New to Blu: July 11-17 > Movies & Music

Film critics may not have thought it worthy but Blu-ray critics reckon John Carter’s definitely demo-worthy.

“Regardless of whether or not John Carter amazes you, its high definition presentation will do nothing less … Sounds every bit as good as it looks, and fans will be delighted with the results.”

However, while image sharpness and detail are generally excellent, “sometimes the quality of the presentation reveals compromises to some of the digital elements in various shots.”

“There is no shortage of multi-channel action on this DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 soundtrack.

“The complexity and consistency of the track is so close to perfection that I’m finding it hard to find anything interesting to say about it.”

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close also comes extremely close to HD perfection: “There’s literally only one flaw with this Blu-ray’s fantastic picture quality – occasional aliasing.”

“The fidelity of this Blu-ray transfer is astounding … the level of detail only enhances the experience, to the point where you can taste, touch, and smell the city and its people.”

“Contraband looks terrific in 1080p, with strong detail, natural colour reproduction (the palette is washed out, but that’s by design) and no distracting edge enhancement, banding or black crush.

“Much of the photography of the film goes for that gritty, grainy look, and the disc does a great job of reproducing that look and keeping things looking film-like.”

“The accompanying DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is a thunderously potent mix that will both give your home cinema system a good workout and also threaten to wake your neighbours.”

“J. Edgar is dominated by the black levels which are adeptly supported on Blu-ray from Warner … This Blu-ray handles the heavy richness leaning more to a black and white film – with colours notably absent – taking a passive backseat.

‘We can assume this was intentional and the Blu-ray looks to be extremely faithful in that regard.’

“Warner’s Blu-ray treatment is slim on supplements, but features solid audio and video that make the period come alive.”

Also new from the multiplex are Project X (“a solid transfer that’s faithful to its filmmakers’ intentions”), Like Crazy and The Devil Inside (“clean and sharp looking“) while going direct to disc are 50/50, Cleanskin, Recoil and For the Love of Money.

Back-catalogue collectibles include Dark Star, Solaris and Christopher Nolan Director’s Collection.

Two Jimi Hendrix titles head the week’s music Blu-rays — Jimi Hendrix – Jimi Plays Berkeley (concert) and Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child (documentary) — while also of note are Alter Bridge – Live at Wembley, Foreigner – Live, Robert Planet & the Band of Joy: Live at the Artist’s Den and Parkway Drive – Home for the Heartless.