 (I saw the original musical on Broadway and wore out the soundtrack record) with my more adult sensibilities. I hadn’t seen it in some time and remembered there being some troubling issues of gender politics in both song and plot and was fully prepared to equivocate in my write up. It turns out Grease is actually a nuanced and at times even feminist story. Yes, at times the film is less than subtle and sure, there are some issues treated less-than sensitively, but viewed as a whole, Grease is a much more subtle look at gender roles that one might think. As for the 4K treatment, the image looks fantastic and Dolby Vision HDR gives what was always a colorful movie a new life of vibrancy. A relative rarity with classic films, this edition comes with quite a few new extras, as well. —M.R. Saving Private Ryan 20th Anniversary 4K (Paramount, $19.59) Much has been said of the remarkable first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. Kenneth Turan wrote in the LA Times, that “we are shown the invasion of France with a violence and an intensity that is almost beyond describing” and he’s not wrong. It’s not that the previous 1080p releases were bad. In fact, they are, by all accounts, astonishing. Paramount has done something remarkable then … they have improved on astonishing and much of the credit can go to the new Dolby Atmos sound mix and Dolby Vision HDR. This isn’t one of those films where you pop in the 4K and sit bolt upright, stunned at the transformation but it is one where, as you watch it, the cumulative affect of the added detail, both visual and auditory, blows you away. Based on what I’ve seen of Paramount’s 2018 4K treatments (including the exceptional Mission: Impossible collection, they’re taking this relatively new format very seriously. —M.R. Superman: The Movie 4K (Warner Bros., $22.99) This is a tough one to review, given the recent spate of exceptional comic book adaptations and the advances made in special effects over the past 40 years. For those born in the ’60s and ’70s, Superman: The Movie is a classic, and we all remember the wonder we felt seeing it in the theater. Prior to 1978, all we had for superheroes were cheesy TV shows and serials from the 1940s and while I loved TV’s Batman and The Adventures of Superman, Richard Donner’s big screen treatment was a whole other creature, entirely. The title sequence with John Williams’ iconic score is burned into my mind so much so that I find myself humming it from time to time, 40 years later. The talent on display is stunning. It stars multiple Oscar-winning actors Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman, Oscar-nominees Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Trevor Howard, Valerie Perrine, Terrence Stamp and Susannah York and was shot by the late, great (2x Oscar-winner) Geoffrey Unsworth. Oh and Oscar-winner Mario Puzo (The Godfather, The Godfather II) wrote the original screenplay. On the other hand, there are a few optical effects and sets (the destruction of Krypton and Clark’s long march to the arctic) that are less-than flattered by the increased resolution, especially when compared to more modern fare but comparing those aspects of films made 40 years apart is a pointless exercise. The new Dolby Atmos soundtrack is a nice upgrade, and the Warner Bros. sound technicians have done a fine job using the newer format without overwhelming the viewer with needless bombast. Special note to those parents thinking about showing pre-teens one of your favorites from the past: While it is rated PG, Lois Lane’s death sequence is legitimately terrifying. —M.R. Predator 4-Movie Collection 4K (20th Century Fox, $54.99) This is another set that follows the recent trend of including films that are only available on 4K as part of the set. As with the Jack Ryan Collection we included in this year’s Top 10 list, this set contains some films that are not available as single discs, so if you want Predator 2 or Predators, you have to pony up for either this set or the 3-Movie Collection released earlier this year. (Only you know how much of a completist you are.) Predator remains one of the best sci-fi action films of the ’80s and reportedly it and Predator 2 received new 4K scans for their upgrade to UHD. Well, it shows. Fox’s transfers are exceptional and restore the original grain, while the HDR takes advantage of the format’s increased resolution to take advantage of muted jungle color palette of the first film, where previous releases were … murky. Unfortunately, Fox chose not to upgrade the sound mixes to Dolby Atmos. This year’s The Predator does have an Atmos mix, however. As with most 4K releases (especially with older films), almost all of the extras are only included on the accompanying 1080p blu-rays, with the first three films in the series only including the commentary on the 4K discs. (I wasn’t able to inspect the 4th film at press time, but the press release does seem to indicate that the extras will be included on that 4K disc.) —M.R. Old Reliable: Six from the Criterion Collection Since their curation and execution are generally exceptional, it’s impossible to cull a “best of” from the Criterion Collection’s yearly output. And while I will always have my “Hey! What about….” films (Local Hero and Miller’s Crossing top that list), Criterion remains a cinephile treasure trove. —M.R. Bull Durham (Criterion Collection, $22.97) Bull Durham is the best baseball movie ever made. Fight me. I understand that cases can be made for films such as The Pride of the Yankees or Field of Dreams, but it ain’t gonna work. Not only does Bull Durham get the baseball right (Tim Robbins’ woeful pitching motion, notwithstanding) but it manages to be a sports movie that romantics can love and a romance that sports fans can’t help but fall for. It’s an odd and rarely successful combo to be sure, but at its heart, baseball, especially at the minor league level, is as quirky as they come, which is probably one of the reasons Bull Durham works so well. I watch it at least twice a year. Criterion has done their typical excellent job on this, with a new 4K transfer, supervised by director Ron Shelton and a new conversation between Shelton and film critic Michael Sragow, along with a long list of excellent, previously available, extras. My Man Godfrey (Criterion Collection, $21.12) Depression-era Hollywood produced some excellent films that reflected on the socio-economic conditions of the times and openly questioned the prevailing idea that capitalism and the never-ending desire for wealth was a good idea. Films like Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It with You and this one from Gregory La Cava raise some questions about the validity of the American Dream and class system and while they can be somewhat simplistic—we are talking about Hollywood, after all—they’re still interesting snapshots of the times and exceptionally entertaining. My Man Godfrey was the first film to receive Academy Award nominations in all four acting categories and is both funny and a stinging rebuke to the idea that good behavior and propriety can be ignored if you’re rich enough. The 1936 film received a new 4K digital restoration as well as the typical mini-film school worth of extras expected of The Criterion Collection. Some Like It Hot (Criterion Collection, $27.99) Over time, some films age poorly, others hold up quite well and still others gain a newfound layer of meaning or importance due to current events or how modern society views history. There’s a fair amount of film scholarship out there praising Some Like It Hot as being ahead of its time in regard to how it portrays things like cross-dressing and (inadvertently, or not) homosexuality, but as Sam Wasson writes in the included essay, director Billy Wilder likely wasn’t trying to make that point. In every instance where a modern sensibility might see Wilder or writer I.A.L. Diamond as having a more evolved sense of gender roles or sexuality, they were, in fact, probably just going for the laugh. Regardless of intent, the film was ahead of its time in many ways, and were it not a comedy, I find it hard to believe that a studio in 1959 would have made a film with these themes. Wasson also states that one’s appreciation of Some Like It Hot can’t get better over time because it’s brilliant right out of the box. (I mostly agree.) Both during her tragically short life and for decades afterwards, Monroe was largely portrayed as a bimbo who lucked into roles or slept her way to the top, but in recent years there’s been something of a reappraisal of Monroe. She was a remarkable woman with exceptional talent, none of it accidental, and if you had the old impression, watching Some Like It Hot again may give you a new appreciation for the film as a whole. Some Like It Hot is a masterpiece, plain and simple. The Princess Bride (Criterion Collection, $20.83) It’s not hyperbole to refer to The Princess Bride and one of the most beloved films of all time. In fact it’s inconceivable that there are people out there who don’t love this film,