The Quest to Own Our Favorite Movies

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
One of Mandy’s favorite movies and one that became one of my mine when she showed it to me! Kino Lorber released both a Blu-Ray and 4K of this, and both are still in print and available from their website.
Difficulty: Easy

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
I have complicated feelings about how A24 does their releases, but none of those feelings apply to this particular release. We actually own a Blu-Ray and a DVD copy of this, because Mandy got both of them for Christmas from different family members. Those more basic releases are still in print, as is a very good 4K release, all available in the usual spots. You can also buy a fancy hardcover edition directly from the A24 Store.
Difficulty: Easy

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1982)
Side note – I didn’t know that Dead By Dawn was a subtitle and not just a slogan. Anyway, I came into this one ready to call it an Easy get, because I bought the 4K for it a couple of years ago for around $20, but it turns out that at some point it went out of print?! And is going for $90 new on Amazon?! To make things worse, the Blu-Ray that is still widely available seems to be a lesser transfer. Sure, it’s watchable, and it’s available, but if your goal is to have a “definitive” release, it’s gonna be harder than I expected. As I was editing this article, the 4K went back in print, so I think it fluctuates as to whether or not this one’s easy or not so I’m sticking with Medium.
Difficulty: Medium

Face/Off (1997)
Unlike a vast majority of John Woo’s best movies, we are extremely lucky that Face/Off is pretty easy to buy. In fact, through sheer coincidence and constantly finding used copies in the wild, we actually own a VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, and the fantastic recent 4K UHD release from Kino Lorber. The Kino Lorber release is notable for including a Blu-Ray disc sourced from the same source as the 4K UHD, which is great because previous Blu-Ray releases applied digital noise reduction that negatively impacted how the movie looked. It’s always interesting when such a famous movie takes this long to get a release worthy of its legend.
Difficulty: Easy

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
We’re lucky in that a lot of movies considered “classics” are getting solid releases. It’s never been difficult to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – I first saw it on a VHS tape I bought from a charity shop in England – but the recent 4K UHD/Blu-Ray combo pack is the best. It has almost every special feature from previous home releases with the exception of a stills gallery and it looks great. Big improvement over the DVD we had prior. However, we have to talk about that cover art. The picture of Ferris reclining is iconic, but I swear there has to be some crazy copyright issue with using the original poster image to sell the home release, because every version of this movie either shows him reclining in a car or has those sunglasses Photoshopped onto him! Why did he need the sunglasses? He’s already cool!!
Difficulty: Easy

Fist of Fury (1972)
Fist of Fury, originally released in the US under the erroneous title The Chinese Connection, is an interesting one because it’s not hard to get a copy of but getting a copy in the best quality is harder. There have been a lot of DVD releases – including a bizarre one we picked up from a thrift store that seems to contain a gag dub or MST3K-style overdub with added scenes – and the best version of this movie is in Criterion’s fantastic Bruce Lee box set, which we own. It contains the original dub plus different Chinese language versions and it looks great! However, if you want to own this movie as a solo release, your best bet is Shout Factory’s The Chinese Connection release, which unfortunately has a lower-quality picture and a disappointing set of extras. Because of the confusion and difficulty involved there, I can’t say this is an easy release.
Difficulty: Medium

Frank (2014)
As mentioned before, the DVD of this was one of the first I bought to start this little collection. Eventually I found the Blu-Ray in a place that mostly sells games and accessories, but has a sizable DVD wall, so I picked it up. It’s excellent, and it’s still in print, so if you like this movie there’s no better way to watch it. Side note: the reviewer on Blu-Ray.com praises the release but disliked the movie because it’s “a downer”. That’s the point! Sheesh!
Difficulty: Easy

Friday (1995)
Friday, a classic stoner comedy that Mandy loves, is pretty easy to get on Blu-Ray. It’s a pretty standard release, and I’m surprised no boutiques or even the companies themselves have bothered with a special edition, but it gets the job done. However, the version we have is a three-movie DVD that also contains the two sequels. That’s because, while Next Friday has a basic Blu-Ray, Friday After Next has never left DVD! There is no way to buy a Blu-Ray three-pack with all the movies, so despite the DVD lacking in the video quality department, it’s still superior. We don’t even care for the sequels that much, but it’s such a bizarre thing that I feel like we have to stick with this DVD if just for our own stubborn reasons. Now that I think about it, it would be pretty fun to commission a custom three-disc Criterion-style case for these movies. We could put the Friday Blu-ray in it along with the DVDs of the others. Could be funny.
Difficulty: Easy (with caveats)

Get Out (2017)
We are lucky in that Jordan Peele’s first three movies were easily-available in a pack that included the Blu-Ray releases of all of them, because we love them all. Interestingly enough, all three movies are available on 4K UHD, but only Get Out and Us have been released in a combo pack, leaving Nope on its own. Whether you want Get Out on its own or as part of a collection, you have plenty of options.
Difficulty: Easy

Hairspray (2007)
I got this movie on DVD for Christmas one year, and it was a great two-disc set with a slipcover. They also released this set on Blu-Ray, which I picked up at GameSwap, and it’s really great. Despite being a 2007 Blu-Ray release, it’s still in print, so if you like this musical as I do, get the Shimmy & Shake Edition. It looks and sounds great.
Difficulty: Easy

Halloween (1978)
Thankfully, this movie is easily-available and in great quality thanks to Shout Factory 4K release hat includes not only the theatrical cut but also a television edit and an extended edition. Things get a little weird when you start to realized how many cheap “Halloween Collections” never include the original movie but instead the 2018 one due to rights issues, but still, we’re good.
Difficulty: Easy

Heathers (1989)
This classic movie is easy enough to pick up on Blu-Ray, with Anchor Bay providing a decent and inexpensive “Anniversary Edition”, but a remaster would help it a lot.
Difficulty: Easy

Hellraiser (1987)
Arrow Video has made this one easy! Good thing, too, because it’s one of Mandy’s favorite movies ever. We currently have Arrow’s Blu-Ray release, but one day we’d love to get the 4K UHD Quartet of Torment. As of this writing, that’s the only way to physically get the movie in 4K.
Difficulty: Easy

Her (2013)
I first picked up the DVD of this movie at a Buybacks before it closed down. The Blu-Ray I later got from Half Price Books. It’s readily available and inexpensive, but it’s also the best you’re going to get for now. It does the job and it does it well.
Difficulty: Easy

Hercules (1997)
This is a really odd one. There have been a handful of Disney movies that have been released in 4K, and Hercules is one of them. A two-disc Blu-Ray exists, but I swear it consistently has supply issues and it’s very rare I ever see it for sale secondhand. Yes, you can buy it, and it’s a perfectly good copy, but the hunt makes it tricky enough that I’m bumping it up a category.
Difficulty: Medium

Hot Fuzz (2007)
The entire Cornetto trilogy is extremely simple to find, all available in a single 4K UHD set, and each movie is also available as a solo UHD release! Thank goodness for that, considering all three of them were on this list.
Difficulty: Easy

Hot Rod (2007)
Hot Rod is lucky in that it released during that early era of Blu-Ray where studios were jumping to get their new movies on disc. The old Blu-Ray is definitely a product of early pressing and there’s been no real attempt to release a remastered version, if possible, but it’s a solid release still easily-available.
Difficulty: Easy

House (1977)
For my money, House is one of the most spectacular-looking movies ever made, and thankfully Criterion got their hands on it back in 2010 with a great Blu-Ray release. I’m surprised they haven’t tried to remaster it in 4K yet, but you still can’t go wrong here. You can buy it individually on DVD or Blu-Ray, or you can buy a giant 49-disc box set of Criterion movies. You know, if you wanted to do that for some reason.
Difficulty: Easy

I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK (2006)
Despite Park Chan-wook being considered a force in filmmaking internationally (with his recent movie Decision To Leave being a big hit), this romantic fantasy is shockingly difficult to get ahold of. A US DVD release exists, but that fluctuates between $50-100 on the used market. I dug deep and found several eBay listings of a European Blu-Ray release listed only as “I’m A Cyborg” that claimed to be region-free (with, of course, reviews stating otherwise). $20 is a lot less than $80 so I took a chance and did end up with a region-free Blu-Ray release, but honestly, this isn’t acceptable for most.
Difficulty: Hard

In The Mood For Love (2000)
I’ve praised Criterion a few times, but here we have a release that’s just a little more complicated. For the longest time, In The Mood For Love’s transfer was color-graded in a way that was better suited for CRT televisions, and Criterion’s initial Blu-Ray release followed suit. In 2021, Wong Kar-wai worked with Criterion for a new release of his movies, complete with new color grading to better suit “his vision”. These new releases have a more faded and greener tint to them, meaning that the version many people fell in love with was seemingly wrong. This has caused some controversy, so in response Criterion actually has both the 4K version with the new color grading and the Blu-Ray with the 2012 color grading available to buy!

Personally, I watched this movie on HBO Max initially. I don’t know what grading their version used, but I would assume it’s the newer one, which seems to be the most accurate way to watch it. I own both releases because of the color grading controversy, and because it’s that complicated to watch a movie “the right way”, I’m bumping the difficulty up.

You can compare the difference between releases with this image.
Difficulty: Medium