New to Blu Ray is our monthly look at the latest Blu Ray releases. This month we look at new films like Gran Torino, cable shows like Lost and classic TV like Star Trek.
New film releases
The Wrestler
The Blu Ray of The Wrestler keeps all of the grain in the saturated film stock. Don’t worry, that’s how it’s supposed to look. The main detail you’ll see is the blue, green and yellow grain specks, but did you really want to see the staple gun scene in clear HD?
The brightness of the colors ensures you know this is a Blu Ray. All the multi-colored spandex costumes and prop glow, the blood in that staple fight, the tacky pastels of trailer parks and small town thrift establishments.
Perhaps this is a good example of how an art film can look in HD. It doesn’t have to compete with the Transformers and the restored Bond movies. It can just have an aesthetic vision and present that in the highest definition possible.
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood was at his most grizzled in Gran Torino and on Blu Ray he’s even more grizzled than you can imagine. The pure clarity presents Eastwood’s scowling face with no barriers.
The family drama has a realistic look so it looks like any old neighborhood you’ll pass by, but realistically so, not like some distant movie version of it. There are no lavish colors, just clear detail in burnt out yards, run down basements and old trucks. The car of the title is nice and shiny though.
The lighting seems natural, like the flat interiors of a suburban home. Nighttime scenes have a little more effect, like flashing on a beaten Eastwood, but that too is a certain reality of the moment. Of course it’s a brand new movie so it reproduces exactly as it was intended.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Oscar nominated epic has a lot to look at on Blu Ray. It’s a brand new film, produced in high quality, so the Blu Ray is just an extension. At three hours, there are tons of scenes that will look good, so just assume everything you imagine looks awesome.
Of course all the detail on the boat is clear, and when they go through weather like snow it coats it with a new texture. Old time New Orleans and New York City is like a portal into the past. The more modern things get, the more they resemble familiar environments but with vivid clarity that’s beyond what you see on a movie screen.
The visual effects suffer a tad in this clarity. Sometimes it’s so clear that it looks like Brad Pitt’s head isn’t actually on the little person’s body. When it’s just makeup, you see all the detail, but when they youngify him, something’s off. Perhaps CGI just isn’t good enough for super Blu Ray hi-def quality. Although, even the prosthetic baby looks weird so maybe this movie just isn’t as amazing as people thought.
