Another month, another edition of the Blu-ray Bounty! This month, May 2025, I’m looking at three new 4K Blu-rays you can add to your collection.
If this is your first visit, welcome! You can find previous editions of the Blu-ray Bounty here, including a special 6-month anniversary edition I did in April 2025, where I picked my seven favorite 4K Blu-rays I’d reviewed as part of the Blu-ray Bounty.
4K Blu-ray is one of the best ways to experience movies, and we use the best 4K Blu-ray players as a source here at TechRadar to test not only the best TVs, but also the best soundbars.
This week I’m using our regular testing setup, with the Panasonic MZ1500 OLED TV, Samsung HW-Q990C Dolby Atmos soundbar and Panasonic DP-UB820 4K Blu-ray player.
As a reminder, I’m not reviewing the movie itself, but am just looking at the visual and audio quality of the 4K discs and judging whether they would make a worthy addition to your collection.
In last month’s April 2025’s edition, I looked at A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist and Chungking Express, so be sure to check out what I thought of those 3 discs.
Anora
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One of 2024’s most unexpected hit movies, Anora, starring Mikey Madison in the titular role, is about a stripper whose world changes when she marries a Russian oligarch’s son. This romantic, screwball comedy-drama earned several Oscars, including Best Actress for Madison.
Anora has plenty of scenes that will test your display’s abilities. Where it really shines visually is in its strip club scenes, which show great contrast between dark, shadowy rooms and punchy, colorful lights. Textures are also lifelike and look highly realistic on our reference MZ1500 OLED.
The 4K disc of Anora has a DTS-HD soundtrack, and although there aren’t many moments in this dialogue-heavy movie that will test your system sound to its limits, the nightclub scenes with pulsing dance music can give your subwoofer a workout. There are also moments with shattering glass and breaking furniture that deliver a hefty impact, and dialogue is crystal clear throughout.
Nosferatu (2024)
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Robert Eggers’ take on the 1922 classic Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula and features an all-star cast including Bill Skarsgard, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicolas Hoult.
Viewed in Dolby Vision, Nosferatu has rich, deep black levels throughout. There are also plenty of high contrast scenes, with bright, flaming torches pitched against dark surroundings. Shadow detail is exceptional, even in the darkest scenes, making this an excellent disc for showing off the black level and contrast capabilities of the best OLED TVs and best mini-LED TVs.
Nosferatu’s immersive Dolby Atmos soundtrack perfectly balances the scratching strings in the tense score with clear speech and well-utilized height effects, such as pounding rain from overhead. One scene in a tomb towards the film’s finale demonstrates the soundtrack’s vivid use of effects, emphasizing the crackling fire of a torch and squeaking rats on the floor.
Tombstone
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A cult classic Western, Tombstone tells the story of Wyatt Earp, a retired lawman who moves to the eponymous town and experiences trials and tribulations with a gang of cowboys. Starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton, and Sam Elliot, to name a few, the cast is a Who’s Who of popular actors from the day.
A 4K restoration plus Dolby Vision HDR does wonders for Tombstone. Textures and details have been given an uplift, giving the image a near 3D-like level of realism.
Colors jump from the screen, with the vibrant red shirt of Curly Bill and the sashes worn by his gang all benefiting from an HDR punch. Darker elements such as the night sky and jet black clothing worn by the Earp group contrast well with light tones such as the dry, sandy ground and beige buildings, giving the movie a modern look.
The disc’s DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack provides all the bombast and gusto you could hope for from an action movie like Tombstone. In the opening, the thunderous galloping of cowboys on horseback creates plenty of subwoofer rumble. Even subtle effects like clinking spurs and carefully loaded guns sound detailed.
Gunfights are presented with great clarity and accurate directional effects. With the right surround sound setup, ricocheting bullets will literally feel like they’re skimming past you.
Looking to get your hands on our setup or something similar? We’ve included links to the best deals on the up-to-date alternatives to our system.
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
