Michael McKean · 1980s

5 Michael McKean movies from the 1980s on 4K Blu-ray, ranked S to D by transfer quality. 2 S-Tier picks including Clue, This Is Spinal Tap.

Decade

All 7 1980s 5 1990s 1 2020s 1

Year

All 5 1980 1 1981 0 1982 0 1983 0 1984 1 1985 2 1986 0 1987 1 1988 0 1989 0

Clue(1985)

7.2/10

dir. Jonathan Lynn

S-Tier

S-Tier Shout Factory 4K. Tim Curry in a board game adaptation. The fact that this film has a cult following strong enough to warrant an S-Tier 4K from Shout Factory says everything about where physical media is right now.

Shout! Studios · Collector's Edition

This Is Spinal Tap(1984)

7.9/10

dir. Rob Reiner

S-Tier

S-Tier Criterion 4K. The IMDB page rates it out of 11 instead of 10, which feels right. The in-character DVD commentary where the band complains about being misrepresented is worth owning on its own.

Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray

Planes, Trains and Automobiles(1987)

7.6/10

dir. John Hughes

C-Tier

C-Tier Paramount 4K. John Hughes' Thanksgiving classic with Steve Martin and John Candy. The 4K transfer was widely panned, with multiple reviews calling it one of the worst on the format. The lost hour of deleted footage was found and included as a bonus, which was the real draw. The Blu-ray was already mediocre, and the 4K is only marginally better. Paramount needs to redo this one without the grain reduction.

Paramount Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray

Used Cars(1980)

6.4/10

dir. Robert Zemeckis

C-Tier

When the owner of a struggling used car lot is killed, it's up to the lot's hot-shot salesman to save the property from falling into the hands of the owner's ruthless brother and used-car rival.

Shout! Studios · 4K + Blu-ray Combo Pack Collector's Edition

D.A.R.Y.L.(1985)

6.3/10

dir. Simon Wincer

Daryl is a normal 10-year-old boy in many ways. However, unbeknown to his foster parents and friends, Daryl is actually a government-created robot with superhuman reflexes and mental abilities. Even his name has a hidden meaning -- it's actually an acronym for Data Analyzing Robot Youth Life-form. When the organization that created him deems the "super soldier" experiment a failure and schedules Daryl to be disassembled, it is up to a few rogue scientists to help him escape.