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Hustle & Flow (2005)
Hustle & Flow (2005) poster

Hustle & Flow (2005)

Crime, Drama, Music • 1h 56m

Director: Craig Brewer

Old Paramount Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 2 months ago

Video notes:

Old Paramount Blu-ray better than new 4K Blu-ray: smeary grain/detail, poor contrast

UHD tiers

Worse Than BD
Paramount:

smeary grain/detail, poor contrast (best BD is the old Paramount disc)

Overview

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.

Release details

Best Audio Release

4K Blu-ray and New Blu-ray

4K Blu-ray and New Blu-ray has lossless TrueHD, Old Blu-ray just has lossy Dolby Digital

Length
116 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
Hustle and Flow

More from Paramount

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Director: Peter Faiman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD

International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray

Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding

Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut

Best Audio:

Australia Cut: Laserdisc

Additional Info:

The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D version: Paramount Blu-ray

3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026

Director: Billy Wilder

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray or Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice

Best Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono

Audio Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.

Additional Info:

The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.

Director: Robert Altman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release

Director: Richard Linklater

4K · Solid

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

Additional Info:

Germany Blu-ray has English audio 

Germany Blu-ray is part of a 3-film box set like the Criterion but by StudioCanal 

Director: Michael Bay

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray

IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Donen

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Blu-ray

Director: Trey Parker

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Paramount Blu-ray

Directors: Arturo Perez Jr. & Samantha Jayne

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Director: Robert Altman

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · mega.nz (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

Paramount Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Popeye was mixed for a failed Vistasonic system with 4 discrete tracks (L/C/R/S). That mix has never been released on home video in its original form.

The older 5.1 track appearing on older DVD/BD releases sounds excellent. It appears to be a slight upmix of the original mix, only splitting the surrounds and adding LFE. It sounds close to the old analog LaserDisc, which is likely the original mix in a matrixed form.

The 5.1 included on the UHD is a new remix which significantly differs from previous tracks. There are new foley effects all over the place. Music is jarringly spliced in from different sources. Unlike the old 5.1 which had clearly discrete surrounds, the channels surrounds overlap somewhat with the fronts here.

Details on the new mix from Paramount's former head of restoration: https://youtu.be/P-AmjqViJyE?t=788

The 2.0 tracks on all DVDs/BDs are just downmixes of their respective 5.1 mixes.

Samples

More Crime on Blu-ray

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2025 Discotek US Blu-ray SteelBook

Video Notes:

4K Blu-ray is denoised

The 2025 SteelBook uses the same transfer as the 2014 Japan Studio Ghibli Blu-ray and 2015 Discotek US Blu-ray but with better white balance.

Best Audio:

Japan: 1995 Japan LaserDisc 

English: 2012 UK Blu-ray

Director: Ron Shelton

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray disappointing, nice new master, but poor encode, grain completely crippled in some scenes, artifacts abound, etc, makes Kino Lorber look like FiM.

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Second Sight Trilogy Boxset 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

US Magnolia Pictures 4K Blu-ray uses the same source but with worse encoding

Director: Phil Joanou

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray maybe better than all the other Blu-rays?

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with DNR and poor compression

Additional Info:

US Twilight Time and Germany NSM Blu-rays have exclusive extras

Directors: Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

4K encode is low-pass filtered and noticeably so, which was unfortunately par for the course with Criterion 4Ks until sometime in 2024, and the encode is still less than ideal even despite that. Still better than the Criterion and Lionsgate Blu-Ray discs for the Dolby Vision grading alone.

Director: Peter Bogdanovich

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

Eureka UK is considering doing a 4K https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24363810&postcount=264

Video Notes:

Wonderful underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion, but NexSpec encode has clipped highlights with the occasional blockiness. The Criterion Blu-Ray, sourced from their 4K remaster, ironically makes for a more consistent and overall pleasing experience.

Director: William Friedkin

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

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

Additional Info:

Plaion have also released a BD sourced from Arrow's recent 4K remaster, holds up strongly in comparison https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=19341&d2=19005&c=5415

Director: David Lynch

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

 Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray

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

Upcoming Release:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray in December

Video Notes:

Subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking

Best Audio:

1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD

Audio Notes:

Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> US Shout! Factory, better encoding by Engine House and redone opening credits, errors present in Shout! Factory fixed

Audio Notes:

Mono is from an alternate higher fidelity source than Shout! Factory.

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Researched and maintained by

tyyuxvanshadyAdamA

· last reviewed 2 months ago

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