New to Blu: September 12 – 18

Kiwi Karl Urban and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara star in the B-grade thriller Bent.

“The film isn’t the most appealing in terms of visuals, but nothing feels limited at all,” Blu-ray Authority said.

“The colours and levels all appeared smooth with no obvious flaws detected. Details remained strong, even in the darker lit scenes.”

“Sharpness worked well, as only a sliver of softness crept into the occasional wide shot,” DVD Movie Guide said.

I saw no evidence of jagged edges or moiré effects, and the image lacked edge halos. Print flaws also failed to appear.

Colours tended toward a teal bent much of the time, and the Blu-ray depicted the hues well. The palette didn’t sizzle, but the tones seemed well-rendered within the design choices.

Blacks appeared dark and tight, while low-light shots demonstrated nice clarity and delineation. I felt pleased with this high-quality presentation.

“The digitally photographed Upgrade delivers a high yield image,” Blu-ray.com said.

Impressive structural integrity is obvious in most every shot. The movie is often a bit cold, but colour stability is firm, skin tones appear right on the money, and saturation is very satisfying, notably reds. Close-up details are very impressive.

“This is a high bitrate encode that looks solid throughout,” AVSForum said.

Detail rendering is excellent as images look clean, sharp and dimensional. I never felt that video was lacking in terms of depth or the perception of visible detail within the parameters of the film’s shooting style. Colours were reproduced with balanced tonality and visibly pleasing primaries.

Also new are:

• Dragon Ball Super Part 4 (eps 40-52)
• Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic
• Granblue Fantasy: The Animation Vol. 1 (eps 1-7)
• Occultic;nine Vol. 2 (eps 7-12)
• Digimon Adventure Tri. Part 4 – Loss.

And in case you missed them, another batch of predominantly Paramount and Universal ’80s classics have been re-issued on Blu-ray in mock VHS packaging as a JB Hi-Fi exclusive.

The $25 titles are limited to 1000 units of each and include Coming to America, Footloose, Back to the Future II, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, Weird Science, The Karate Kid, Total Recall, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and The Blues Brothers.