I, Daniel Blake (2016)
Drama • 1h 40m
Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Briana Shann, Dylan McKiernan, Kate Rutter, Sharon Percy, Kema Sikazwe, Magpie Richens, Amanda Payne, Chris McGlade, Shaun Prendergast, Gavin Webster, Sammy T. Dobson, Mickey Hutton, Colin Coombs, Stephen Clegg, Andy Kidd, Kay Gilchrist-Ward, Dan Li, Jane Birch, Kimberley Blair Smith, Junior Atilassi, Dave Turner, Jackie Robinson, Kathleen Germain, Christine Wood, Micky McGregor, Neil Stuart Morton, Roy McCartney, Stephen Halliday, Julie Nicholson, Viktoria Kay, Malcolm Shields, Bryn Jones, Helen Dixon, Gary Jacques, Mick Laffey, Patricia Roberts, Yvonne Maher, Susan Robinson, Mike Milligan, Laura Jane Barnes-Martin, Harriet Ghost, Brian Scurr, James Hepworth, Natalie Ann Jamieson, Rob Kirtley
Best video & English-friendly release
Even though no screencap comparisons, given that Criterion is a 2K scan of Original Camera Negative, and supervised by Ken Loach, Criterion is likely the best.
Updated 1 year ago
About the film
A middle aged carpenter, who requires state welfare after injuring himself, is joined by a single mother in a similar scenario.
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New 4K restoration recently screened at Venice Film Festival https://variety.com/2026/film/news/apichatpong-weerasethakuls-4k-restorations-match-factory-1236843949/
Director: Claude Lelouch
French Metropolitan 4K Blu-ray has English subtitles and is better than Criterion Blu-ray see caps and comparison
Director: David Lynch
Criterion standard BD encode, sold separately, is not very good
Director: Quentin Tarantino
2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray
2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray > US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (Taiwan 4K Blu-ray is not low passed as the US 4K Blu-ray and has better grain and fine detail retention)
Theatrical Cut: Italy Eagle Pictures 4K Blu-ray
Redux Cut: Lionsgate vs Eagle Pictures?
Final Cut: Lionsgate or Eagle Pictures, both are not great (visible chroma noise)
Theatrical: Germany 4K Blu-ray/US Blu-ray DD 5.1 (1979 mix)
In the Lionsgate US/UK 6-disc set, there are 4 discs of the main feature. For whatever reason, the 4K discs lack the *original track. The Germany 4K Blu-ray release is different on this matter.
UBD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
UBD: Redux/Theatrical: Atmos
BD: Final Cut: Atmos, DD2.0
BD: Redux/Theatrical: Dtru5.1 (Redux mix?), DD5.1 (?), DD5.1 (Theatrical only), DD2.0 (downmix??)
As a result the Theatrical Cut has 4 tracks, The Redux has 3. Differences are unclear.
BD: Hearts of Darkness
BD: Special Features
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Criterion 4K Blu-ray releasing January 2027
France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray
France The Jokers 4K Blu-ray has the least DNR (UK Artificial Eye might be similar? Both better than Universal 4K Blu-ray)
Criterion even though doesn’t have 4K, it has the B&W version and a lot of extras.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > BFI 4K Blu-ray. caps Criterion presents the master as originally graded in SDR whereas FiM added HDR / Dolby Vision for the BFI.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray's audio mix has more detail than BFI’s and same applies to the subtitles, covering both English and France spoken word
Director: Luis Buñuel
Director: Martin Scorsese
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Victor Sjöström
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Victor Sjöström
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Leo McCarey
Director: Philip Kaufman
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is a significant upgrade over previous WB Blu-ray see comparison
Criterion for the first time on home video have provided the 70mm 6-track as well as the Dolby stereo which was previously on LaserDisc. Both tracks are unique so included both with the 6-track default. Criterion’s 5.1 remix is lossless compared to the lossy tracks of the previous blu-rays and DVDs.
See comparison
2023 Criterion 4K Blu-ray (bad compression) / Curzon 4K Blu-ray (visible chroma noise and meh compression)
Director: Roman Polanski
Director: Todd Solondz
1999 R1 Trimark DVD
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has audio that, despite being in a lossless codec, is extremely lossily compressed akin to an MP3.
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