The Best Film like transfers onto Blu-ray.

[Ray_Rogers]

Grain haters this isn't a thread for you.
How about we compile a list of titles, doesn't matter which country, looks the absolute best on Blu-ray? Yes that does mean retaining all the film grain and the originally intended look of the picture. No, titles shot on video don't count since I'm OCD about those types of specifics. No full CGI titles count either. Just the ones on celluloid.
Yes, titles shot with soft focus filters and the like especially count. The titles which closest mirror their theatrical release count. Just because the domestic USA/Canada release got shafted doesn't mean it isn't superior in another country. Yes imports are very welcome.
Avaturd of course doesn't count.

I'll start off and add more titles as we get this thread going: (Never seen titles are denoted by one asterisk. Absolutely no John Wayne titles will be listed and I don't care if you're an idiot fan of him.)

OO7 01: Dr. NO
OO7 02: From Russia with Love
OO7 03: GOLDFINGER
OO7 04: THUNDERBALL
OO7 08: Live and Let Die
OO7 09: The Man with the Golden Gun
OO7 11: MOONRAKER
OO7 12: For Your Eyes Only
OO7 16: Licence to Kill
OO7 19: The World is Not Enough
OO7 20: Die Another Day
OO7 21: CASINO ROYALE (Collector's Edition 2-Disc)
OO7 22: Quantum of Solace
OO7 AB: Never Say Never Again
12 MONKEYS
2001: A Space Odyssey (35mm reduction print instead of 70mm.)
The Adventures of Robin Hood
ALIEN
ALIENS (Colour timing changed)
American History X*
Armageddon
Back to the Future
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part III
BIG
Big Trouble in Little China
BLACK HAWK DOWN
BLADE RUNNER  (ALL cuts of the Film)
BLUE THUNDER
Bonnie and Clyde
BOTTLE ROCKET
Bram Stoker's DRACULA (Color timing changed.)
Bridge on the River Kwai
BRAVEHEART
BULLITT
CASABLANCA
CAST AWAY
CHARADE
A Chinese Odyssey (HK)
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Days of Glory (UK)
The Deer Hunter (UK Studio Canal)
DEFIANCE
DIE HARD
DIE HARD 2: Die Harder
DIE HARD: With a Vengeance
DIE HARD 4.0/Live Free or Die Hard
DIRTY HARRY
MAGNUM FORCE
The Enforcer
Sudden Impact
The Dead Pool
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
DUNE
THE EVIL DEAD (USA for original filmed aspect ratio. UK for cropped 1.85:1. Evil Dead fans of course will own both.)
FEARLESS (USA and HK)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Forrest Gump
The French Connection (Color timing changed.)
Gangs of New York* (Remaster)
GHOSTBUSTERS
GLADIATOR (Remaster)
GLORY
The Godfather*
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part III
The Graduate (UK Studio Canal)
HellBoy
HellBoy II: The Golden Army
HIGHLANDER (UK)
HIGHLANDER 2
HOT FUZZ
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
IRON MAN
IRON MAN 2
The Italian Job  (40th Anniversary Edition, UK)
KAGEMUSHA
KING KONG (1933)
KING KONG (2005, very slight DNR.)
L.A. Confidential (Japan, US?)
The Long Good Friday* (UK)
MAD MAX
MAD MAX 2: The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
THE MIST*
North by Northwest
Pan's Labyrinth (UK, UK del Toro boxset)
Paris, Texas*
PAYBACK (UK)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Planet of the Apes (1968) (US)
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
POLTERGEIST  (Except the special features department is severely lacking.)
PREDATOR  (Still not buying it since it needs all the extras from the 2-Disc or a really low price. Applies ONLY to original MPEG2 release.)
PUNISHER: War Zone
RAGING BULL
Red Cliff Part I
Red Cliff Part II
Red Heat (extremely slight EE?)
Romancing the Stone
The Jewel of the Nile
The Running Man
The Sand Pebbles*
SE7EN (USA)
The Seventh Seal*
Shaun of the Dead
The Shawshank Redemption
The Sound of Music
STARGATE  (15th Anniversary Edition)
SUPERMAN: The Movie
SUPERMAN II: The Richard Donner Cut
Tears of the Sun
Terminator 2 (Japan)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (UK)
The Thin Red Line* (Criterion)
The Third Man (Criterion)
TOTAL RECALL  (AUS, UK)
TRANSFORMERS
TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen

VALKYRIE
Viva Las Vegas  (with the great Elvis the Pelvis.)
The Wild Bunch*
The X-Files: Fight the Future (aliasing/jaggies?)
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
X-MEN (UK recommended)
X2: X-Men United (UK recommended)
X-MEN 3: The Last Stand  (2-Disc, UK recommended)

I'll stop for now and let others chime in for titles to add to the list so I don't hog all the responsibility. Be sure to browse through the list to see if a title you want to suggest is already in it. Series are in filmed order and not alphabetical. Perhaps I shall have asterisks to denote certain things.

Older titles are very welcome! This applies for EVERY title shot on film.

[IntoTheVoid]

Although I don't know for sure how much work was done during the restoration in 2000 (?) for the print they eventually used for the digital transfers, but I'm a big fan of The Wild Bunch in HD.
One of the best looking films I've ever seen in the format.
The opening title sequence especially.

[Blu-Malibu2009]

Godfather Collection

[singhcr]

The Counterfeiters looks very much like a film because it was shot on 16mm film stock. It has a heavy amount of grain but is still quite detailed.

A Passage To India
Red Cliff I,II
Bonnie and Clyde
Dr. Strangelove
Dirty Harry
Days of Glory [UK]
Fearless
Live Free or Die Hard
Cast Away
American History X

[The Dragon]

Ip Man
Defiance
The Mist
Red Cliff 1 & 2
Hellboy: The Golden Army

[Beta Man]

In addition to the ones listed in my Collection..... hmmm

Casablanca
Adventures of Robin Hood
The Searchers
Predator (yeah.... people hate it.... but it's a perfect transfer if you saw it in theaters)

[Ray_Rogers]

Folks, older titles are welcome too.

Ip Man?

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

Folks, older titles are welcome too.

Ip Man?

I've considered blind-buying this..... Would like to rent it.... but Netflix doesn't carry it. Not sure if it's getting released in the U.S. anytime soon. I think there is a review up on this site though.

[Sussudio]

Basically every Criterion....but if I had to choose one, The Third Man. I also want to say The Seventh Seal....I can't choose.

Yes I can. Seventh Seal.

[SpotOn]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Predator (yeah.... people hate it.... but it's a perfect transfer if you saw it in theaters)

Finally! I remember Predator in the theaters (not to mention a revival screening a few years back) and I agree.

(...like we'll ever convince the haters, though)

[syncguy]

Recently watched Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Still fresh in my memory...

[Ray_Rogers]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I've considered blind-buying this..... Would like to rent it.... but Netflix doesn't carry it. Not sure if it's getting released in the U.S. anytime soon. I think there is a review up on this site though.

There's always importing it from DDDHouse,com but I'm unsure if they carry it. I have ordered through them dozens of times but nothing yet for Blu.
Does Never Say Never Again have that 1980's feel/look to it with film grain retainment?

[Afrobean]

If you're looking for things with that grainy, filmic look, Transformers and X-men: Last Stand do a good job in that area.

I'd also second the claim for "all Criterion releases". Or if you're unwilling to just name them all, I'll singly nominate Bottle Rocket.

[syncguy]

Filmic details are in the grain, that is the reason for many filmic blu-rays are grainy. If electronically grain is removed, the details are gone so as the filmic look... really, I consider that as a disaster.

[Kryptonic]

Black Hawk Down is an excellent reproduction as are Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.

[indiephantom]

Magnum Force looked as good as Dirty Harry did to me, and a pleasantly film-like amount of grain was present. Viva Las Vegas could be my transfer of a classic. Beautifully solid technicolor. I was also very happy with the Blue Thunder transfer, and I think others feel the same way. Nice thread.

[benricci]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=78743

[Barbie-Shrimp]

I would add Raging Bull to the list. As well as Chinese Odyssey and both X-Files movies.

[Clark Kent]

I am not sure the James Bond Blu-rays are a good addition to a list of this kind. While they look good considered on their own merits, Lowry performed extensive digital processing on most of them. Check the credits of each Blu-ray if you do not believe me. They really do not look like exact duplicates of the original film prints as a moviegoer would have seen upon release. They all have been grain-reduced to a point, with varying effects.

They still look very good, but film-like is not the most accurate characterization I would use for them.

[benricci]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

They really do not look like exact duplicates of the original film prints as a moviegoer would have seen upon release.

You're right, for the most part they look way better than the crappy release prints used in the 60s and 70s.