A Christmas Story (4k UHD + Digital HD)
Blu-Ray Reviews | Nov 15th, 2022
Starring: Peter Billingsley, Jean Shepherd, Ian Petrella, Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin , Scott Schwartz, R. D. Robb, Zack Ward
Written By: Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, Bob Clark
Directed By: Bob Clark
Studio: Warner Bros
Buy On Amazon.com
At 39 years old this year, the Christmas classic is now available on 4k UHD for the first time and it looks glorious! No need to wait to watch it on TBS marathon on Christmas Eve when it looks this good. Either way, watching Christmas Story is a tradition that many people from the 80s and beyond have to do every year.
I’m not going to bother really talking about this movie with the plot and what I really thought about the movies since they have been seen by millions already. I mainly wanted to talk about the quality, the featurettes and a little bit about revisiting the movie.
I’ve seen Christmas Story just about every year since I was 5 when it came out. Sometimes It’s tough to fit everything in and I only see glimpses of it. Some years I’ll watch it from start to finish, and other times I’ll just catch a few scenes on the TBS marathon. This year I wanted to watch it from start to finish since the movie was remastered to 4k, plus the new sequel is coming out this week as well.
The movie still holds up for the most part, despite some stereotypes that are pretty obvious. The movie covers a lot of ground, some still relevant like dealing with bullies, guns in a way, but a lot of the fun aspects of Christmas like shopping, visiting Santa, finding a tree, school hijinks and other things. If I had to pick a favorite scene, it might be visiting Santa or Ralphie going to berserk on Scut Farkus. From getting picked on at school when I was young, seeing the tables turned always put a smile on my face. Another thing I could relate to was the Mom putting Randy in a ton of clothes when it was cold out. So much so that he couldn’t put his arms down. That’s what my Mom did!
Like I mentioned before, the quality is really good. Of course there’s still some grain. The way the movie was shot, it’s like some foggy filter over it a little bit but i’m not sure that’s something you can really fix years later on. The extras are carry-overs from other editions, but at least it’s there included on the Blu-Ray. The audio commentary is about the only extra on the 4k disc. The featurette on the house was interesting since I never saw that before. I believe it’s currently on the market too.
A Christmas Story is a Christmas staple in many houses. It used to be for me but I only watch it when I can these days. I think my family tends to watch other more kid-friendlier movies first, sometimes we just run out of time. It’s still an enjoyable movie with lots of great moments though. It looks awesome in 4k so if you’re a fan, you have to watch it on $k this year!
Features:
Audio Commentary
Christmas in Ohio: A Christmas Story House
Another Christmas Story
Daisy Red Ryder: A History
Get a Leg Up
“Flash Gordon” Deleted Script Pages
The Leg Lamp Spot
Jean Shepherd Original Radio Reading
Video:
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (75.78 Mbps)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Spanish, Dutch
Bottom Line: A Christmas tradition looks awesome in 4k!
Running Time: 93 mins
Rating: PG
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:
