New to Blu: September 4 – 10

Brightburn

➢ “Details are moderately sharp throughout, with no noticeable artifacts or significant noise during the many night scenes. It’s got a subtle HDR pass that nicely highlights the transition from early blue casts and costumes to the heavy red colour schemes late in the film as Brightburn’s rage is unleashed.” — Home Theater Forum.

➢ “The movie translates well to Blu-ray, offering a clean-cut image that keeps noise to a minimum, even in challenging dark exterior and low light interior scenes, of which there are many. Black levels hold up throughout, finding a pleasing depth and accuracy during the dark of night, and colours pop against the blackness, including intense reds.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “This isn’t a particularly bright film but, it manages to strike a good balance between the use of dark and light elements … In most regards both light and dark sequences have above average depth with appreciable shadow delineation. Blacks are gradational with noteworthy depth.” — AVSForum.

Trading Paint

➢ “This is another presentation that offers excellent detail levels when lighting conditions allow. Quite a bit of the film takes place in some pretty dark environments and those moments can be a bit hazy looking. In brightly lit moments, the palette pops impressively and both general detail and fine detail levels look precise.” — Blu-ray.com.

➢ “For the most part, sharpness seemed solid. Occasional instances of slight softness materialised, but these remained fairly modest. I saw no issues with jagged edges or moiré effects. Both edge haloes and print flaws remained absent.Blacks appeared pretty deep and dense, while shadows seemed clear and concise.” —  DVD Movieguide.

Rocketman

➢ “The ultra-clean look doesn’t seem to have anything to do with noise reduction … Paramount has seen fit to put the two-hour film onto a 100GB disc rather than a smaller 66GB one. This sees the picture bit-rate happily trundling along at around 70Mbps for most of the time, and I never saw it drop below 60Mbps. There’s the occasional 90Mbps peak, too. ” — Forbes.

➢ “Where this image really comes to life is with the extra colour range Dolby Vision affords … Colours just leap off the screen with an incredible poppy presence. Primaries are robust and impressive while the rest of the colour spectrum makes noteworthy gains.” — High-Def Digest.

➢ “Dolby Vision adds a slew of highlights which are noticeable from the first seconds … Over and over again I was really struck with the vivid tones in the palette in this presentation … Matching the impact of the palette is a definite and noticeable uptick in fine detail levels.” — Blu-ray.com.

The Hustle

➢ “High definition detail is notable as images are firmly resolved, with defining sharpness and dimensional depth. Colours are beautifully rendered with revealing delineation tonal warmth and vibrant textures. Fleshtones appear descriptive with discernible complexional variety that brings out the finest gradations in the differing complexional types among the cast.” — AVSForum.

➢ “The 2.39:1 AVC HD image is as visually-appealing as it comes (and my fondness for Anne Hathaway played a minor role in that). Colours pop, detail is amazing, contrast is solid … you get the idea. While the movie itself might leave a bit to the imagination, the way this looks won’t.” — Blu-ray Authority.

☞ Also new are Blu-ray re-issues of Don’t Look Now (“a truly fantastic upgrade”), with a 4K-UHD version pending, and The Doors.