The Best Physical Media Releases of 2021 (1 Viewer)

[titch]

I went over to The Beaver to post my selections for his poll and made an assessment of what I've purchased this last year. I couldn't believe I'd purchased over 200 blu-ray and 4K UHD titles, but apparently I have. I thought I'd copy what I sent, just for fun.

Top Blu Ray Releases of 2021
1. Devi (Criterion)
2. David Byrne's American Utopia Region B (Dogwoof)
3. Ragtime (Paramount)
4. Mommie Dearest (Paramount)
5. Nashville (Paramount)
6. A Night At The Opera (Warner Archive)
7. Straight Time (Warner Archive)
8. The Dead Zone (Shout! Factory)
9. High Sierra (Criterion)
10. Naked Region B (BFI)


Top 4K UHD Releases of 2021
1. The Servant (StudioCanal)
2. Blood For Dracula (Severin)
3. Battle Royale (Arrow)
4. True Romance (Arrow)
5. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Kino)
6. Santa Sangre (Severin)
7. Flesh For Frankenstein (Vinegar Syndrome)
8. Mad Max 2 (Warner)
9. Basic Instinct (StudioCanal)
10. The Seventh Seal (BFI)


Top Box Sets Of 2021
1. Columbia Classics Collection Volume 2 4K UHD
2. World Of Wong Kar Wai (Criterion)
3. Battle Royale (Arrow)
4. All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror (Severin Films)
5. Flesh For Frankenstein 4K UHD + 3D (Vinegar Syndrome)

Favorite label
Arrow Video. Consistent high quality releases. Transparency of people and companies involved in production of video masters.
Warner Archive - consistent high quality releases.

Favorite commentary of 2021
John Waters on Mommie Dearest

Best Cover Designs
Columbia Classics Collection Volume 2
World Of Wong Kar Wai (Criterion)

Rants and Praise
Praise: A bumper year for physical media releases. An staggering variety of films being released by boutique labels. Loads of terrible early blu-ray video masters now being replaced with decent 4K masters. The Paramount Presents… series are releasing a fantastic variety og cult and legacy films with lovely transfers.

Rants: I have purchased every single Criterion Collection blu ray since they started releasing them. 2021 was the year they released the most titles I had no interest in seeing. The greenish tinge on Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love, although approved by Wong Kar Wai, was the single most disappointing film experience of 2021.

 

[Robin9]

The Naked Spur Blu-ray disc is one of the best I've bought recently.

 

[titch]

The Naked Spur Blu-ray disc is one of the best I've bought recently.

Warner Archive blu-rays are always superb, transfer-wise. For some reason, some of their titles are impossible to obtain via Amazon.com, as they don't ship overseas. This was the case with The Naked Spur and I have so far been unable to obtain a copy of this western, which is one of my favourites. Other hard-to-get Warner Archive titles for people living outside the USA are A Night At The Opera and Straight Time, but I was fortunate to find a reseller on eBay, who was able to send these to me.

 

[Robin9]

Warner Archive blu-rays are always superb, transfer-wise. For some reason, some of their titles are impossible to obtain via Amazon.com, as they don't ship overseas. This was the case with The Naked Spur and I have so far been unable to obtain a copy of this western, which is one of my favourites. Other hard-to-get Warner Archive titles for people living outside the USA are A Night At The Opera and Straight Time, but I was fortunate to find a reseller on eBay, who was able to send these to me.

Amazon do not have a monopoly on selling Warner Archive discs overseas. Try Import CDs or Deep Discount.

 

[Robin9]

Amazon do not have a monopoly on selling Warner Archive discs overseas. Try Import CDs or Deep Discount. Screen Archives now sell Warner Archives discs too but their shipping costs might be higher.

 

[titch]

Amazon do not have a monopoly on selling Warner Archive discs overseas. Try Import CDs or Deep Discount.

Thanks but they do not ship overseas now either, unfortunately! No resellers on Amazon ship these titles overseas and neither do Warner Archive.

 

[TravisR]

The Andy Milligan set from Severin was pretty great for someone who is a fan of his... odd brand of movies. Just the fact that it even exists is kind of amazing and Severin really gave the movies the best presentation on all fronts.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Here are my favorite releases:

BLU-RAY:
Bringing Up Baby
Defending Your Life
Gattaca
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
A Night at the Opera
Parallax View
The Playboy of the Western World
The President's Analyst

4K:
Citizen Kane
My Fair Lady
The Ladykillers
Ran
The Seventh Seal
The Ten Commandments

BOX SETS:
Matt Helm Longue
Three Films by Luis Bunuel

DOCUMENTARY:
Citizen Hearst

 

[titch]

The Andy Milligan set from Severin was pretty great for someone who is a fan of his... odd brand of movies. Just the fact that it even exists is kind of amazing and Severin really gave the movies the best presentation on all fronts.

Severin have had some outstanding releases this year. Their folk horror box set is incredible.

 

[bujaki]

Severin have had some outstanding releases this year. Their folk horror box set is incredible.

They haven't shipped my set. Waiting with great anticipation.

 

[titch]

They haven't shipped my set. Waiting with great anticipation.

Severin's shipping is very random. But I guarantee it's well worth the wait. I was pleasantly surprised by the design and size of the box. Not as difficult removing the discs from the box set as from Criterion's Citizen Kane UHD!

You purchase a lot of physical media Jose - what are your favourite purchases this year? I would probably have put the Cartoon Saloon Irish Folklore Trilogy on my list, if I had received it. It looks stellar and I do already have the first two films on blu-ray. Ordered the UK box shipping tomorrow.

 

[Jeffrey D]

A couple of favorite UHD releases this year- In The Line Of Fire, and The Shawshank Redemption. Great video quality. I watched High Sierra for the first time yesterday- Criterion did a good job with the picture transfer. Liked the film.

 

[titch]

A couple of favorite UHD releases this year- In The Line Of Fire, and The Shawshank Redemption. Great video quality. I watched High Sierra for the first time yesterday- Criterion did a good job with the picture transfer. Liked the film.

Yes - those are really reference quality. Sony's UHD releases are outstanding - I'm confident that the video masters couldn't be better reproduced. Warner has upped the game too with their UHD releases. I was watching The Outsiders - The Complete Novel yesterday. It is a beautiful transfer of an amazing restoration.

 

[mackjay]

I'm loving THE SERVANT (Losey, 1963), Studio Canal blu-ray with a second disc of extras (lots of them)

 

[titch]

I'm loving THE SERVANT (Losey, 1963), Studio Canal blu-ray with a second disc of extras (lots of them)

The 4K UHD is the best-looking transfer I have.

The Servant 4K UHD StudioCanal

StudioCanal's UK release of The Servant in a 4K UHD box is probably the best-looking UHD I've seen projected so far. Even better than their UHDs of black and white classics Breathless, The Elephant Man and La Haine. The black and white deep-focus photography by Douglas Slocombe is absolutely...

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[Ross Gowland]

Some great releases from Umbrella this year. They do a great job of bringing out Australia cinema, both art house and exploitation titles, in attractive editions.

I was particularly pleased to get Malcolm, Windriders, and upgrades of Stunt Rock and The Devil’s Playground.

And Second Run continue their good work with (mostly but not exclusively) Eastern European cinema.

 

[Keith Cobby]

The best disc I have bought this year is Please Turn Over (Network blu ray), it has the best b&w image I have seen, it looks like 4k and I don't know how Network could have produced an image of such quality.

 

[titch]

Some great releases from Umbrella this year. They do a great job of bringing out Australia cinema, both art house and exploitation titles, in attractive editions.

I was particularly pleased to get Malcolm, Windriders, and upgrades of Stunt Rock and The Devil’s Playground.

And Second Run continue their good work with (mostly but not exclusively) Eastern European cinema.

That's a good heads-up. What a pity the current pandemic has made ordering from Australia so difficult. It would be great if it were possible to redo Wake In Fright with modern technology and see if it was possible to get a picture that was watchable.

 

[titch]

The best disc I have bought this year is Please Turn Over (Network blu ray), it has the best b&w image I have seen, it looks like 4k and I don't know how Network could have produced an image of such quality.

Network did such great releases a couple of years ago with their Monty Python Flying Circus sets. They also released the greatest TV series ever made, the complete Up series (7-63 UP), on blu-ray the same year. I haven't purchased any titles from them this year. But they certainly have a quality track record.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Network did such great releases a couple of years ago with their Monty Python Flying Circus sets. They also released the greatest TV series ever made, the complete Up series (7-63 UP), on blu-ray the same year. I haven't purchased any titles from them this year. But they certainly have a quality track record.

Very happy that Network has released on disc the Michael Portillo railway journeys and have most of the box sets. Also have Seance on a Wet Afternoon with a nice looking image of the film.