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The Class (2008)
The Class (2008) poster

The Class (2008)

Entre les murs

Drama • 2h 8m

Director: Laurent Cantet

Sony Blu-ray

1080p Blu-ray

Best English-friendly release · updated 1 year ago

Overview

Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.

Release details

Best Video Release

No comparisons but Artificial Eye doesn't look like a new transfer, so likely Sony is better. Because this is shot on HD digital and transferred to 35mm, not expecting any improvement in the future either.

Length
128 mins
Type
Movie

Featured in Cannes Palme d’Or Winners

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The Third Man (1949)

Director: Carol Reed

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray

Best Audio:

StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source

Additional Info:

StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray

Taxi Driver (1976)

Director: Martin Scorsese

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

Best Video:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding

Best Audio:

Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Wild at Heart (1990)

Director: David Lynch

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray

Uncensored version: old DVD

Upcoming Release:

2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut

Best Video:

Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray

Uncensored version: old DVD

Rome, Open City (1945)

Director: Roberto Rossellini

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Blu-ray. BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off

Best Video:

Criterion Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Blu-ray. BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off

Blow-Up (1966)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray

Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)

Director: Abdellatif Kechiche

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray> Artificial Eye Blu-ray, Korea Nova Media 4K Blu-ray release is AI upscaled

La Dolce Vita (1960)

Director: Federico Fellini

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2022 Paramount Blu-ray

Best Video:

2022 Paramount Blu-ray

2014 Criterion Blu-ray is from the same master and has only slightly worse compression. JP/DE/FR releases all have incorrect levels. Caps

Best Audio:

2022 Paramount Blu-ray

All Blu-ray releases are from the same mastering, superior to the one on older DVD releases which is sourced from a higher generation source. They all sound about the same, with the exception of Criterion, which sounds worse due to extraneous filtering.

Paramount's disc also includes a contemporary English dub, previously unreleased on home video.

It Was Just an Accident (2025)

Director: Jafar Panahi

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

A Man and a Woman (1966)

Director: Claude Lelouch

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray is a new 2K restoration and the only English friendly release. No comparison available with France or Japan Happinet Blu-ray

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Director: Ruben Östlund

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion US 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion US 4K Blu-ray > Alamode Germany. HDR10 grade on the Germany disc was not approved by the filmmakers, Criterion's SDR only master is the most faithful representation and the Germany disc is not English-friendly

Best Audio:

German 4K Blu-Ray has Atmos track

More from Sony

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Enough (2002)

Director: Michael Apted

HD Streaming
Best English-Friendly:

Starz is Streaming in HD with OAR

Or Sony Special Edition DVD

Best Video:

Starz is Streaming in HD with OAR

Or Sony Special Edition DVD

The One (2001)

Director: James Wong

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

UK 88 Films Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK 88 Films Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Commentary: 88 Films is at a very low volume level. The other BDs like the Sony do not have this problem.

Godspell (1973)

Director: David Greene

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony Blu-ray

Before Midnight (2013)

Director: Richard Linklater

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony Blu-ray

Criterion Blu-ray uses the same transfer as Sony but the encoding is slightly worse than Sony and barely noticeable see caps 

Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray in viewing looks very similar to both the Criterion and Sony caps, but no side by side comparison available

Additional Info:

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

Whiplash (2014)

Director: Damien Chazelle

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

District 9 (2009)

Director: Neill Blomkamp

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

France Metropolitan 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

France Metropolitan 4K Blu-ray, glitch fixed from Sony

The Sony 4K Blu-ray has a glitch around the 40 min mark where a shot is repeated; no word from Sony about a replacement at the time of writing, i.e. 8/1/8/22

The Dark Crystal (1982)

Directors: Frank Oz & Jim Henson

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

LaserDisc, Shout! Factory's 2.0 is a downmix of the 5.1

Additional Info:

Old Sony DVD has an isolated score

Labyrinth (1986)

Director: Jim Henson

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray, Shout! Factory doesn't have the low-pass filter that's on the Sony US 4K Blu-ray from 2021 with Dolby Vision (or the worse HDR10 only release from 2016). Shout! Factory retains more high-frequency grain and detail.

The Fifth Element (1997)

Director: Luc Besson

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

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:

2025 Sony US 4K Blu-ray has the original 5.1.

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 Germany4K 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.

Easy A (2010)

Director: Will Gluck

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony Blu-ray

More Drama on Blu-ray

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Director: Martin Scorsese

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray > Paramount US, same black crush as the US disc but encoded by FiM and very good new supplements

Additional Info:

Paramount US 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision 

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray has MEL Dolby Vision

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Director: Alexander Mackendrick

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion or Arrow Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion = Arrow, not sure about France

Best Audio:

1989 MGM LaserDisc

Misery (1990)

Director: Rob Reiner

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Best Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray > US Kino Lorber/Germany Capelight - caps and audio comparison on this page. Discussion is still ongoing about the 2.0 but as none of the three 4Ks seem to have the true original mix, I think it's fair to leave them all in the blue tier for now and only note that Kino Lorber has the worst PQ.

Best Audio:

Nelson Entertainment USA LaserDisc

Additional Info:

The initial release of the Capelight 4K mediabook had some playback issues with Dolby Vision on Panasonic devices due to an encoding error, the HDR10 apparently works fine, see Capelight’s official response here.

The Secret Agent (2025)

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray is slightly better than French 4K Blu-ray see caps

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

Director: Neil Jordan

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray see caps and comparison video

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Director: Billy Wilder

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray or Blu-ray

Best Video:

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 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.

Summer Interlude (1951)

Director: Ingmar Bergman

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

BFI Blu-ray

Best Video:

BFI Blu-ray > 2018 Boxset Criterion (slightly). 2012 Standalone Criterion significantly worse.

Best Audio:

2004 R2 Tartan DVD

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Director: Elia Kazan

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

A Star Is Born (1954)

Director: George Cukor

1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Theatrical cut / Roadshow cut: 35mm scans

Restored cut: WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

Theatrical cut / Roadshow cut: 35mm scans

Restored cut: WB Blu-ray

Frankenstein (1931)

Director: James Whale

UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Universal Complete Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray set on September 26 2026

Best Audio:

1993 CIC Video LaserDisc

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.