2026 TCM Classic Film Festival Highlights YouTube video by Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader

My yearly musings on the @tcmtv.bsky.social Classic Film Festival programming and potential physical media releases.
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I’ll never be as cool as Redford on a moped in NYC not caring that he’s late to work but it’s the thought that counts. crankshaftjournal.com/wp-content/u...

3 days of the Condor FULL OST YouTube video by Lab M_3

When the world is screwy and you actively despise your job to the point that you’re driving through downtown in broad daylight with your windows rolled down blaring the main theme of 3 Days of the Condor while parking…all week.
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I enjoyed discussing the James Bond 4K UHDs released so far and their various quirks on #BondAndBanter.

2025 Best Discs of the Year Awards YouTube video by Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader

Thanks to @arrowvideo.bsky.social @flicker-alley.bsky.social Eureka and others for some of the finest physical media releases of all time last year. There’s a reason why they swept my nerdy disc awards.
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Yikes. This is giving me flashbacks of all the bad film professors who didn’t care that they ran things in the wrong ratio or with anamorphic distortion…. not to mention modern theaters who don’t care and just run DCPs on the same normal settings.

I spent Valentine’s with Nick and Nora.
If you haven’t read Hammett’s novel it’s FAR grittier and more convoluted than the film we adore.

The level of noise reduction and processing is appalling not to mention the pitch issues that continue to plague modern releases…and the Kino releases drop original audio on some films to boot.
These films did not need both 5.1 and Stereo remixes especially since MGM cannot get the mono mixes right

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When you decide to study the audio preservation of the Pink Panther series and find it’s a rabbit hole of variations and problems including:
Fake stereo, 5.1 remixes, stereo remixes, noise reduction, pitch problems, overprocessing, missing elements and some releases with no original audio at all.

Reading the biographies that detail this period makes it even more depressing. And to top that off, the only way you can see a decent transfer of his last film is getting an import bootleg Spanish DVD of an ancient unreleased master that also has PAL speed up.

As usual, I don’t agree with some selections made for the NFR. Still this is the highest honor any film can receive. I find it deeply ironic that one of most deservedly won Best Sound Oscar films is on the same list with one of the worst ever mixes-which also got a Sound Oscar for some inane reason.

I still wish he had gotten to make Schindler’s List. Or anything for that matter. I consider his not being able to make anything from 1981 onward is the single greatest creative sin Hollywood ever committed. Absolutely insane to think that he went his office everyday trying to make anything.

Dick Tracy - YouTube

I review several media tie-ins to the 1990 Dick Tracy film in addition to the barebones Blu-ray release. One rewatch, many interviews, videos, articles, three script drafts, five books, two Beatty biographies (the man is an enigma) and more was consumed in making these.
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The Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966) Arrow Video 4K UHD and Blu-ray Review: A Staggering Achievement YouTube video by Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader

I’m premiering my review of @arrowvideo.bsky.social astounding restoration of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY.

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I guess I’m just leery until more details surface.

I’m terrified for the film preservation initiative that the @WarnerArchive has been leading with a slate of titles restored from the catalog each month. This program should be industry standard. All of that is on the chopping block. So is MPI and virtually every division.

Netflix to buy Warner Bros Discovery's studios, streaming unit for $72 billion Netflix on Friday agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery's TV, film studios and streaming division for $72 billion, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood's most prized and oldest assets to t...

''Hollywood's like Egypt: full of crumbled pyramids. It'll never come back. It'll just keep on crumbling until finally the wind blows the last studio prop across the sands.'' - David O. Selznick
Somewhere Jack Warner is screaming bloody murder. www.reuters.com/legal/transa...

If it really happens it will not only be a day long remembered but fans will spontaneously burst out into Yub Nub outside theaters.

THUNDERBALL: 60th ANNIVERSARY REMASTERED AND EXPANDED LIMITED EDITION (2-CD SET) La-La Land Records, where soundtracks live

Another dream release from La La Land records.
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That’s deplorable. I have my issues with the forum but that right there is something else entirely. I’m glad I hardly post there anymore.

As a Hitchcock nerd who admires the entire filmography I try not to, but I can’t help it sometimes. As long as people don’t write off the less discussed films and only know the most famous ones I’m ok.

The scans themselves are great. Unfortunately they’ve been handled less than admirably with some suffering frozen grain. But even with that they’re a gazillion miles ahead of the horrible old Lowry masters. This is a mixed bag to say the least.

Here’s one of the most screwed up remix moments I’ve ever encountered. It’s unmistakable. They cut THE INTRODUCTION LINE!

The start of Bond’s line is now some sort of squeak or bird noise instead of words:

Some of the errors, deletions and sloppy work I’ve found so far in the terribly defective Atmos remixes of the Connery era #jamesbond 4K UHDs. These have hideous noise reduction levels, music replacements and crazy deletions. Do not ever listen to these botched things!!

I had a lovely talk with Devan about the Dollars trilogy restorations @arrowvideo.bsky.social painstakingly carried out.

That cover is delightfully bonkers.

two sesame street characters are standing next to each other in a living room . ALT: two sesame street characters are standing next to each other in a living room .

I can’t believe it! They included both monos!

This must be an all timer Rick McCallum quote up there with “it’s so dense”.
He says the “fun” of AOTC is similar to the “beauty” that occurs just before a car crash.
From the oral history book Secrets of the Force.