4K UHD and Blu-ray gift ideas for movie fans

Here’s a selection of premier gift ideas in the Blu-ray and 4K ultra-high definition disc format for the movie lovers in the family.

The Sound of Music: 60th Anniversary Edition (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG, 174 minutes, 2.20:1 aspect ratio, $39.99) — The 1965 Academy Award winner for best picture finally debuts in the ultra-high definition, or UHD, format for a new generation of home theater owners to experience the legendary soaring visuals and memorable songs.

Based on a real-life story as well as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway musical, the film starred singing superstar Julie Andrews as the kind and patient governess Maria who brings joy to the cranky and strict Capt. Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) and his seven feisty children living in Austria in the 1930s as the Nazi threat begins to overshadow their lives.

This musical smorgasbord is sure to please the entire family and includes staples such as “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “So Long, Farewell’ and “My Favorite Things” with each performance enhanced, thanks to a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack.

As equally appreciated, the newly restored and remastered film was digitally scanned in 8K (no less), color corrected and with a frame-by-frame cleanup that took nine months to give the original, widescreen 70 mm source another life, delivering incredible clarity, color and depth.

Viewers will find a celebration of director Robert Wise and cinematographer Ted McCord’s visual smorgasbord as they scour the Austrian town of Salzburg, every mountain peak of the Alps and the seemingly endless and rolling countryside.

Watching the scenic multimedia package of the camera sweeping down to a twirling Ms. Andrews with hands outstretched singing “The Sound of Music” while walking across a deep field of wild flowers with mountains behind her will elicit goosebumps to movie musical aficionados.

Best extras: The three-disc set offers the 4K and Blu-ray versions of the film as well as an exhaustive collection of digital goodies previously released on the film’s various home theater anniversary editions.

Highlights include two archival commentary tracks, one with Mr. Wise and one with an ensemble of Ms. Andrews (acting as the host), Mr. Plummer, Charmian Carr (Liesl), choreographer Dee Dee Wood and Johannes Von Trapp.

Next, vintage documentaries abound and include the Ken Burns’ directed “Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies” from 1996 (97 minutes); the biography “Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of American Music” from 1985 (83 minutes); “The Sound of Music: From Fact to Phenomenon” from 1994 (87 minutes); “My Favorite Things: Julie Andrews Remembers” from 2005 (60 minutes); and “The Sound of a City: Julie Andrews Returns to Salzburg” from 2015 (50 minutes).

A couple of rarities include a reunion between Ms. Andrews and the real Baroness Maria von Trapp on the 1973 television show “The Julie Andrews Hour,” (16 minutes) in which von Trapp teaches the legendary singer how to yodel; and a clip from the 1962 TV special “Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall: The Pratt Family Singers” starring Ms. Andrews and Carol Burnett spoofing the movie (seven minutes).

The package also includes three full-color postcards spotlighting Maria on bikes with the children, playing guitar in front of the Alps and singing in front of a castle, all suitable for mailing (postage stamp required).

Pride & Prejudice: 20^th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG, 128 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $54.99) — An Academy Award-nominated adaptation of Jane Austin’s seminal novel gets celebrated in the 4K disc format with a new gift set to appreciate the visual beauty and performances of director Joe Wright’s romantic period drama.

Set in the 18^th century during King George III’s era in England, the movie introduces Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn) and their five daughters — Jane (Rosamund Pike), Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Lydia (Jena Malone), Catherine (Carey Mulligan) and Mary (Talulah Riley) — living on a rural estate in Hertfordshire.

The coming-of-age story focuses on Elizabeth and her conflicted feelings for the very wealthy and initially introverted Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen). Mr. Darcy is a good friend of Charles Bingley (Simon Woods), who has a deep affection for Elizabeth’s sister Jane, the eldest daughter of the Bennets.

The respectable family must navigate through the morality and class structure of the times, with the parents keenly aware of the financial need to find suitable, and hopefully wealthy, husbands for their older children who are not considered upper class.

The film debuts in the UHD format and, with help from Dolby Vision visual enhancements, turns cinematographer Roman Osin’s work into moments of living historical paintings.

The sweeping camera movements hone in on personal moments with the characters. Viewers can pause the film to examine the lush exterior locations or period-decorated interiors embracing the use of warm earthy colors such as browns, greens and golds while capturing neoclassical architecture, grand mansion designs and agricultural settings replete with period costuming.

Best of all, take a minute to admire Elizabeth standing on the Stanage Edge, a gritstone cliff in the Peak District National Park, Derbyshire, England, as she overlooks the stunning Hope Valley.

Reportedly, the presentation is just an upscale from a 2K digital intermediate source and not a full restoration or new scan in the 4K or 8K realms. That’s unfortunate. Hopefully, someday, the masterpiece will get its just visual deserts.

Best extras: Viewers get all of the previous digital goodies from the 2010 high definition release available on both the included 4K and Blu-ray editions of the movie.

They included an optional commentary track with the director and six featurettes (roughly an hour) covering the production and cast.

Among the best of the bunch are a quick background on Austin and her works and a more detailed look at six of the incredible shooting locations, including Chatsworth House, Wilton House and Groomsbridge Place.

Now for the packaging, extract from an elegant beige slipcase, highlighted with a floral pattern, a hardcover digibook (6.5 inches wide by 9.5 inches tall).

It offers easy access to the discs on the interior cover and contains 42 full-color, bound pages with a foreword written by Mr. Wright. Pages offer montages that mainly focus on the characters as remembered by cast and crew supplemented with behind-the-scenes photos, costume and set sketches and visuals from the film.

Isle of Dogs (Criterion, rated PG-13, 101 minutes, 2.40:1 aspect ratio, $49.95) — Director Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed, stop-motion animated masterpiece from 2018 finally and justifiably gets a UHD disc release.

The very cute but incredibly bizarre dystopian story finds Megasaki City’s dog-hating Mayor Kobayashi banishing all pooches to Trash Island after the animals come down with the canine flu.

The orphaned ward of the leader, a young boy named Atari, disagrees with the plan and steals a jet plane to get to the island and search for his pet Spots, the first dog exiled.

His uncle calls in his army to search for the boy by all aggressive means necessary to bring him back home, while also taking his dog ban mandate to extremes.

The stop-motion mixes with anime sequences and manga illustrations to simply overwhelm viewers with a visual maelstrom of beauty.

The iconic voice cast equally impresses and features Bill Murray as Megasaki Dragons’ team mascot Boss, Bryan Cranston as the angry stray Chief, Edward Norton as alpha dogs’ leader Rex, Jeff Goldblum as gossipy alpha dog Duke, Liev Schreiber as Atari’s pet Spots, F. Murray Abraham as wise mentor Jupiter, Harvey Keitel as ferocious dog pack leader Gondo and Scarlett Johansson as former show dog Nutmeg.

As far as the presentation, the new 4K digital master was upscaled from the 2K digital source master supervised and approved by Mr. Anderson.

The result is a dizzying “wow” with vivid levels of color and painstaking clarity, down to spending hours just admiring the movement and textures of dog fur on each of the animals.

The visuals will thoroughly allow viewers to love the meticulous craftsmanship involved in a stop-motion process that required 27 animators and 10 assistants working with more than 800 character models.

The film makes a highly recommended gift idea for the family in love with oddball dramedies and Japanese-style cinema.

Best extras: Criterion does not disappoint with new digital goodies led by an optional commentary track mostly with Mr. Anderson and just a pinch of Mr. Goldblum.

The director offers plenty of good background on the dog puppets, cast, working with animators and visual themes, while the actor occasionally shows up (first at 40 minutes into the commentary) to add his quirky level of anecdotes.

Pop in the included Blu-ray version of the movie to enjoy additional extras such as an informative 21 minutes with key crew, including animation director Mark Waring, co-production designer Paul Harrod, model maker and head of puppets Andy Gent and cinematographer Tristan Oliver,

Fans of the filmmaking process will really appreciate a 90-minute hand-drawn, slightly animated storyboard (animatic) version of the film, complete with voice and music soundtrack.

The slipcased digipack includes a foldout color movie poster (12.75 inches by 18.75 inches), highlighting the Japanese theatrical release and drawn by legendary manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo, and a 12-panel fold-out full-color booklet featuring an essay by film scholar and critic Moeko Fujii.

The Mask: Limited Edition (Arrow Video, rated PG-13, 101 minutes, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, $59.95) — The movie that unleashed a comedy tornado known as Jim Carrey and cemented his role as a box office superstar gets a gift-ready release in the 4K disc format, perfect for fans to appreciate the actor’s early lunacy.

Director Chuck Russell’s 1994 slapstick superhero film, based on a Dark Horse comic book series, explores the life of shy bank teller Stanley Ipkiss (Mr. Carrey) and his discovery of an ancient wooden Norse mask that, when worn, turns the owner into a rubbery, green-faced and indestructible trickster.

Of course, he wears the mask, causes plenty of extreme mischief and gets targeted by the police and mobsters after a successful bank robbery and while trying to impress a girl at the Coco Bongo variety club.

The live-action, Tex Avery-style masterpiece will not only be remembered for Mr. Carrey’s outrageous antics tied to the equally zany special effects but the introduction of his alluring co-star Cameron Diaz in her first movie as a singing mafia moll, Tina Carlyle, who becomes attracted to Mr. Ipkiss.

The nearly three-decade-old film comes to vivid life, thanks to a 4K restoration using the original 35mm camera negative, and is especially attractive when watching the transformed Mr. Ipkiss’ in neon-green face, big white teeth and red lips wearing that bright yellow zoot suit and zipping around the town.

Best extras: All found on the 4K disc, the avalanche of digital goodies begins with brand new interviews with the director (20 minutes), Dark Horse publisher and creator of the Mask Mike Richardson and screenwriters Mike Werb and Mark Verheiden (18 minutes), visual effects supervisor Scott Squires (14 minutes), editor Arthur Coburn (seven minutes), actress Amy Yasbeck aka reporter Peggy Brandt (12 minutes) and choreographer Jerry Evans (10 minutes).

Best from the vintage extras start with a solo, optional commentary track with the director as well as another “group” track with participants recorded separately, not screen specific, and include Mr. Russell, Mr. Richardson, Mr. Werb, Mr. Squires, animation supervisor Tom Bertino and cinematographer John Leonetti.

Also, viewers get a 27-minute look at turning the sequential art series into the movie, a 14-minute introduction to new star Ms. Diaz (without comment from her) and a pair of deleted scenes, each cut after test audiences’ disapproval.

The package includes a double-sided, foldout mini-poster (13.5 inches by 17 inches) highlighting movie art; six postcard-sized, black-and-white movie card reproductions; and a 40-page full-color illustrated booklet with original production notes and a critical essay on the history of masks and the movie by critic and author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.

Silverado: 40^th Anniversary SteelBook Edition (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 133 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $39.99) — Filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan’s traditional shoot-’em-up Western built in the 1980s and sporting an iconic cast gets a chance to shine for the first time in the 4K format collector’s packaging for movie lovers looking for an epic Hollywood adventure.

Four tough cowboys proficient in killing — the brothers Emmett and Jake (Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner in his breakout role), Paden (Kevin Kline) and Mal (Danny Glover) — team up to help a band of settlers reach the outskirts of the town of Silverado to claim land before going their separate ways.

The settlers and cowboys quickly learn that they are not welcome in an area run by boss McKendrick (Ray Baker), with muscle from Sheriff Cobb (Brian Dennehy) and his minions making life difficult.

With bad blood and old feuds running deep in Silverado, the four stick together, forged by new friendship and battle-tested loyalty, to deliver frontier justice to the bad guys.

A complexity of subplots offers more time for other actors to also shine, including Linda Hunt as a saloon manager, Jeff Goldblum as a high-stakes gambler, Rosanna Arquette as a settler, Jeff Fahey as an ornery deputy and a priceless John Cleese as an even-tempered, small-town sheriff.

The new restoration from the original camera negative maintains a healthy amount of film grain spotlighted in the outdoor skies, but the visuals consistently enhance the richness and textured colors of the period costuming, character beards and some panoramic vistas, including a ride through the snow when the boys hit the trail.

Best extras: The included Blu-ray version of the film replicates all of the digital goodies from the original DVD release back in 2005.

Viewers get an optional commentary track with professorial film historians Frank Thompson, Paul Hutton, and Steve Aaron discussing “Silverado” within the history of the Western movie genre and is as unusual as insightful.

Also, two featurettes offer Mr. Costner spending 20 minutes reflecting on his role of Jake as well as his love of the Western and a 37-minute overview of the production.

The SteelBook case also shines, led by a flashy illustrated movie poster adaptation on the front cover of the four cowboys on horseback with guns drawn and above them the tag line “Four strangers became friends. Four friends became heroes. On the road to … Silverado.” There is also a pair of gunslingers, in the middle of a shoot-out, in front of a metallic orange-and-red background.

The back cover has the four in silhouette, on horseback and in front of a striking sunset with nearly neon yellows, reds and a hint of purples, while the interior center spread has a photograph of the four, again on horseback, riding across Southwestern terrain.

Fans of the genre will also appreciate Sony’s release of director Sam Raimi’s quirky Western “The Quick and the Dead” in a SteelBook Edition ($39.99) to celebrate its 30^th anniversary.

The superstar cast, including Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio and Gary Sinise, really delivered a classic and the release also includes the new extra “The Reckoning: Writing The Quick and the Dead” featuring 20 minutes with screenwriter Simon Moore.

Alec Guinness: Masterpiece Collection (Kino Lorber, not rated, 363 minutes, 1.33:1 to 1.66:1 aspect ratio, $99.95) — Yeah, he may be most remembered as a reclusive Jedi and mentor to Luke Skywalker, but I promise that Sir Alec Guinness was really quite the dynamic chameleon and distinguished actor.

Look to this new 4K collection of movies for an example that focuses on his early efforts for Britain’s famed Ealing Studios, all cleaned up and presented in the UHD format, sure to please fans of the legend.

Viewers get in a four-disc set a quartet of satirical comedies that include:

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) — A black comedy in black and white about a serial killer, Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini, trying to murder his way to an inheritance, had Guinness play eight members of the D’Ascoyne family, including Lady Agatha.

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) — The black-and-white heist film that won an Academy Award for best screenplay had Guinness playing a meek bank clerk who concocts a plan to steal a fortune in gold bullion from his employer. Keep an eye out for Audrey Hepburn and Robert Shaw in brief onscreen roles.

The Man in the White Suit (1951) — The black-and-white sci-fi satire finds Guinness playing a determined and eccentric chemist who invents a fiber that never wrinkles, wears out or gets dirty. His effort sets off mill owners and union leaders who realize his invention will destroy their industry. Sidney suddenly becomes a hunted man and is pushed and coerced into giving up his formula, yet refuses to compromise.

The Ladykillers (1955) — Another quirky black comedy in full Technicolor stars Guinness as the mastermind of a gang of hardened bank robbers. The group rents rooms from an unassuming elderly widow, under the guise of amateur musicians practicing in a string quintet. However, after a successful heist, their not-so-naive landlord threatens to expose their lucrative crime. The film co-stars legends such as Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom.

Each film has been meticulously restored to the UHD format by StudioCanal for its previous releases.

The most noteworthy being “The Lavender Hill Mob” that was scanned in 4K from a second-generation, 1951 35mm duplicating positive source with more than 200 hours then dedicated to color grading and its manual clean-up.

Suffice it to report, each masterpiece is as clean, crisp and toned as it will ever get, especially when appreciating the enhanced color grading of “The Ladykillers.”

Best extras: Kino Lorber illuminates viewers with a fount of information tied to these classics, including a bunch of digital goodies compiled from StudioCanal’s United Kingdom releases.

First, each movie on a 4K disc gets an optional commentary track from film historians — “Kind Hearts and Coronets” with Kat Ellinger, “The Lavender Hill Mob” with Jeremy Arnold, “The Man in the White Suit” with Dean Brandum; and a pair of tracks for “The Ladykillers” with Philip Kemp and then David Del Valle and Dan Marino.

Next, pop in the bonus Blu-ray disc to find an abundance of extras for each release spotlighted by a 50-minute documentary, originally run on England’s Channel 4 Television and narrated by actor Daniel Day-Lewis, covering the more than 100-year legacy of Ealing Studios.

Also worth a look is a 26-minute interview with “The Lavender Hill Mob” screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke; a 29-minute interview with “Kind Hearts and Coronets” cinematographer Douglas Slocombe; and three interviews (roughly 30 minutes each) with producer Allan Scott, screenwriter Ronald Harwood and director Terence Davies paying tribute to “The Lady Killers” director Alexander Mackendrick.

Scarface: The Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, rated R, 170 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $74.99) — A metallic homage to one of the toughest gangsters in modern cinema gives fans of Tony Montana a gift worthy of his stylish but crazy legacy

Director Brian DePalma helmed the very violent 1983 film about Mr. Montana, a Cuban refugee landing on the shores of Miami with a burning desire to take advantage of every illegal drug opportunity afforded him to embrace the American dream.

The iconic Al Pacino took on the role with an elevated load of machismo and was helped in bringing the brutal story to the light by a distinguished ensemble cast that included Michelle Pfeiffer as Mr. Montana’s girlfriend Elvira Hancock, Steven Bauer and F. Murray Abraham as his right-hand men Manny Ray and Omar Suarez, and Robert Loggia as his mentor Frank Lopez.

Viewers get the same native UHD presentation as from 2019’s 35^th anniversary release, which nearly requires a towel to clean off the TV screen after some of the too-clear and bloody scenes.

Best extras: Owners are greeted with a black cardboard box (13 inches wide by 9.75 inches tall and 1.5 inches thick) with a blood-red, bone-shaped monogram of Montana in the center.

Pull the side tab to raise the lid to reveal white lettering spelling out “The World Is Yours” underneath the cover.

A protective cardboard sleeve pulled out and opened reveals a limited edition metal poster from Iconoart, roughly the size of the box with a matte finish and featuring Montana with Mr. Pacino’s name and the film title in the lower half of the poster.

The steel poster comes with a magnet to directly hang on a refrigerator and an adhesive mounting block to hang on walls.

Next and underneath the limited edition certificate of authenticity lies the SteelBook Edition, which contains a 4K and Blu-ray disc version of the films plucked from the 35^th anniversary release.

The SteelBook cover offers a photorealistic, illustrated collage of key characters led by Tony, Elvira and Manny.  Underneath the film title is a side view of Montana’s Cadillac convertible with Elvira standing in front of the driver’s door.

The interior panel presents a photo of Tony’s memorable shoot-out at the end of the film on the left and on the right, and the legendary quote from the bad guy — “Say hello to my little friend” — in large red letters within a cloud of smoke.

The digital extras repeat from the 35^th anniversary release, led by a worthy, 27-minute, 2018 reunion at New York City’s Beacon Theater with Mr. De Palma. Mr. Pacino, Ms. Pfeiffer, and Mr. Bauer.

Additionally worth watching is a 39-minute, three-part documentary from 2011 and a three-part, roughly 60-minute-long retrospective broken into the segments “The Rebirth,” “Acting” and “Creating” from the 2003 DVD release.

Tron: SteelBook Edition (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG, 96 minutes, 2.20:1 aspect ratio, $59.99) — Director Steven Lisberger’s groundbreaking sci-fi action film from way back in 1982 gets a deserved restoration and remaster to now exist in the UHD disc format encased in metal and making for a perfect gift.

The story focuses on a disgruntled programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who is trying to hack his former employer, ENCOM, to take credit for popular video games stolen from him by Chief Executive Ed Dillinger (David Warner).

The company’s master computer, almost sentient, eventually gets fed up with his intrusions and while Kevin and his friends physically break into the ENCOM terminal to install a security program called Tron, he is digitized and transported as a “user” into the software universe.

Now, existing alongside other anthropomorphic programs envisioned as their creators, Kevin is forced into game matches including Light Cycle (racing) and Disc Arena (throwing and catching high-speed discs) — where losing leads to being permanently erased (derezzed) from the system.

The alternate world is where the film shines through the groundbreaking computer-generated animation, putting live-action elements within digital gaming grids and landscapes looking three-dimensionally ripped from an 1980s arcade.

The 4K release thrives from 8K and 5K scans as well as meticulous digital cleanup of the original VistaVision and 70 mm originated camera negatives supervised by the director.

The dazzling result brings the live-action sequences to an impressive life-like clarity with rich colors.

Focus on the software universe that comes soaked in neon hues (yellows, oranges and reds especially) and high-contrast sequences spotlighted by the light cycles, stark black-and-white wire frames and blue and grey bodysuits and headgear traced with glowing green and reds patterns.

Best extras: Viewers can access all of the digital goodies previously released in 2011 special edition through the included Blu-ray version of the movie.

Highlights include the mandatory optional group commentary track with the director, producer Donald Kushner and visual effects supervisors Harrison Ellenshaw and Richard Taylor and an 88-minute vintage documentary on the making of the movie (from the 2002 DVD release).

Also worth a look is Mr. Lisberger and his son Carl spending 12 minutes looking through the Disney archives to find some of the remaining “Tron” production material, and 12 minutes on some of the antiqued digital magic such as “backlight animation” used to create the software universe.

For the SteelBook packaging, the case’s cover offers Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and his gal Yori (Cindy Morgan) with a smaller version of Kevin atop a light cycle in the digital universe, all highlighted in neon blues and yellows. The back has a glowing blue software character holding up an Identity Disc over his head with streaks of bright red on either side of him.

The interior spread features a shot of a yellow and blue light cycle streaking across the metallic area atop a lit grid.

The Breakfast Club (Criterion, rated R, 97 minutes, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, $49.95) — Filmmaker John Hughes’ magnum opus to high schooler angst arrived in a dramedy back in 1985 and now returns to home theaters through a new UHD disc version loaded with a well-rounded variety of vintage extras.

Mr. Hughes’ story about a group of five students from Shermer High School forced to spend a day together in detention delved into the personalities of an eclectic group of familiar archetypes — the nerd (Anthony Michael Hall), stoner rebel (Judd Nelson), the jock (Emilio Estevez), the freak (Ally Sheedy) and popular princess (Molly Ringwald) — and gave viewers a chance to jog some nostalgic, and sometimes uncomfortable, moments from their own school years.

The casting assembled the perfect collection of performers, soon to be part of the Brat Pack, to allow the director’s vision to shine. Their characters’ lives are revealed and highlight the highs and lows of existing as a teenager in a world ruled by peer pressure and parental expectations.

Owners can now watch the native 4K version of the film that was restored in 2160p back in 2008 using the original 35 mm camera negative for Criterion’s release of the high definition version of the film (that was downscaled to 1080p).

The result is a screen-filling presentation faithful to the visual source material, crisp and clean while spotlighting the 1980s costuming and presenting the legendary musical soundtrack, featuring Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

Best extras: Criterion has carried over all of the extras from its 2018 release, and all are contained on the included Blu-ray disc version of the movie.

It features a vintage 2008 optional commentary track with Mr. Nelson and Mr. Hall (the sole extra is also on the 4K disc) and a 51-minute production documentary broken into 12 parts.

Equally intriguing is a collection of roughly an hour’s worth of cast and crew interviews released over the years and highlighted by Ms. Ringwald and Ms. Sheedy from 2017.

Rounding out the immersion includes a 10-minute segment from 1985 with the cast on NBC’s “Today” show; two archival interviews with Hughes from the American Film Institute in 1985 (48 minutes) and the Chicago-based show “Sound Opinions” in 1999 (17 minutes); and Mr. Nelson reading from John Hughes’ production notes (12 minutes).

The package includes a 24-page, full-color booklet led by journalist David Kamp’s essay “Smells Like Teen Realness,” which covers the movie and legend of Hughes.

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas: 25th Anniversary SteelBook Edition (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG, 105 minutes, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, $34.99) — Back in 2000, director Ron Howard dared to adapt a beloved children’s book and popular holiday animated TV special into a live-action spectacle that required the manic comedic might of Mr. Carrey.

The result, now back in home theaters in the 4K disc format and encased in a collector’s metal case, found Mr. Carrey transformed into the green grump by the makeup prosthetics wizardry of Academy Award winner Rick Baker and in a story that covers the icon’s origin and subsequent familiar plot to steal Christmas from the materialistic citizens of Whoville.

The box office hit also starred the dog Kelley as the Grinch’s loyal companion Max, Taylor Momsen as his advocate and new friend Cindy Lou Who, Christine Baranski as Martha May Whovier who secretly crushes on the green guy, Jeffrey Tambor as the mayor of Whoville and Anthony Hopkins as the narrator.

Viewers get to watch the same 4K presentation as released in 2017 with a slight visual upgrade to the Dolby Vision.

The screen-filling presentation does not disappoint and comes loaded with colorful holiday lights and decorations, grand set pieces and some incredible detail tied to the costuming, specifically the Grinch’s fur and facial expressions.

Best extras: Owners of the 4K disc get a new retrospective of the film featuring a look back with Mr. Howard, producer Brian Grazer, special effects makeup artist extraordinaire Mr. Baker and an all grown-up Ms. Momsen.

The group touches on the film’s origins and production design but more often focuses on the brilliant performance and improvisation of Mr. Carrey, his lunacy never hindered by uncomfortable makeup, a claustrophobic full Grinch body suit and painful contact lenses.

Move to the included Blu-ray version of the film to find it replicates the extras from the 2009 release, which includes and optional commentary track with Mr. Howard and five featurettes (roughly 30 minutes in total) covering key parts of the production, including makeup, set design, visual effects and bringing the Whoville residents to life.

The SteelBook case will be a guaranteed hit sitting under a Christmas tree with a cover of the Grinch in a Santa outfit, seated next to Max and Cindy Lou Who, driving a sleigh stuffed with a red bag filled with Christmas presents and decorations.

The back of the case displays an overview of Whoville beneath a blue and pinkish sky filled with snowflakes, while the interior spread has Santa Grinch single-handedly holding up the filled sleigh over his head atop a cliff of Mount Crumpit with that same Easter Egg colored sky surrounding him.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: 50^th Anniversary Edition (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated R, 133 minutes, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, $29.98) — The excruciatingly depressing as well as oddly spiritually liberating dramedy from director Milos Forman that netted Jack Nicholson his first Best Actor Academy Award fittingly debuts in the 4K format for viewers to appreciate what is considered one of the greatest films of all time.

Based on the novel of the same name from Ken Kesey, the film introduces rebellious Randle McMurphy (Mr. Nicholson), a career criminal who fakes mental illness so he can avoid hard time in prison.

Committed to a psychiatric hospital, he battles with the dominating Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher in an Oscar-winning performance) and makes friends with the other patients including observant and quiet Chief Bromden (Will Sampson), insecure and stuttering Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif), repressed Dale Harding (William Redfield), childlike Martini (Danny Devito), emotionally anxious Charlie Cheswick (Sydney Lassick), explosives-obsessed Scanlon (Delos V. Smith Jr.) and hot-headed Max Taber (Christopher Lloyd).

McMurphy wreaks havoc throughout his stay, giving his friends a taste of living life to the fullest, both in and temporarily out of the hospital, until Ratched and the staff permanently break up his party.

Restored from a brand-new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative and the 35mm textless interpositive by the Academy Film Archive, the results bring a crushing realism to the cinematography of Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler.

Specifically watching McMurphy and the group wearing slightly wrinkled and discolored hospital gowns and existing in the stark and suffocating confines of a sickly yellow and beige mental hospital.

That imagery gets beautifully juxtaposed with an occasional outdoors scene with inmates sitting on a bright yellow school bus or on a fishing boat wearing orange life vests in a refreshing outdoors scene set against a deep-blue sky and ocean.

Best extras: Fans will really appreciate a pair of new Zoom-style conversations with Mr. DeVito, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Dourif, and producer Michael Douglas (roughly 24 minutes in total), talking about the film’s origin, finding a director, the actor audition process, the casting, and working with Mr. Nicholson and Forman.

Both segments are completely packed with precious memories from the set and plenty of laughs.

Also included is the vintage documentary “Completely Cuckoo” from 1997 that deeply breaks down the film’s origins and production including comments from many key cast and crew members (no Mr. Nicholson, unfortunately) with even Mr. Kesey, Kirk Douglas (who starred in the play and wanted to make the film) and doctors from Oregon State Hospital (where the film was shot).

Although it suffers from diminished video quality, the presentation is not enough to distract from the great information found throughout.

Conspicuously absent and required for this anniversary edition is the optional commentary track with director Forman and producers Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas that can be traced back to the DVD release of the film back in 2002.

Back to the Future: The 40th Anniversary Trilogy (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 343 minutes, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, $55.98) — For those wondering where time has flown, in either direction, Universal manages to deliver yet another reason to appreciate director Robert Zemeckis’ trio of action comedies now under the guise of celebrating their four decades of existence.

The classics from 1985, 1989 and 1990 that chronicle the time-traveling exploits of Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) are now available again in the same digitally remastered UHD disc format that debuted five years ago with that immersive Dolby Atmos soundtrack.

Families get hours of entertainment as they watch Marty travel from 1985 to 1955, 2015 and even the Old West in 1885, messing with and trying to restore historical continuity throughout.

Best extras: So much for the “ultimate” edition released in 2020. Universal now adds another Blu-ray disc to the seven-disc set that offers more than 100 minutes of new extras, combining with all of the goodies from the 25th and 30th anniversary Blu-ray releases.

Let’s start with that disc to find a reflection on the films and their impact by co-writer and producer Bob Gale, a visit to some of the iconic locations from the film (hosted by Mr. Gale and Hill Valley mayor actor, Donald Fullilove); a 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival panel with Mr. Gale, cinematographer Dean Cundey, and stunt coordinator Charlie Croughwell; and a plea from Mr. Fox and other cast and crew members to return the missing red Gibson ES-345 guitar that he used in the first movie.

As far as vintage extras, first all three movies include an optional commentary track from producers Mr. Gale and Neil Canton; a six-part documentary from 2010, titled “Tales from the Future,” which is more than two hours long and spread out across all three films; and an audio-only discussion with Mr. Zemeckis and Mr. Gale (hosted in front of an audience by documentarian Laurent Bouzerau at the University of Southern California campus).

Continuing with even more down the rabbit hole extras look to the found audition footage of actors Peter DeLuise and Billy Zane as Biff Tannen, Kyra Sedgwick as Jennifer Parker and Jon Cryer, C. Thomas Howell and Ben Stiller as Marty McFly; a pair of episodes from “Back to the Future The Animated Series”; and a segment on restoring the DeLorean used as the time machine in the movies.

All counted up, viewers will visually and aurally bathe in nearly 12 hours of “Back to the Future” history, offering a gift that will withstand the test of time, that is, until they release the 50^th anniversary edition.

The X Trilogy: Collector’s Edition (A24, rated R, 311 minutes, 1.90:1 and 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $85.00) — Fans of the slasher genre of horror movies will gladly indulge in the gift of filmmaker Ti West’s critically acclaimed trio of “highbrow” exploitation films now available in a collectible box set in the high definition format.

Viewers get “X” (2022), the prequel “Pearl” (2022) and “MaXXXine” (2024) that center around aspiring actress Maxine Minx and her ability to survive stalkers in the seamy industry of independent adult films in the 1970s and the horror film industry in 1980s Hollywood.

Each film centers around the dynamic performances of Mia Goth who portrays the budding actress as well as the infamous Pearl, a serial killer in the making.

Mr. West’s mature-themed, riveting and violent efforts managed to refresh the genre with his cohesive narrative, celebrating classics such as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13^th” and “Body Double.”

Best extras: First, new for each film is a very welcomed commentary track with cinematographer Eliot Rockett and production designer Tom Hammock on “X” and “Pearl,” and production designer Jason Kisvarday and set decorator Kelsi Ephraim on “MaXXXine.”

Of course, if A24 had taken the time to record these tracks, it would have been nice if they had gotten Mr. West on board to join any of the commentaries.

Next, each disc features a collection of previously released extras, including highlights such as a production overview for each film with cast and crew interviews (averaging 10 minutes each) and a 25-minute interview with Mr. West (most appreciated).

The generously sized packaging (roughly 6 inches wide by 9.5 inches tall and 1.25 inches deep) will not disappoint, starting with a translucent plastic sleeve with blood-red printed text of the titles and credits wrapped around a beige-and-black cardboard slipcase showing a chromatic collage of Ms. Goth.

Inside, owners get a heavy-duty, trifold, cardboard digibook that, when spread open, contains the three discs securely mounted on spindles. The back cover showcases art from the films, led by a shrouded and robed killer holding a pitchfork near a barn door.

Also included is a 64-page, full-color bound booklet in a blood-red cover offering a new essay by critic Jon Dieringer on the blue movie genre and Mr. West’s work, as well as a vibrant collection of unreleased concept art, costume sketches, behind-the-scenes photos, a faux movie poster and the VHS box art created for the films.