The best Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases of February 2023

This is the best time to begin or expand your Blu-ray library. With HBO Max reminding the world that TV shows and movies can be removed from streaming services at a moment’s notice, we’ve begun to invest a bit more of our own entertainment budgets into good ol’-fashioned discs. Preservation isn’t the only benefit. You get better sound and image quality, as well as special features that are not available on streaming services like commentary and behind-the scenes documentaries.

Each month begins with a selection of the most anticipated discs to help you choose your next favourite. We haven’t had the opportunity to try these discs just yet, but if you want the formal thumbs up, no worries — in the coming months we will begin our rolling list of the best Blu-rays and 4K UHD discs of the year. But each of these releases has potential and comes from a label we’ve enjoyed in the past.

This month, we’ve got space horror, a stoner classic, and debatably the greatest art-house trilogy — enjoyable even if you’ve never visited an art house.

This is the most anticipated disc in February 2023

Sidekicks(4K UHD + blu-ray). – now available

Vinegar Syndrome is now one of the most trusted labels in horror, action and exploitation cinema. This label appears to have used its cachet to create special editions of studio films that were overlooked or not appreciated over the years. It released an amazing edition last fall of Road HouseThe presentation includes a 4K HDR presentation as well as a number of interviews with talented people from behind and front of the camera.

Vinegar Syndrome Ultra returns as a sub-label with a new release. Sidekicks. A bullied teenager daydreams of being Chuck Norris’ sidekick in various ’90s action flick scenarios. He decides to bring joy into his life by learning karate, and then enters tournaments that settle scores with local school bullies. As the Road House release, Vinegar Syndrome’s spin on Sidekicks includes a 4K disc with HDR and hours of interviews with cast and crew, plus a new commentary track from director Aaron Norris, Chuck Norris’ brother.

For February 2023, the big Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray releases

Image: Paramount Pictures

Event Horizon(4K UHD + Blu ray + Digital Code – now available

Paul W.S. Anderson doesn’t get enough credit. The director has dedicated the majority of his career to video game adaptations, from 1995’s Mortal Kombat to 2020’s Monster Hunter — with an entire Resident Evil series in between. Anderson prioritized pulpy fun over the prestige that would become de rigueur, peaking just this month with HBO’s Last of Us. And yet, with so much Serious Entertainment, I’ve come to appreciate Anderson’s enthusiastic approach to filmmaking. Even if one Anderson film is all you have to see, I recommend it. [the unforgettable/terrifying/some other descriptive word that gets across the WTF nature of this movie] Event Horizonstarring Laurence Fishburne (impossibly talented) and Sam Neill (both of whom enjoy a chance to chew scenery).

It’s a mix of horror and sci-fi genres. This new disc includes 4K, Blu-ray, and digital codes. It also supports Dolby Vision 10 and HDR10.

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There are three colors (4K UHD. Blu-ray) – Feb. 7, 2023

Criterion’s library of 4K discs is growing, and one of their best boxes sets has been given the UHD treatment. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s There are three colors sounds like peak intimidating foreign cinema — a French/Polish trilogy, each entry named after the colors of the nation’s flag — but these films are nothing like the American cliche of the Parisian drama. Blue, We are whiteAnd RedThese are intimate, approachable dramas that feature international talents like Julie Delpy or Juliette Binoche. Although the films are in different areas of comedy-to drama, they tie in in such a way as to inspire Hollywood’s early 2000s filmmakers obsessed by cosmic kismet.

This set contains all three films in 4K UHD, DolbyVision HDR and a Bluray with special features. Do you want to get a cinema lesson from one the best directors ever? There are three of them! You also get Criterion’s usual treats like short documentaries and essays by established film critics.

Universal Pictures

The Fabelmans (4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD) – Feb. 14, 2023

Let’s start with the good news. Steven Spielberg produced his greatest film in decades, and virtually no one saw it. Outrage! Hysteria!

Here’s the good news! The Fabelmans might be Spielberg’s most home-theater-friendly film. This intimate film is a personal account of Spielberg’s complicated family and his discoveries in filmmaking. The drama can be enjoyed from the comfort of your living space.

It includes a Bluray disc (with HDR), a 4K DVD and a digital code.

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You are confused and dazed (4K UHD, Blu-ray) – Feb. 21, 2023

Our other anticipated Criterion release this month is the UHD upgrade for Richard Linklater’s teen classic, You are confused and dazed. Finally, you can see Matthew McConaughey say “All right, all right, all right” in the highest possible fidelity. This movie has been a favorite of mine for six years after I lived in Austin. But you don’t have to be familiar with Top Notch and moonlight towers to connect with teens finding their own fun in an otherwise boring town.

This set contains a 4K DVD with Dolby Vision HDR, and a Blu-ray standard disc.

Ian Watson/HBOMax

Station Eleven (4K UHD, Blu-ray) – Feb. 21, 2023

Last of Us will likely be remembered as HBO Max’s breakout postapocalypse TV series, but that’s no reason to skip Station ElevenIts life-affirming counterpart is This limited series, based on Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, opens with a disturbingly familiar pandemic and then follows the lives of a group of Shakespeare performers as they struggle for survival (and meaning) in a world that is almost completely empty. Director Hiro Murai (Atlanta, some of the best music videos of the decade) produces some of the coolest visuals you’ll see on film or TV, but the darkness — literally, this show is heavy on shadows and night sequences — didn’t benefit from crummy streaming. The perfect way to watch or revisit a favorite series is a 4K DVD.

Image from Criterion Collection

Texas Chain Saw Massacre(4K UHD + blu-ray). – Feb. 28, 2023

Tobe Hooper broke into the film industry with 1974’s Texas Chain Saw MassacreThis film is his finest and most important. It’s also one of the greatest horror films. It does exactly what it says, just like so many other great horror movies. It’s in Texas. There’s a chainsaw massacre. Both simple and scary. Hooper’s films would become exponentially silly and madcap, peaking 12 years later with Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.This filter the original idea through Looney Tunes’ lens. It is a great mix of humor and violence that I enjoy.

This new release includes a 4K disc containing a whopping four commentaries along with a supplementary Blu-ray disc stuffed with extras including a feature-length documentary on the film’s legacy.

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Kubo & the Two StringsBlu-ray + 4K UHD – Feb. 28, 2023

Laika is the last semi-prolific English-language stop motion film creator. He has launched 2023 with the 4K Bluray version of his back catalogue. If Kubo is anything like last month’s release of ParanormanIt will then make use of HDR and additional resolution.

This release comes with a Blu-ray and 4K discs. There are many special features in the package, but we will focus on the storyboards that run for over a minute. It takes a lot of preparation to stop-motion. You have to almost animated the film on paper, before you can move onto real-world models.