Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Sometimes, we just want to get right to it. Many of the movies landing on my desk of late have fallen into a specific, unexpected category: single-word titles. Maybe it’s the protagonist, or the setting, or the theme, but the filmmakers are betting that a single name on the poster (or cover) is enough to make us commit. Let’s find out if they’re right.

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Thief 4K (Criterion)

I was intrigued by Thief after reading a review in Newsweek. I’ve enjoyed the movie immensely since my first viewing on VHS, and I’ve never loved it more than I do now on Criterion’s 4K. Michael Mann’s auspicious directorial debut still resonates for its rough-hewn, true-to-life, on-location storytelling that captures a few pivotal weeks in the life of a Chicago career criminal. Star James Caan would be wholly unlikable as Frank were he not irresistible, taking no crap from anyone but taking lots and lots of diamonds that don’t belong to him—executed with visual panache and set to a killer Tangerine Dream soundtrack in lossless 5.0.

This is the director’s cut, which adds back a scene with blues great Willie Dixon, serving to humanize Frank just a bit. The commentary is 30 years old at this point, but what more could we ask than hearing Mann and Caan reminisce? Over on the included HD Blu-ray, we are also treated to some great on-camera interviews from 2013.

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Opera Limited Edition 5-Disc 4K (Severin Films)

Stylistically, 1980s Italian horror might not be for everyone, but if you’re open to the experience, maestro Dario Argento’s work can be truly terrifying. Considered by many to be his career triumph, Opera draws more than a little of its inspiration from Phantom of the Opera (not surprisingly), with its rising star and masked stalker, yet it’s truly a work all its own. There’s mystery, suspense, a unique mood, and some gore, including more than a tiny bit of eyeball horror that’s not for the squeamish.

Severin proffers the 107-minute director’s cut and tamer 96-minute U.S. theatrical version (a.k.a. Terror at the Opera) at their proper 2.35:1 aspect ratio in newly restored 4K/Dolby Vision on Disc One via seamless branching. The movie was shot in the versatile Super 35 format by Oscar-winner Ronnie Taylor (who also lensed Gandhi), so elsewhere in this set we can find the director’s cut in 1.85:1. Audio options are generous, with English 5.1 and 2.0 surround, Italian 2.0 surround, and English mono with the original dub from the Cannes Film Festival for the director’s cut, plus English-only 5.1 and 2.0 for the American recut. All feature music by Claudio Simonetti, Brian Eno (!), and Bill Wyman (!!).

Three new multi-participant commentaries adorn the director’s cut, featuring many well-informed, passionate experts—including star Cristina Marsillach herself. All these tracks appear on Discs One, Two, and Three. Countless interviews (seriously, I quit adding them up) with cast and crew provide further illumination, including one with the chap who supervised the 4K color correction. “Disco Cinque” is a soundtrack CD with bonus tracks, 15 cuts in all. Exclusive to Severin’s webstore, this limited edition arrives in a custom, rigid slipcase, accompanied by a comprehensive booklet with extensive writing on the subject.

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Constantine 4K (Warner)

Created by writer Alan Moore with artists Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben in the pages of Swamp Thing, John Constantine—also known as the Hellblazer—is a working-class warlock and occult detective, here on the mysterious case of a policewoman’s dead twin sister, with possible demonic influences afoot. Props to Warner for doing right by another catalog fave, thanks to a 4K restoration sourced from the original camera negative and overseen by director Francis Lawrence. It looks fine despite the early-2000s-era digital effects, and it arrives with a mighty Atmos remix.

A new featurette reunites Lawrence with star Keanu Reeves to talk about the movie’s 20th anniversary, alongside two audio commentaries, no fewer than 14 legacy vignettes, and almost as many deleted and alternate scenes.

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Cruising 4K Limited Edition (Arrow)

Growing up in the Tri-State, I remember seeing TV news reports of protests against a movie called Cruising, which my parents seemed oddly reluctant to explain to me as a kid. Starring Al Pacino and directed with ample urban grit by William Friedkin—who also scripted from the novel by Gerald Walker—this police thriller is based on actual events, as a serial killer targets gay men in New York City. While the representation of this hot-button subject matter shows its age, the filmmaking remains exemplary, showcased by yet another outstanding 4K restoration from the original camera negative by Arrow in Dolby Vision, with mono, stereo, and 5.1 remix options.

The two separate archival Friedkin commentaries are joined by a new track with a disparate lineup of punk musicians who contributed to the movie, as well as an alternate musical score from 2019. Many old and new on-camera interviews shed light on Cruising, as do some deleted/alternate scenes and a look back at the controversy. A thick, extensively researched companion book comes slipcased inside one of those serious Arrow boxes.

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Venom 4K (Blue Underground)

Before Mike Zeck, David Michelinie, and Todd McFarlane would dream up the comic book character of Venom—later of his own movie trilogy—and long before Snakes on a Plane, there was Piers Haggard’s 1981 reptile thriller, Venom. A young boy and his grandfather are trapped inside a London flat with a couple of ruthless kidnappers—the always-chilling Klaus Kinski and Oliver Reed—and a deadly black mamba slithering around the confined space with them, eager for a bite.

The new 4K/16-bit scan/restoration is presented here in Dolby Vision, with a new Atmos remix (in addition to 5.1 and stereo). These upgrades do wonders to immerse us in the life-and-death tension. A legacy director commentary is ported over, joined by a new historians’ track, plus fresh interviews with crew members and other experts. Collectors, take note: This first pressing includes an embossed slipcover and an exclusive booklet.

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Amadeus 4K (Warner)

Miloš Forman’s Oscar-winning Best Picture was on heavy rotation around Rancho Chiarella back in the VCR days, a tantalizing embellishment of the rivalry between composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) and his contemporary, Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham, in one of the most exquisite screen performances I’ve ever seen). The movie was digitally restored last year for its 40th anniversary, a painstaking process with glorious results. Miroslav Ondříček’s cinematography captures the candlelit splendor of old Vienna (actually the Czech Republic) as never before.

The obvious stars of the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 soundtrack (no LFE channel!) are the musical performances, particularly those in the larger stage venues with their naturalistic acoustics. An hour-long 2002 “making of” from the era of the director’s cut release pairs nicely with a more recent featurette cobbled together from various interviews conducted via Zoom. Note that this disc contains the theatrical cut only, meaning we lose the archival commentary between Forman and writer Peter Shaffer.

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Nosferatu 4K (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)

This latest remake of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which was itself an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is an updated take on Count Orlok & Co. Writer/director Robert Eggers’ long-gestating passion project has been realized with a Kubrickian level of exacting detail in every aspect of production. The movie was shot on film, and the native 4K master in Dolby Vision, paired with Atmos audio, is nothing short of reference quality. Both its theatrical and slightly extended cut are accessible here, each destined to leave you haunted by visions of Transylvania long after the end credits roll.

Among the supplements are three deleted scenes, plus a series of featurettes that combine into a sort of documentary if watched together. Eggers also provides a riveting audio commentary that reveals his boundless enthusiasm for this movie and for filmmaking in general.

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Tommy 4K (Shout Studios)

The Who’s seminal rock opera recounts the story of young Tommy Walker, a traumatized “deaf, dumb, and blind kid” who can nonetheless play a mean pinball—a gift that elevates him to messianic status. In a sadly ironic twist, star/lead singer Roger Daltrey recently shared that he’s losing his own hearing and vision, just as the movie adaptation celebrates its 50th birthday with this first-ever Shout Select 4K release.

Prominent director of the period Ken Russell cast a who’s who of performers for the event—whether they could sing or not—including Jack Nicholson, Oliver Reed (him again), Ann-Margret, Elton John, and more. Engineer John Mosely’s once-and-never-again “Quintaphonic” 5.0 format sound mix is preserved here, along with its modern 5.1 successor and a traditional 2.0, all in high-res DTS-HD Master Audio. The new 4K/Dolby Vision image is sourced from the original camera negative and color interpositive, and the included HD Blu-ray disc is derived from the same transfer, offering identical audio options. The first 4K pressing of Tommy arrives in a limited edition slipcover.

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Delicatessen 4K 3-Disc Limited Edition (Severin)

If Sweeney Todd dropped acid and woke up in a dystopian future where meat is a form of currency, his experience might resemble Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Delicatessen. This absurd comedy is truly bizarre and original yet remains accessible and entertaining, brimming with cannibalism, romance, rebellious vegetarians, and more sight gags than you can throw a butcher knife at. Way back in 2010, I reviewed another label’s 1080p Blu-ray, which was lackluster at best. By happy contrast, Severin’s new Dolby Vision 4K disc reveals the many nuances lurking in the mist and shadows of this deliciously whimsical world.

The classic 2.0 and newly expanded 5.1 soundtrack options—both in French with available English subtitles—offer key differences, and while we can’t lose with either one, I’m partial to the transportive multichannel mix for this wild fantasy. We spun the most deluxe of Severin’s multiple editions, combining excellent new and old extras: a ported Jeunet commentary on the 4K, interviews and a “making of” program on Disc Two (an HD Blu-ray), plus a third, exclusive HD platter with even more to chew on. There’s a booklet and a perfectly understated slipcover here, too, although a stripped-down, more budget-friendly two-disc version is also available.

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RoboCop 2 4K (Shout Studios)

(RoboCop is a compound word and “2” is a number, so it makes the cut here. Change my mind.)

I have an unshakable fondness for RoboCop 2 as it finds co-screenwriter Frank Miller—who also cameos as a criminal scientist—shortly after his comic book triumph The Dark Knight Returns, channeling much of that wicked, violent satire. Finally on 4K, the movie was directed by The Empire Strikes Back’s Irvin Kershner and shot by the Farrelly Brothers’ go-to cinematographer Mark Irwin. Despite the often-challenging analog effects of the era, some of which utilized the large-format VistaVision process, the image is remarkably sharp, well-balanced, and appropriately colorful in Dolby Vision, thanks to a new scan of the OCN (not to be confused with the OCP).

The disc offers three distinct DTS-HD Master Audio options: a remixed 5.1 with split surrounds, MGM’s own 2.0, and a re-encoded PCM 2.0 track sourced from the 1991 laserdisc. Each has its own unique sonic character, all worth exploring. Further discoveries await in the trove of extras ported from Shout’s own collector’s edition HD Blu-ray (also bundled here), among them twin commentaries, featurettes, and interviews.

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RoboCop 3 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Deluxe Edition LP (Varèse Sarabande/Craft Recordings)

Another departure from the original RoboCop was #2’s switch from composer Basil Poledouris to Leonard Rosenman, but Mr. P returned for #3 and brought with him his stirring blend of synthesizer and orchestra, bold action beats, and subtle character themes. It’s a distinctive, welcome complement that elevates what is primarily a sci-fi adventure, complete with sadness and, of course, a healthy dose of the series’ trademark, sometimes over-the-top humor.

The two custom “Delta City Yellow” vinyl platters in this beautifully designed gatefold carry the complete score across 26 tracks. Be warned: The track titles contain some major plot spoilers.

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That’s a wrap on the single-word (or close enough!) 4K marathon. Sometimes, one little word is enough to catch our eye—and maybe empty our wallets.