Want to find the very best Blu-rays and 4K UHD discs? We collect all of the best movies on physical and will update the list throughout 2023. Barbie is on Blu-ray!
2023 marks our first yearlong dive into the world of physical media. If you’re a regular reader, you’ve probably already read our monthly lists curating the most promising new Blu-rays and 4K UHD discs. We build those collections from exciting scheduled new releases, often giving a heads-up before we’ve had a chance to see them for ourselves.
This list is different — and more prestigious. Here we collect the best discs of the year. We’ve tried them. We love them. We want to share them. That’s it! We don’t set any additional boundaries to our curation. Whether you want a killer midnight horror film or a challenging collection of art house cinema, you will find something to appreciate.
The following recommendations have been listed in reverse chronological order of these disc releases, so you’ll always see the newest entries up top. The list will be updated throughout the year, and in December we will issue a final update along with awarding our favorite disc of 2023.
This week, we’ve added the biggest movie of 2023 and two terrifying horror classics: Barbie, The Wicker Man, and The Mist. Be sure to share your own favorite new discs in the comments!The best Blu-ray and 4K releases of 2023Barbie (4K + Digital) – Oct. 17
Barbie is the biggest movie of the year, obliterating box office records and the minds of men’s rights podcast hosts. The theatrical run benefited from the Barbenheimer phenomenon, along with friend groups who dressed up for the film like an event, not just another movie. But read: None of that is necessary to enjoy Barbie, a film that’s just as delightful alone at home as it is with a crowd.
Warner Bros. delivered a disc with beautiful HDR visuals that make all the sparkles sparkle. And the sound is top-notch, especially in the film’s musical numbers. However, there is one big Barbie bummer to break: the package comes with few and disappointing extras. We’ll have to wait for a future release for any director’s commentary or meaty behind-the-scenes mini-documentaries.
For now though, this is a great presentation of a fun movie, the sort of disc you can rely on when the extended family visits for the holidays. And if you want to recreate the theater experience, buy some pink cowboy hats and hold a roundtable readthrough of the official Oppenheimer screenplay.The Wicker Man (4K + Digital) – Oct. 17
This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Wicker Man, debatably the film most responsible for popularizing folk horror for decades to follow. As tribute, we have a new release with beautiful box art that calls to mind its modern equivalent, Midsommar. On the cover, a young woman wears a white robe and a crown of flowers, surrounded by a pink fog. You’d be forgiven for mistaking this disc for a surprise A24 release.
The Wicker Man is just as gnarly and unsettling as its modern counterpart. Unlike many A24 films, however, it has the screw-tightening pace of thrillers from the ’60s and ’70s. If you love movies that ramp your anxiety, or movies with cults, or you just enjoy a good flaming effigy now and then, this is the film for you.
The package includes a 4K edition of “The Final Cut,” along with cast interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a critical re-appraisal of the film at the half-century mark, and a pair of enticing commentaries featuring the film’s creators.The Mist (4K + Blu-ray + Digital) – Oct. 3
Between an ultra-successful film career (The Shawshank Redemption) and an ultra-successful TV career (The Walking Dead), Frank Darabont created the theatrical equivalent of an R-rated episode of The Twilight Zone. The Mist, based on a short story by Stephen King, focuses on the micro reaction to an unknowable large traumatic event.
After a storm knocks out power, a small town community gathers at the grocery store for supplies. But a mist quickly descends, and within it, Cthulhuian terrors. The survivors debate what to do, and to say that things go terribly would be an understatement. Darabont famously made the film even darker than King’s original text – with the author’s blessing.
This new package has a bunch of neat special features and commentaries, but there’s one huge reason to opt for this release: The set includes a 4K edition of the film’s black-and-white cut. Though the movie was released in color, Darabont had shot the film with black and white in mind. This edition is terrifying, where you fear not only what lurks in the mist, but what hides within the inky shadows that stain every frame. Prey (4K + Blu-ray + Digital) – Oct. 3
Last year, 20th Century Studios kept one of its best movies, the Predator prequel Prey, out of theaters, limiting the release to Hulu. This recurring decision by studios to have certain movies skip theaters and debut as streaming exclusives has had the negative side effect of keeping those titles off home video. The logic seems to be that a streaming exclusive exists to incentivize subscriptions, something a home video release would undermine.
Over the past few months, 20th Century Studios and parent company Disney have made a quick and expansive about-face. While some great movies are still being kept out of theaters — sorry, No One Will Save You — many previous streaming exclusives are finally getting beautiful Blu-ray and 4K releases. Disney has begun packaging its television shows with SteelBooks for Marvel TV series and, thanks to 20th Century, Prey gets a comparatively modest but still welcome disc with a smattering of bonus features and a killer transfer.
Of all the direct-to-Hulu releases worthy of a disc, Prey had been at the top of our list. The film has lots of fast action set against the night sky, a challenge for streaming services to display without lots of smudging or artifacting. The 4K disc with HDR is bright and clear, and the sound gets an upgrade too, with an Atmos mix instead of Hulu’s current 5.1 audio. Plus, the disc includes a 5.1 audio track in Comanche.
For folks who care about film preservation, or just having options in how they enjoy media, this disc is reason to be optimistic. Streaming should complement home video — not destroy it.Moonage Daydream (4K + Blu-ray) – Sept. 26
The best place to see Moonage Daydream — Brett Morgen’s experimental splicing of concert film, documentary, biopic, and acid test — is on an IMAX screen, with the sound so loud that you wonder if you should have brought earplugs. But for all my love of the theatrical experience, I’m a realist. Your opportunity to see this film in the best presentation has passed.
Fortunately, the second-best presentation is magnificent in its own ways. Criterion finally brings Moonage Daydream into homes with a 4K transfer and explosive Dolby Atmos sound. The disc includes an audio commentary with Morgen, along with interviews featuring musicians and recording mixers who explain how the creative team pulled off this magic trick.
It really is quite the trick: Morgen and company bring together archival interviews, concert footage, photography, and writing into one psychedelic tapestry. Like the works of Alex Grey, the film refracts, reflects, and radiates. An IMAX theater has the power to engulf the viewer, but reader, I promise that with some good headphones, you still have a solid shot at transcendence. Gorgo (4K UHD + Blu-ray) – Aug. 29
You know Godzilla, but do you know Gorgo? This homage to Toho’s iconic kaiju has one of the more shameless poster taglines: “Like nothing you’ve seen before.” Of course, you have seen this before, just not in the streets of Great Britain. Screenwriters John Loring and Daniel Hyatt splice Godzilla and King Kong with a vial of Irish/British tension, producing one of the stranger entries in the mega monster movie genre.
Vinegar Syndrome gives Gorgo the treatment once reserved for Film School Classics, pulling a beautiful 4K transfer from the original 35mm camera negative. And its team has included more extras than one expects for a movie that might best be known in the U.S. for appearing on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Included in the two-disc package, you’ll find everything from interviews with film historians to a 2009 short film about the fictional British government agency tasked with the mundane job of prepping for a return of Gorgo. Aptly, it’s titled Waiting for Gorgo. Like Gorgo itself, you have to wonder what came first: the title or the story?A Moment of Romance (Blu-ray) – Aug. 22
When I list my favorite ingredients for an action film, it looks like the recipe for A Moment of Romance:
A heist
A car chase
A lovable sidekick
Two beautiful young people on a motorcycle
A splash of a love story
Gunplay choreography that’s clear, playful, and not undermined by rampant cuts
A roughly 90-minute run time
Directed by Benny Chan (Who Am I?) and produced by Johnnie To (Election, Throw Down), the Hong Kong action film takes the familiar “rich girl and poor boy on the run” formula and elevates it with effervescent performances and inventive cinematography. If you crave late-’80s/early-’90s action films, this movie lands right in your wheelhouse.
Radiance Films continues its hot streak, introducing me to films I’d otherwise have missed, and gives them that extra TLC so they can put their best foot forward. In this case, that means a fresh 4K restoration (presented at 1080p), newly translated English subtitles, a commentary track with film preservationist and expert Frank Djeng, a visual essay, and a bundle of archival materials.The Nightmare Before Christmas (4K + Blu-ray + Digital) – Aug. 22
Disney started this year with the notoriously poor 4K Blu-ray for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, but since then has completed a 180-degree turn with Cinderella and now The Nightmare Before Christmas.
I wrote at Polygon about my love for this restoration: “On a decent OLED TV with HDR, this film looks as good as, if not significantly better than, any time you’ve seen it in theaters.
