Polytechnique (2009)
Crime, Drama, Thriller • 1h 17m
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Maxim Gaudette, Sébastien Huberdeau, Karine Vanasse, Evelyne Brochu, Martin Watier, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Natalie Hamel-Roy, Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Pierre Leblanc, Francesca Barcenas, Ève Duranceau, Mathieu Ledoux, Adam Kosh, Larissa Corriveau, Manon Lapointe, Kim Lavack-Paquin, Mireille Brullemans, Pier-Olivier Paquet, Louise Proulx, Lily Thibeault, Robert Reynaert, Stéphane Julien, Pierre-Xavier Martel, Marc-André Brisebois, François-Xavier Dufour, Sophie Desmarais, Antoine Touchette, Emmanuelle Girard, Anne Trudel, Nathalie Girard, Eve Gadouas, Marie-Évelyne Baribeau, Valérie Cadieux, Valérie Charland, Cathy Labrecque, Cynthia Wu-Maheux, Josée Lacombe, Alexis Lefebvre, Julien Maranda, Alexandre St-Martin, Jonathan Dubsky, Marc Francoeur, Dawn Ford, Chantale Bilodeau, Eugénie Beaudry, Denis Lehoux-Faucher, Marc Gourdeau, Nir Assayag
Compare the discs
About the film
A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Sony Global 4K Blu-ray
Sony Global 4K Blu-ray > WB US 4K Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos: Sony/Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sony Blu-ray only has 5.1, not Atmos
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Caveat: both releases do not contain their natively shot expanded IMAX aspect ratios
Dolby Atmos: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Caveat: both releases do not contain their natively shot expanded IMAX aspect ratios
Dolby Atmos: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, Warner Bros Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (part of Jacques Tati boxset releasing December 2026)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Director: Martin Rosen
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI Blu-rays are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC Blu-ray is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made Blu-rays of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber Blu-ray!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray remains one of the worst Blu-rays of all time for this reason.
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Video format: 4K Streaming
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Film Masters youtube (raw scan)
More Crime on Blu-ray
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematrographe's HDR grading is overcooked, which is a known VinSyn tendency. Additionally, their booklet mis-credits the encode to FiM.
YMMV, but for some, the included BD encoded by Marcus Johnson—ironically may make for a more pleasing experience.
4K restoration of the original 3D left eye and right eye camera negatives
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Arrow has a different grade and a better encode than the Shout! Factory, though the difference in either is not major. Imprint release, which leaves Shout! Factory's master and subtitles as is, is encoded by FiM. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24473097&postcount=56
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Original mix: Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (similar to Criterion LaserDisc, but less distorted)
Alternate mix: Scanbox Nordic PAL DVD
Surround remix: HK Video France 4K Blu-ray (5.0)
Arrow used the alternate mix, but with extra filtering and lowered dynamic range. The alternate mix has much better fidelity.
Imprint presumably used the Shout! Factory original mix and left it as is, though no official confirmation.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Director: William Dieterle
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed, Imprint minimally less so. Unfortunately, unlike with The Killing, Kino does not hold up at all, the grain is much rougher and the compression visibly struggles making for a much less pleasant watch, even if select stills look better.
All discs use the same source transfer. Criterion cleaned up some hums and hiss, but lost a little bit of high-end detail. Unlike The Killing, the difference's relatively mino.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
The 4K discs in both Criterion and Imprint sets are FiM encodes, but low-passed. The compression is better, but some of the grain is lost. Difference is pronounced in screen caps, but not likely to be noticed during playback, without a reference to compare it to. Comparisons
All discs use the same source transfer. It's not of the highest quality, and it includes some slight distortion, looping, clicks, pops, and hum. Criterion cleaned it up for their release, but unfortunately also lost a lot of fidelity in the process.
MGM NTSC DVD doesn't seem to have some of the more prominent distortion and has slightly different EQ but is otherwise the same.
Director: Karel Reisz
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Cinematographe is mis-credited to be an FiM encode. It isn't. Neither the encode nor the color grading are entirely satisfactory.
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