Oldboy (Blu-ray SteelBook) (Plain Archive Exclusive No.30) [Korea]

[teddyjun]

Release date: November 7, 2016
Purchase links: Type A - Type B - Quarter Slip - Dual Pack - Triple Pack - (Pre-order on September 29, 2016)
Price: Type A: $46.89 - Type B: $46.89 - 1/4 Slip: $45.69

Type A: 2,000 copies - Type B: 2,500 copies - 1/4 Slip: 1,000 copies

Spoiler

- The steelbook illustration is by Krzysztof Domaradzki.
- The artwork for the slipbox was used previously for the Oldboy vinyl LP. It was co-ordinated by Nicolas Winding Refn, the director of Drive, and illustrated by Laurent Durieux. The director of Oldboy Park Chan-wook wanted one of our editions to feature this artwork so we reached out to Milan Records and illustrator Laurent Durieux. You'll be able to see more of the artwork since parts of the top and bottom were cropped out for the vinyl LP.



Old mock up

 

[Flloydo]

i just started watching it (with my acer 1080p beamer projected on a white wall) for 30 minutes or so, and i have to say, the scene around the 6min. mark (prison scene after the opening titles) doesn't look like in your screenshots at all. it's a very grainy picture in that scene, but actually it's very fine moving grain what i can see, thanks to the 4k transfer i suppose. definitely much much better than the DNR mess the studiocanal transfer is. and like you already pointed out, the director mentions in the introduction that the film was partly shot on fast film stock, which makes the picture very grainy, but that it was fully intentional, and how happy he is with the new transfer.

now, from what i can see, he is right. apart from the sometimes crushed blacks, it looks marvellous.
if it doesn't look good on your tv, then i'm afraid to say something is wrong with it, seriously.

Ive re calibrated my tv now mate, so it's made it a tad better. Still 50/50 with this and I will be keeping my play.com BD steel so I have both.
I watched this a lot over the years so I'm so used to my normal edition and even the DVD. That way I have my prefered edition (original BD) and this editon if I fancy a few new and brighter colours. But when I do pick up a new tv I'll give it another go anyway.

But re calibrating my tv has helped some of my films to found to have bad grain or bad PQ so that's made me happy. Watched gremlins last night and that looks a thousand times better already

(I'm just not a fan of grainy films, it don't even add anything to the films for me, instead it takes away my viewing pleasure because it's all I can focus on and it reminds me of creepy crawlies or static)

 

[fishvtec]

if i unwrap the 1/4 does the 1/4 is sealed like others 1/4 before, or it will be unsealed ?

 

[fishvtec]

 

[lgans316]

Personally I'm a fan of grain as long as it's representative of the original source and hasn't been introduced during the remastering process... I hate DNR!

Well said. Same here. Hate DNR and EE.

 

[timm]

Anybody noticed that oldboy is not showing on the PA website anymore ?

I noticed oldboy no longer on website. Was available last week. Questioned PA but no response.

 

[Mariuzz]

if i unwrap the 1/4 does the 1/4 is sealed like others 1/4 before, or it will be unsealed ?

Yes the 1/4 slip is sealed seperately.

 

[levi]

finally opened my copy. well, took it out of the mail packaging at least. its a quality edition. seems like plain were playing it a bit safe with the design of this one (Design B) but that's not a bad thing. glad to have it on my shelf

 

[howarmat]

got mine today. I guess i can see where some people thing the steelbook is muted but i think it reflects exactly what it was suppose to. Its not like that was suppose to pop and sparkle. Purple cover is fantastic. Love it! The red slip is fine too, again its not meant to completely pop and stand out huge in a crowd

 

[Flloydo]

got mine today. I guess i can see where some people thing the steelbook is muted but i think it reflects exactly what it was suppose to. Its not like that was suppose to pop and sparkle. Purple cover is fantastic. Love it! The red slip is fine too, again its not meant to completely pop and stand out huge in a crowd

But the slips are supposed to pop and stand out in the crowd?

Because they that's exactly what both slips do.

PA have messed up on this which is a one off. The steel should not of been so muted.
Especially when it makes it hard the see the art.
So muted that some people might not even notice that on the right of the front art it has the purple pattern from the slip. But it's extremely dull and muted making it pointless for that part of the art. If the choice to mute it from the original art used on the art card then the creative decision was a bad choice in this instance

I feel like PA have had a bump in the road for this release and hopefully they pick it up again for sicario.

I still like the package but they got some choices wrong

 

[nafosb]

From the aesthetic point of view this release is far from Plain Archive's finest hour. The content on the discs is, of course, fantastic. So, overall, a mixed result for this release.

 

[nekromantik]

Yeah the pictures must have been brightened but then the actual product is dark.
This is not what I expect from the company that brought us gems like I Saw The Devil PET Slip.

 

[Punker76]

Ive re calibrated my tv now mate, so it's made it a tad better. Still 50/50 with this and I will be keeping my play.com BD steel so I have both.
I watched this a lot over the years so I'm so used to my normal edition and even the DVD. That way I have my prefered edition (original BD) and this editon if I fancy a few new and brighter colours. But when I do pick up a new tv I'll give it another go anyway.

But re calibrating my tv has helped some of my films to found to have bad grain or bad PQ so that's made me happy. Watched gremlins last night and that looks a thousand times better already

(I'm just not a fan of grainy films, it don't even add anything to the films for me, instead it takes away my viewing pleasure because it's all I can focus on and it reminds me of creepy crawlies or static)

Can I ask what settings you changed to improve your picture? I got an 8yr old Samsung so I might need to recalibrate also.

 

[burtbird]

I watched this last night, it's still holds up as a great movie even if certain plot elements are a little contrived.

The picture quality is definitely rather grainy at times, and the new colour timing has crushed shadow/highlight detail in places, but overall I can't really complain if it's true to the director's vision - and for the most part I do prefer the visual palette of the movie in comparison to previous home releases. It's probably the best the movie will ever look. My only complaint with regards to picture quality is it seems a little 'unstable' at times; wobbly/blurry credits/text (not the subs), bleeding on the edge of the frame (likely to have been exacerbated or maybe even a product of my panel's backlight) and worst of all I noticed what appeared to be flash frames between several shot changes throughout (I'd have to re-watch to confirm). There are a couple of visual FX transition shots which I think could have been improved depending on whether or not the faults were intentional (computer monitor close up to car arriving at school near the end of the movie leads into jerky footage for example).

Overall I'm happy with this package, I think the steelbook itself is muted but nice nonetheless. Having said that I understand why some would be disappointed!

 

[lolwut]

Film is supposed to be grainy.

I received Type A. Granted ,I haven't opened it but the finish seems disappointing.

 

[misformatt]

Arrived just in time for family movie night!

 

[Flloydo]

Arrived just in time for family movie night!
View attachment 277769 View attachment 277770 View attachment 277771 View attachment 277772

I just clicked with the hammer

Brillaint.

 

[LordBarker]

Anyone have any idea what the picture is like compared to the U.S/Canada Tartan/Palisades releases? I have the Best Buy exclusive steel tin of all 3 of the trilogy and wondered if it's worth the upgrade for Old Boy? I'm aware that a slight green wash was always present.

 

[DVDguy]

Ordered Oldboy : Steelbook with Fullslip (Design A, 3Discs) about a month ago. Arrived... but when I head back to their site it seems that OLDBOY is no where to be found. Am I just missing something?

 

[SlyFondle]

no offense really but did you ever see Ben-Hur? i didn't expect Old Boy to have the same treatment but Ben-Hur was 57 years old and it looks pristine on blu-ray...something to think about...
View attachment 277165

Bad analogy. Ben-Hur was shot on 70mm (technically 65mm), so it ought to look a whole lot better than Old Boy.

 

[dan8885]

Received this today in a trade. Wanted to pass but since I own all PA 1/4 Slips I thought I'll take a look in Hand and decide then. At least I didn't spend cash on it.
The most disappointing release of the year packaging and design-wise but it's Oldboy and the documentary is probably worth a pickup.