Our favorite 4K releases this year Roundup: Pixels, Punches, and Poetry in Motion
Neon gun-fu, dust-bowl elegies, and glittering cons—handpicked Ultra HD gems for the home-cinema faithful
Stacked spines, molten pixels: our 4K Blu Rays & Blu Rays grid—Dolby Vision dazzle, Atmos thunder, film-grain glory. Ready your remotes.
Calibrate your OLEDs and tighten those speaker bolts, crew—Our favorite 4K releases this year Roundup beams in with three wildly different marvels: John Wick: Chapter 4, The Last Picture Show, and Hustlers. From Lionsgate UK’s neon-noir opera to Sony’s Columbia Classics monochrome elegy and Universal’s glitter-dusted caper, this trio is less a sampler and more an artifact set—like snagging the Triforce, a Holocron, and a rare Pokémon card in the same loot drop. Expect Dolby Vision speculars that carve rain like a lightsaber, grain that whispers like a first-press vinyl, and Atmos mixes that map space with Starfleet precision. It’s a symphony of tone: bullets, longing, and hustle.
Think of it as a guided tour through action mythmaking, American-grail drama, and slick true-crime swagger—each title unwrapped with tech-savvy glee and movie-loving zeal. We’ll decode HDR like Gandalf annotating the Red Book, translate codecs as if they were Mass Effect skill trees, and flag when a transfer preserves its filmic soul versus drifting into uncanny android territory. Whether you chase demo discs to flex your sub like a kaiju stomp or cherish silver-screen texture like a Kurosawa still, these picks will light the beacons of your home theater. Dim the lights, ready the remote, and let the pixels roll—the quest begins now.
High-Gloss Grit: Hustlers Struts Onto 4K Blu Ray
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment tightens the corset on a slick, street-smart upgrade
Runway to Redemption: The Hustle Reborn in 4K
The glow-up is real. Hustlers isn’t just a heist; it’s a con with a conscience, magnetized by Lorene Scafaria’s laser-focused direction and a career-scorching turn from Jennifer Lopez opposite Constance Wu. Think Goodfellas with glitter and a Wall Street hangover, a montage machine that glides like a Steadicam through Scorsese’s backlot and still finds its own swagger. On 4K Blu Ray, Universal’s transfer makes the film’s sepia-glazed glamour pop without sanding off its grit—every sequin, every hairpin, every side-eye reads like a saved game on New Game+. Neon-drenched club nights flare like Blade Runner signage while daylight scenes keep their burnished, recession-era melancholy. If the story’s rise-and-fall arc is familiar, the character textures feel fresh, as intimate as a whispered plan in a booth. In short: this is a demo-ready rewatch that purrs like a tuned DeLorean and hits like a perfectly timed Mario Kart blue shell.
Runway to Redemption: The Hustle Reborn in 4K
The glow-up is real. Hustlers isn’t just a heist; it’s a con with a conscience, magnetized by Lorene Scafaria’s laser-focused direction and a career-scorching turn from Jennifer Lopez opposite Constance Wu. Think Goodfellas with glitter and a Wall Street hangover, a montage machine that glides like a Steadicam through Scorsese’s backlot and still finds its own swagger. On 4K Blu Ray, Universal’s transfer makes the film’s sepia-glazed glamour pop without sanding off its grit—every sequin, every hairpin, every side-eye reads like a saved game on New Game+. Neon-drenched club nights flare like Blade Runner signage while daylight scenes keep their burnished, recession-era melancholy. If the story’s rise-and-fall arc is familiar, the character textures feel fresh, as intimate as a whispered plan in a booth. In short: this is a demo-ready rewatch that purrs like a tuned DeLorean and hits like a perfectly timed Mario Kart blue shell.
Techno-Alchemy: Pixels, Peaks, and Atmos Above
Drop the needle on Hustlers and the 2160p image (native 4K DI) flexes like Tony Stark’s arc reactor: precise, controlled, and dazzling. HEVC compression keeps the frame clean; 10-bit HDR10 and a Wide Colour Gamut render inky blacks and immaculate whites, letting pearls sparkle and dashboards brood. The 2.39:1 Arri Alexa capture preserves that warm, sepia lacquer yet grants pores, fabrics, and glitter a tactile, filmic bite. Minor aliasing and the occasional soft extreme wide are the only tiny gremlins in the machine—call them side quests, not bosses. Then the Dolby Atmos mix kicks in, widening the club into a sonic holodeck: bass digs deep like a Gotham subway rumble, height channels lift tracks and crowd chatter overhead with slick, discrete placement. Dialogue slices cleanly through the mix, narration rides the groove, and Britney’s beats bloom above like fireworks on Hyrule Field. Immersive, punchy, reference-grade.
The Tips Jar: Extras, Takeaways, and the Final Count
The extras are lean but purposeful—more precision strike than loot chest. The crown jewel is an engrossing Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Lorene Scafaria, a front-row masterclass that dissects casting, real-location choices, and the film’s Scorsese-leaning tempo without ever losing the human pulse. Two concise trailers—Trailer 1 and Trailer 2—round things out, plus a bundled Blu Ray and digital copy for flexible viewing. Would a making-of doc have sweetened the pot? Sure. But when the transfer looks this polished and the Dolby Atmos thumps like an Endor speeder chase, the value proposition is strong. Universal’s disc respects the warm palette, locks in stable grain texture, and lets performances radiate with high-contrast confidence. Final verdict: a high-roller presentation with modest swag, priced right and primed for repeat spins. Consider this your VIP wristband—no TARDIS required, just a couch and a sub that can rumble like the Enterprise at warp.
Dust, Desire, and Dolby Vision: The Last Picture Show Rides Tall in 4K
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment UK • Columbia Classics Collection Volume 3
Where the Marquee Fades, the Masterpiece Shines
Fire up the projector, folks—this is small-town melancholy rendered with the clarity of a Triforce shard. Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show returns like a widescreen time machine, its 1950s Texas ennui shimmering in native 4K that feels as tactile as flipping a mint-condition Silver Age comic. The black-and-white spell—nudged into existence by Orson Welles—lands with the gravitas of a Kurosawa frame and the intimacy of a Twin Peaks diner booth at 2 a.m. Faces—Timothy Bottoms, a young Jeff Bridges, and Cybill Shepherd—read like etched monotypes; you can practically count the dust motes drifting through Anarene’s last-chance matinee. HDR/Dolby Vision doesn’t modernize so much as resurrect, like Gandalf returning in brighter robes, deepening shadows and coaxing silver midtones into a velvety grayscale that would make a film-noir detective put down his fedora. Compared head-to-head with prior discs, this Sony/Columbia Classics pass is the cartridge you brag about on retro night—grain intact, detail unflinching, and the vibe pure Bogdanovich. It’s memory lane, but with 2160p headlights cutting through the West Texas fog. In short: definitive, and then some.
Where the Marquee Fades, the Masterpiece Shines
Fire up the projector, folks—this is small-town melancholy rendered with the clarity of a Triforce shard. Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show returns like a widescreen time machine, its 1950s Texas ennui shimmering in native 4K that feels as tactile as flipping a mint-condition Silver Age comic. The black-and-white spell—nudged into existence by Orson Welles—lands with the gravitas of a Kurosawa frame and the intimacy of a Twin Peaks diner booth at 2 a.m. Faces—Timothy Bottoms, a young Jeff Bridges, and Cybill Shepherd—read like etched monotypes; you can practically count the dust motes drifting through Anarene’s last-chance matinee. HDR/Dolby Vision doesn’t modernize so much as resurrect, like Gandalf returning in brighter robes, deepening shadows and coaxing silver midtones into a velvety grayscale that would make a film-noir detective put down his fedora. Compared head-to-head with prior discs, this Sony/Columbia Classics pass is the cartridge you brag about on retro night—grain intact, detail unflinching, and the vibe pure Bogdanovich. It’s memory lane, but with 2160p headlights cutting through the West Texas fog. In short: definitive, and then some.
The Wizardry Under the Hood: HDR, WCG, and Honest-to-God Grain
Technically, The Last Picture Show is a black-and-white Excalibur pulled from the stone. The full 4K scan from the OCN, framed at 1.85:1, streams via HEVC with BT.2020 WCG and both HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading—think elven enchantments on highlights and shadow detail, letting neon signs glow like a Nighthawks painting without crushing the night. Transitional dissolves hold sharp as if someone swapped your old CRT for a calibrated OLED; the grain rides steady, like a perfectly tuned SNES frame rate—never smeared, never plastic. Blacks are ink, whites are pearl, grayscale tonality is a staircase worthy of Lang. On the audio flank, Sony opts for a straight-shooting DTS-HD MA 5.1 alongside a DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono option. No Atmos dragon here, but dialogue sits center-channel with Jedi-like discipline while ambient cues—engine idles, pool hall hush, wind skimming the empty main drag—sneak into the surrounds like a stealth build in Skyrim. Dynamic range is modest by design; this mix respects the film’s bones, prioritizing clarity and authenticity over fireworks. It’s restraint as craft, the kind that ages like a Criterion spine.
Side Quests and Keepsakes: The Extras Vault Opens
Sony’s Columbia Classics Vol. 3 doesn’t just hand you a movie; it hands you a museum wing. You get both the 1971 Theatrical and the Director’s Cut on their own 4K discs—collector catnip worthy of a limited-run vinyl pressing. The supplements play like a Diablo loot drop: an auteur-grade Audio Commentary with Peter Bogdanovich, the newly-minted A Tribute to Peter Bogdanovich, the reflective The Last Picture Show: A Look Back, A Discussion with Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, starkly fascinating Location Footage, plus Theatrical Re-Release Featurette, Teaser Trailer, and Theatrical Trailer. Notably absent: the Criterion-doc grail Picture This and any inclusion of Texasville—call them the missing DLCs. Still, what’s here maps the film’s genesis and legacy with the care of a Tolkien appendix. Transfer-wise, it’s reference-grade: pristine source, no encode gremlins, and a grayscale that sings like a Morricone cue at magic hour. My takeaway? If American grail cinema is your fandom, this Sony release is the 4K Blu Ray you display spine-out—evidence that classic monochrome can still crit-hit harder than any neon-soaked blockbuster.
Ballet of Bullets Ascends: John Wick: Chapter 4 in 4K Glory
Lionsgate UK’s 4K Blu Ray turns Stahelski’s neon-noir odyssey into a home-theater legend
Draw the Pencil: A Myth Deepens, A World Sharpens
Assassins, holster your respawn timers—John Wick: Chapter 4 arrives on Lionsgate UK’s 4K Blu Ray like a katana honed by a thousand parries. Under the hyper-controlled eye of Chad Stahelski, this chapter stretches the High Table mythos into an operatic saga, while Keanu Reeves channels a warrior monk’s resolve—half ronin, half endgame raid boss. Donnie Yen steals frames with gentlemanly menace; Bill Skarsgård slinks like a Bond villain who beat you at chess three moves ago. Visually, it’s a love letter to Bertolucci’s painterly warmth and Wong Kar-Wai’s woozy neon—think Blade Runner alleyways brushed with Dune sunsets—yet it moves with controller-in-hand precision, as if Hotline Miami traded pixel blood for glossy chiaroscuro. The overall transfer? A benchmark. Grain-free digital clarity, ravishing color design, and shadow detail that lets you see the sweat, the smoke, and the silent decisions before a single shell hits the marble. This is bullet ballet staged on Olympus, the kind of upgrade that makes your TV feel like it just unlocked a new skill tree.
Draw the Pencil: A Myth Deepens, A World Sharpens
Assassins, holster your respawn timers—John Wick: Chapter 4 arrives on Lionsgate UK’s 4K Blu Ray like a katana honed by a thousand parries. Under the hyper-controlled eye of Chad Stahelski, this chapter stretches the High Table mythos into an operatic saga, while Keanu Reeves channels a warrior monk’s resolve—half ronin, half endgame raid boss. Donnie Yen steals frames with gentlemanly menace; Bill Skarsgård slinks like a Bond villain who beat you at chess three moves ago. Visually, it’s a love letter to Bertolucci’s painterly warmth and Wong Kar-Wai’s woozy neon—think Blade Runner alleyways brushed with Dune sunsets—yet it moves with controller-in-hand precision, as if Hotline Miami traded pixel blood for glossy chiaroscuro. The overall transfer? A benchmark. Grain-free digital clarity, ravishing color design, and shadow detail that lets you see the sweat, the smoke, and the silent decisions before a single shell hits the marble. This is bullet ballet staged on Olympus, the kind of upgrade that makes your TV feel like it just unlocked a new skill tree.
Forge and Fire: Dolby Vision sorcery, Atmos architecture
Shot on Arri and finished in a 4K DI, this native 3840x2160/24p encode (HEVC/H.265, 2.39:1) paints light like a Sorcerer Supreme. Dolby Vision sculpts speculars so headlights slice the Paris rain like Hyrule’s Master Sword, while black levels go deep enough to hide a Witcher contract and still reveal the glint on a shell casing. Color volume swings from desert ambers to Continental blues with arcade-boss confidence; skin tones stay human in every nightclub spell. A whisper of digital sharpening tickles a few wides—minor ringing that vanishes once knives fly. Sonically, the Dolby Atmos mix maps space like a Star Destroyer’s schematics: overhead channels breathe, ricochets ping-pong with Quake accuracy, and bass punches clean, never boomy. When Justice’s Genesis kicks, the room becomes a cyberpunk dance floor, and the Arc de Triomphe sequence turns your sofa into a Gran Turismo drift seat. Dialogue stays legible through the mayhem, every reload and footfall precisely placed. For immersion, John Wick: Chapter 4 is less a soundtrack and more an engineering marvel.
Mark the Bounty: Featurette spoils and a verdict etched in gold
Extras tally roughly 77 minutes—more rogue’s gallery than single codex, but juicy all the same. Chad and Keanu: Through Wick and Thin charts the director‑muse alloy; Train Like a Killer breaks down that Soulsborne-level stunt discipline; The Blind Leading the Fight spotlights Donnie Yen’s balletic menace; Killing at the Speed of Traffic and A Shot in the Dark unpack vehicular chaos and night shoots like developer commentary on a New Game+ mode. Add Making a Killing, Suit Up / Shoot Up, and a tease of The Continental for the lore-hungry completionists. Packaging bounties—standard, SteelBook, Limited—let collectors min-max their shelves like a perfectly rolled D20. Final call? Reference-grade transfer with Dolby Vision that enchants highlights and Atmos that architects a cathedral of sound; a hairline of sharpening in some wides is the sole scuff on an otherwise mythic coin. If your home theater craves a demo disc that flexes like an Akira slide under neon, this is the contract you accept without blinking.
Projector Down, Spirits Up: Our 4K Quest Ends (For Now)
From neon gun-fu to silvered nostalgia—let’s chart the next coordinates together
As the credits dim on this pixel pilgrimage, we’re still basking in the glow—like stepping off the Holodeck and realizing the adventure followed you home. We danced through the ballistic ballet of John Wick: Chapter 4, drifted down the dust-blown streets of The Last Picture Show, and pocketed the glittering grift of Hustlers. That’s the joy of modern home cinema: revisiting legends and forging new obsessions with Dolby Vision casting spells on highlights and Atmos building cathedrals of sound. Consider this a Hyrule-sized side quest completed—hyperdrive humming, calibrations locked—and a reminder that the full reviews are your codex for deeper lore, easter eggs, and every last nuance of grain, color volume, and mix wizardry.
Before we stow the remotes, climb aboard our cinematic ship and help plot the next chart. What discs made your subwoofer quake like a kaiju footfall? Which restorations felt as pristine as a freshly rolled D20? Lay your legends on the map—tales told around the campfire where sparks rise like pixels, and every opinion becomes part of the Fellowship. Dive into the full reviews for the nitty-gritty—settings to tweak, extras to savor, and formats to chase—then report back with your victories and vexations. Challenge accepted? Good. Keep the beacons lit, explorers; the quest for reference-grade 4K never ends, and the next treasure might already be glinting on the horizon.
Hello! I'm Hannah Lincoln-Abbott, your go-to for everything that makes movies and music come to life. When I'm not geeking out over the latest in 4K and Ultra HD, I'm lost in the immersive soundscapes of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, or marveling at the richness brought by Wide Color Gamut. Dive in with me as we explore the best that today's tech has to offer in the world of entertainment. 📚🎥🎧