New to Blu: November 18 – 24

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition combines a cut that’s 20 minutes longer than the theatrical edit with more than nine hours of new extras.

They include an audio commentary with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens, who’s just signed to write the first in a Young Merlin franchise, and The Appendices, a multi-part documentary focusing on various aspects of the film and the trilogy.

“These special features were once again created by BD producer Michael Pellerin and his team of fine documentarians. Fans of these films the world over owe them all a very great debt indeed.”

“The final instalment in the fantasy-adventure trilogy erupts on the screen with a superb, demo-quality 1080p/MVC MPEG-4 encode.”

“The quality of the Extended Edition’s 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation is virtually identical to its March 2015 theatrical version counterpart.

“There’s some minor but noticeable crush here and there, as well as a few anomalies born from Jackson’s at-times aggressive digital color grading and green-screen trickery, but none of it proves all that distracting. Even the darkest scenes look great, without much to nitpick or criticise.”

Also out is the 15-disc The Hobbit Trilogy Extended Edition, with more than 28 hours of extras.

In other release news, “Trainwreck boasts a mild golden-yellow tint that’s the dominant visual cue in Universal’s 1080p Blu-ray presentation.

“The transfer boasts a light and evenly dispersed grain structure that grants an attractive filmic veneer. Details are precise throughout.”

“Colours are appropriately saturated (never burning too bright), with quality fleshtones and good black levels throughout.

“It’s not the sharpest-looking film, with a good deal of evenly-applied grain, particularly in darker interior scenes. However, the level of detail is reasonably high.”

Also new are Wentworth – Season 3, Cooties, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, 5 Seconds Of Summer – How Did We End Up Here? Live at Wembley Arena, Aerosmith Rocks Donington – Live at Donington Park, Black Veil Brides – Alive And Burning – Live at the Wiltern Theatre, James Brown: Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown, Rage Against The Machine – Live At Finsbury Park and Nirvana – Nirvana.