Brion James

10 films on Best Blurays7 in 4K3 in HD

Brion Howard James (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999) was an American character actor. Known for playing the character of Leon Kowalski in the movie Blade Runner, James portrayed a variety of colorful roles in well-known American films such as 48 Hrs., Another 48 Hours, Tango & Cash, Silverado, Red Heat, The Player and The Fifth Element. James' commanding screen presence and formidable physique at 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall usually resulted in his casting as a heavy, appearing more frequently in lower budget horror and action films throughout the 1980s and 1990s. James appeared in more than 100 films before he died of a heart attack aged 54. Description above from the Wikipedia article Brion James, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Biography from Wikipedia via TMDB

By format

List

Another 48 Hrs. (1990)

Leading role · Director: Walter Hill

4K · Solid

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

2.9

The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983)

Supporting role · Director: Robert M. Young

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

The Player (1992)

Supporting role · Director: Robert Altman

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

4.0

The Fifth Element (1997)

Supporting role · Director: Luc Besson

4K · Excellent

Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.

StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps

Best Audio:

2007 Sony Blu-ray or LaserDisc AC3? (TBC) https://fanrestore.com/thread-7303.html

Audio Notes:

The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.

Additional Info:

Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany 4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.