New to Blu: August 21-27

Ahead of next month’s theatrical release of White House Down comes another Oval Office action-thriller, Olympus Has Fallen.

“This 2.35:1, 1080p Blu-ray transfer is true to the film’s 35mm source format.

“There has been some digital grading applied and natural film grain is relatively thin, but the dynamic ranges and detail levels are quite filmic.”

“The movie was shot Super 35 and finished on a 2K DI.

“Framed at approximately 2.40 widescreen, this 1080p AVC encode occasionally looks a touch fragile but it holds together during the busiest sequences.”

“The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is perhaps the best thing about this release.

“So many tracks for big action movies pump up the explosions at the expense of both dialogue and more subtle sounds, but here we have a track that is properly balanced and never overbearing.”

“Scary MoVie comes to Blu-Ray in a 1.78:1 AVC HD image that looks just as we’d expect it to look – amazing …

“The image is crystal clear and we get full view of the bottom of the barrel special effects that have so made their way in this series.”

“The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack supports all the gags with decent surround action and LFE oomph. Dialogue is clear and the music is sufficiently weighty.”

Leading a slew of direct-to-disc releases is a movie that divided key Blu-ray critics over its technical merits.

“When it comes to picture quality, The Details isn’t exactly brimming with detail, but the transfer suits the content well enough, and the issues that do crop up are relatively minor and, for the most part, seemingly inherent to the original photography.”

“The Details features a largely beautiful high definition transfer … Details are usually nothing less than striking; there’s a variety of shots to open the film — a platter full of cheese, worm-ridden sod, and so on — that reveal practically lifelike textures and attention to detail that could only be more realistic in person.”

“Shot on the Red One Digital Camera, Resolution is sharp and contains good shadow detail, as well as fine detail on close-up shots.

“Colour was bright and natural-looking for the majority of the main feature as, unusually for a horror film, most of it is set during daylight hours.”

“The 1080p AVC/MPEG-4 codec for K-11 actually presents a very nice, fully detailed image that remains consistent throughout and manages to have a fairly nice filmic quality to it.”

Also going direct to disc are Penthouse North and Rapture Palooza while the first two seasons of TV’s Game of Thrones are being re-issued as a box set.