New to Blu: April 19 – 25

Tanna, the Oscar-nominated Vanuatuan take on Romeo & Juliet, heads this week’s minuscule slate of Blu-ray newcomers.

It originally screened on last year’s film festival circuit and is being re-issued on Blu-ray following a DVD-only release in September.

“This transfer offers a beautifully lush and nicely saturated accounting of the forested palette, one that is awash in a glut of green tones,” Blu-ray.com said.

“Fine detail is excellent in close-ups, offering precise looks at the straw skirts the women wear or some other elements like textured hair.”

“Tanna’s greatest power may be in its visuals, so it’s refreshing that the Blu-ray’s 1.78:1 presentation is without issue,” DVD Dizzy said.

Horror movie The Bye Bye Man bypasses cinemas to premiere here on disc.

“Sharpness is outstanding allowing us to see details in facial features and hair of the primary characters (and to see those maggots falling from a character’s hair in stark detail in one memorable hallucination), and colour is solidly presented and consistently delivered,” Home Theater Forum said.

“Although the film has been encoded twice rather than seamlessly branched, the feature is short enough that, some light banding notwithstanding, it appears to have had a negligible impact on the 1.83:1, 1080p transfer, which boasts impressive shadow detail beneath a persistent dimness,” Film Freak Central said.

“The Bye Bye Man‘s DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack presents the film’s active sound design very well,” Blu-ray.com said.

“It’s forceful and well detailed, mixing low end depth with expert placement and nuance.”

The week’s only other release is an Australasian exclusive: a Blu-ray transfer of film noir classic Criss Cross.

“I can’t deny it’s a better presentation than the excellent DVD,” DVD Beaver said, “but I would bet a superior edition is coming, hopefully with supplements including a commentary … eventually.”