New to Blu: February 13-19

One of the most enthralling adventure movies ever made, The Last of the Mohicans, spearheads a raft of vintage and modern classics bowing this week on Blu-ray.

But US critics were divided over the HD merits of the Michael Mann milestone, which stars Lincoln Oscar-nominee Daniel Day-Lewis.

“The film looks fantastic and, in something of a Hollywood rarity, actually appears to be as realistically lit as possible – which can only enhance the mood of the story being told.”

The other good new is it  “delivers Michael Mann’s definitive cut of the film – one that excises a couple of minutes from the previous expanded director’s cut” but: “The transfer is somewhat of a double-edged sword.

“Daytime and most interior shots, though a little on the dark side, look impressively detailed and sport vivid and accurate-looking colour.

“The already-dark night-time sequences unfortunately are now so dark as to swallow up any detail that may have existed and frequently just look murky.”

Warner Bros also is dusting off: Empire of the Sun (“a striking, near-perfect catalogue presentation”); The Client (“the 1080p, AVC-encoded image for The Client is sensational”); Grand Hotel (“looks appropriately grand on Blu-ray, sporting a lush, sumptuous image that’s a slight improvement over the very fine 2005 DVD”); The Jazz Singer (“the image features deep, inky blacks and solid contrast levels in spite of the film’s 86 years of age”); The Postman Always Rings Twice (“a pleasing, natural layer of film grain remains, and the image is free of any obtrusive noise reduction and artificial sharpening”); Easter Parade (“looks marvellous”); Mrs Miniver; and A Star is Born (1976).

In the US, many of these classics were lavishly packaged as digibooks with DVDs but here are being offered as single-disc volumes.

The week’s only new theatrical release is Your Sister’s Sister while going direct to disc are Officer Down and V/H/S.

Your Sister’s Sister arrives on Blu-ray with a generally superb 1080p high definition transfer. This has a nice blend of traditional film and digital film stylistic moments.”

“The US Region A Blu-ray release of this film has the benefit of an additional commentary track featuring Lynn Shelton as well as lead actor [Mark] Duplass. Fans of the film should consider getting that version.”

Officer Down’s transfer “does a fine job with the shot-on-HD look of the flick. The brighter scenes are filled with gorgeous detail and well-saturated colours.”

“The video and audio are decent enough, with the audio outshining the video aspects.”

“The faux-camcorder/real-camcorder look of V/H/S doesn’t exactly make for the most impressive 1080p Blu-ray release, but the format does make for nice contrast between styles.”

“The film’s 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation seems accurate to intent, and that’s really all we can ask for here. Let’s just call this a solid 4/5.”

Also new are Struck By Lightning, The Oranges, Gantz Movies 1 & 2, Persona 4: The Animation Collection 1, Sengoku Basara – Samurai Kings Movie: The Last Party and WWE: Best of Raw & Smackdown 2012.

Twitter Digg Delicious Stumbleupon Technorati Facebook Email

2 Responses to “New to Blu: February 13-19”


  1. Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier '/' in /home/customer/www/screenscribe.net/public_html/wp-content/themes/headlines/includes/theme-comments.php on line 66
    February 15, 2013 at 1:30 pm

    I’m a big Michael Mann fan, might have to get this for the new doco. Meanwhile, another month to wait before Skyfall!

  2. Special features such as docos don’t really interest me, but I will definitely be buying the movie on Blu-ray.

Leave a Reply