A Bluegrass Christmas (2024/Magicom/Insp DVD)/Heartland: The Complete Seventeenth Season (2023/eOne/Lionsgate DVD)/Legends Of The Fall 4K (1994/TriStar/Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray)

4K Picture: B+ Picture: C/C/X Sound: C+/C+/A- Extras: C-/D/B- Main Programs: C-/C/C+

Then we have these southernish melodramas, et al...

Marco Deufemia's A Bluegrass Christmas (2024) does have a legit musician/performer from the genre in Ben Pendleton, asked to do a concert to save a horse sanctuary. Can the show save things? Well Our Gang/The Little Rascals do not show up, but a cast of mostly unknowns do ands it all gets sappier than Canadian Maple Trees and you can guess the way-too-safe and predictable results. No effort was made to pen a better script and I don't think they cared much.

A preview is the only extra, though Shaun Johnson of the Heartland series (269 episodes and counting) shows up, which brings us to...

Heartland: The Complete Seventeenth Season (2023) is the latest of the tales of the longest-running series hardly anyone has ever heard of, simply because it is a Canadian TV show on a network there called GEM and as soapy as Procter & Gamble. eOne does handle this in the US along with Pluto TV and BYUTV, so it is obscure.

Not as pretentious as its horrid rivals on Hallmark or Lifetime in the U.S. when they go there, it drags on badly like MidSomer Murders, but is so consistently successful, the makers will keep making it, even if a nuclear war shows up. Start at the beginning about this multi-generational 'saga' taking place in Alberta, but I'd rather watch The Red Green Show.

There are, not surprisingly, no extras.

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is really soft in both cases and nothing is very memorable, including some outdoor shots that somehow underwhelm. The lossy Dolby Digital sound on each disc (5.1 on Bluegrass, 2.0 Stereo on Heartland) is the default highlight on both and the recordings and mixes (down to the music) are competent at best. See both at your own risk.

Ed Zwick's Legends Of The Fall 4K (1994) is a melodrama set in the very early 1900s with the trials and tribulations of the Ludlow Brothers, led by father Anthony Hopkins and played by Brad Pitt, Henry Thomas and Aidan Quinn. Running a long 133 minutes, it is one of Zwick's better films and can look great, the cast (also including the always great Julia Ormond and a few others you are more likely to recognize than be able to name) is fine and the period authentic enough.

However, though I give it points for dealing well with WWI, there is always something about this film that just seems too lite, passive and maybe poetic at times, but just lacks a certain sense of 'oomph' and impact I wish it had, even like Zwick's Glory did at times. Still, it was a critical and commercial hit, I like many of the people involved and understand its success. I just never totally bought it. However, the one thing I can say is that most people did not get to see the film in its best possible presentation, especially where sound is concerned. In most respects, this 4K version corrects that for good, so if you want to see the film, this is one of the best options available as Sony has given it top rate treatment in Ultra HD.

The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image is from a new 4K scan and if nothing else, the film looks great except in parts where there is dirt and noise in some shots (like one sky shot in particular) where maybe the original camera negative needed a little work. There are also some shots above my letter grade, thanks to Director of Photography John Toll, A.S.C., for whom this was a breakthrough film and he followed with memorable work on Braveheart, The Thin Red Line, The Rainmaker, Almost Famous, The Last Samurai and Gone Baby Gone.

The lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) is a new upgrade for the sound, which originally was one of the select few films Sony issued in the 8-track version of their underrated Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) and will be the first time most people get to hear those extra tracks as such SDDS screenings were not easy to find and limited as only so many theaters had the premium set-ups to show it that way. DTS and Dolby Digital mixdowns (Dolby's advanced, analog SR noise reduction system was used for the film as well) were also available. The late, great James Horner created the music score, which definitely helped it from becoming sappier.

Extras include Digital Movie, while the discs adds a feature length audio commentary track with Director Edward Zwick and Brad Pitt

• PLUS a second commentary track with Cinematographer John Toll and Production Designer Lilly Kilvert

• 3 Deleted Scenes with Director Commentary

• Original Making-Of featurette

• Production Design featurette

• and an Original Theatrical Trailer.

- Nicholas Sheffo