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Dan Aykroyd

Dan Aykroyd

12 films on Best Blurays9 in 4K3 in HD

Dan Aykroyd photo

Daniel Edward Aykroyd, born in Ottawa, initially pursued studies in psychology, criminal sociology, and political science at Carleton University, where his comedy journey took off. He co-wrote sketches for a private cable company, igniting his passion for acting. At 20, he joined The Second City comedy troupe in Chicago and Toronto, marking the start of his career. In 1975, Aykroyd joined "Saturday Night Live" as a founding member of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players," crafting iconic sketches like "The Blues Brothers" with Belushi and "Two Wild and Crazy Guys" with Steve Martin. The success of "The Blues Brothers" sketch led to a full-length feature in 1980, with Aykroyd writing and producing the movie soundtrack, defying the disco and punk era. His versatile talent shines in roles like Dr. Ray Stantz in "Ghostbusters," Jessica Tandy’s son in "Driving Miss Daisy," a single father in "My Girl," and an assassin in "Grosse Pointe Blank," showcasing both comedic and dramatic prowess.

Biography from TMDB

Leading role · Director: John Landis

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Steven Spielberg

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal Blu-ray

Leading role · Director: Howard Deutch

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray vs Kino Lorber Blu-ray, but the compression on the 4K is bad.

Leading role · Director: Steve Barron

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has poor encode: Dolby Vision caps

Best Audio:

DVD or LaserDisc for original mix

Audio Notes:

Thanks to the magic of Dolby Stereo encoding the 2.0 mix actually has much better surround activity compared to the 5.1 mix, which feels flat and lifeless. The surround mix is also missing elements (eg @ 0:04:58 the zapping sound doesn't extend to the surrounds on the 5.1 track, same with the flickering sound @ 0:21:46, etc)

Leading role · Director: John Landis

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Video Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray is disappointing

Leading role · Director: Ivan Reitman

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2022 Sony Ultimate Collection 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Only 2022 'Ultimate Collection' has dolby vision. 2022 ‘Ultimate Collection’ also has a higher average bitrate.

Best Audio:

1989 Criterion LaserDisc

Leading role · Director: Bruce Beresford

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Pathé France Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Pathé France Blu-ray is a different master and significantly better not only in compression or colors, but also aspect ratio than either US Blu-ray or Germany Blu-ray caps

Supporting role · Director: Phil Alden Robinson

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab) · lddb.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Closest to original: 1993 MCA Laserdisc or other laserdiscs probably

Audio Notes:

DVD is about the same also. Blu-rays only have upmixes (and the 2.0 track from Kino Lorber is a downmix)

Supporting role · Director: Peter Segal

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Sony MOD 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Sony MOD 4K Blu-ray see caps

Best Audio:

Sony 2006 Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

A scream in one scene is missing from both UHD tracks, see post

Small role · Director: Steven Spielberg

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly:

35mm scan, Blu-ray, DVD or LaserDisc.

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray heavily revisionist. Purist option: 35mm scan, Blu-ray, DVD or LaserDisc.

Best Audio:

Letterbox LaserDisc 2.0 matrix stereo, DVD 5.1, Blu-ray 5.1

Additional Info:

The Paramount 4K master is HEAVILY revisionist in that all of the effects and opticals were redone and tweaked with errors and issues. There has been grain management (moments of stagnating grain and haloing) and the encoding isn't great hence the typical Paramount noise in the image. (especially skies) The HDR is a bit bright in the highlights. The Blu-ray is showing its age but does not have any of these digital alterations. It is from the scan done by Laser Pacific and is the highest quality unaltered master we have. The DVD was done by Lowry Digital and had much scrubbing and processing of grain in addition to edge enhancement. The letterbox LaserDisc was the first widescreen release and is very good for its time.
The 4K Blu-ray audio is seemingly an Atmos remix of the 5.1 found on the Blu-ray which itself is very similar to the DVD 5.1. All are presumably based on the 70mm Dolby six track mix. The Atmos is more processed and moves the sound around more so it is inferior to the older 5.1 iterations. On release Temple of Doom had 70mm, 35mm Dolby Stereo and mono mixes. The mono was for 16mm and other outlets and is presumably close to if not a mixdown of the stereo. It is seemingly the last Lucasfilm title that had a mono mix made. The Dolby Stereo is one of the most aggressive matrix mixes ever made and is still a blast to this day on the letterbox LaserDisc release. It is more aggressive than any of the 5.1 discrete versions which is either due to studios taming the audio later or the 35mm mix being handled a bit differently to the 70mm mix. In terms of releases today, the LaserDisc still sounds better than DVD, Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray because of this factor.

DFIC extensive review: https://youtu.be/evsrJOTIjdA?si=wtdWGxZBfhPYTIeW

Small role · Director: Michael Bay

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Theatrical: Disney Blu-ray

Extended: Vista Series DVD, also Streaming in HD, alleycat's extended restoration better

Additional Info:

Extended DVD has extras not on Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Brad Silberling

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Universal 4K Blu-ray omitted the original audio

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