New to Blu: April 12 – 18

April 13, 2017 0 Comments

It’s a happy Easter for fans of Disney’s Pacific Islands hit Moana, which lands here on 2D and 3D Blu-ray, but Kiwis miss out on the 4K-UHD versions of Passengers and Why Him?.

“Moana‘s 1080p transfer is flat-out gorgeous, maybe one of the most vibrant the format has seen,” Blu-ray.com said. “Colours are resplendent. Blue waters sparkle and natural greens are lush, both standing apart against many of the earthier tones that define much of the rest of the environments.”

“Disney’s striking 1080p/AVC-encoded high definition video presentation comes framed in the movie’s original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1 widescreen, and is perfect,” AVForums said. “It’s demo and reference through and through, the perfect material for showing off your screen, and impossible to fault.”

“The 3D version retains everything we admire about the 2D Blu-ray presentation — vivid colours, finely resolved textures, and inky black levels — but makes Moana’s CGI-rendered universe feel almost real,” High-Def Digest said. “Island, ocean, and monster-realm locations stretch endlessly toward distant horizons, improving the production’s sense of scale and scope.”

“Passengers looks pretty sweet on Blu-ray,” DVD Beaver said. “The image is rife with eye-popping futuristic and space-related effects. No denying the film’s impressiveness in this regard and the 1080p does a strong job of exporting that. It is dual-layered with a supportive bitrate for the two-hour film.”

“The image is meticulously clean, particularly considering the extraordinarily sleek and classy production design that blends clean, cool surfaces with flashy technological marvels dotted around the ship,” Blu-ray.com said. “Colours are mostly cool … Noise is practically nonexistent, there are no unsightly compression artifacts. It’s everything one could want in an A-list new release.”

“In 3D, there are repeated opportunities to demonstrate dimensionality – multiple scenes of screens and windows and other forms of separation,” Home Theater Forum said. “Standout moments in 3D include the various spacewalks and the wild zero gravity pool experience. Passengers is not only a beautiful movie to watch – it’s also a reference quality picture presentation.”

Blu-ray.com said Why Him? is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. “The closing credits list the Arri Alexa as the camera of choice on this shoot, and the results are the typically sharp and clear images that are associated with this particular technology … Detail levels are typically quite high, even in less than optimal lighting conditions.”

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