10 4Ks You Should Own #1
We kick off an occasional round-up of worthwhile physical media releases
It is safe to say I am deeply addicted to 4K physical media.
The visual fireworks a great transfer delivers are mind-blowing to me. I have been an avid user of home video since the late ‘70s, and I’ll admit, I had a moment where I bought into the idea that digital and streaming media might supplant the physical simply for ease of use. It has been that way with books (except for art books or coffee table books), music, and video games for me, so why not with movies?
I disagree with that notion entirely now. Streaming media has its place, but even the best streaming content delivered to my home via Spectrum’s “lightning-fast” service can’t compete with the sound and picture delivered via a 4K Blu-ray. I upgraded in early 2022 to an LG OLED set, and the jump in picture quality was so pronounced that my first reaction was to feel very stupid about everything I’d said about 4K up to that moment. This is an era of technology where the equipment you use absolutely matters. Not all 4K sets are created equal, and I jumped in without really understanding that.
Once I got my screen and sound system set up, I began to focus on the software, trading in old discs and replacing them with upgraded versions while adding some titles to my library for the first time. At this point, I’ve got just over 500 titles, and I decided to start putting together columns for you spotlighting particularly good transfers that are worth adding to a collection. I haven’t been disappointed by many titles, but there are a few that put me off in the early days of making this jump from one generation to the next.
I’ve done this several times now. Going from VHS to laserdisc, laserdisc to DVD, DVD to Blu-ray… at a certain point, you start to grow weary at the idea of switching from one format to another again, and understandably so. I slowed down considerably in the Blu-ray era. I have probably ten times more DVDs than I do Blu-rays, and I had really worked to curb the habit. I told myself that I wasn’t going to make a big jump into 4K, but like I said… as soon as I got the right screen, I realized how much trouble I was in.
It was Fellowship of the Ring, I think. The remasters that were done for all six of Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth films are remarkable and vibrant, and, in particular, the Hobbit movies represent such a startling upgrade from how they looked in theaters that it’s almost like Peter Jackson got a do-over. There are movies that look amazing that you expect will look amazing, big event films in particular, but there’s a wide range of titles they’re putting out at this point and the titles that are most impressive aren’t necessarily the titles you’d expect. So let’s jump in and talk about some titles that are worth your time. I don’t have a regular timetable for this, but I’ll do these as often as possible. I’ve got something like 500 4K titles at this point, and the landslide of new releases that are coming soon is exciting. Movies like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist and Barbarella are all coming soon, along with JFK, the Kill Bill films, The Wicker Man, and some long-promised James Cameron titles, all supposedly due by next spring. It’s a thrilling time for fans of the format and part of the reason I’m doing this is to encourage you to pick up the titles that are worth it so they’ll keep making more. I want the format to endure and even thrive.
I think it’s important to help people figure out which titles are actually worth owning and which ones feel like they don’t really show a significant upgrade, so I think we’ll do this from time to time. I don’t have a fancy name for this column and I think it’s pretty obvious that I am an overall fan of the format.
Even so, I can indeed say that these are…
10 4Ks You Should Own #1:
Dragons & Zombies & Jerry Lewis, Oh My!
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