effects present a range of well-mixed and effective moments, from the subtle pitter-patter of scurrying small animals to the brutal impact of golf clubs and baseball bats, and even blood splatter. The score, though lacking in percussion, offers an abundance of depth, almost exclusively using strings to great effect. Dialogue is clear and well-placed, including the clicking sounds of the Tethered, as well as low breaths and guttural utterances. The height channels are mostly used to extend the soundfield vertically and add a bit more immersion. This is a highly enveloping soundtrack that doesn’t become overtly volatile, but prioritizes its assortment of elements with crisp precision.

Both the 4K and Blu-ray discs included in this release contain the following special features, all in HD:

• The Monsters Within Us (4:45)
• Tethered Together: Making Us Twice (7:28)
• Redefining a Genre: Jordan Peele’s Brand of Horror (5:31)
• The Duality of Us (9:56)
• Becoming Red (4:09)
• Scene Explorations (3 clips – 7:36 in all)
• Deleted Scenes (6 scenes – 6:28 in all)
• We’re All Dying (6:22)
• As Above, So Below: Grand Pas de Deux (5:02)

All of this material will play automatically after the film ends. Unfortunately, despite the look of a package that includes a copious amount of extras, they’re more fluff than educational. The featurettes, particularly Tethered Together and The Duality of Us, go into slightly more detail than the others, highlighting the challenges of shooting the film, including the approach of shooting as if there were two different actors playing two different characters. The Deleted Scenes are also fairly inconsequential, including raw takes of the beach scene between Gabe and Josh. The most interesting extras are the Becoming Red and As Above, So Below segments. While the former utilizes footage in between takes of Lupita Nyong’o in character as Red, which is creepy in its own right, the latter is an uncut version of the ballet performance seen towards the end of the film. The rest gives minor background on the motivations of the actors and the director, but it doesn’t really go into enough depth to be enlightening. Sorely missing is an audio commentary or a long-form documentary on the making of the film. A paper insert with a Movies Anywhere Digital Copy code is included in the packaging.

While the 4K disc of Us offers a satisfactory A/V presentation, the extras don’t live up to expectations. The film is entertaining, and certainly worthy of a more expanded release, but this will have to suffice for now.

- Tim Salmons

Casino 4k Blu Review Guide

COVID-19 Update!

Due to the unfolding situation with Coronavirus (COVID-19) we want to keep you up to date with any changes we may need to take to protect our staff and their families in line with government directives and any impact this may have to the service we provide to you, our valued customers. We will continue to monitor the situation and will update this page as and when we need to make any changes to our service in line with government instructions and to ensure the safety of our staff and families whilst providing our service to you.

Firstly, we’d like to apologise to you for any delay in receiving orders that you’ve placed with us during this transition period which may result in your order being delivered up to 72 hours later than normal. This delay is temporary and has been caused by a dramatic increase in demand for our products, whilst we have been reconfiguring our distribution centre to ensure that our staff are working safely and can continue to provide you with products that you have ordered.

Thank you for shopping with us and for your patience and understanding during these uncertain times.

Delivery

UK Delivery: Currently our UK delivery services via Royal Mail and Whistl are running well with no major disruption to our services but like all delivery services are experiencing high demand. We will continue to work closely with our delivery providers in the meantime.

EU Delivery: The situation in Europe differs by country depending on individual government directives and the situation in specific regions and you may experience some delays to your normal delivery times. Please be patient and be assured with our working hard with our delivery services to get your products to you.

Customer Services

In order to protect our staff and their families and in line with government policy our customer service team are now working from home. As they adapt to working remotely there may be some delays to your normal response time. Be assured we will respond to your enquiry but may take a little bit longer than usual.

Delivery Options in the United Kingdom

Your delivery options vary, depending on what you’re ordering. Standard UK delivery is always FREE over £30. Delivery costs are calculated at basket. Your options are:

1. Our standard delivery is via second class post. This option takes 3-5 working days once the product is despatched from our warehouse
2. 1st Class delivery is available. If you place your order before 12:00, it should only take 1-2 working days.
3. If you're feeling particularly eager to get your order as soon as possible, Next Business Day delivery is also available. Again - provided the order is placed prior to 12:00. Please note that this service is only available Monday to Thursday. Any orders placed between 12:00 Thursday and 12:00 Friday will be delivered on the Monday following the weekend.
4. Lastly, please note, if the value of the items in your order when despatched exceeds £50 in value, we will upgrade your delivery to the next business day free of charge to allow you to track your order.

Please note that any orders placed after 12:00 on a Friday will not be despatched until the following Monday and therefore delivered on the Tuesday.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Casino 4k Blu Reviews

Delivery Outside of the United Kingdom

European Delivery

We ship almost our entire range of products to all countries in the European Union. The only exception to this is our hardware bundles. If you place an order for a hardware bundle for delivery outside of the UK your order will be cancelled. We're not being grouches, as they're such high value items we want to make sure that they're delivered in the most safest and most efficient way. We're working on a tracked postage solution for you and hope to resolve this as soon as possible, stay tuned!

For European Delivery, we can offer you a standard 3-6 day delivery window, starting from the very moment that the goods are despatched.

Please note that all delivery times are subject to courier company. European delivery rates will be calculated at basket depending on where you are and what you’re buying.

Please be aware that, due to closures and changes caused by COVID-19, we are expecting to see heavy delays to orders placed to Italy, but we are doing everything we can to continue operating in Italy.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Delivery FAQs

1. For Standard UK delivery 3-5 working days for deliveries within the UK once goods are despatched. If it does happen - on the off chance - to take any longer than this time period to reach you, Royal Mail policy requests we wait 10 working days to pass before classifying an item as 'lost'.
2. 1st Class UK delivery: 1-2 working days once goods are despatched provided orders are placed prior to 12:00 (see above).
3. Next Day UK delivery: next day delivery as long as orders are placed by 12:00 Monday to Thursday only.
4. Standard Delivery to all other European Union Countries should take 3-6 working days once goods are despatched provided orders are placed prior to 12:00.

To give you some peace of mind, we'll be sure to send you an email to let you know when each item is on its way. Pre-orders placed with other items will be despatched separately prior to release day.

In the event that you have ordered products which will not fit through your letterbox, (and you aren't in to take delivery) then the postal service will follow their usual procedure. For UK orders this usually means a card is left to notify you of an attempted delivery and the item will be held at your local sorting office. For items attempted for delivery by a courier service they will also leave a card and allow you to arrange for redelivery or collection.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you've got any more burning questions regarding our delivery options, you can contact our customer services at customerservice@zoom.co.uk. You'll be able to catch them Monday to Friday between the hours 8:30-17:30.