I was gifted a 4K bluray player for Christmas. Whopper!

I immediately bought my favourite movie of all time - Aliens. I only got around to watching it recently and HOLY COW the detail. I grew up watching it on a VHS that I recorded off the TV.

I’m looking for some recommendations for things to visually blow me away. I was thinking of Interstellar, but I did watch that recently enough.

All suggestions welcome and thank you!

edit: Some absolute bangers of recommendations here, many of which I wouldn’t have considered. Thanks folks!

  • UKFilmNerdMEnglish
    2•19 hours ago

    I would just add that if you feel inclined, always research what 4K you’d like to buy next by reading reviews and using sites like https://caps-a-holic.com/ to compare old blurays to the new 4K editions.

    It’s rare but just because it’s a 4K release, that’s not always a guarantee that it will be better. Some filmmakers like to use the opportunity to change the way the film looks entirely. Also, some filmmakers are using AI to improve the picture quality (cough! James Cameron) and it doesn’t always come out the best. In other words, stay away from True Lies in 4K, it’s awful.

    If done properly, older films can look wonderful, such as Top Gun, Back to the Future, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Yes, I own those. 😁

    • @khannieOPEnglish
      1•18 hours ago

      Thanks. That’s solid advice. I did hear that about True Lies but mostly forgot about it as I didn’t have a player at the time and it wouldn’t be very high on my rewatch list.

      I did find Aliens superb but it was my first run at 4k Blu-ray and I believe some folks weren’t super happy with it but not at the True Lies level.

      • UKFilmNerdMEnglish
        2•18 hours ago

        Aliens can be quite divisive. Some people like the very clean digital look but I prefer the Blu-ray release which has quite a lot of natural grain too it. But if you compare editions, you’ll see that over the years, with each release, Cameron has changed the look of the film in regards to colours.

        In an ideal world, studios, with directors assistance and approval, would scan the camera negative and leave it at that with no tinkering afterwards. 😄

        In regards to Cameron’s other films, they’ve all had various use of AI but Titanic and The Abyss come out really well and I believe The Terminator hasn’t done too badly either.