Welcome to a special Blu-ray Bounty bonus edition. The Blu-ray Bounty has hit its 6-month anniversary (time flies!), and I’ve put together a roundup of the best 4K Blu-rays we’ve tested as part of my ongoing series of disc reviews.
We here at TechRadar are 4K Blu-ray fanatics. Not only for personal reasons, but because it’s also the best source for testing the best TVs and best soundbars for our reviews. Playing 4K discs through one of the best 4K Blu-ray players is a surefire way to see a movie with optimal picture and sound quality and really give a home theater system a workout.
Over the past 6 months, I’ve tested a wide variety of movies, including Golden Age Hollywood classics (Double Indemnity), contemporary action blockbusters (Gladiator II, War of the Planet of the Apes), tense thrillers (Se7en, The Sixth Sense) and lauded world-cinema hits (Chungking Express).
If you want to read any past roundups in full, you’ll find all entries of the Blu-ray Bounty here. All these discs are great for showing off your home theater, but there are some we’ve found that stand out more than others. Below, I’ve picked seven of the discs we’ve tested that are essential to add to your 4K Blu-ray collection.
One last bit of admin: reviews are based on the video and audio quality of the disc alone, not the movie itself. So without further ado, here are my best-of-the Blu-ray Bounty (so far) picks:
Alien: Romulus
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What better way to start than the latest movie in the beloved Alien franchise? Set between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows six teenagers who explore an abandoned space station, only to discover it’s inhabited by hostile alien creatures.
This made my list because it’s a visually striking movie. Throughout, there are examples of high-contrast scenes, with deep, inky blacks balanced perfectly with isolated sources of red and orange light, creating a perfectly eerie atmosphere. Textures and details are true-to-life, and Dolby Vision HDR lends even more visual punch.
The soundtrack utilizes Dolby Atmos well throughout, and there’s a spine-chilling score. Every background noise is given room to breathe, creating a real sense of immersion that adds to the palpable tension.
Double Indemnity
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A Hollywood classic that would influence modern filmmaking, Double Indemnity is the story of an insurance agent who plots with a woman to off her wealthy husband under particular circumstances to get a payout.
This disc was chosen as it’s a brilliant example of what a 4K restoration can do for an older movie. The Criterion Collection’s 4K restoration breathes new life into Double Indemnity, giving textures a serious uplift in detail.
Dolby Vision HDR brings out the highlights among the full range of gray tones, adding even more refinement. I honestly couldn’t get over how superb this movie looked. Watch it on one of the best OLED TVs and you’ll be rewarded.
Wicked
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The blockbuster movie adaptation of the stage musical of the same name, Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, explores the relationship between two witches, Glinda and Elphaba.
Presented in Dolby Atmos, the Wicked soundtrack has soaring vocals and a captivating and uplifting score. Wicked’s soundtrack utilizes dynamic movement, with every step in dance sequences accurately placed in space.
I was surprised by just how gorgeous this film looks. Pink and green hues are seen throughout the movie and although Dolby Vision HDR gives these a glossy, vibrant look, they don’t venture into oversaturation. Wicked is a simply stunning 4K disc.
Punch Drunk Love
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Paul Thomas Anderson’s influential, love-story/mind-trip, Punch Drunk Love, follows Barry (Adam Sandler), whose life becomes a whirlwind after a call to a fake phone sex line sets off a chain of events.
Much like Wicked, this movie delivers spectacular color but in a markedly different way. Here, color is intentionally exaggerated, with Dolby Vision HDR adding a vivid quality to Barry’s blue suit and the plethora of ready-made meals in the supermarket scene. This punchy, stylized color display will show off the capabilities of any TV or one of the best 4K projectors.
Seven (Se7en)
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David Fincher’s crime-thriller follows two detectives as they pursue a serial killer who is targeting victims based on the seven deadly sins, and it features one of cinema’s most infamous twists.
Much like Alien: Romulus, this is a contrast-rich 4K restoration with deep blacks and superb shadow detail, the gloomy environments balanced well with lamps and flashlights throughout. Even when light is reflected in the characters’ faces, the impeccable shadow detail adds serious depth to the picture. Textures and details benefit from the 4K treatment, giving the picture a lifelike, well-defined look.
Seven’s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack projects clear speech, but it’s the ever-present rain that, despite a lack of height channels in the mix, creates an immersive feel.
The Wild Robot
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The Wild Robot is an animated film with a star-studded voice cast that follows the story of a robot stranded on an island, where it must learn to co-exist with the animals living there.
The Wild Robot is here because of its use of color, but for different reasons from Punch Dunk Love and Wicked. The movie’s animation style gives everything a painted effect, as if it were an oil painting, but effortlessly combines it with computer graphics. Presented in Dolby Vision HDR, the movie has a soft and natural but still punchy color range. It’s a simply stunning disc that can really show off your TV or projector’s color reproduction capabilities.
Chungking Express
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Wong Kar-wai’s anthology movie tells two different stories about two different police officers: one who falls for a mysterious woman and another who falls for a restaurant server.
I chose this disc because it surprised me with its effective DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Throughout the movie, busy nightlife and market sequences deliver clanking plates, bells, shouting voices and a whole host of other noises that are so accurately placed, I looked around me a few times while watching. If you want to test your surround speaker system, watch Chungking Express on 4K Blu-ray.
Chungking Express is the only 4K Blu-ray on the list with no HDR, but thankfully, that’s not to its detriment. It’s still an eye-catching movie with true-to-life textures and vivid colors that pop on screen.
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
