New to Blu: May 3 – 9

It’s an Oscar-winning trifecta this week, with La La Land, Lion and Manchester by the Sea all landing on Blu-ray.

“Lion comes to Blu-ray in a very straight-forward 1080p presentation that preserves the film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1,” Home Theater Forum said.

“Colours are solid but somewhat muted, often leaning toward earthy browns and yellows. Contrast is strong, with deep blacks during many of the night time sequences that also provide exceptional shadow detail.”

“The image was digitally sourced and presents with a fairly pasty, flat texturing,” Blu-ray.com said.

“Detailing is adequate, presenting general facial, clothing, and environmental textures with enough clarity and definition to please, but the rather bland sourcing leaves a bit to be desired.”

Countered High-Def Digest: “Lion is not a flashy film, but its visuals consistently make an impact, and this problem-free transfer accurately reflects the director’s vision and Greig Fraser’s Oscar-nominated cinematography.”

La La Land misses out on a 4K-UHD release here but the Blu-ray transfer had critics going ga-ga.

“The colours here are amazing, with bright primary colours that pop,” High-Def Digest said.

“Closeups reveal individual hairs on the actor’s faces as well as the fine details of all the instruments used in the movie.

“Wider shots never go soft, but showcase some excellent background sets, props, and Los Angeles palm trees quite nicely.”

“The transfer looks appealingly organic and encounters no compression issues,” said Blu-ray.com while DVD Beaver said it “looks as pristine as you might expect on modern-film-to-Blu-ray.

“It is such a beautiful film with the excellent art direction and vibrant, lush, colours.  This is dual-layered with a healthy bitrate for the 2-hour+ film.”

“Manchester by the Sea arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded presentation in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen,” DVD Talk said.

“This is a strong presentation with a 30 mbps bit-rate encode. Manchester by the Sea has amazing visuals and crisp beautiful colors.

“There is some minor banding on occasion but it’s a near-perfect presentation.”

“This is a beautiful transfer capturing the sprightly spring colours and the gray, hazy winter ones in all their glory and with accurate flesh tones,” Home Theater Forum said.

“Sharpness is usually quite excellent … black levels are very deep in some of the few nighttime sequences, and contrast has been consistently applied throughout the presentation.”

Split’s Blu-ray release precedes next month’s 4K-UHD bow. “The digital image is excellent, glossy sheen and all,” Blu-ray.com said.

“Clarity is outstanding and detailing is about as good as one will find in 1080p.”

“What’s here looks quite good with strong shadow detail, colour saturation, and textures,” DVD Talk said.

“Digital imperfections, including edge enhancement and excessive DNR, could not be spotted along the way. Aside from the possibility of a future 4K release, Split won’t look better on disc anytime soon.”

The week’s only other release is season two of Daredevil.