TRUE 4K MASTERING / HDR SCREENSHOTS
THE LIST of movies is the very best in 4K viewing from a physical disc. The criteria required the source to be mastered in 4K or higher and nothing less.
No upconversion from 2K to 4K on this list. A big surprise, most of the top 4K discs were originally captured on 35mm film stock. Warner Brothers Home Entertainment dominated the Top 10 and honorable mentions, while Kino Lorber (KL Studio Classics) and Paramount Pictures tied for second.
(Click an image to scroll the larger versions)
Right, John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a former Confederate soldier, who’s on a 10-year quest for revenge to find his nieces Debbie (Natalie Wood) and her older sister Lucy (Pippa Scott). Harry Carey Jr. plays Lucy’s boyfriend Brad Jorgensen.
NO. 1 – “THE SEARCHERS: WARNER ARCHIVE”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray, 1956, Unrated
Best extra: “The Searchers: An Appreciation” from directors Martin Scorsese, Curtis Hanson and John Milius (2006)
NEARLY 70 years ago, Martin Scorsese and two buddies headed to the Criterion Theater off Broadway to see the latest and greatest John Wayne movie. From the opening sequence, when Dorothy Jordan opens the door and the camera moves forward revealing the breathtaking Monument Valley, 13-year-old Scorsese knew this Western was going to be special.
John Ford’s “The Searchers” is still considered one of the most iconic and influential Westerns of the American cinema. When the American Film Institute released its 10th Anniversary Edition of the 100 years…100 Greatest American Films of all Time – “The Searchers” landed No. 12 between Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights” (1931) and George Lucas’ “Star Wars” (1977).
And in 2022 when the British Film Institute revealed its once-a-decade Greatest Films of All Time list, “The Searchers” was No. 15.
The late Chicago Sun-Times and “At the Movies” film critic Roger Ebert said, “The Searchers” contains scenes of magnificence and one of John Wayne’s best performances. There are shots that are astonishingly beautiful.”
Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, who’s been on a 10-year quest of revenge and racism to find his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood). She has been kidnapped by Comanches, who murdered her family. He’s “not a villain, but at times despicable,” Scorsese tells us in one of the documentaries. “Yet, you love him when he tells Debbie, “Let’s go home.”
Ford used the large-format VistaVision process, which was literally “Motion Picture High Fidelity” during the 1950’s. The film ran horizontally, as in a still camera, providing a much larger negative (2.66 times greater) than conventional 35mm film run vertically. This made for crystal-clear images – IMAX-like – which even show detailed expressions on the actors’ faces during the wide shots against the red mesas of Monument Valley near the Utah and Arizona border. “He had an unrivaled eye for landscape,” says Ebert. Ford, his crew and his company of actors camped out, eating from the chuck wagon and sleeping in tents during the production. Wayne once told Ebert, “Making a Ford Western was like living in a Western.”
VIDEO
The Warner Archive restoration of “The Searchers” was a joint venture between Warner Brothers, The Film Foundation (founded by Scorsese) and Turner Movie Classics. The original camera negative (8-perf 35mm was scanned at 13K horizontally, each half (4-perf) at 6.5K, and then digitally stitched together to create the full VistaVision frame, originally composed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Winton C. Hoch (“The Quiet Man,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”).
The VistaVision negative was in good condition, without any major tears or missing sections, but suffered from dye fading, which caused instability within the blue/yellow color layers.
Senior Colorist Jan Yarbrough and Mastering Supervisor Miles DelHoyo handled the digital restoration. The onscreen results (1:85:1 aspect ratio) are jaw-dropping, with extraordinary resolution and clarity via HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading giving the corrected color palette an expanded level of hues and saturation. Since the negative is so large, the natural film grain is extremely tight and small.
Hands down this is the best looking 4K Ultra HD of the year. Everything was encoded onto a 100 GB disc with peak brightness hitting 1357 nits and averages 201 nits. The video bitrate runs from the low 70 Megabits per second to over 90 Mbps.
AUDIO
A full sonic restoration was applied to the original two-channel Mono soundtrack, removing pops, ticks, and dropouts. Plus, the original noise and wind rumble from the boom microphone were removed to enhance the dialog. The new DTS-HD soundtrack is clean and positioned front and center, with improved fidelity to composer Max Steiner’s (“Casablanca,” “Gone with the Wind”) score.
— Bill Kelley III, High-Def Watch producer
Javier Bardem’s Oscar-winning performance as hired killer Anton Chigurh, the most remorseless villain since Hannibal Lecter. (2) Josh Brolin plays Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss who finds a bag full of drug money and Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald plays his wife Carla Jean.
NO. 2 – “NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN” – THE CRITERION COLLECTION
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 2007; R for strong graphic violence and some profanity
Best extra: Author Megan Abbott leads a new conversation with cinematographer Roger Deakins and associate producer David Diliberto.
SINCE THE Viacom/CBS (Paramount Pictures) acquisition of Miramax and its library of 700-plus films in 2020, the Coen brothers’ four Oscar winner “No Country for Old Men,” marks the second Miramax film, the first “Pulp Fiction” to make the Highdefwatch.com Top 10 4K mastering discs of the year.
Cinematographer Roger Deakins (“The Big Lebowski,” “Fargo,” “1917”) a regular collaborator with the Minneapolis brothers, first read Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 border country novel and pushed the Neo-noir story as their next project, Deakins says during the featurette.
The enclosed Blu-ray houses all of the extras including several carryover featurettes. Tommy Lee Jones (Sheriff Ed Tom Bell) calls this flawless thriller a horror flick – and then says it’s a comedy. Producer Robert Graf has a different take, “A Western with a film noir flair.” Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald (Carla Jean Moss) nails it. “It’s a Coen Brothers film. They’re their own genre,” she says.
The adaptation follows life in the early ‘80s as drugs spill over the Texas-Mexico border. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles onto the bloody aftermath – and a bag of money – of a deal gone bad. Soon, he is hunted by Anton Chigurh (Oscar winner Javier Bardem), the most remorseless villain since Hannibal Lecter.
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Deakins, nominated for an Oscar for his onscreen imagery, supervised the 4K restoration. The original 35mm camera negative (2.39:1 aspect ratio), captured in the Super 35 format was scanned in TRUE 4K. Deakins painted the rugged West Texas desert with a wide frame and bright daylight exposures as Moss moves through the scene of carnage.
The nighttime and daybreak exposures have plenty of detail in the shadows with the expanded HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading. Everything was encoded onto the 100 GB disc, providing a high bitrate from 70 Megabits per second to over 90 Mbps, while rendering excellent film grain from start to finish. The overall clarity is superb, from the wide shots to the facial close-ups.
AUDIO
The original six-channel soundtrack was remastered from the digital files and the new 6.1 DTS-HD track amplifies environmental sounds to a fever pitch, making the mostly scoreless film even more suspenseful.
— B.K. III
Tom Cruise’s performance as Ron Kovic, the Bronze Star Vietnam War recipient and anti-war activist is possibly his finest. He lost the Best Actor Oscar to Danny Day-Lewis for “My Left Foot.”
NO. 3 – “BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY: COLLECTOR’S EDITION”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 1989; R for strong graphic violence and strong profanity
Best extra: “The Battlefield at Home,” a new interview with writer/producer/director Oliver Stone
BY THE MID-80s, Oliver Stone had become one of Hollywood’s hottest directors. He had won two golden Academy Award statues for Best Director and Best Picture for “Platoon” (1986), based on his own personal experience as an infantryman during the Vietnam War.
After the success of “Wall Street” (1987), Tom Cruise’s agent and partner Paula Wagner suggested to Stone that he resurrect the true-to-life story of Ron Kovic for her young star. A decade earlier Stone and Kovic, a Bronze Star Vietnam War recipient and anti-war activist, had written “Born on the Fourth of July” with Al Pacino (“The Godfather,” “Serpico”) in mind for the eager Marine, who returns paralyzed from the chest down. Director William Friedkin (“The French Connection,” “The Exorcist,” and “To Live and Die in L.A.”) would helm the project, but the European financing fell through three days before the cameras started rolling and the production died.
Cruise’s performance as Kovic is possibly his finest, losing the Best Actor Oscar to Danny Day-Lewis for “My Left Foot.” Still, Stone won his second Best Director Oscar, and he and Kovic were nominated for Best Screenplay.
VIDEO
Stone’s social media postings imply Universal Pictures wasn’t interested in releasing “Born on the Fourth of July” on 4K Ultra HD. So, his previous relationship with Shout Studios, who released last year’s 4K box set of “JFK” and his documentary series on the assassination of JFK, opened the door for a complete 4K restoration. “This restoration presents the film the way it was originally presented in theaters in 1989,” Stone says.
The original 35mm anamorphic camera negative was mastered in TRUE 4K. This was Stone’s first anamorphic film, captured by cinematographer Robert Richardson (“JFK,” “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”), who received his second nomination out of 10 total nods and three wins. The on-screen clarity is first-rate with a good dose of natural film grain. The late 1950s and early ‘60s scenes from Kovic’s hometown on Long Island are purposely desaturated, captured in a suburb of Dallas. Once in Vietnam – filmed in the Philippines – the warm colors are fully saturated through HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading.
Everything was encoded onto a 100 GB disc, where the video bitrates vary from the low 50 Megabits per second to the low 80 Mbps. HDR10 peak brightness hits 569 nits and averages 334 nits.
AUDIO
This is one of the best sound upgrades to Dolby Atmos, with John Williams' haunting score and the enveloping wartime effects to height speakers and all around.
“I looked at it, and for me, it holds up. I hope it does for you,” Stone says.
— B.K. III
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart and Lily Gladstone stars as his wife Mollie Burkhart. Both actors are nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress. After WWI Ernest arrives in Fairfax, Okla and the ride to his uncle William “King” Hale’s cattle ranch passed hundreds of oil rigs.
NO. 4 – “KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 2023; R for violence and profanity
Best extra: Brief interview with writer/producer/director Martin Scorsese
IN A WEIRD turn of events, Italy is the only country worldwide licensed to create and sell a physical 4K disc release of Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Who would have guessed?
It’s the second time a major Academy Award-nominated film has been earmarked for a digital Apple+ exclusive. We’re not sure why or how it happened, but independent distributor Eagle Pictures, based in Rome, got the rights to release Best Picture winner “Coda” on a 4K disc in 2022, and the same for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Too bad for home viewers and collectors who don’t subscribe to Apple+.
The Italian 4K disc premiered nearly a year ago and, at that time, it was already an early contender for one of the Best 4K discs of 2024.
Captured on anamorphic Panavision lenses, the master was sourced from an old school 35mm camera negative (1.33:1 aspect ratio in recreating newsreel footage, with the majority in super widescreen 2.39:1). Film grain is well resolved with natural structure from start to finish. Onscreen clarity, especially the wide-angle shots, is crisp and detailed from the background to the foreground. Mexican Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (“The Irishman,” “Silence,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Barbie”) was also nominated for an Oscar.
The Dolby Vision and HDR10 provide excellent highlights and deep dark shadows. Meanwhile, the expanded color spectrum is natural and slightly desaturated with its multicultural cast. The exteriors of this modern western are breathtaking and include hundreds of digitally rendered oil drilling rigs dotting the landscape captured mostly in Osage County, Oklahoma, where the murders occurred. Peak brightness hits 1000 nits, averaging 163 nits with video output running from the upper 20 Megabits per second to nearly 70 Mbps, averaging in the low 50 Mbps range, encoded onto a 100 GB disc to handle the three-hour and 26-minute run time.
AUDIO
The eight-channel Dolby Atmos soundtrack featured on Apple+ is MIA on this disc, although it features an excellent six-channel uncompressed DTS-HD track, which my Denon receiver reprocessed sending effects and music cues to the height speakers. It’s not perfect, but still very powerful with its wide frequency response.
The Oscar-nominated score is by Scorsese’s longtime collaborator, the late Robbie Robertson. Scorsese’s documentary, “The Last Waltz” (1978), of Robertson’s last concert with his Rock ‘n’ Roll group The Band, is considered one of the best live concerts ever captured on film. Here, the dialogue is front and center with layering environmental sound effects – rain, thunder, insects, and gun blasts – filling the theater room with Robertson’s haunting rhythmic sound of acoustic and electric guitars, strings, harmonica, and drums. Robertson, himself of First Nations’ descent, was raised on a reserve in Ontario, Canada. He visited the Oklahoma set for inspiration.
— B.K. III
Cary Grant stars as New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill, chased by a crop duster across a barren landscape near Chicago. Eva Marie Saint stars as love interest Eve Kendall.
NO. 5 – “NORTH BY NORTHWEST: 65th ANNIVERSARY EDITION”
4K Ultra HD; 1959; Not Rated; Digital copy via Amazon Video, Apple TV, Fandango Home, Movies Anywhere, YouTube
Best extra: The 60-minute documentary, “The Master’s Touch,” features comments from top directors, who provide insights into the career of the Master of Suspense.
AFTER HOLDING onto a slot on the top Blu-ray must-watch list for over 15 years, Hitchcock’s spy thriller starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason has achieved the same status on the new 65th anniversary 4K Ultra HD.
This time post-production house Motion Picture Imaging scanned the original “NBNW” large-format VistaVision negative (1.85:1 aspect ratio) at 13K, just like “The Searchers” scanning the negative into two parts (two 6.5K scans) and digitally stitching each frame together. The final restoration was rendered in 6.5K. Still, they faced unique challenges, as each frame was “aging in its own way,” with extreme fading in the blue-yellow channel.
VIDEO
The new onscreen 4K results are terrific, with a noticeable uptick in clarity and visual depth compared to the highly praised Blu-ray of 2009.
Film grain is compact, with a natural texture. Only during one short scene does the grain nearly disappear in a South Dakota forest. It was actually filmed on a soundstage where Hitchcock felt the most comfortable controlling the environment.
A nice surprise, all of the composite fade shots are without that softer, second-generation look that plagues most 4K restorations. Fades were more likely digitally assembled using the raw footage, or by using the larger negative to disguise any shortcomings. Still, in Hitchcock’s trademark background matte paintings, which are composites, the resolution drops a notch from an overhead view when Cary Grant (Roger Thornhill) is inserted into the painting running from the United Nations Building, and when Grant and Marie Saint try to escape during the Mount Rushmore finale. The U.S. Department of Interior feared damage to the monument, so Hitchcock had a 30-by-150-foot replica built of the four presidents on an MGM soundstage.
HDR10 grading provides a warm palette while keeping facial toning on the natural side. Peak brightness hits 1788 nits and averages 120 nits. Everything was encoded onto a 100 GB disc. The video bitrate consistently runs from 50 Megabits per second to 90 Mbps.
AUDIO
Warner produces a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack, pushing Bernard Herrmann’s (“Psycho,” “Vertigo,” “Taxi Driver”) iconic score around the room and to height speakers. The bass response has been enhanced, while the dialogue is still front and centered. Warner also provides the original three-channel Theatrical soundtrack.
— BK III
(1) Marlon Brando stars in his Oscar-winning role as former boxer and longshoreman Terry Malloy. (2) Terry returns to the docks with dozens of other longshoremen to look for work. (3) Edie Doyle, played by Eva Marie Saint in her first on-screen appearance, as she yells, “Who killed my brother?”
NO. 6 – “ON THE WATERFRONT” – COLUMBIA CLASSICS COLLECTION: VOLUME 5
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 1954; Not Rated; Digital via Amazon Video (4K), Apple TV (4K), Fandango Home (4K), Movies Anywhere (4K), YouTube (4K)
Best extra: “Contender: Mastering the Method” (2001)
MARLON BRANDO was a known-star by the time he made his sixth film, Elia Kazan’s Oscar-winner “On the Waterfront.” He won a well-deserved Best Actor Academy Award, with co-star Eva Marie Saint earning Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
“On the Waterfront” was nominated for 12 and won 8 Oscars that night in 1955, including Best Director for Kazan; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay for Budd Schulberg, Best Black & White Cinematography for Boris Kaufman, Best B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration for Richard Day, and Best Film Editing for Gene Milford.
Does “Waterfront” hold up today? Absolutely. And it’s a terrific addition to Columbia Classics Collection 4K Ultra HD No. 5, which also features Oscar-winners “All the King’s Men” (1949); “A Man for All Seasons” (1966); “Tootsie” (1982); “The Age of Innocence” (1993) and “Little Women” (2019).
VIDEO
Sony scanned the original open-matte 35mm camera negative in 4K nearly 15 years ago. The 4K master was first used by The Criterion Collection to produce their impressive 2013 Blu-ray edition.
When the film approached its 70th anniversary, Sony decided to use the same 4K master, adding HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading. The added resolution and the expanded grayscale give the masterpiece new life in 4K. The organic and gritty black-and-white film grain is far better defined, while shadow detail is much improved with its varying levels of grays and blacks. Yes, several shots are out-of-focus, generating a documentary mood, which is where Polish cinematographer Boris Kaufman (“Baby Doll,” “12 Angry Men”) got his start. Everything was encoded onto a 100 GB disc, while the video bit ran between 70 Megabits per second to over 90 Mbps. HDR10 peak brightness hits 1258 nits and averages 96 nits.
Sony presents “On the Waterfront” in three different aspect ratios on three 4K discs. When it hit theaters in 1954, widescreen movies were fairly new, so Columbia Studios provided theater owners three options. First, the traditional square-shaped open-matte framing (1.37:1 ratio) that had been around for decades. That meant there would be extra space over the actor’s heads and towards the bottom of the frame, diluting emotional impact compared to the widescreen versions.
Now we get Kaufman’s widescreen Oscar-winning composition. One is a tighter crop (1.85:1 ratio), the version shown at its premiere, and a slightly looser widescreen (1.66:1 ratio), which is Kaufman’s preferred framing.
AUDIO
A new Dolby Atmos soundtrack was constructed, giving Leonard Bernstein’s active score – at times reminiscent of “West Side Story” – the bliss of symphonic sound, while extracting environmental effects from the waterfront, urban sounds, dockyard, and alleyway in the enveloping soundstage. The dialogue is still front and center and never lost. For purists, Sony also provides the restored straightforward Mono 2.0 DTS HD track.
— BK III
(1) Kevin Costner spent nearly 35 years trying to get the story of “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” onto the silver screen. He plays horse trader Hayes Ellison. (2) A wagon train heads west. (3) Right, Owen Crow Shoe plays White Mountain Apache warrior Pionsemay.
NO. 7 – “HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA – CHAPTER 1”
4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray; 2024; R for violence, discreet sex, partial nudity and profanity; Digital via Amazon Video (4K), Apple TV (4K), Fandango Home (4K), Movies Anywhere (4K), YouTube (4K)
Best extra: There are only two short featurettes via digital copy (Apple TV)
ACTOR/WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER Kevin Costner knows a thing or two about the 19th-century American West.
In the spring of 1991, Costner won the Academy Award for Best Director for his film “Dances with Wolves,” which also won Best Picture.
Just over a decade later, Costner filmed another classic Western “Open Range,” with co-star Robert Duvall about free-grazing cattlemen vs. a wealthy rancher.
And two decades later, his most ambitious effort, spending over 35 years in, is his attempt to make a sweeping epic of the American frontier in four films.
“Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” hit theaters last summer. Many critics were unenthusiastic and most screenings were nearly empty. So, New Line Cinema pulled the film and quickly pivoted it toward digital and its first-rate physical 4K release last fall.
VIDEO
All of the sensational imagery was captured on 6K and 8K digital cameras (1.85:1 aspect ratio) with a touch of post-production film grain. Small specks of dirt and dust were even applied and mastered in TRUE 4K. The Southwest color palette of reds and brown dominates the landscape, while the cast wears a spectrum of earth tones, perfectly rendered via HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading. The expanded color spectrum helps control the excess red/orange push on faces in SDR.
Everything was encoded onto a 100 GB disc, with video bitrate averaging in the mid-50 Megabits per second. You’ll find breathtaking on-screen results from Grand and San Juan counties in southern Utah. HDR10 peak brightness is on the low side at 221 nits and averaging 80 nits.
AUDIO
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is active in front, center, and rears, delivering music cues from composer John Debney (“The Greatest Showman,” “Hatfields & McCoys” TV mini-series) and environmental effects (birds, rain, bullets, fire) to height speakers. The orchestrated score was recorded with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, with a variety of orchestrated sounds including folk violin music.
Kevin Costner is doing his part to keep the Western genre alive, first as an actor in “Silverado” (1985), and for the last three decades as a director. We can only hope the next three installments of “Horizon” will light the silver screen and our home theaters with the adventure and chaos of moving through the American West.
— BK III
Grace Kelly plays Frances Stevens, an heiress who’ll do anything to get her man, John Robie a reformed jewel thief called “The Cat,” played by Cary Grant. The hot lunch date was filmed with a cliffside view of Monaco.
NO. 8 – “TO CATCH A THIEF” – PARAMOUNT PRESENTS
4K Ultra HD, 1955, Not Rated
Best extra: A comprehensive commentary with Dr. Drew Casper, film historian
THE OLD ADAGE “Third time’s a charm” couldn’t be truer than with Paramount’s spectacular 4K Ultra HD release of Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery-thriller-romance “To Catch a Thief.”
Four years ago, I wrote, “Hitchcock would shiver in his grave if he saw it now.” Then the third installment in the Paramount Presents series premiered in 2020, the Blu-ray was plagued with waxy faces and lacked natural film grain. What’s strange, it had been sourced from a 6K 16-bit scan of the original large-format VistaVision negative, using some duplicate negatives to replace damaged sections. The gorgeous Oscar-nominated costumes from designer Edith Head and the breathtaking vistas overlooking the French Riviera, where the story takes place, were missing definition. And, for some crazy reason, the rich warm colors had been dialed to bluish-cold.
Now, the restoration team at Paramount, with senior colorist John Persichetti in control, the 2020 blunder has been rectified with a new “Paramount Presents” release of Hitchcock’s film. A new 4K master from the 6K scan, with HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading (1.85:1 aspect), reinstates the fine film grain. The exceptional VistaVision clarity is nothing short of a showcase.
The additional resolution makes star Grace Kelly look even more glamorous. “The camera fell in love with Grace Kelly,” producer A.C. Lyles says in a carried-over featurette.
Everything was encoded onto a 100 GB disc to ensure the best possible image and grain structure. Video bitrate varies from the low 50 Megabits per second to the mid-80s, and the HDR10 peak brightness hits 1560 nits, averaging 116.
AUDIO
If there’s one fault, the original straightforward Stereo soundtrack has been replaced with the upconverted six-channel Dolby TrueHD used on the 2020 disc. Most of the time, the soundstage is still front-centered for dialogue and score from Lyn Murray (“The Bridges at Toko-Ri”). Composer Bernard Herrmann would take over scoring Hitchcock’s films for the next decade, from “The Trouble with Harry” (1955) and “Marnie” (1964) to his masterpieces for “Vertigo” (1958) and “Psycho” (1960).
— BK III
Samuel L. Jackson plays U.S. Marine Colonel Terry Childers, who leads a rescue mission to the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, that’s under attack from a violent crowd.
NO. 9 – “RULES OF ENGAGEMENT”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 2000; R for violence and profanity
Best extra: Commentary with director William Friedkin
HERE, Tommy Lee Jones (“The Fugitive,” “No Country for Old Men”) plays an ex-Marine lawyer, Colonel Hayes Hodges, who is recruited to defend his Vietnam War buddy, Colonel Terry Childers, played by Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction,” “Captain Marvel”). Childers, a “blood and guts” 30-year Marine veteran, is chosen to lead a rescue mission to the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, but it quickly turns into a bloodbath, and he now faces court martial.
VIDEO
The top-notch KL Studio Classics 4K/Blu-ray combo is the first physical disc release of “Rules of Engagement” in the U.S. since the 2000 DVD release.
Paramount scanned the original 35mm camera negative (2.35:1 aspect ratio) filmed with anamorphic Panavision lens and mastered the digital files in TRUE 4K. The clarity from close-ups to Friedkin’s documentary-style wide shots captured by cinematographers William A. Fraker and Nicola Pecorini is super crisp. The film grain is consistent and natural throughout.
The HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading are excellent with rich color saturation. Black levels are superb while holding detail in the shadows and keeping overblown highlights at bay. The peak HDR10 brightness hits 717 nits and averages 102 nits. Everything was encoded onto a 100 GB disc, with video bitrates from 25 Megabits per second to over 80 Mbps.
AUDIO
As expected, there is no Dolby Atmos upgrade from Kino, but it carries over the powerful six-channel DTS-HD soundtrack with a powerful bass response during explosions. The enveloping soundstage during the embassy attack is intense.
“Rules of Engagement” received so-so reviews from critics during its theatrical run, while the box office response broke even against its $60 million budget. Still, this military thriller has been on my shelf for nearly 25 years, and the 4K and Blu-ray upgrade is a welcome addition.
— BK III
Riley Anderson has just turned 13, and puberty is in full swing. Her emotional headquarters controlled by Joy and company (Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust) are shocked by the arrival of Anxiety and Envy.
NO. 10 – “INSIDE OUT 2”
4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray; 2024; PG for some thematic elements; Digital copy via Amazon Video (4K), Apple TV (4K), Fandango Home (4K), Movies Anywhere (4K), YouTube (4K)
Best extra: “New Emotions” featurette (Blu-ray & Digital)
WAS ANYONE surprised that Pixar’s sequel “Inside Out 2” became the summer’s box office champ?
Honestly, it wasn’t even a contest topping $1.68 billion, making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time – but if you count adjusted inflation Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” still reigns at $1.97 billion. “Inside Out 2” surpassed last year’s darling, “Barbie,” which hit $1.44 billion worldwide.
Our growing Riley Anderson (Kensington Tallman) is now 13, the Minnesota transplant to San Francisco, who is now only one movie year older than the conclusion of “Inside Out,” which premiered nine years ago. Her core emotions are fully intact: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) at the high-tech control center of Riley’s brain. But new characters, Anxiety (the terrific Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) make their bold appearance, pushing her old responses to the side.
VIDEO
Since “Toy Story 4” (2019), Pixar has used the latest computer technology developed by Apple to render the computer animation in TRUE 4K. Compared to the 2K rendered and upconverted 4K of “Inside Out,” the resolution upgrade and detail is quite remarkable – especially with the wide shots in “Inside Out 2.” Also, the aspect ratio has changed to a much wider perspective from 1.85:1 on the original film, which was conceived for 3D viewing, to the more cinematic super widescreen of 2.39:1.
Disney still limits the encoding onto the smaller 66 GB disc, which constrains the maximum video bitrate. This also keeps the Dolby Vision HDR grading to the digital copy only, but the standard HDR10 grading is still top-notch.
Colors are natural, with less red push on the 4K, while the Blu-ray tends to be slightly oversaturated, but still produces an enjoyable 1080p watch.
AUDIO
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is quite active on height speakers with effects and cues from the music from Andrea Datzman, a longtime understudy of composer Michael Giacchino (“Up,” “Ratatouille,” “The Batman”), and the first woman to score a Pixar film. The bass response is deep and strong, while the dialogue is front and center with plenty of clarity.
— BK III
Honorable Mentions
In alphabetical order:
(1) “Chinatown” (2) “Civil War” (3) “Dune: Part 2” (4) “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
(5) “High Noon” (6) “The Hitcher” (7) “Just Mercy” (8) “Little Women”
(9) “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” (10) “Narc” (11) “Purple Rain”
(12) “The Third Man” U.K. version (13) “Twister” U.K. version (14) “Two Mules for Sister Sara” (15) “White Christmas”
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