New to Blu: June 21 – 27

Alien-wannabe Life launches here on Blu-ray the same week as the US and next month will touch down on 4K-UHD whereas The Great Wall is being released simultaneously on both formats.

“For as good as the movie looks on 1080p Blu-ray, this 2160p/HDR-enhanced presentation of The Great Wall, sourced from a 4K digital intermediate, is much better,” Blu-ray.com said.

“Colour depth and density are noticeably improved right off the bat.”

“Sharpness is exceptional with lots of details to be seen in facial features, hair, and the intricately designed warrior wardrobe,” Home Theater Forum said.

“Colour is beautifully rich and layered and skin tones are always realistic.”

According to High-Def Digest, Life is “highly-detailed with superb clarity of the various gadgets, buttons, and machinery in the background.”

Echoed AVSForum: “Overall, I found the quality of the video to be solid.

“It wasn’t always razor sharp, but it was cleanly rendered with plenty of subtle refinement that increased the perception of fine detail.

“Blacks were dynamic and gradationally revealing and shadow detail was just as strong.”

But it praised the 4K-UHD version, which lands here on July 12, for being “noticeably sharper and vivid when compared to the 1080p version” and for offering a Dolby Atmos mix rather than just the Blu-Ray’s 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio.

“Gold represents something of a rarity these days, a picture shot on honest-to-goodness film,” Blu-ray.com observed.

“Despite a few noticeably soft shots here and there, and a mildly soft texturing overall, the image proves its worth with organic detailing, rich colour depth, and strong blacks.”

“Watching Gold is a reminder that the medium of film (rather than digital) achieves a unique look that is arguably richer and more transporting,” The Digital Fix concurred.

“The entire movie looks great and detail here is especially strong.”

“The Space Between Us arrives on Blu-ray with a conflicted video quality,” High-Def Digest lamented.

“On one hand, the 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode is near-perfect – and I’m talking perfect, like reference quality – but on the other hand, the movie’s cinematography, production quality, and overall look is like that of an NBC drama.”

“Sharpness is excellent, and colour is vivid and quite dynamic with realistic skin tones,” Home Theatre Forum said. “Black levels aren’t always consistently deep but the overall image quality is very, very good.”

Also new are:

• Before I Fall (“the transfer looks fine considering the movie’s intended visual stylings”)
• A Cure for Wellness (“technical merits are first rate“)
• Collide (“sharpness is exceptionally fine, and color saturation levels are perfectly delivered“)
• Greasy Strangler (“supplies a textured examination of skin … and set decoration”)
• Dragonheart 4: Battle for the Heartfire (“the transfer is by no means bad; it’s just reflective of a boring-looking movie”)
• Darling (“video and audio are very good“)
• A Few Less Men
• Fletch Lives
• Paris