New to Blu: June 12 – 18

Escape Room

➢ “Escape Room‘s 1080p transfer offers no reason to complain. The digitally shot film translates very well to Blu-ray, covering all the bases in terms of its textural output and colour reproduction. Fine details are perfectly revealing to the format’s standards. Complex facial and clothing textures are excellent but the image shines in revealing all of the intricacies in the various locations seen throughout the film.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “This is great looking digital video presentation from Sony Pictures that has a wealth of colour, style, and detail. There are basically two types of colour palettes in the film, one being an icy cool theme of grays, blues, and silvers, and the other being a much warmer setting, rife with primary colours … Comes with a fantastic lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix and has all of the horror elements in the sound design to scare and thrill you.” — High-Def Digest.

Cold War

➢ “Another masterpiece from Pawel Pawlikowski on Blu-ray. It’s on a dual-layered Blu-ray in 1080p with a high bitrate. As with his 2013 film Ida, this is shot in 1.37:1 and in compelling black and white. It looks marvellous – both due to the adept transfer and cinematographer Lukasz Zal. It is filled with Tarkovsky-like visions of winter forests, ruins, subtle framing… contrast is immaculately layered. Detail is very strong and the image quality is at the high end in the high resolution. In a word ‘Wow’.” — DVD Beaver.

➢ “I am going to speculate and say that the master that is being offered to various distributors to license and use in their respective territories was likely approved by Pawel Pawlikowski and maybe even his cinematographer Lukasz Zal because Cold War looks remarkable in high-definition. Yes, it is a new film and most new films look strong in high-definition, but this master looks extra special to my eyes. On my system delineation, depth, and fluidity are of what I would consider to be ‘reference quality’.” — Blu-ray.com.

The Vanishing

➢ “The Vanishing is a very dark picture, largely taking place in the early morning hours, with dim sources of light illuminating the frame. Delineation suffers some during the AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation, finding crush a periodic problem, solidifying thicker outerwear and nightscapes. Mild banding is also detected. Brightness brings out sharp detail, permitting examination of grizzled faces and costuming. Island geography is also defined to satisfaction.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “We get a 2.40:1 AVC encoded image that left little room for improvement. The setting is perfect for the widescreen, HD format, and it delivers. The print is pristine with little issues detected and details strong as well. In the feature on the disc, we learn that they didn’t want to do too many colours, instead keeping things more muted. This is true as this isn’t the most colourful film I’ve seen. Still, the transfer remained a positive experience.” — Blu-ray Authority.

☞ Also new are Outlander: Season Four, A Dog’s Way Home (“a high quality Blu-ray viewing experience”), Dancing With Wolves: Theatrical Cut and 4K-UHD re-issues of the Toy Story franchise in separate volumes (but without the Blu-ray copies for sale internationally) while anime fans can choose from:

• Re:zero Starting Life in Another World Part 1
• Re:zero Starting Life in Another World Part 2
• Darling in the Franxx Part 1
• Darling in the Franxx Part 1 (eps 1-12)
• Love Live! Sunshine!! Complete Season 2
• Cowboy Bebop 20th Anniversary Limited Edition
• Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Part 1 (eps 1-13)
• Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Part 2 (eps 14-26)
• Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Complete Series + Solid State Society Collection
• Sailor Moon Super S: The Movie
• Myriad Colors Phantom World Complete Series.