Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)
力王
Action, Science Fiction, Horror • 1h 33m
Director: Lam Nai-choi
Cast: Louis Fan Siu-Wong, Fan Mei-Sheng, William Ho, Gloria Yip Wan-Yee, Yukari Ôshima, Frankie Chan Chi-Leung, Kôichi Sugisaki, Wong Kwai-Hung, Tetsuro Tamba, Chang Gan-Wing, Power Chan Kwok-Pong, Wong Kwok-Leung, Wong Chi-Keung, Phillip Kwok, Lam Kai-Wing, Chan Ging, Bill Lung Biu, Lam Suet, Chiu Chi-Shing, Kong Long, Jackson Ha Chak-Shun
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 2 months ago
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray See caps
DE Nameless 4K Blu-ray is an extremely poor AI upscale. See caps
UHD tiers
Proper 4K remaster
Poor AI upscale
Overview
In 2001, where all correctional facilities have been privatized, martial artist Ricky finds himself victim to the corrupt system, found "guilty" of the manslaughter of an infamous crime boss.
Director: John Ford
Sources: ibb.co (opens in a new tab)
Warner Archive Blu-ray is 4K restoration from nitrate projection elements
Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
Video format: HD Streaming
Internet Archive Streaming https://archive.org/details/twentyfourdollar-island_1928
Sources: archive.org (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Kino Lorber Silent Avant-Garde Blu-ray is even though a much better restoration, has the worst AI upscaling I've ever seen, it's almost like a cartoon https://slow.pics/c/dFdgCFgn?image-fit=contain
I would instead recommend the blurry, compressed, and cropped internet archive Streaming version https://archive.org/details/twentyfourdollar-island_1928
Director: James Cameron
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
Fox Blu-ray for original cuts without the extra scene added in the re-release and AI upscaling
Newer Blu-ray/4K has the extra scene, but is poor and has excessive AI upscaling
An additional scene was added to the ending of the movie in the 2022 re-release: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=493908
Director: David Lynch
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Reddit (opens in a new tab) · dvdexotica.com (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4k resto, but it was AI upscaled although supervised and approved by Lynch https://www.reddit.com/r/davidlynch/comments/12klbw9/inland_empire_and_ai_upscaling/
See another detailed review: https://www.dvdexotica.com/2015/05/lets-get-serious-about-inland-empire.html
Director: James Cameron
2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 1997 Image DVD/2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
Sources: vimeo.com (opens in a new tab) · facebook.com (opens in a new tab)
2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 1997 Image DVD/2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix
Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731
The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.
TV series
Director: Joe Alves
2D version: 2016 Universal Blu-ray
3D version: Universal 3D Blu-ray
Sources: fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab)
(caveat: 3D Blu-ray has misaligned eyes)
Nick_M's 3D version is better than Universal 3D Blu-ray
Director: James Cameron
Paramount/Fox Blu-ray
3D Blu-ray for the IMAX/Open Matte version
35mm scan for original theatrical cut
4K Blu-ray is AI upscaled
The 4K Blu-ray bonus disc, the 2012 Blu-ray bonus disc, and the 2005 3 disc DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: Jack Sholder
Director: Iain Softley
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn included an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH
Shout! Factory has the exclusive The Beauty of the Baud and the You Can't Stop Us All featurettes.
Director: Michael Mann
Director: James Wong
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in November encoded by FiM
Director: Deran Sarafian
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
MVD 4K Blu-ray beautiful remaster but with frame rate skips (encoding error)
Directors: Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in November
88 Films and Vinegar Syndrome have different extras
Director: Charles Band
Full Moon Features Blu-ray or 88 Films Blu-ray is better than 4K Blu-ray, which is poorly encoded
Director: Roger Donaldson
88 Films & Scream Factory 4K Blu-ray
Imprint 4K Blu-ray scheduled for August 2026 release
(88 Films is FiM encoded)
88 Films and Scream Factory have exclusive extras
Director: Stanley Kwan Kam-Pang
Pick your poison: USA Film Movement Blu-ray (two scenes cut / censored & slight Ritrovata yellow tint) or UK 88 Films Blu-ray (DNR)
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Pick your poison: USA Film Movement Blu-ray (two scenes cut / censored & slight Ritrovata yellow tint) or UK 88 Films Blu-ray (DNR). nic’s review
More Action on Blu-ray
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
US Magnolia BD
UK Entertainment One release contains directors commentary track
Director: Steve De Jarnatt
2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray
UK Transmission 4K Blu-ray in January 2027
Either the 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-ray or the Arrow Blu-ray
The 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray is botched.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Both come from a 4K scan of a 35mm film out which was made from the original 2K DI but the Lionsgate release has visible dust and damage marks while the Universal release is cleaned up more thoroughly. Both releases suffer from DNR which seems to have been baked into the DI. The colour grade is basically the same for both releases but the Lionsgate has Dolby Vision whereas the Universal is HDR10 only. The compression on the Lionsgate UHD base layer is apparently fine so the FEL doesn't make much of a difference.
The Lionsgate UHD has Dolby Atmos whereas the Universal UHD has DTS:X. Kick-ass was originally released with a 5.1 track which may be on the Universal Blu-ray.
The Lionsgate UHD is on a BD-100, the Universal UHD is on a BD-66.
The Universal UHD has no extras.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
> Germany Wicked Vision Blu-ray > US Flicker Alley Blu-ray see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Simon Wincer
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, UHD replacement disc is also defective with worse encode. The UHD has visible artifacts from the bad encoding. The HDR is overdone and the Paramount 4K master has grain management.
The new Kino Blu-ray has none of the UHD's problems and is superior to the UHD in every way though it still uses the same Paramount master.
DVD 5.1 or LaserDisc 5.1 AC3, LD PCM 2.0 for the matrix stereo version. The LD and DVD seem to be the theatrical audio mix untouched with plenty of low end. This low end like a number of 90's Paramount titles was mixed out or tamed on subsequent releases.
The Lionsgate BD and Paramount BD share the same lackluster HD master with DNR and image distortion. The Lionsgate is much better encoded but has a 7.1 remix which messed up the original mix design by lessening all the great Foley work in favor of the score. The Paramount BD had a 5.1 lossless version of the original mix but it's a new version where the bass has been tamed so the track has lost its punch. The Kino Lorber UHD and Blu-ray recycle this same lesser 5.1 mastering. The original mix can still be heard on LD and DVD. The 2.0 stereo on the Kino is matrixed but also does not sound as good as the 2.0 matrix audio on DVD or LD.
Kino has a replacement program for the defective UHD to fix the color space issue. The new disc is not marked, has a worse encode AND DOES NOT FIX THE COLOR SPACE! Thus it is a worse defective disc version of the original defective disc.
The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
review: Disk Kino
Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow
Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.
Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono
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