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.