The best 4K and Blu-ray releases coming out in January 2025

The theaters might be full of trash, but the January physical media world is thriving. Each month The A.V. Club does our part to keep you up to date on the best of what’s coming out on Blu-ray and 4K UHD, which is especially important as streaming services become less and less reliable homes for films worth watching. January 2025’s Blu-ray and 4K releases include some classics getting an upgrade for the first time, a pair of sleeper hits from last year, and a few flashy wild cards getting the deluxe treatment from specialty distributors. Read on and find films from Akira Kurosawa, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, Tarsem Singh, and more.

Seven 4K Steelbook

Available January 7

Seven (or Se7en if you’re nasty) has long been deserving of a high-quality physical release. David Fincher’s post-Alien 3 breakthrough is a film whose grimy, rotten texture you can feel, and when someone as meticulous and hands-on as Fincher personally oversees a restoration, the marriage between look and feel only becomes more intense. As Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman make their way through the deadly sins in a morbid game of cat-and-mouse, viewers may find themselves just as submerged in the moral muck as the cops. This upgrade will also support the film’s brief return to IMAX for its 30th anniversary, which is a cool tie-in that helps overshadow that all the special features on this disc have been previously released. But hey, even if the commentaries and featurettes are old, Seven has never looked this good.

Yojimbo / Sanjuro 4K + Blu-ray

Available January 7

Toshiro Mifune dominates this Criterion combo pack of Yojimbo and Sanjuro, a pair of Akira Kurosawa samurai films, even compared to the rest of the actor-filmmaker’s collaborations. The former is probably more famous in concept, where a nameless drifter saunters into a violence-stricken town a la A Fistful Of Dollars…because Sergio Leone yoinked the plot directly from Kurosawa, eventually losing to the filmmaker in court. The latter film quickly put Mifune back into action as the character simply because Yojimbo had been such a smash. In these films, Kurosawa’s cross-cultural conversation with Hollywood looms large, as the historic East and the mythic West inform one another. As always, Criterion’s extras are a big selling point here, with included documentaries and essays adding historical context and making-of information to a couple genre classics.

The Cell 4K

Available January 21

Tarsem Singh is in the midst of a reclamation. A year after The Fall got its own 4K restoration, Singh’s debut The Cell is getting a spit-shine from the fine folks at Arrow. With both the restored Theatrical and Director’s Cuts getting the Singh stamp of approval, this release also includes a version of the film with an “alternate aspect ratio and alternate grading created by director of photography Paul Laufer.” So, three full versions of Jennifer Lopez digging into the recesses of serial killer Vincent D’Onofrio’s twisted mind for the diehards, who will also certainly appreciate the new commentary tracks and interview featurettes. The release also includes a pair of visual essays and a sizable booklet for those looking for even more critical writing on the film. Stay tuned for when Mirror Mirror gets its own 4K announcement.

Jackie Brown 4K

Available January 21

A nice handful of Quentin Tarantino films are getting 4K releases from Lionsgate this month, but let’s start with one of his hands-down best features: Jackie Brown. A film that gives Pam Grier the rightful spotlight and a lovely romance with a never-better Robert Forster, Jackie Brown is one of Tarantino’s most mature, quiet, and lovely movies, its Elmore Leonard origins be damned. A criminal smuggling plot and a twisty turn-’em-against-each-other storyline fall to the wayside in the face of Grier and Forster’s touching turns. This restoration includes a second disc of bonus features, which you can watch in the film’s afterglow. 

Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 4K Steelbooks

Available January 21

Joining Jackie Brown (and a less-exciting reprint of Reservoir Dogs in the same style) are a couple vibrant Kill Bill 4K Steelbooks. Though they don’t boast the same breadth of special features as Jackie Brown, these films do have the selling point of being Kill Bill, which rules. The Bride (Uma Thurman) has never looked this crisp when cutting and punching her way towards revenge, and the covers by Oliver Barrett and Matt Taylor (while not matching, which is a bit frustrating) are as sleek and flashy as the films themselves.

Close Your Eyes Blu-ray

Available January 28

A fantastic and slept-on release from last year, the return of legendary Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice is a stunning dramatic consideration of how memory and movie can intertwine. Including interviews with the crew and cast (some of whom, like The Spirit Of The Beehive’s Ana Torrent, reunite with Erice after decades away), this Blu-ray preserves a film all about the preservation of media, and what that preservation does for the people we once were and the things we once created. It’s an elegiac film, directed by an octogenarian burned time and again by the industry, and one desperately worth seeking out.

Virtuosity 4K

Available January 28

A semi-forgotten ’90s sci-fi from The Lawnmower Man’s Brett Leonard, Virtuosity engaged with pop futurism like many of its cyberpunkish contemporaries. As A.V. Club critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky writes, “Though it isn’t as accomplished as Strange Days or even the Japanese cut of Johnny Mnemonic (both also released in 1995), it’s still a treat to look at, thanks to its imaginative use of primitive CGI and to the gonzo imagery cooked up by production designer Nilo Rodis.” And they will have never looked better than in Vinegar Syndrome’s new release, which gives this thing a slick slipcover and a crisp 4K restoration. Enjoy Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe’s cop-and-criminal-AI antics before diving into the multiple featurettes, interviews, and large essay booklet.

Dad & Step-Dad Blu-ray

Available January 28

One of the strangest and funniest microbudget releases of 2024, Tynan DeLong’s Dad & Step-Dad sees an unnamed Dad (Colin Burgess) and Step-Dad (Anthony Oberbeck) improvisationally wrestle for control over their “13-year-old” son (Brian Fiddyment, obviously in his 30s) during a rural weekend getaway. Shot in less than a week, the comedy is both deeply modern—complete with long riffs on furry pornography, phone-charging mishaps, and cat-eared headphones—and timelessly silly. The masculine posturing between the leads feels just as instinctual as the half-written, half-felt material. The latter will surely be laid bare by the Blu-ray’s inclusion of a blooper reel, alternate and deleted scenes, and the original short film inspiration. Also, something called a “fart track,” which might just be a commentary track of fart sound effects.