New to Blu: May 22 – 28

Alien

➢ “Reportedly, director Ridley Scott supervised a brand-new restoration of the original 35mm camera negatives, and those elements were then remastered to a 4K digital intermediate for this 40th Anniversary release. The results bring this sci-fi horror classic home with incredible detail, far better than anyone could have imagined given how excellent it already looked in HD … The better and frankly, more appreciated improvement comes by way of the notable boost in contrast.” — High-Def Digest.

➢ “This is a very restrained [HDR] grade, which remains quite faithful to the original look of the film. The greatest impact is to deepen the shadows and make the brights almost eye-reactive, while allowing each to retain the maximum amount of detail. It also allows metal and wet surfaces to have a more natural gleam. The wider colour gamut adds greater nuance and subtlety to the film’s color palate. But the best news here is that the new colour grade appears to be incredibly faithful to the original theatrical look.” — The Digital Bits.

➢ “This UHD release is like watching the film with a new pair of eyes. It’s is not just remarkable; it is one of the best-looking discs I have ever seen. There is a level of detail that will astonish even the most ardent fans of this film … The layer of HDR improves colour saturation noticeably and some scenes with dominant colour, like the inside of ‘Mother’, are richer versions of the muted yellow.” — Home Theater Forum.

● Also new are re-issues of the first three X-Men movies on 4K-UHD, the Blu-ray bow of Vikings: Season 5, Part 2 and Blu-ray spruce-ups of Forrest Gump (25th Anniversary Edition), Mad Dog Morgan and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.