New to Blu: February 22 – 28

Kudos to Universal Pictures NZ for releasing Jack Reacher 2: Never Go Back both on Blu-ray and UHD BD.

In a time when NZ seems to be missing out on so many 4K releases on disc, it’s heartening that at least one local distributor is embracing the new format.

“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back arrives on UHD with a 2160p/HDR-enhanced presentation that offers a good, firm upgrade over the already excellent Blu-ray,” Blu-ray.com said.

“Individually, the 1080p image is great. But the UHD is clearly several degrees more complex. Fans will appreciate the bump.”

“The picture is so sharp we can make out the little bit of stubble in the face of Tom Cruise and the tiniest little wrinkle around his eyes and cheekbones,” High-Def Digest said of the Blu-ray.

“The video also displays excellent contrast with crisp, clean whites, allowing for excellent visibility into the far distance and making daylight exteriors pop. Black levels are equally outstanding.”

“The Atmos 7.1 channel track at a whopping 4326 kbps (24-bit) sounds tremendous with the film’s frequent aggressive effects coming through with potent depth,” DVD Beaver said. “It fills your home theatre space with intensity.”

Oscar-nominee Arrival is out on UHD in the US but lands here only on Blu-ray — although that may be good enough.

“Arrival doesn’t look like most titles in this genre and lacks certain qualities we normally ascribed to pristine HD presentations,” High-Def Digest said. “Let’s call this one accurate, but blandly so.

“Further, it’s worth noting the Ultra HD Blu-ray offers DCI P3 colour gamut, which makes what few colours there are in this film pop; however, this Blu-ray’s SDR Rec 709 offers a brighter overall picture, revealing more shadow details.”

“Paramount’s 1080p Blu-ray appears to replicate the filmmaker-intended visual style well, though it’s certainly not much of a looker,” Blu-ray.com said. “The movie is rather drab, predominantly cold, dreary, with contrast dialed down and colours largely reserved.”

“Disappointingly, Arrival is absent a Dolby Atmos audio offering – especially odd given the importance of sound in the film and the Academy Award nominations for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing among the total of eight Academy Award nominations the film received,” Home Theater Forum lamented.

“Having said that, the English 7.1 DTS HD Master Audio track is excellent, with immersive surround and precision clarity in the channels.”

Also new are:

• The Hollow Point (“colours are glossy and natural with beautiful desert landscapes and sunsets, detail is strong, blacks solid and shadow detail very good”)
• Morgan (“a great-looking, highly-detailed 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode”)
• American Honey (“presented in 1.33:1 1080p AVC and with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, American Honey gets a great presentation“)
• Satanic (“bright and colourful with a palette that alternates between naturalistic and garishly saturated”).