Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

So yeah, steelbooks are totally a thing now, as collectors are driving a growing segment of the physical media market, looking for something that feels special in the hand and looks distinctive on the shelf. It also helps if there’s a good movie inside and the studios have been happy to oblige, mostly revisiting catalog titles to bring us noteworthy releases like these picks from this past summer.

(Editor’s Note: Of the 4K titles on this list, all but two are making their 4K disc debut in the metal-encased iterations covered below.)

---

Taxi Driver 4K
Drive 4K
(both Sony)

A “drive-in” double-feature with two of our favorite wheelmen (see what I did there? anybody…?), Taxi Driver and Drive have more in common than the professions of their brooding protagonists, namely a strong emphasis on character, something we see all too rarely these days. This is the first time Taxi Driver has been available on 4K disc outside of the second Columbia Classics boxed set, and it arrives in a beautiful steelbook bearing the original 1976 poster art. As before, it’s restored from the camera negative and in Dolby Vision and 5.1 plus dual mono, with a gaggle of legacy content including a rare Scorsese audio commentary ported from the 1986 Criterion laserdisc along with two more.

On 4K disc for the first time, Nicolas Winding Refn’s take on James Sallis’ book introduces a mysterious stuntman/getaway driver—simply named “Driver” (It-Boy Ryan Gosling)—who boils over when someone he cares about is targeted by some very bad men. It’s not a car chase movie per se, rather a slow-burn drama and a wholly original one, with Gosling backed by a supporting cast plucked from premium TV: Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks.

The Oscar-nominated sound is now upgraded to Dolby Atmos with a TrueHD 7.1 core, an underappreciated component of Refn’s transcendent storytelling. The 4K/Blu-ray combo contains a new retrospective with members of the cast and crew plus legacy featurettes, while the case art composition and color scheme have a retro, almost ‘80s vibe.

---

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 4K
(Paramount)

An indulgence for the kids can sometimes be a low-key treat for the home theater, as with this 4K premiere of our favorite absorbent and yellow rectangle’s first big-screen adventure. Paramount’s Ultra HD offering is drastically sharper and more colorful than its 2K counterpart (an HD Blu-ray and a single-vendor digital copy code are also in here).

In fact, I think the last time I watched this one all the way through was on my PSP, so I am utterly gobsmacked at the luscious hues and crisp line art of Nickelodeon’s cinema-ready “semi-digital” animation from 1999. Yep, this is ‘Bob’s silver anniversary, and Disc 2 celebrates with a (sunken) treasure chest of vintage featurettes, music videos and more.

---

Captain Phillips 4K
(Sony)

Available on 4K disc for the first time in this steelbook, this is the true tale of merchant mariner Richard Phillips, who was captaining the ship the MV Maersk Alabama when it was taken over by Somali pirates in 2009. The story made international headlines and although Phillips’ book and its adaptation might have ruffled the feathers of some of the real-life crewmen, the movie is a tense and triumphant journey, further elevated by star Tom Hanks and co-star Brakhad Abdi, both Oscar-nominated. Sony is the captain now, serving up a roomy BD-100 platter packing both Dolby Vision and a new Dolby Atmos remix, both of which are stellar.

The HD Blu-ray of the movie bundled here carries an hour-long “making of” and an audio commentary from director Paul Greengrass, who could rightly be called “hijacking guy” after helming this and United 93.

---

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Parts Two and Three 4K
(Warner)

These two most recent DC Universe Animated Original Movies flesh out and conclude one of the most celebrated and influential comic book storylines in history, as set up in January’s excellent first installment. Who can possibly stop the unimaginably powerful Anti-Monitor, who is erasing entire planets on the way to wiping out all of existence? The focus shifts from the ill-fated Flash/Barry Allen to incorporate multiple versions of a multitude of characters from across the multiverse, brought to life by a positively stacked voice cast and what is by this point a recognizably bold animation style. In bringing Crisis to a close, director Jeff Wamester has now created--when taken together--the longest single DC animated story ever told by far, at well over four hours total, for a fitting dramatization.

All three of the 4K installments in the saga are steelbook editions containing a crisp and colorful native 4K disc with a super-powerful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code sidekick. Each includes its own pair of featurettes, brief but populated by true experts who provide some welcome perspective on these heroic/villainous doings.

---

The Crow 4K
(Paramount)

Controversial at the time of its release due to the tragic accidental death of star Brandon Lee, The Crow is nonetheless an intriguing adaptation of James O’Barr’s indie graphic novel. Directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City; I, Robot), it’s a gripping and earnest tale of violence and revenge that has endured these 30 years to emerge as a true classic. It’s also one of the best transfers of 2024, a movie made for made for HDR, here in Dolby Vision specifically.

Almost the entire movie takes place at night and the sets, costumes and more seem to favor shades of black, much like the source material, and Dariusz Wolski’s almost too-good cinematography is magnificently presented. The 5.1 audio is a worthy accompaniment, in particular for its powerful rendition of the music. Legacy extras are plentiful--two audio commentaries, deleted and extended footage--and new for this edition is an extended interview with production designer Alex McDowell. (Paramount was kind enough to send the steelbook but The Crow is also available in standard packaging, if you prefer.)

---

Desperado 4K
(Arrow)

Arguably the purest of hyphenate filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s over-the-top shoot-‘em-ups, 1995’s Desperado seeks primarily to dazzle and so it does, giving us some of the most memorable gunfights in moviedom. Painstakingly shot and cut and aggressively mixed, this sequel to and kinda remake of Rodriguez’s first feature film, the micro-budgeted wonder El Mariachi, it puts an impossibly attractive couple (Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek) in harm’s way as they move closer to taking down a powerful drug lord.

Desperado is bowing in 4K here, with a new restoration from the original camera negative delivered by Sony, with Dolby Vision HDR, no fewer than five new on-camera interviews from key production folks plus accomplished admirer Gareth Evans (director of The Raid: Redemption), a classic Ten-Minute Film School and a substantial companion booklet. (For the steel-averse, Desperado 4K can instead be had within Arrow’s recent “Mexico Trilogy” limited edition boxed set, nestled between HD Blu-rays of Mariachi and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.)

---

Collateral 4K 20th Anniversary Steelbook Edition
(Paramount)

Writer/director Michael Mann seems enamored with the technology of filmmaking, and this 2004 offering was created with a fascinating combination of 35mm film and HD video, at a time when digital capture wasn’t getting a lot of mainstream love. Collateral was also Oscar-nominated for its film editing alongside Jamie Foxx’s supporting performance as a hapless cabbie who picks up the wrong fare one fateful night.

He unknowingly becomes the chauffer for a professional killer played by Tom Cruise, who puts his action hero chops to absolutely chilling use playing against type in this bad guy role. It’s another riveting one-word-title crime thriller from the maker of Heat and Thief. The 4K disc itself appears to be identical to the one released by Paramount in 2020, with the same solid A/V presentation and extras, among them a generous commentary by Mann and some rich, revealing and sometimes unexpected extras.

---

The Bloody Disgusting Blu-ray SteelBook Collection
(Lionsgate)

Build out your library in style with this handsome wave of horrors. Media company Bloody Disgusting is breathing new life into a septet of perhaps lesser-known scares from the past two decades, including originals, sequels, prequels, remakes and a couple of visits with the Lone Star State’s most notorious gas-powered serial killer. Each HD Blu-ray disc is sold separately and exclusively at Walmart:
•        Wolf Creek (2004)
•        Leatherface (2017)
•        Sinister (2012)
•        Texas Chainsaw (2013)
•        You’re Next (2013)
•        I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
•        Hannibal Rising (2006)

Wolf Creek and Hannibal Rising are making their high-def-disc debuts in these new editions, and those two plus I Spit on Your Grave are presented in their unrated versions. A wealth of legacy bonus content has been carried over, almost all have at least one audio commentary, some with two and Chainsaw has three! The steelbook artwork is inspired, each cover dominated by a monochromatic image then accented by a single color, with a movie quote on the back. All titles also arrive with a single-vendor digital copy code.

---

Inside Out 2 4K
(Disney/Pixar)

New challenges for young Riley give rise to new emotions (Ennui is my favorite) in Pixar’s best film in years, and reportedly the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. The 2160p disc is only available in a steelbook edition, adorned with some vibrant images of the expanded cast and--unlike Pete Docter’s 2015 original--is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio and native 4K, for a superlative home theater experience, Atmos and all.

A system calibrator is provided on the included HD Blu-ray, along with more than 20 minutes of deleted scenes in various stages of completion and a pair of featurettes.

---

Body Double 4K
(Sony)

Brian De Palma pays tribute to Alfred Hitchcock once again (most obviously Rear Window, with Vertigo and some Dial M for Murder in there) in 1984’s Body Double, even going so far as to cast Tippi Hedren’s daughter as a porn actress involved in a bizarre case of homicide and mistaken identity. Kudos to Sony for giving us another new Dolby Vision grade and Atmos remix, celebrating the 40th anniversary in premium style.

De Palma doesn’t do commentaries but newly added for this 4K debut are archival electronic press kit (EPK) interviews with the director and his stars plus the alternate movie version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax” music video, along with four legacy featurettes.

---

Wind River 4K
(Lionsgate)

After his Oscar nomination for scripting Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan returned to the director’s chair for this twisty Wyoming-set thriller starring Avengers Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, about murder and a possible cover-up on a Native American reservation.

Wind River is making its 4K disc debut in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in this Walmart-exclusive steelbook, an upscale from 2K but a solid one, with some on-point surround effects in the mix. Deleted scenes and a gallery of behind-the-scenes video are supplied on the bundled HD Blu-ray, all with a thoughtful design across the case and discs.