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Gianni Russo

Gianni Russo

7 films on Best Blurays3 in 4K3 in HD1 with no official release

Gianni Russo photo

With a singularly nebulous background, which, by his account, included stints as a Las Vegas nightclub emcee, radio personality, and jewelry tycoon, and comparatively little acting experience, Gianni Russo won the role of Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather (1972) on the basis of his screen test. Since then, Russo has remained busy as an actor, mostly playing assorted "wiseguys" and Mafia types. He was appeared again with Marlon Brando in a small role in The Freshman (1990) in which Brando parodied his Don Corleone role to good effect. IMDb Mini Biography By: Bob Sorrentino

Biography from TMDB

3 in 4K

UHD Blu-ray or 4K streaming

Supporting role · Directors: Annabel Jankel & Rocky Morton

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Australia Umbrella 4K

Small role · Director: Brett Ratner

Video format: 4K Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

HD: Universal Blu-ray

4K: iTunes Streaming

Small role · Director: Brett Ratner

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has mediocre encode

3 in HD

Blu-ray or HD streaming

Supporting role · Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 2008 Blu-ray Coppola Restoration

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2008 Blu-ray lossy mono

Audio Notes:

(Britain release only has 5.1)

Additional Info:

The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0

Small role · Director: Brett Ratner

Best English-Friendly & Video:

New Line/Warner Bros Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Cinema DTS

Small role · Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Paramount 2008 Blu-ray Coppola Restoration

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes. Part II overall fares better than the first film but it has all the same problems. Randomly some shots are the worst in the trilogy looks mushy and manipulated to death.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0

1 with no official release

Unofficial sources only, no home media, or lost

TV series

Small role

Video format: Only Unofficial Sources

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Bootleg China Blu-ray on the high seas

Additional Info:

The original 1977 censored cut has never been officially released on home video. The 1981 cut and the 1990 EU cut are available on VHS. The 1992 Trilogy cut was released on LaserDisc and VHS. The 2012 and 2016 HD versions were broadcast on AMC and streaming HBO respectively but neither are available on either platform anymore currently. The Chinese 1080p blu-ray on the high seas is probably the most accessible and affordable way to watch it, (albeit with terrible compression) and appears to be a Webrip of the 2012 AMC HD tv broadcast. It’s on two BD-25 discs with lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and with subtitles for Sicilian dialogue.

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