78 DVDs Worth Re-Buying On Blu-Ray

If your Blu-ray collection consists only of The Dark Knight, it's time to step up what you own.

By: Premiere.com Staff

05/20/2009 12:00 am

New media formats have been screwing us for years, but it still hurts a little every time we shell out for something we have already bought. To ease the pain, we have sorted through the movies and TV shows you might already own and picked the ones worth the upgrade.

	Terminator 2 (Skynet Edition) This is a movie that you need to own on Blu-ray, whether it's this version or the one they put out in 2006 ( Check out our review). Not only is this one of the best sci-fi action films ever made, but the audio and video are beyond compare. And it cemented James Cameron's legendary status as a director. Buy it Here.

	The Godfather (The Coppola Restoration) Francis For Coppola and an entire team of engineers spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort trying to pull a good print out of the tragically damaged source material for the first two films. The results are so incredible you won't mind that you got conned into buying the third movie as part of the set. Buy It Here.

	Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition) Blade Runner is an easy film to get obsessed with. There are so many different cuts, so much mythology and so much stuff to simply gawk at in the backgrounds, it can take days to get through it all. This collection has just about everything you want and since it has been out for a while you can get it for about $25. Buy It Here.

	Close Encounters of the Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) There's a lot of room on a Blu-ray disc and we get excited when they fill that space with special features. There are three separate versions of the film as well as a heap of other stuff including two full-length documentaries. You'll enjoy it so much you'll want to sculpt it out of potatoes. Buy It Here.

	Casino ( Premiere.com's Review) For a long time, Casino didn't even have a proper DVD release. We were stuck with some lame disc you had to flip over in the middle of the movie. For the Blu-ray, they did the visuals right, making it one of the nicest looking BD movies available. Good to see Scorsese's most underrated movie finally treated the way it should be. Buy It Here.

	Bottle Rocket: Criterion Collection Criterion is psychotic about the quality of their movies. Bottle Rocket isn't exactly the kind of movie that blows you away visually, but this version lets you see Wes Anderson's super-dry comedy just as he intended it. Even if all of the extensive extra features don't sell you, the snazzy packaging will definitely look great on your shelf. Buy It Here.

	Rambo Boxset If you bought the original BD release of First Blood there's a good chance you were very disappointed. But, this collection went back and did it right, nailing the sound and picture quality. Even if Sylvester Stallone decides to revisit the series, the studio would be hard-pressed to release a more comprehensive version. Buy It Here.

	Oldboy If you thought Oldboy messed with your head on DVD, wait until you see it in HD. They fixed up the picture and enhanced the original Korean audio tracks. It sounds silly, but just because you can't understand what they're saying doesn't mean it should sound like crap. You've never heard an octopus squish quite so clearly. Buy It Here.

	Starship Troopers The movie itself is a cheesy classic, full of huge monsters and unnecessary nudity, but there's one extra on this disc that makes it stand out. You can upload a photo of your face and it will plaster your mug onto one of the soldiers in the movie. You'll only do it once, but it's still pretty fun. Buy It Here.

	Sleeping Beauty Disney makes boat loads of money selling DVDs so they take the business very seriously. They have been making a point to equip all of their BD releases with BD live features that kids will love. Adults might love them too for introducing some variety into a routine that often involves watching the same stupid movie 10 times a week. Buy It Here.

	The Descent (Original Unrated Cut) It's hard to convey a feeling of total hopelessness in 480p, which makes this moody horror flick much more effective in HD. Plus, this version comes with the original ending, which, you know, makes sense. Buy It Here.

	Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition) The format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD was still raging when Transformers came home, which means there are people out there holding onto virtually useless maroon box versions of the movie. Michael Bay will be proud of you if you upgrade. He'll still be kind of a dick, though. Buy It Here.

	Donnie Darko ( Premiere.com's Review) The original DVD release had issues with the music rights so the soundtrack got a definite downgrade. The BD edition looks fantastic and brings with it the original music (which was also on the special edition DVD). We'll never be able to separate "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS from the opening scene. Buy It Here.

	Batman Begins Despite being a great release with excellent sound and picture quality, this one gets lost because of the stupid fight with HD-DVD. Buy It Here.

	Batman Anthology ( Premiere.com's Review) Not all of them are winners, but the ones that Tim Burton did couldn't look better. Nowhere else can you get such a clear picture of the nipples on Batman's body armor. Buy It Here.

	The Bourne Trilogy ( Premiere.com's Review) Gorgeous DTS-HD audio tracks accompany near perfect video transfers on an already awesome series. We thought it was cool to notice the film grain in some of the scenes (especially the first one) that make it feel even grittier than before. Buy It Here.

	The Thing Classic horror can suffer when it makes the jump to HD, but there's something about this John Carpenter masterpiece that make it even scarier at 1080p. It has been out for a while, which means you can get it relatively cheap. Plus, if you don't buy it, 1982 Kurt Russell comes to your house and kills you. It's true. That's one of the special features. Buy It Here.

	Black Hawk Down Ridley Scott doesn't make movies that don't look good and the only real way to enjoy them is in HD. You can really appreciate the efforts that went into making everything in this film feel as authentic as an MRE on a hot day in the desert. Buy It Here.

	Casablanca (Ultimate Collector's Edition) You have to appreciate the kind of work it takes to make a movie this old look this good. For an added bonus, show it to an older person who saw it 50 years ago and watch them reach for their pills. Buy It Here.

	Band of Brothers ( Premiere.com's Review) We have spent entirely too much time with our Band of Brothers DVDs and the Blu-ray offers even more stuff to play with. The picture-in-picture commentary is worth watching more than once and the interactive maps will make you feel like you're learning something. Plus, it looks and sounds incredible. Buy It Here.

	2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick was insane about making his films exactly right, which is why they hold up so well to the HD transition. Watched on big screen at maximum volume, you'd be hard pressed to find a more satisfying way to annoy the people in the apartment below yours. Even the ape screaming sounds better on Blu-ray. Buy It Here.

Independence Day	Cast Away	Commando
I, Robot	Domino	Edward Scissorhands
Face/Off	Total Recall	Gangs of New York
Hellboy	Hulk (2003)	King Kong
Lord of War	Man on Fire	Ronin
Mr. and Mrs. Smith	Office Space	Patton
Point Break	Predator	Reign of Fire
Reservoir Dogs	Robocop	Dirty Harry
Speed	The 400 Blows	The Day After Tomorrow
The French Connection	The Patriot	The Rock
Wall Street	Zodiac	Goodfellas
Dark City Director's Cut	The Wizard of Oz	Christmas Story
The Last Emperor	Event Horizon	Top Gun
The Doors	Dawn of the Dead (2004)	V for Vendetta
The Matrix	Remember the Titans	Kingdom of Heaven
Rocky	Heathers	Planet of the Apes (original)
The Silence of the Lambs	The Seventh Seal	Mission Impossible: Ultimate Missions Collection
Enemy of the State	Jack Ryan 3 Pack	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Firefly: The Complete Series	Master and Commander	Spider-man: High Def Trilogy

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Comments

all the films on the list are worth re-buying

on February 25, 2010

can't believe some of the comments posted here. in my opinion, all films benefit from an upgrade to high def on blu ray as long as the tranfer on is done right from good source materials, which most are. i own about 200 bd's of films i previously owned on DVD and they all blow the DVD out of the water in both picture and sound quality.

Best Experience

on December 30, 2009

Its not much of a difference but if you want the best experience out there right now and can afford it then by all means buy them. I am. P.S. Braveheart should've made the list.

upgrading...

on April 17, 2009

I have a collection of over 3357 DVDs. I own no blu-ray discs. I love movies; however I see no real reason to switch formats. I honestly feel blu-ray is a scam right now; maybe sometime in the future that will change; if prices drop drastically and blu-ray becomes the sole format...

Blu Ray is a Fad

on April 17, 2009

It will never catch on due to the fact that your Average DVD consumer, who buys/rents movies only for entertainment, are OK with the DVD format and don't feel the need to convert anytime soon. Besides let's all be honest is Blu Ray really that much better then DVD when it comes to classic films? I don't think so.

2001

on April 17, 2009

2001 has the EXACT same transfer that was released in the box set a couple of years ago. The extras are the EXACT same extras that are on this two disc set. The only serious difference is that it's on a single Blu-ray disc. EW is telling us "go ahead and re-buy these" classic films. However, when you're working three jobs and can't afford an HDTV or Blu-ray player, what are you going to do?? I haven't bought one DVD in 2009 and only bought 5 in 2008. I'm sorry, but I just don't think Blu-ray is truly better than the releases that say have been mastered in hi-def. When doing a compare and contrast with Blu-ray and the 2007 release, there is absolutely no real differnce. It just goes to prove that you can only improve films SO much. Blu-ray is just a marketing tool to "make" you rebuy the films you bought a few years ago on regular DVD. Certain new titles might be affected, but older films have already been remastered to the point of no return. Why don't the studios release films from their vaults that aren't on DVD instead of trying to get us to rebuy others that have already been released?? To me, Blu-ray is a scam perpetrated by the studios, DVD makers and others to attempt to defraud the public. Until I can see a serious difference in one title than the original DVD release, I will continue to think this way.

Really?

on April 17, 2009

Am I the only person who thinks that The Matrix and Saving Private Ryan should have been on this list??? Come on people...

One More For The List

on April 17, 2009

One can't forget to include Akira on the list

What about 300.

on April 16, 2009

If any movie deserves Blu-Ray it is this movie.

Donnie Darko

on April 16, 2009

The Donnie Darko comment is wrong. The rights to the music may have been an issue in the director getting the music he wanted....but the *original* music was on the non director's cut edition of the DVD. And it is by far the superior soundtrack. Including the director's cut music will definitely not be the way to make me upgrade DD to Blu-ray.

Nice excuse to generate some sponsor kick-backs

on April 16, 2009

Frankly, that's a pretty terrible list. A vast number of those listed at the bottom of the article are pathetic bare-bones releases with seriously crappy transfers. The "Buy it here" links really remove any hint of credibility, though.

Awesome List

on April 16, 2009

Couldn't have done made a better one myself. Kinda stings at this point, having about 1000 DVD's. Glad I waited 'til the format war ended to go HD. The Thing is an especially great flick that deserves the glory of 1080p Terror! Get away from me Kurt! What's with the flamethrower!? Ahhhhh!!!

Ummmm???

on April 16, 2009

Explain to me where the Matrix Ultimate Collection is on this list?

"Casino" had to be flipped over halfway through the DVD??!!

on April 16, 2009

Are you still using laserdiscs? I've had a legitimate, wide-screen release of "Casino" for years and the entire movie is on one side of one disc. Am I missing something? No extras, but it looks pretty good.

Have to agree that not all are of good quality....

on April 16, 2009

For example, I love "Donnie Darko" but the Blu-Ray version is not much better-looking (if at all) than the special edition. The audio is a bit clearer, but I sure wouldn't spend my money on the Blu-Ray if you already have the special edition and an upconverting DVD player.

What Casino DVD Are they Talking About?

on April 16, 2009

"For a long time, Casino didn't even have a proper DVD release. We were stuck with some lame disc you had to flip over in the middle of the movie." I do not recall Casino ever being this way on DVD. There was a Casino DVD that was a flipper disc, but the Special Features were on one side snd the film on the other. That DVD was replaced by a nice one sided special edition, so Casino DID have a proper DVD release. I beleive the writer is thinking of the original Goodfellas DVD, which was later replaced by a great two disc special edition.

A good list

on April 14, 2009

I think that the titles selected here are all movies that most collectors already have which relates to the main title "to RE-BUY", so it's probably meant to be that the newest movies aren't there... And I agree with my colleague who says that it's not written "take a second loan on your house to buy blu-ray discs", so just manage your personnal finances well and you'll have a good time even though it's hard nowadays...

Missing some pretty spectacular movies

on April 10, 2009

For instance: Nightwatch/Daywatch El Orfinato (The Orphanage) Pan's Labyrinth The Fall Apocolypto Incredible movies on Blu-Ray. Maybe you left them off because most people don't already own them?

Learn how to spell the format at least...

on April 9, 2009

Before you people complain like all the other babies that post on this site, learn to spell the name of the format: Blu-ray. Also, some of these can be had pretty cheap on Amazon, and if you sell your old DVDs and use the money it's even cheaper. That's what I've been doing for a select few titles and it's worked out pretty well. As for the economy, give it a rest. Premiere isn't telling anyone to go into debt over this. It's just a handy guide that I found quite useful. And I'm not what you'd call rich.

How did you select ?

on April 9, 2009

Many are visually unappealing. Most on the list would be just as good on a VCR because the movies are not remade at Blue-Ray quality. Why not post movies that take advantage of Blue-Ray instead of a simple list of your favorites

Building a Blue-Ray Collection During a Depression?

on April 9, 2009

Yes, just what I need to be doing right now... throwing hundreds of dollars onto my credit cards to buy blue-ray discs even though I could lose my job tomorrow. Righhhhhht.