Top 40 must-have Blu-ray Discs

by David Carnoy |
top 40 blu-ray discs
Sharper image: The Hugo Blu-ray offers impressive detail throughout.
(Credit: Paramount)

Another month, another set of new Blu-ray releases--and another update to our long-running list of must-have Blu-ray movies. This month's entries: Hugo, The Apartment and Shakespeare In Love.

Though my face is at the top of the column, the list was compiled with input from editors John Falcone, Matthew Moskovciak, and David Katzmaier, who look at a lot of content in their day-to-day testing of products. We also keep an eye on AVS Forum's Blu-ray picture- and audio-quality threads and have always appreciated the site's "tier" rating system.

This list is not set in stone, and we'll be adding and removing discs as new ones come out. As always, feel free to make comments and suggest your own personal favorites. They may get added to the list in the future.

Life


After having Baraka, which offers true reference-quality video, on the list for a while, we felt it was time to swap in the newer Life series from BBC. We prefer the original version narrated by David Attenborough to the Oprah-narrated version that appeared on the Discovery Channel (it, too, is available on Blu-ray).

Black Hawk Down


While you're waiting for Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down is the next best thing, with awesome reference-quality sound and near-reference picture quality.

Blade Runner


Blade Runner may not have the ultimate audio or video quality, but this newly remastered version is splendid compared with the poor original DVD. Better yet, this collection comes with every version of the movie ever released.

The Big Lebowski


For fans of The Big Lebowksi, this one's a no-brainer: If you're going to watch this movie over and over, you might as well see it in HD. And we think it's arguably one of the greatest movies of all time, so it makes our list.

This "limited" edition comes with a 28-page companion book along with the bonus extra, The Lebowski Fest: An Achiever's Story, which takes an "in-depth look at the popular Lebowski Festival", which co-sponsored a cast reunion for the launch of the Blu-ray.

Hugo


Whether you thought Hugo should have taken home a Best Picture Oscar or not (people tend to really love this film or just think it's OK), one thing is clear: Director Martin Scorsese's first 3D effort and an ode to the movies is truly a winner on Blu-ray. The video transfer is nothing short of spectacular and the detail throughout the film is something to behold. This one's beautifully rendered and sharp, sharp, sharp.

As for sound, the disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track is up to the level of the video, with a nuanced soundtrack that really brings to life the Paris train station and all mechanical objects in the movie.

This Blu-ray comes in a three-disc 3D version (it also includes the standard Blu-ray and DVD as well as a digital copy) and a two-disc Blu-ray/DVD version.

If you have a 3D TV (and a 3D capable Blu-ray player) or are thinking about getting one in the future, it's worth paying the extra US$6 for the three-disc version. This is one of the more impressive 3D movies available today, and the 3D effects are especially well done in the first third on the film.

Note: If there's a shortcoming here, it's the extras (they're OK, not great), but that's a relatively minor gripe.

Avatar


Some people may be waiting for the 3D Blu-ray version or the extras-laden Ultimate Edition that will be released this fall, but a lot of folks can make do with the barebones 2D theatrical release in HD. With no letterbox bars above and below the image on widescreen TVs (director James Cameron wanted the Blu-ray to preserve the true 16:9 or 1.78:1 aspect ratio) and stellar audio and video quality, Avatar is a great way to show off your home theater setup.

The Apartment


Billy Wilder's tragi-comedy masterpiece, The Apartment has finally made it to Blu-ray. For those who haven't seen it, it's widely considered one of the best films of all time (it won the 1960 Best Picture Oscar) and Wilder made it right after Some Like It Hot (which should probably be on our list but isn't right now). While it's in black and white, it is wide-screen and the transfer (and print itself) is nearly flawless.

Of course, when the movie came out in theaters, it had a mono audio mix, which has been upgraded to DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround on the Blu-ray. Not that there's a whole lot of surround in this one--not much comes out of the back speakers, but the audio just feels more spacious. That's a good thing.

Note: The disc is a little hard to find right now, but we expect it to get wider distribution soon.

Ben Hur


Back in 1959 Ben-Hur won 11 Academy Awards, including best motion picture, best actor, and best director. You'd figure an epic like this would have been out on Blu-ray a while ago, but it only hit stores at the end of September (2011).

Goodfellas


Probably one of the top three gangster films ever made. It's also decently priced.

No Country for Old Men


Flip a coin. Heads you get this, tails you get it, too.

Inception


For fans of Inception, picking up this movie on Blu-ray would be a no-brainer. This visually arresting film, that boggled more than a few minds, has an outstanding VC-1-encoded 1080p video transfer that offers lush color and detail. As impressive as the video is, the audio is arguably better with lots of nuanced sound and tight, rumbling bass that will put your surround system to the test (and make a great demo for guests).

Doctor Zhivago


A number of readers were unhappy we hadn't included any David Lean films on our list, but the fact is, aside from A Passage to India, his films have not been out on Blu-ray. Now comes Doctor Zhivago, which gets high marks for its video quality (it's grainy in spots, but that's the way the film looked). As far as sound goes, some critics have said the new surround mix is far from perfect, though we reckon fans of this classic won't be disappointed.

The Incredibles


When The Incredibles finally arrived on Blu-ray, we decided to push Ratatouille off the list. Both movies offer reference-quality video and audio but The Incredibles probably has more replay value and is also one of our favorite Pixar movies.

Shakespeare In Love


Shakespeare In Love, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1999, looked really good on DVD and is spectacular on Blu-ray. With all the ornate costumes in the film, this one really benefits from having the increased resolution and detail. It's also a really clean-looking transfer with little in the way of film grain.

Of course, not everybody thought Shakespeare should win out over Saving Private Ryan, but the movie's held up well and is priced well, too (at the time of this writing Amazon had it on sale for US$7.99).

Close Encounters of the Third Kind


The disc includes all three cuts of the Spielberg classic, which has been remastered and looks and sounds about as good as it could on Blu-ray. (At the time of this writing, it was also selling for an affordable US$11.99 on Amazon.)

Scarface


This classic Pacino performance comes to Blu-ray, and the movie has never looked or sounded as good. You can debate the ultimate merits of the film, but Scarface has definitely benefited from its move to Blu-ray and it's nice to see the original 1932 Howard Hawks version included (in a special picture-in-picture mode you can compare scenes from the original with the "new" version). Lots of other bonus extras with this one.

Alien Anthology


For those of you who might own the Alien Quadrilogy DVD box set, we've got some bad news: This new HD version is really pretty spectacular. Alien and Aliens have all-new 4K resolution video transfers (Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection also have updated video transfers but they're not brand new) and the sound has been upgraded to 5.1 lossless mixes (DTS-HD Master Audio format) across the board. Around the office, we're calling this the new black-level torture test for our TV reviews and while we won't get into all the extras, there are plenty.

The Lord of the Rings: Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition)


Legions of devoted LOTR fans doled out one-star reviews on Amazon for the Blu-ray theatrical release of the three movies because they all wanted the Extended Edition, which has finally arrived in a package that includes a whopping 15 discs. Alas, most of the bonus features are on DVD, not Blu-ray, which is too bad. But for the US$70 or so that it costs for this edition, you will get 682 minutes of spectacular audio and video that's sure to test the mettle of your home theater. Truth be told, we did not re-watch the three films in their entirety before posting this blurb, but true fans shouldn't hesitate to block out over 11 hours to view them all in one sitting--without bathroom breaks.

Note: We're still waiting for the extended and theatrical-release versions to be bundled in one Blu-ray package. As of this writing, the theatrical-release version of the trilogy (in Blu-ray) retails for about US$15 less than the extended version.

Braveheart


While Paramount has received some criticism for the video quality of its Gladiator Blu-ray, Braveheart has fared much better, getting high marks for both picture and sound. We agree--and also like the replay value on this one.

Star Wars: The Complete Saga


The long wait for the original Star Wars trilogy to arrive on Blu-ray is finally over and not without a bit of controversy, as purists aren't happy that the movies are full of even more digital "fixes" than we've seen before.

No matter. This is still a must-have, and early word is that the movies look and sound fantastic on Blu-ray, blasphemous tweaks aside. (We'll update this caption with more impressions when we get our hands on the discs).

Apocalypse Now (Three-disc Full-Disclosure Edition)


As its title implies, in the box you'll find three discs that pull together The 1979 Cut, the longer Apocalypse Now Redux, and the Hearts of Darkness documentary. Both versions of the film are presented in high definition for the first time from a 1080p transfer "supervised" by Francis Ford Coppola. You also get a bunch of extras, which gives fans of Apocalypse a lot to chomp on.

The Pacific


We had Band of Brothers on the list for a while and still think it's a good pick. But we thought it was time to move on to HBO's latest World War II miniseries, The Pacific, which was also produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and has reportedly cost at least US$150 million to make.

The 1080p AVC-encoded transfer is excellent with lots of great detail, but like Band of Brothers, it's the audio that's truly superb and hits reference quality.

The Godfather--The Coppola Restoration


Originally, we didn't have the Godfather trilogy on the list. However, now that we've expanded the list to include more discs, there was no way to leave it off. We're not fans of the The Godfather: Part III, but the discs currently aren't sold separately (and this package is down to US$50).

The Bridge on the River Kwai


We're still waiting for Lawrence of Arabia on Blu-ray but at least another David Lean classic--and arguably, one of the best films of all time--has come to Blu-ray in a completely new remastered version. More specifically, this includes a new 4K "digital restoration", as well as 5.1 surround-sound audio.

Master and Commander


Ah, nothing like the sound of a cannonball ripping through a hull to bring your living room to life. Our audio guru Steve Guttenberg likes to use this disc in his surround-sound tests.

Planet Earth


We didn't have Planet Earth on our original list, but that was probably a mistake. Sadly, our copy (there are four discs) was stolen from an A/V lab. Senior Editor David Katzmaier remains upset.

Taxi Driver


We've been waiting a while for Taxi Driver to come out and now that it has, we're not disappointed. This is a great video transfer that makes the movie look better than you've ever seen it and even grittier than you remember it. Yes, there's plenty of grain, but the images are still pretty sharp and look a lot better than many other 1970s flicks that have made it to Blu-ray.

Back to the Future (25th Anniversary Trilogy)


While the first movie in the trilogy is certainly the best, Back to the Future fans will be happy to note that this is the best the films have looked. Yes, there's some film grain (it's supposed to be there), so the video doesn't look razor sharp, but all in all, this is an impressive package with the most complete set of Back to the Future extras to date.

Gladiator


After initially putting out a Gladiator Blu-ray with less than optimal video quality (some have described it in much worse terms), Paramount has released a remastered version that's worthy of our list.

Saving Private Ryan


It's interesting to watch Saving Private Ryan again after all these years because you realize how much influence it's had on today's video games. Like Spielberg's other recent Blu-ray release, Minority Report, the video has some grain and color hues that make it seem less than pristine--but that's how the movie's supposed to look (and it does look good). Not surprisingly, the first 25 minutes are that much more intense in HD..

Fight Club


Initially, there was a slight bit of controversy over this release because the Blu-ray flashes a menu for Drew Barrymore's 1999 comedy Never Been Kissed, which had some people thinking they'd been shafted with a defective disc. But this Fight Club is the real deal, and for fans of the film, it's great to finally see it out in high definition.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?


We're a little heavy on Coen brothers movies on the list, but have always had a soft spot for "O Brother, Where Art Thou"? a quirky, visually stylized flick inspired by Homer's Odyssey that features an excellent soundtrack and George Clooney at his amusing best.

Some have complained of a poor video transfer that doesn't accurately reflect the washed-out, sepia look of the movie (there are some complaints that too much green has been introduced). But we thought it looked fine--as the director intended it to look.

Monsters, Inc.


Previously, we had Bolt on the list, but with the arrival of Monsters, Inc. and Up, the dog gets the boot. With its eye-popping color, ultrasharp detail, and terrific audio, Monsters is a great way to show off your home theater.

Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy


Universal gets knocked by videophiles for allegedly going overboard with the digital noise reduction, creating an overly smooth image. But to our eyes anyway, the video transfer for Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy looks great with no glaring issues and is clearly a significant upgrade over the DVD version, which also looked good (for DVD).

All three discs have high-resolution DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track and they all sound awesome (if you own a home theater, the audio is arguably what makes this worth owning).

Alas, the only drawback here is that you have to buy all three movies (we're less partial to the sequels). That said, you do get digital copies of all three movies and a few hours of "all-new" bonus features are thrown in to sweeten the pot. of them.

The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Emerald Edition)


For the Blu-ray release of The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros, remastered the film, scanning the negatives using 8K resolution. The final "capture" master was created in 4K resolution, which is twice the resolution of the master used for the DVD release. Though we're not keen on most 4:3 (non-widescreen) Blu-rays, The Wizard of Oz has simply never looked better than it does here. After first offering only an Ultimate Collector's Edition of the film, you can now get an inexpensive standard special-edition version.

Pulp Fiction


After years of waiting, Pulp Fiction has finally made it to Blu-ray, and it's priced pretty reasonably on Amazon.

We're happy to report that both the video and sound are stellar (yes, director Quentin Tarantino personally supervised the production of the Blu-ray). And while there isn't a whole lot in the way of new of extras that are different from what you'll find on the two-disc Collector's Edition DVD, you do get a set of new retrospective cast interviews and a featurette called Critics Corner: Then and Now.

Blue Velvet


Either you're a fan of Blue Velvet or you're not. If you aren't, well, excuse us for putting it on the list. But if you are--or just a David Lynch fan who considers this only his second or third best film--the Blu-ray release is definitely worthy of a spot in your permanent collection.

As you might expect, the video transfer was supervised by Lynch himself and it looks great (it's a little soft in spots but it's meant to be that way), with excellent color saturation that punctuates Lynch's darkly surreal world. Also, the original stereo soundtrack has been augmented to 5.1 surround and Angelo Badalamenti's classic score has never sounded quite so lush.

The 2002 DVD had a few extras, but the biggie here is the inclusion of 51 minutes of "Newly Discovered Lost Footage." Apparently, Lynch shot about four hours of video and whittled it down to two. The DVD only had some still images that were pulled from the lost footage, but none of the footage itself .

North by Northwest


When it came out on DVD in 2000, the video transfer of Hitchcock's North by Northwest drew raves from videophiles. Well, it's even more impressive on Blu-ray. Like a lot of older films that have gotten new treatment on Blu-ray, this one's never looked or sounded better, particularly since North by Northwest was shot in VistaVision, a higher-resolution widescreen process developed by Paramount that was around for only a short while during the 1950s.

2001: A Space Odyssey


Another sub-US$10 disc at Amazon.com, 2001 earns a spot here after we expanded our list to include more titles. The Blu-ray offers an excellent video transfer of the film and is a torture test for your TV's black level.

Up


Another stunning video transfer from Pixar. The audio is near-perfect as well.

Via CNET.com

Latest comments

Why isn't TREE OF LIFE on the list?

Posted by surajsamtani
Reply

In the first place, Blu-ray is on it's way out.... it's a total consumer flop. Web media is the future. Apart from a few eccentric HT aficionados who rather spend obscene amounts of money on bragging rights, the majority of consumers do not want to handle media and the issues that surround it like storage, scratches, pricing, etc. Besides, if we calculate the amount of money saved from purchasing a 1080p quality movie online as opposed to Blu-ray, imagine how many hungry mouths in the world this would feed?

Posted by systemx
Reply

OOPS! SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is in your TOP 40 BD! Sorry! Just need to update your BLACK HAWK DOWN info!

Posted by Disneyfan530
Reply

Update your info on BLACK HAWK DOWN BD as SAVING PRIVATE RYAN: Sapphire Series BD already out in 4th May 2010! Shouldn't it be one of the top 40?

Posted by Disneyfan530
Reply

Tend to disagree as I could compare several DVD's I have on normal and BD format. What is awesome is that old - really old movies are being remastered and that you can see detail inside as never before. It does not matter if you have a 22 , 32 or 50 inch TV. Well, Blue Ray 3D on 3D OLED TV's is the next big thing. Being a trendsetter- early adaptor , count me in already ;-)

Posted by ceevee369
Reply

I still don't see The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the list! Did someone forget?

Posted by montbkk
Reply

Some pretty good picks. I would add Independence Day and my favorite "show off the system disc" is currently Visions of the Sea. I'll check out Planet Earth. I have my PS3 connected to a projector and it is a great setup!

Posted by ChaosInChina
Reply

I still don't see the gig advantage of Blue Ray unless one has a gigantic TV which next to no one has.........kind of like SATA 2 when it came out: nice thought but made no real difference.

Posted by montbkk
Reply

Tend to disagree as I could compare several DVD's I have on normal and BD format. What is awesome is that old - really old movies are being remastered and that you can see detail inside as never before. It does not matter if you have a 22 , 32 or 50 inch TV. Well, Blue Ray 3D on 3D OLED TV's is the next big thing. Being a trendsetter- early adaptor , count me in already ;-)

Posted by ceevee369
Reply

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