Barton Fink (1991)
Comedy, Drama, Thriller • 1h 57m
Director: Joel Coen
Cast: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, John Mahoney, Tony Shalhoub, Jon Polito, Steve Buscemi, David Warrilow, Richard Portnow, Christopher Murney, I.M. Hobson, Meagen Fay, Lance Davis, Harry Bugin, Anthony Gordon, Jack Denbo, Max Grodénchik, Robert Beecher, Darwyn Swalve, Gayle Vance, Johnny Judkins, Jana Marie Hupp, Isabelle Townsend, William Preston Robertson, Mamie Jean Calvert, Frances McDormand, Bubba Dean Rambo, Barry Sonnenfeld, Vincent Tumeo, Rob Wegner, Linda Wood, William H. Macy, Joe James
Best English-friendly release · updated 1 year ago
Overview
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
Director: Carol Reed
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source
StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray
Director: Martin Scorsese
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook
Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)
2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding
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
Director: David Lynch
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray, confirmed to be uncut
Censored US version: Shout! Factory or Twilight Time Blu-ray
Uncensored version: old DVD
Director: Roberto Rossellini
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Criterion Blu-ray> Artificial Eye Blu-ray, Korea Nova Media 4K Blu-ray release is AI upscaled
Director: Federico Fellini
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
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
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.
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Claude Lelouch
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Joel Coen
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Poor Criterion 4K Blu-ray https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879
Theatrical cut only on LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Poor Criterion 4K Blu-ray https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 Theatrical cut only on LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Director: Joel Coen
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Arrow 4K Blu-ray scheduled for November 2026 release
All the same
Directors: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Joel Coen
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
2018 Universal 4K Blu-ray
2018 Universal 4K Blu-ray
Cinema DTS, DVD 5.1
Director: John Carpenter
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Universal 4K Blu-ray. Maybe Turbine Blu-ray instead for better audio?
Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)
1997? Signature Collection LD
Good: 2017 Arrow and 2016 Shout! Factory Blu-ray have the original audio options.
the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.
Director: Norman Taurog
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Raoul Walsh
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Frank Tuttle
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: James Whale
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Universal Complete Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray set on September 26 2026
?
Director: James Whale
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Universal Complete Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray set on September 26 2026
1993 CIC Video LaserDisc
Director: William A. Seiter
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Henry Koster
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
2D version: Universal 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Turbine Germany 3D Blu-ray
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