New to Blu: March 21-27

The Blu-ray fantasy that last week outsold Game of Thrones in the US, Immortals, lands here in 2D and 3D editions.

“Shot digitally with Panavision Genesis cameras, Immortals is an end-to-end digital production that beautifully integrates live action and CGI elements.

“Despite a prevailing and intentional darkness contained in sections of the film’s cinematography, the image appears wonderfully sharp and demonstrates excellent levels of clarity and dimensionality.”

“The 3D presentation is, for the most part satisfying, with a great deal of depth and a good sense of distance between foreground and background objects.

“There are times when actors appear to move within a three-dimensional space, and the few gimmicks used are decently convincing.”

“While not a completely perfect transfer, Immortals comes damn close.

“Reaching perfection, however, is the film’s lossless 5.1 mix, which strikes with incredible intensity and stunning atmosphere.

“Surrounds are wonderfully engaged and aggressive, filling each scene with moody sonics to match the equally moody visuals.”

The Debt “offers a pleasingly film-like experience with modest grain evident and a stylised shadowy look throughout.”

“However, much of the film looks soft and sometimes a bit smeary. Some of that is probably down to digital effects used to give the film its ‘vintage’ look, but some of it is probably the fault of the transfer as well.”

“A lot of the film is diffuse and just a tad on the fuzzy side, though there are times when fine detail just pops magnificently.”

“Red State isn’t a traditionally impressive looking film, but its intentional raw aesthetic coupled with strong, sometimes razor sharp detail result in a very effective image that succeeds at being gritty, disturbing and exciting.”

“Dialogue is always clear and crisp and perfectly prioritised, and it, too, is often very smartly placed directionally. Fidelity is spot on throughout the film and dynamic range is phenomenal.”

Also new are the direct-to-disc Puncture, Perfect Sense, Columbus Circle and Action Fest: Transit.

Columbus Circle’s transfer is “very warm in a noir-ish kind of way” while Puncture “sports the usual digital qualities, appearing a little flat and a touch lifeless.

“However, clarity is strong, yielding good, crisp images, allowing the viewer to make out the fine print on a can of pop or the bumpy texture of an old car’s dashboard.”

Six weeks after Whitney Houston’s death comes the Blu-ray of The Bodyguard while Iron Maiden fans can rock to En Vivo!