New to Blu: April 26 – May 3

Best picture Oscar-winner Moonlight leads a heavyweight Blu-ray slate that’s notable for the number of 4K-UHD releases: Sing, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Allied.

“This is a breathtaking presentation from beginning to end that adds more power and artistry to an already illustrious film,” High-Def Digest said of Moonlight while DVD Talk reckoned the “gorgeous cinematography looks as vibrant as it can get through this AVC-encoded 1080p transfer”.

Said Blu-ray.com: “Shot digitally with Arri Alexa XT Plus cameras and finished at a 2K DI (according to the IMDb), the film has the typical precision in detail levels this technology affords, at least when [director Barry] Jenkins and DP James Laxton aren’t letting handheld approaches and some patently odd focus pulling get in the way.”

The Digital Bits dubbed Assassin’s Creed “one of the best 4K Ultra HD releases to date in terms of pure A/V quality” while Blu-ray.com said watching the UHD transfer “is often a manifestly different experience”

“A vibrant, accurately-rendered array of colours adds to the [Blu-ray’s] presentation’s sometimes gorgeous quality, bathed in a wide range of secondary pastel hues,” High-Def Digest said.

“As good as Sing looks in 1080p, the Ultra HD rendering, while not heads and shoulders above it, takes it to another level, entirely, making for a visually engaging and pleasing video presentation,” AVS Forum argued.

“Colours are bright and bold, and the animation is sharp and very detailed,” opined Home Theater Forum of the Blu-ray.

“There is no banding or blooming in evidence, and contrast has been applied to attain a picture perfect image throughout.”

Assassin’s Creed and Sing also bow on 3-D Blu-ray, as does Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

It lands here three weeks ahead the US while Allied is a belated 4K-UHD transfer of the Blu-ray that went on sale last month (“Paramount’s UHD improves on a standout 1080p image in every area,” Blu-ray.com said).

Also new are:

• Jackie (“an appealing if occasionally slightly problematic presentation”)
• A United Kingdom 
• Collateral Beauty (“an absolute stunner“)
• Dog Eat Dog (“sharp and vivid for the most part”)
• AntiBirth (“fine detail is good, colours are very strong, black levels appear accurate”).