Now that we’re a couple years into the 4K and HDR era, the format has really started to come into its own as movie studios have firmly committed to taking full advantage of everything that Ultra High Definition and High Dynamic Range colors have to offer — and a little assist from Apple, Netflix, Amazon and Vudu for making 4K content readily available and affordable. So if you’re taking the plunge into this beautiful new world of colors you’ve never seen on a TV before, these movies are absolute must-haves. NOTE: I’m not saying all these movies are good — your tastes are probably different from mine — but I am saying they look spectacular in 4K. ALSO NOTE: These are not 4K screenshots.
“Alien: Covenant” — Fox doesn’t make use of Dolby Vision at all on any of its releases, opting instead for the less dynamic HDR10 format exclusively, so its 4K releases tend to stand out less than those of other studios. Nonetheless, “Alien: Covenant” is a hell of a looker in 4K. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less from Ridley Scott, one of the greatest visual directors of all time.
“Black Panther” — The first time I watched this disc it was in the HDR10 format and I wasn’t overly impressed. But then I watched it with Dolby Vision and it was like night and day. This disc really pops.
“Blade Runner 2049” — The first film shot by Roger Deakins in the 4K era is exactly as incredible as you’d hope. I wasn’t a huge fan of Denis Villaneuve’s sequel, but the HDR version of the film is so incredible to look at it made me like it more.
“The Fate of the Furious” — I adore the warmth of the Dolby Vision version of the film, and in particular the way the reds pop spectacularly. Letty’s ’66 Corvette that she drives in the New York chase might be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen when captured this way.
“Game of Thrones” — I wasn’t expecting much from HBO’s 4K release of season 1, but I was blown away with this overhaul. They’ve taken what had been the least visually interesting season of “Game of Thrones” and, through the power of Dolby Vision HDR, turned it into an absolutely striking visual experience. After seeing what HBO did here, I can’t wait to revisit the rest of the series in 4K. Hopefully they won’t wait to long to start rolling out the other seasons.
“The Hitman’s Bodyguard” — As much as I enjoy great implementation of HDR, it’s rare for me to watch a movie in the format and think that this is what the director really wanted it to look like and he was hamstrung by the normal limitations of color in movies. But with “Hitman’s Bodyguard” I can’t help but come to that conclusion. It’s just so gorgeous and the difference from the SDR version is so pronounced.
“Interstellar” — The Dolby Vision version of “Interstellar” is a bit controversial because it’s an example of the use of HDR to fundamentally alter what a movie looks like. But I love it. This DV transfer effectively gives Christopher Nolan’s film an old school Technicolor look, and I think it works perfectly.
“John Wick Chapter 2” — With 4K and HDR still being young formats, the first year or so of releases tended to be relatively underwhelming. But the second “John Wick” film, which still feels like a reference quality release to me a year later, was where the potential of 4K HDR really clicked for me. This is the way to watch this movie.
“Justice League” — I dislike almost everything about this movie, including its visual style, so when I say that “Justice League” includes an absolutely stellar implementation of HDR you know I’m not messing around. It’s tough to image how Warner Home Video could have possibly made it look any better than this.
“The Purge: Anarchy” and “The Purge: Election Year” — The power of HDR becomes very evident in movies that spend a lot of time in high-contrast environments like city streets at night, and the two “Purge” sequels definitely benefit from that fact. These things are just so beautiful.
“The Matrix” — This 4K release is billed as a return to what the film looked like before it was run through thick green and blue color filters to match the palettes of the sequels when it was first released on Blu-ray. While the new Dolby Vision transfer, overseen by DP Bill Pope, certainly does look more like it originally did, there are still a few new bells and whistles — the whole thing certainly is a bit brighter than it ever was before. That said, this is easily the best “The Matrix” has ever looked and after a decade of only having that tinted Blu-ray it was an absolute delight to watch this 4K disc.
“Starship Troopers” — When a CGI-heavy movie gets a resolution upgrade, there’s always a risk that its effects won’t hold up under such scrutiny. When the original “Star Wars” trilogy was released on blu-ray, for example, its 1997 Special Edition CGI additions were an absolute horror to look at, and even movies like the recent “Planet of the Apes” movies when faced with this sort of high resolution scrutiny. But Sony did a wonderful job with its new “Starship Troopers” transfer — it might be the best 4K edition of a catalog title out there.
Steven Spielberg’s back catalog — The new 4K discs for “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World” are perfectly fine upgrades, but his three other catalog titles that have been given the 4K treatment are all reference quality for to do right by older films. “E.T.,” “Close Encounters” and “Saving Private Ryan” are all stunning and are must-haves.
The fourth and fifth “Transformers” films — If you’re looking for movies that will instantly blow you away with how sick they look in 4K, Michael Bay has exactly what you need. “Age of Extinction,” the fourth one, has probably the greatest immediate wow factor of any 4K release so far. The first three also got excellent 4K upgrades — they just aren’t as spectacularly mindblowing as the other two.
“Wonder Woman” — Already a visually striking movie, the HDR in this release feels like it fills a hole in the look of the film you didn’t know was there.
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