Here are the best Blu-ray movies to show off your home theater

There’s no way we could put all the greats in here – that would just take too long. But we do have our favorites, updated regularly to give you plenty of variety. Trust us when we tell you, these Blu-ray picks have got what it takes to make your system shine.

Bohemian Rhapsody

This Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic cleaned up big-time at the Oscars, and it’s easy to see why. Rami Malek’s Academy Award-winning performance brings Mercury’s dynamic personality alive both onstage and off, while the movie itself couldn’t be a better love-letter to the band’s fans. But it’s the finale that will get you off your couch and cheering the screen — the movie’s pixel-perfect re-creation of the band’s LiveAid performance is breathtaking.

Avatar

This “holy grail” of 3D cinematography is the culmination of over 10 years of painstaking perfectionism by its creator, James Cameron. The movie was reportedly a near all-consuming effort for the director towards the end and helped spawn the modern 3D revolution. Like Cameron’s previous work, Titanic, it was also one of the most expensive movies ever made, due in part to the pioneering of brand new 3D cinematography for the film. The gamble paid off, resulting in the highest grossing movie of all time upon release, and the most impressive 3D Blu-ray experience on the market.

A Star Is Born

With Lady Gaga picking up an Academy Award for Best Original Song, there’s even more reason to check out this spectacular movie, which is essentially a 136-minute duet by Gaga and Bradley Cooper, who sang all of his own songs for the film. The onstage performances are riveting and really help sell the idea that rock ‘n’ roll glory is a double-edged sword.

The Revenant

Not only is The Revenant the film that finally put an Oscar for Best Actor in Leonardo DiCaprio’s hands, it’s a visually stunning and emotionally powerful film that also earned awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s iconic natural lighting and uninterrupted single-take shots meld with Alejandro Iñárritu’s brilliant vision for an engrossing atmosphere that takes you back to the harsh life of the American frontier in 1823. The film sees frontiersman Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) embark on a journey of vengeance and survival through breathtaking vistas that show off the raw beauty of the American wilderness like few films before it.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The follow-up to the surprise hit following Marvel’s space-trekking hero team, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is just as fun, colorful, and full of death-defying stunts as the original. And since this one casts the resurgent Kurt Russell as Star-Lord’s dad, some might say it even exceeds its predecessor — we’ll leave that for greater minds than ours to decide. What we can say is that this film is a feast for the eyes and ears, from the impressive practical effects like Drax’s scarred skin to CGI mind-benders like an entire squad of golden aliens chasing down our heroes in remotely powered ships, this one is sure to please all of your cinematic senses.

Venom

While not a runaway success with critics, this flick is a great way to spend a couple hours thanks to Tom Hardy’s alien-infected, has-been reporter. Venom makes plenty of use of the latest CGI tricks, and the writing team has obviously been taking notes from the success of Deadpool. The clash between Venom and his rival, Riot, in the finale is worth the price of admission alone.

Black Panther

A megahit for Marvel and an outstanding success by any measure, Black Panther is a departure from what we’ve seen in superhero films recently, as well as a reminder of why we love them in the first place. Helmed by Creed director Ryan Coogler and based on a script by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther takes place in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, a beautiful setting which serves as a perfect backdrop to the film’s jaw-dropping action sequences. This disc is worth it for the film’s spectacular car chase sequence alone, but thankfully it offers much more.

2001: A Space Odyssey

It’s pretty hard to make a list like this without including this quintessential icon of sci-fi classics. Stanley Kubrick’s haunting vision of space exploration in the not-so-distant future is nearly as stunning today as it was upon its release in freaking 1968 – the same year the Beatles released The White Album, for reference. The Blu-ray release is heralded as an expert re-master. The multiple shots of the gleaming space station against the cold black void lays down the gauntlet for any HD display, and the infamous theme music has never been more sweeping. Be sure and get that subwoofer ready for the movie that invented the ‘sound of space.’

Ready Player One

Ready Player One gave viewers a very different interpretation in theaters than what was offered by Ernest Cline’s best-selling sci-fi novel, but Steven Spielberg’s explosion of unique effects and fast-paced storytelling gives everyone something to write home about. As Parzival and his many CGI friends set out to stop the greedy IOI from ruining their dream world, the OASIS, Blu-ray viewers are treated to gorgeous colors, brilliant detail, and breathtaking stunts. The Blu-ray rendering also loads in Dolby Atmos, something we’re seeing more and more of, making this disc a great way for those with a killer sound system to get even more immersed in the virtual world.

Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings is an emotionally resonant film about a young boy, Kubo (Art Parkinson), who joins two animal protectors — Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) — on a quest through feudal Japan to retrieve an ancient set of armor once worn by his deceased father. While the story is wholly encapsulating, Kubo is also a stop-motion animation marvel, with a fluidity and charm that seems almost as magical to behold as its plot. Watching the movie in an ideal home theater setting provides an opportunity to appreciate the meticulous craftwork of the painstakingly created models and animation, while the sweeping soundtrack underscores it all perfectly.