The Best 4K and Blu-rays of 2024

10. “Andor” Season 1 (Disney, $75.99) and “The Underground Railroad” (Criterion, $79.95)

In the pre-streaming era, TV shows on DVD were a very, very big deal. They offered the ability to binge an entire season all at once, something that would later come with the digital revolution, and sold incredibly well. Since streaming, though, the TV-shows-on-DVD phenomenon has all but petered out. Which makes these two releases – Disney’s 4K collection of “Andor’s” first season and “The Underground Railroad,” now a part of the Criterion Collection (on Blu-ray), all the more delightful. While “Andor” doesn’t offer much in the way of special features, the 4K presentation is stunning and makes you appreciate the series, one of the best “Star Wars” stories in history, anew because it is free of compression issues and other glitchy nonsense that goes along with streaming. Ditto “The Underground Railroad,” Barry Jenkins’ titanic adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel, which sounds and looks substantially more impressive now that it’s free of the limitations of Prime Video.

“The Underground Railroad” has substantially more special features which actually will add to your appreciation of the oddly overlooked series, from commentary tracks to deleted scenes to an un-filmed episode presented here in comic book form. Maybe we can expect more of our favorite streaming series on home video soon?

9. “Bad Company” (Fun City Editions, $23.99)

Fun City Editions has emerged as one of the most exciting and esoteric boutique Blu-ray labels around, giving loving care and attention to 1980s classics that have somehow fallen through the cracks – movies like Jim McBride’s “Breathless” remake and, more recently, the Phoebe Cates “Blue Lagoon” knockoff “Paradise” that was an, um, instrumental film for some of us growing up around that time. But it was their release of 1973’s “Bad Company” that was their crowning achievement for 2024. Robert Benton’s dark, offbeat western, later lumped into the “acid western” subgenre known for subverting western tropes (in both look and feel), has never had a proper Blu-ray release, so that alone would be worth celebrating.

But the movie – starring Jeff Bridges and Barry Brown as a couple of nogoodniks who dodge the draft for the Civil War and instead head to the wild west looking for a chance at redemption – has never looked or sounded better, which is very exciting indeed considering it was photographed by Gordon Willis and scored by Harvey Schmidt. While the special features are anemic, aside from a commentary track by critic Walter Chaw and some radio spots, that doesn’t matter. Just to have “Bad Company” back and in such great shape is reason enough to celebrate.

8. “The Abyss” (Disney, $38.99)

To put it bluntly, James Cameron did not have the best year when it came to 4K releases. Much ballyhooed re-releases of “True Lies,” “Aliens” and “The Terminator” were controversial to say the least – his insistence on using AI upscaling caused some of the stranger images you’re likely to see this year (just look up Sarah Connor’s weird skull eye holes) and the movies were scrubbed of almost all visual texture and depth. It was, to say the least, a huge bummer. And it raised the question of how Cameron could let these new editions out into the wild, especially after fans yearning for them for literal years. But, happily, the 4K version of his 1989 underwater adventure “The Abyss” turned out very, very well. How this was spared is unclear. But let us count our wins please.

Firstly, you get the much-maligned theatrical version and the far superior director’s cut, both in 4K. And it looks like a million dollars. Then you get all of the archival bonus material from previous releases, including “Under Pressure,” an warts-and-all, hour-long documentary that is among the best of its kind. There are also two more new docs (both around a half-hour). It really is an embarrassment of riches. And it’s so strange that a movie, long believed to be one of the filmmaker’s only disappointments, coming out with a home video release that trumps all the rest.

7. “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” (Criterion, $69.95)

Talk about an embarrassment of riches. The Criterion box set for “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” features three versions of the movie – the theatrical version, a 50^th anniversary edition completed by editors Roger Spottiswoode and Paul Seydor (part of the small army that edited the movie), both restored in 4K, and a version that approximates director Sam Peckinpah’s final preview cut, restored in 2K. The 50^th anniversary version of the movie, which stars James Coburn as a sheriff who is hired by a group of wealthy landowners to kill his old friend, the outlaw Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) features a new commentary track by Spottiswoode, Seydor and critic Michael Sragow and is absolutely fascinating.

Among the other special features are a new, nearly hour-long documentary about the making of the movie (“Passion & Poetry: Peckinpah’s Last Western”), another new mini-doc about Bob Dylan’s iconic music (and his performance in the film), a program on Coburn from Z Channel (!), plus marketing materials and a new essay. Few releases these days feel like the “film school on a disc” that the best releases did. But this “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” is even better. Graduate film school on a disc?

6. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (Disney, $49.99)

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” the latest film in the revamped franchise that began with 2011’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and continued with Matt Reeves’ “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “War for the Planet of the Apes,” is fitfully entertaining, taking places hundreds of years after the last film. And the movie looks outstanding on 4K, don’t get us wrong – you can practically count the individual hairs on the ape’s back. But it’s not the movie or the presentation that makes this release chart; it’s the fact that it has one of the greatest special features in the history of physical entertainment – “The Raw Cut,” a version of the entire movie without any of the visual effects added in. You just see people in motion capture suits, rough approximation of sets and all of the behind-the-scenes techniques that the movies work so hard to erase for the final version.

What’s more is that this version of the movie comes equipped with a hugely insightful and honest commentary track by director Wes Ball, editor Dan Zimmerman and visual effects supervisor Erik Winquist. It’s absolutely miraculous and a must-see for anyone interested in the artistry and craftsmanship of filmmaking. Bravo.

5. “Mute Witness” (Arrow, $49.95)

A couple of years ago when Sony Pictures Classics put out their admittedly great box set celebrating 30 years, they missed a key title, at least for some of us – “Mute Witness” from 1995. Would it ever get a proper release? (I wisely held onto my DVD, which must have been pushing 20 years old.) Mercifully, Arrow, who had one of the greatest years for a boutique label (some of their other bangers: a “Hellraiser” box set, Abel Ferrara’s “The Addiction” reissued on 4K, a new version of Sam Raimi’s masterpiece “A Simple Plan”), heard our calls. They lovingly re-released the movie, which stars Marina Zudina as a mute special effects make-up artist who witnesses a real-life murder on the set of a European thriller, even going so far as to recreate the iconic box art of Zudina with her mouth sewn shut.

The movie looks and sounds absolutely incredible. And it’s just as fun as it was when it came out in 1995. The special features give it another dimension of appreciation, with a commentary track from writer/director Anthony Waller and another from the movie’s crew, plus a pair of “visual essays,” some vintage marketing materials and additional footage of the great Alec Guinness, who has an uncredited cameo as a character only referred to as “The Reaper.” This is a truly white-knuckle, Hitchcockian thriller. And if you’ve never seen it, we just gave you the perfect excuse.

4. “The Keep” (Vinegar Syndrome, $49.98)

Talk about a movie that we thought was just lost. The directorial debut of Michael Mann (who has since disowned the movie), “The Keep” hasn’t been issued on physical media since a laserdisc in 1993 (!) But Vinegar Syndrome made the impossible possible, surprise releasing the movie at the end of the year (the original pressing sold out in 40 hours). While a card before the movie plays acknowledges that the company was unable to release the alternate versions of the movie (including Mann’s lengthy directors cut) and some aspects of the picture and sound were compromised beyond reconstitution, watching this new version of “The Keep” feels like a revelation. The picture quality is astounding, with a new 4K remaster featuring Dolby Vision – particularly since, for the past 30+ years, we’ve had to watch crummy bootlegs and so-so uploads – and it feels like, after all these years, it is finally taking its rightful place in Mann’s filmography.

The movie is still wonky, owning to Paramount taking the movie away from Mann during post-production and the visual effects artist dying midway through the shoot, but it is also haunting, strange and ethereal (it follows a battle between good and evil during World War II). What was once an oddity now feels essential, particularly with the new special features, which features interviews, commentary and more.

3. “Bound” (Criterion, $49.95)

This year Criterion did a genuinely incredible job highlighting a bunch of seemingly forgotten 1990’s treasures – everything from Gregg Araki’s “teen apocalypse” trilogy to Todd Solondz’s “Happiness” to Karyn Kusama’s “Girlfight” and John Sayles’ “Lone Star” and Gus Van Sant’s “To Die For.” It was an embarrassment of riches. Any (and, quite frankly, all) of these could easily make the list and you should earmark them all for the next Barnes & Noble half-off sale. But it was their 4K version of the Wachowskis’ beautiful, brilliant, just-as-good-as-ever “Bound” that was our personal favorite. The movie had only ever been released on Blu-ray, in a hard to find and not particularly great release from Olive from back in 2012 (!), so the 4K transfer (supervised and approved by cinematographer Bill Pope) is nothing short of outstanding.

And the way “Bound,” a sneaky lesbian thriller that packs just as much of a punch as it did in 1996, looks and sounds really is the draw here. If anything, it feels even more powerful given its impact as an LGBTQ touchstone and considering how both of the filmmakers transitioned in the years since. Most of the special features on the release are archival, which is understandable considering how the Wachowskis aren’t currently working together. But that’s okay – this is still one of the standout releases of 2024. It elevates a cult classic to straight-up classic status.

2. “The Boy and the Heron” (Shout! Studios/GKids, $32.95)

In the year of our lord 2024 we finally got a Studio Ghibli movie in 4K. (Yes, there has been one Hayao Miyazaki movie released in 4K – “Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro” from our wonderful friends at Discotek Media. But that movie was directed before Miyazaki co-founded the influential animation studio.) “The Boy and the Heron,” the Oscar-winning autobiographical animated feature from last year, makes for a stunning 4K presentation, with gorgeous picture and sound (the Japanese Dolby Atmos audio track rips) and the special features are an absolute delight. Among the special features are an entire storyboard version of the movie, a half-hour documentary with Takeshi Honda about the art of animation and additional interviews (none with Miyazaki, sadly, who was famously press shy and who released the movie in Japan without any advance promotion).

If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s an absolute masterpiece, following a young boy in Japan who travels with his father to the countryside during World War II and who is soon sucked into a fantastical land where time works different and crazy creatures run wild. And it has been captured so perfectly with this home video release.

1. “Stop Making Sense” (A24, $58), “Last Embrace” (Cinématographe, $49.99), “The Manchurian Candidate” (Kino Lorber, $22.50)

You know it’s a good year when three Jonathan Demme classics – his groundbreaking Talking Heads concert film “Stop Making Sense” (newly restored and fresh from a sold-out run of theatrical engagements); “Last Embrace,” an early stab at a Hitchcockian thriller starring Roy Scheider as a spy whose wife is murdered; and “The Manchurian Candidate,” his underrated, politically updated version of the paranoid 1962 original. Having these, at all, is a thrill but to have them in pristine 4K and festooned with special features feels downright miraculous. They all serve as a testament to Demme the filmmaker (who died, sadly, in 2017 from esophageal cancer and heart disease) and Demme the film lover.

All three have new special features and are handsomely packaged but “Stop Making Sense” (an exclusive to A24’s online shop) is the clear standout of the bunch, with several different cuts of the movie (including a Demme-sanctioned extended cut sourced from an old laserdisc), an archival Demme commentary track, a making-of documentary and bonus songs. (“Last Embrace” has a couple of new supplements, a commentary track by film writers and some essays, while “The Manchurian Candidate” simply repackages previously available special features. Sometimes that’s enough.)

These three releases also offer hope that some of his other classics will get re-released – perhaps a long-thought-lost director’s cut of “Swing Shift,” which was famously taken away from the director during post-production by star Goldie Hawn? Or a 4K version of “Melvin and Howard,” his Oscar-winning masterpiece and one of the great films of the decade, which had only come out as a tough-to-find (and now long out of print) limited run Blu-ray? At least, with these new editions of Demme gems, we have something to watch while we wait.