New to Blu: December 2 – 8

“Ant-Man looks great on Blu-ray. The 1.85:1 framing helps accentuate the movie’s contrasting ‘large’ and ‘small’  visuals  and the Blu-ray captures that sense of large scale scope, evident even on surfaces far smaller than standard theater screens.”

“Detail is excellent, adding superior texture and clarity, and providing all of this with no signs of digital defects, softness or banding.

“Colours are broad and vibrant, with vivid tones, whilst black levels are strong, rich and deep with no significant signs of crush.”

“The only audio track on the release is a DTS-HD MA 7.1 mix that is up to par with the video … and possibly one of the best in Marvel’s library.”

“Ricki and the Flash features a rich, highly detailed 1080p transfer sourced from a digital shoot that never looks flat or glossy. Finely detailed and intricate, lifelike textures are easy to come by.”

“The 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer from Sony looks a little ragged … at least when compared to most recent releases.

“Contrast runs a tad hot, which at times lends the image an overly bright appearance, and despite the fact the film was digitally shot, the picture flaunts a slightly textured look.”

“Audio is in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and keeps most of the sound up front with occasional effects in the rears.

“The music performances, which according to the disc’s extras were done live on-camera with no post-production, sound great like they were really playing in your living room.”

Also new are Love 3D, Ruben Guthrie and:

• [REC] Apocalypse (“the 1080p 2.40:1 image is in a word, excellent“)
• Time Lapse (“clean, sharp and detailed, with solid blacks” — but not the US release’s two commentaries)
• Max (“looks excellent“)
• The Gallows (“comes with that sterile, digital look that’s frankly off-putting”).

Releasing Friday, a day after its final Prime TV broadcast, is season six of Downton Abbey, capping a strong week for TV-on-BD that includes the latest seasons of The Following (“transfers are solid, with nice fine-object detail and texture”) and Penny Dreadful.

“Those who sank their teeth into Penny Dreadful’s Blu-ray presentation last year will discover a very similar flavour in this arrangement of fine 1.78:1-framed, 1080p AVC transfers.

‘The visuals are beautifully, yet unpretentiously complex, lurking in hefty shadows and hazy Victorian interiors that are as likely to obscure details with hearty, grainy lighting as they are to coax impressive detail in faint sunlight.”

“The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound mix is as aggressive and impressive as any on American television.”

Also new are: Justice League: War, The Legend of Korra: Books 1-4, Sword Art Online 2 and Parasite Part 1.