Misery 4K UHD - James Caan

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Rob Reiner
USA 1990

From the mind of Stephen King, the master of horror behind Carrie, The Shining, The Stand and It, comes the terrifying psychological thriller for which Kathy Bates (Dolores Claiborne) won the Academy Award for her iconic, bone-shattering performance. After his car crashes in the mountains during a blinding snowstorm, famous novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan, Thief) is “rescued” from a car crash by Annie Wilkes (Bates), a fan obsessed with the main character in his series of novels. But when Wilkes reads his latest book—and learns he has killed her favorite character—she teaches Sheldon the real meaning of Misery. Injured and isolated far from help, Sheldon engages in a desperate battle of wits with Wilkes as she becomes ever more deranged and violent. Director Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men) and screenwriter William Goldman (Marathon Man, All the President’s Men) deliver a white-knuckle suspense tale that features Frances Sternhagen (The Mist), Richard Farnsworth (The Grey Fox) and the great Lauren Bacall (The Big Sleep.)

***

Based on the chilling bestseller by Stephen King, Misery was brought to the screen by director Rob Reiner as one of the most effective thrillers of the 1990s. From a brilliant adaptation by screenwriter William Goldman, Reiner turned King's cautionary tale of fame and idolatry into a mainstream masterpiece of escalating suspense, translating King's own experience with obsessive fans into a frightening tale of entrapment and psychotic behavior. Kathy Bates deservedly won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes, an unbalanced devotee of romance novels written by Paul Sheldon (James Caan), whose books provide Annie with a much-needed escape from her pathetic life and her secret, violent past. After Annie rescues the injured Sheldon from a car accident, she seizes the opportunity to nurse her favorite writer back to health, but her tender loving care soon turns to terrorism as she demands that Sheldon write his latest novel according to her wish-fulfillment fantasies. From this point forward, Misery percolates to a boil as equal parts mystery, thriller, and cleverly dark comedy, with the helpless author pitched in deadly warfare against his number one fan. While Bates carefully modulates her role from doting kindness to sympathetic loneliness and finally to horrifying ferocity, Caan is equally superb as the celebrated author who must literally write for his life. It's essentially a two-actor film, but Richard Farnsworth and Lauren Bacall are excellent in supporting roles as they investigate the writer's mysterious disappearance. Frightening, funny, and totally irresistible, Misery was such a hit that some of Bates's dialogue entered the popular lexicon (particularly her nagging reference to Caan as "Mister Man"), and its nail-biting thrills remain timelessly intense.

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Theatrical Release: November 29th, 1990

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Review: Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Runtime	1:47:24.438
Video	1.85:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 90,309,597,770 bytes Feature: 89,848,428,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 88.66 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 4K Ultra HD:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 3647 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3647 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS-HD Master Audio English 1985 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1985 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentaries: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -27dB Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -27dB
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.85:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 90,309,597,770 bytes Feature: 89,848,428,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 88.66 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc • Audio Commentary by Director Rob Reiner • Audio Commentary by Screenwriter William Goldman Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray • Audio Commentary by Director Rob Reiner • Audio Commentary by Screenwriter William Goldman • Misery Loves Company: Featurette (29:55) • Marc Shaiman’s Musical Misery Tour: Featurette (14:31) • Diagnosing Annie Wilkes: Featurette (8:48) • Advice for the Stalked: Featurette (4:59) • Profile of a Stalker: Featurette (6:19) • Celebrity Stalkers: Featurette (5:09) • Anti-Stalking Laws: Featurette (2:23) \| Season’s Greetings Trailer (2:24) • Season's Greeting Trailer (2:27) • Theatrical Trailer (2:22) 4K Ultra HD Release Date: October 12th, 2021 Black 4K Ultra HD Case Chapters 16

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Kino 4K UHD (July 2021): Kino's are releasing Rob Reiner's "Misery" to 4K UHD and Blu-ray. We've compared a captures to some of the past digital editions. Without overly debating the colors, the Dolby vision, the HDR transfer in 3840 X 2160 resolution significantly advances on all the other editions. NOTE: a Shout! Factory 1080P was released in late 2017, but we don't have it to compare. After multiple viewings my observations are that it is darker, but contrast is brilliantly layered and seems to generally have cooler skin tones - detail and grain support are the hallmark of this format with the resulting image (3 X that of the MGM Blu-ray) is one of the best I've seen this year. Any HDR Kino has applied is been relatively passive - this isn't a film we require a vibrant color scheme. The higher resolution, and moderate HDR do wonders for grain support, detail and impressive contrast. This looks outstanding.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 50 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: The Silence of the Lambs (software uniformly simulated HDR), John Carpenter's "The Thing" (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Cat' o'Nine Tails (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (software uniformly simulated HDR), Perdita Durango (software uniformly simulated HDR), Django (software uniformly simulated HDR), Fanny Lye Deliver'd (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, (NO HDR applied to disc), Rollerball (software uniformly simulated HDR), Chernobyl (software uniformly simulated HDR), Daughters of Darkness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vigilante (software uniformly simulated HDR), Tremors (software uniformly simulated HDR), Cinema Paradiso (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bourne Legacy (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Metal Jacket (software uniformly simulated HDR), Psycho (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Birds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Rear Window (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vertigo (software uniformly simulated HDR), Spartacus (software uniformly simulated HDR), Jaws (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Invisible Man, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucio Fulci's 1979 Zombie (software uniformly simulated HDR),, 2004's Van Helsining (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shallows (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot (software uniformly simulated HDR),, Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR), 2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

On their 4K UHD, Kino offer options for 2.0 channel stereo and a 5.1 surround (both in 24-bit) in the original English language. No Atmos. The, often underplayed, drama centers around the score by Marc Shaiman (Reiner's A Few Good Men), plus supporting music of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata plus I'll Be Seeing You - all performed by Liberace. This remains highly supportive in the lossless. Kino add optional English (SDH) subtitles on the Region FREE 4K UHD disc and included Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray.

There are extras on the 4K UHD disc - in the form of the two, previously released commentaries by director Ron Reiner and a second by by screenwriter William Goldman. They constitute a relaxed one by a comfortable Reiner and the other, a bit more scattered, by screenwriter Goldman with quite a few gaps. These are also both on the second disc Blu-ray, and there seems to be most of the previously released extras included from the 2017 MGM Blu-ray reviewed HERE. We get a featurette entitled Misery Loves Company. It runs 1/2 an hour with input from Reiner, Goldman, Kathy Bates and James Caan and is an interesting 'making of...' with further production and character details not mentioned in either commentary. "Marc Shaiman's Musical Misery Tour" is 1/4 hour on developing the film's score. We also get 5 directly related pieces - "Diagnosing Annie Wilkes" running 9-minutes, "Advice for the Stalked" almost 5-minutes, "Profile of a Stalker", "Celebrity Stalkers" and the brief "Anti-Stalking Laws". The latter 4 stemming more from Hollywood's political stance on stalking celebrities. Finally there are a couple of trailers - a 'Christmas' one and a theatrical trailer. So nothing really new in terms of supplements.

Kino's 4K UHD release of Rob Reiner's "Misery" is exceptional in terms of the video upgrade. As we have a 'Blu-ray effect' that helped home theater adopters bond with, and appreciate, a film more so in the higher resolution over DVD - the same can be said for 4K UHD. "Misery" is less about the gore and more the psychology, captivity and suspense. It's quite brilliantly crafted as a claustrophobic horror incorporating the hazards of celebrity and minor camp and gallows humor. While I don't count myself in the ranks of the films "No. 1 fan", the legacy of "Misery" cements the rare talents of Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, Stand by Me) to make another Hollywood big budget film that stands the test of time. With the effective performances of Kathy Bates (winning the Oscar for her portraying Annie Wilkes - Stephen King's favorite written character!), James Caan, Richard Farnsworth and, too brief, Lauren Bacall, the thriller-horror "Misery" deserves its many accolades. Kino's 4K UHD is strongly recommended!