New to Blu: November 23 – 29

The Beatles documentary that Prime will air next year, Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years, goes on sale today in a two-disc special edition, complete with a 64-page booklet and more than 100 minutes of extras.

They include an alternate opening to Ron Howard’s movie, the Beatles reflecting on songwriting and the influence of music from their parents’ generation, and five rarely seen full-length performances of the Beatles in concert: Twist and Shout, She Loves You, Can’t Buy Me Love, You Can’t Do That and Help!

What Hi-Fi says the extras serve as “a comprehensive filler to the documentary’s contouring, offering a wider window into the studio recording process, each member’s musicianship and creative input, and the very early-day formation and dynamics of the band”.

It also praised the 5.1 surround formats and PCM stereo mix. “Unlike the tens of thousands of fans who packed into stadiums in the ‘60s only to hear the band through stadium’s PA systems, we are treated to an audio experience that in itself warrants this documentary a must-watch for any fan.”

Also new are Robinson Crusoe: The Wild Life, House of 1000 Corpses, Rick and Morty Seasons 1-2 and:

• Bad Moms (“isn’t the most attractive movie on Blu-ray, but it presents well all things considered”)
• Love & Friendship (“pristine … colour saturation and the level of detail are both excellent”)
• High Rise (“frequently demo worthy“)
• Black Mountain Side (“the video is mixed, the audio interesting given the absence of music, the extras decent)
• Hellions (“the video is over manipulated, the audio very good”).

Last week’s releases were dominated by season six of Game of Thrones and Finding Dory but just as noteworthy in terms of HD specs were The Shallows (“inherently gorgeous“) and Our Kind of Traitor (“a solid rendering of the intended cinematography for the movie”).