New to Blu: February 21 – 27

Goodbye Christopher Robin, hello demo-worthy disc.

Home Theater Forum graded the 1080p transfer and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 of Goodbye Christopher Robin 5/5.

‘Fox’s Goodbye Christopher Robin is beautiful. Lush cinematography by Ben Smithard helps realise director Simon Curtis’ vision of this moment in time, and fills the frame with warm, crisp colours.

‘Flesh tones are natural and fine detail in skin, fabric and hair superb. The frequent sun-dappled forests (and suspicious absence of English rain) present an almost mythical quality to the locations … This is an excellent presentation.”

“Goodbye Christopher Robin was shot digitally on the Arri Alexa Mini and gets a wonderfully sharp and colourful transfer onto Blu-ray, shown in the movie’s original aspect ratio of 1.85:1,” High-Def Digest said.

“The movie’s colour palette is adjusted ever so slightly to give the presentation a ‘historical’ look to it, but it’s still very warm and inviting. Details are spectacular, right down to seeing the individual threads in many of the actors’ clothes.”

“This is effulgently lit, often with backlighting that casts gorgeous halos around objects, and perhaps surprisingly, without a major downturn in detail levels,” Blu-ray.com said.

“The many outdoor moments look precise and well defined, to the point that individual bits of pollen wafting through the breeze can be spotted.”

“Detroit’s raw docudrama aesthetic, full of grain and contrast, is delivered beautifully in this 1080p transfer,” DVD Talk said.

“The colours are vibrant when they need to be, and some of the muted palettes come across in a definitively crisp and clean way.”

“Much of the film is limited to a confined space, so it’s not especially flashy, but what is presented is shown with sharp detail,” Blu-ray Authority said,

“The image is AVC encoded with a 1.85:1 ratio. The print is fine and free of flaws as well. Flesh tones appeared smooth with no noticeable issues.”

“Suburbicon may be a flawed film, but its 1080p transfer certainly is not,” Blu-ray.com said.

“The digitally sourced image, which here nearly passes for film quality, is incredibly adept and essentially without flaw. A firm, gorgeously cinematic texturing reveals firm and sure complex details.”

“The production design is all 1950s camp, but the image is crystal clear, with excellent fine-object detail, accurate skin tones and bold, perfectly saturated primary colours,” DVD Talk said.

“The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is immersive and nicely balanced, with excellent dialogue reproduction, solid score integration and a fair amount of sound pans and directional dialogue.”

Saw sequel Jigsaw misses out on a NZ 4K-UHD release but the Blu-ray is largely “very precise, sharp and well detailed,” Blu-ray.com said, “something that’s especially notable considering the fact that so much of the film plays out in dimly lit and/or shadowy environments.”

Left over from last week’s slate is vampire comedy Eat Locals while new on the Blu-ray concert circuit are The Doors: Live at the Isle of Wight and Van Morrison: In Concert.