New to Blu: September 26 – October 2

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

➢ “Universal’s 4K UHD Blu-ray features a h.265 encode at 2160p with both Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range. Viewing the movie on equipment only capable of HDR10, the result is very cinematic. Colours are vibrant and consistent with no visible banding whatsoever. Contrast is excellent, providing deep inky blacks that retain strong shadow detail and bright whites that never clip. When comparing to the included Blu-ray edition, the UHD can appear much darker, while blacks on the Blu-ray often appear as dark grey.” — Home Theater Forum.

➢ “Fallen Kingdom is every bit as good as it was in theatres, if not better … Black levels are extremely deep while allowing shadow detail to appear unhindered, and that’s important because the film’s latter half is especially dark. There’s plenty of lighting that contrasts well against the film’s dark nature though, and effects such as fire and lava stand out even in the brighter moments on the island. The end result is that the 4K provides a much better sense of overall depth.” — DVD Talk.

➢ “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As expected, this became a fine presentation. At all times, sharpness appeared positive. As such, I thought the image seemed accurate and well-defined. I noticed no signs of shimmering or jaggies, and the movie lacked any print flaws. Teal? Check. Orange? Check. Colour-related creativity? Nope. The hues followed predictable stylistic paths, but the Blu-ray executed them in a positive manner.” — DVD Movie Guide.

Hereditary

➢ “A family’s tragic mental breakdown seethes and boils into a nightmare-inducing vision on Blu-ray with a terrifyingly splendid 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode … The creepiness of the unknown is made all the more terrifying thanks to a marvellously sinister DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack.” — High-Def Digest.

➢ “The film is perhaps unavoidably highly stylised, with a number of interior shots bathed in a kind of brownish-yellow hue, and with other, near hallucinatory, moments similarly swathed in cooler blue tones … Those grading choices probably only make the more natural looking moments pop all the more vividly.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “Hereditary employs a seldom-used 2:1 aspect ratio. Some viewers might be turned off from the tiny black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, but kudos for retaining it and not presenting the film in 16:9. The 1080p transfer is clean without any video noise, and is aces when it comes to contrast and black levels.” — DVD Talk.

Adrift

➢ “The image is sharp, deep and filmic, with strong details and texture for objects and costumes. There are frequent high-contrast scenes during midday at sea, but the image never appears too hot and highlights do not bloom. Darker scenes are also impressive, with ample shadow detail visible amid the inky blacks.” — DVD Talk.

➢ “Adrift‘s 1080p transfer sails high. It’s bright and clear and the presentation is very cinematic. As with many new releases, it stretches the 1080p format to its limits, with rock-solid, pinpoint detailing the norm, especially considering basic skin textures and beyond …  An endless supply of well defined imagery.” — Blu-ray.com.

Robin Hood

➢ “Robin Hood‘s UHD release is impressive but at the same time imperfect. The film-sourced image comes from a 4K digital intermediate. Grain is generally refined and complimentary, though the movie does occasionally look a little flat and mildly processed with some spikes in grain density and some dips in both grain visibility and textural tack-sharpness. Overall, though, sharpness is impressive and the picture appears largely filmic and true to source.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “The transfer fluctuates between excellent definition and poorly-resolved, and natural film grain is made more prominent in several areas, almost to the point of looking noisy. The picture exposes every defect and blemish of the wood and stone bricks in the production design with notable lifelike facial complexions in one scene and suddenly soft and blurry with instances of mild aliasing the next.” — High-Def Digest.

● Also new on Blu-ray are The Walking Dead: The Complete Eighth Season and a budget re-issue of State of Play while being dusted off on 4K-UHD are the GI Joe movies and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).