Top 10 Blu-ray movies

Place 10: The Dark Knight

Picture: 39    Sound: 37    Extras: 14       Total: 90 points

It’s simple: In terms of technical finesse, this is the best Batman film ever! The picture is stunning: no noise, no dropouts, balanced contrast, and a sensational amount of detail — HD barely gets better than this! We also loved the soundtrack’s huge dynamics, monster bass, and tonnes of great surround effects.

But “The Dark Knight” only gets as far as place 10 — which is actually still pretty high — because its bonus material isn’t that extensive: 18 mini-featurettes (64 minutes in total), “Batman Tech” (46 minutes), “Batman Unmasked”, and “Gotham Tonight”.

Place 9: Transformers

Picture: 35    Sound: 38    Extras: 18       Total: 91 points

In daylight scenes, the picture is absolutely top-notch. Darker scenes, on the other hand, show too much graininess, which makes the picture look less sharp. But there’s nothing to criticise in the sound: The dynamics are superb, and bullets, grenades, and wreckage fly past the viewer’s ears. Bonus material is another strong point: a director’s commentary, a picture-in-picture track, BD-Live, and over two hours of ‘making of’ material — exemplary!

Place 8: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Picture: 39    Sound: 36    Extras: 16       Total: 91 points

A unique pleasure: This sequel’s picture is even better than the first instalment — “Prince Caspian” gleams with immense sharpness, an extremely clean and stable picture, and detail-rich landscape shots. It’s also way ahead in terms of sound, impressing with precise surround effects and superb dynamics — you’ll feel like you’re part of the action. The bonus material is also fantastic — spread over the two discs, we find an audio commentary, over two hours of ‘making of’ pieces, and an interactive, 360-degree-vision feature.

Place 7: Shoot ‘Em Up

Picture: 38    Sound: 38    Extras: 15       Total: 91 points

A huge orgy of bullets with excellent technical credentials: The picture and sound in “Shoot ‘Em Up” are both truly first-rate. Despite colour filters and contrast manipulation, the picture is ultra-sharp. The sound transports the viewer to the terrifying heart of the ballistic action! Topping off the release is a great selection of extras: As well as all of the DVD features — an audio commentary and a 50-minute ‘making of’, for example — the Blu-ray packs in a picture-in-picture track.

Place 6: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Picture: 35    Sound: 37    Extras: 20       Total: 92 points

The sharpness and plasticity impress straight off, especially in the close-up shots, where you can make out even the tiniest of details. Examples of this include Hellboy’s chest at playing time 29:54 or his face at 65:50. Apart from this, the CGI effects also look much crisper than those in the first film. The 7.1-channel soundtrack impresses with rich deep-bass components and heaps of surround effects.

But where this disc really hammers it home is the bonus material, which easily earns full marks: two audio commentaries, four picture-in-picture tracks, a two-and-a-half-hour ‘making of’, and BD-Live — to name just a few!

Place 5: Cars

Picture: 40    Sound: 39    Extras: 13       Total: 92 points

There are three good reasons why this Blu-ray made it to the top five. Firstly: the outstanding picture! Even the tiniest details — even weeds by the side of the road! — look razor-sharp, easily earning “Cars” full marks in the first category. Secondly: “Cars” also sounds amazing! The races sound like the real deal, like you’re actually standing at the side of the track; the effects are precise and show great spatial differentiation. Thirdly: the extras score enough points for this disc to be able to take on the big boys — although there could still have been a few more features. By far the coolest extra is the “Cine-Explore” mode, which can display storyboards, among other information, during the film.

Place 4: Spider-Man 3

Picture: 38    Sound: 39    Extras: 16       Total: 93 points

Finally, they’ve got it right: With the first Spider-Man film, it was the picture that let the side down; with the second, it was the poor selection of bonus material. The third film, however, scores highly across the board. The picture’s immense plasticity is a must-see, and the overall picture quality is a significant improvement on the DVD. Admittedly, there is one tiny weakness: Bright scenes still tend to clip. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix positions sound effects with extreme precision and delivers some mighty deep bass — it’s anything but neighbour-friendly. Besides two audio commentaries with the filmmakers and cast, the extras include a two-hour ‘making of’ in HD resolution.

Place 3: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Picture: 39    Sound: 38    Extras: 17       Total: 94 points

People disagree on the quality of the plot, but the features and technical aspects of this Blu-ray are beyond doubt. Let’s start with the picture: Made to look like 1950s material (brownish tint, diffuse light sources, backlit shots), the Cinemascope transfer displays crisp details and edges, rich contrast, and a clean and stable picture. The sound is also some of the finest: The spatial impression, effect positioning, deep bass, and dynamics are all first-rate.

Similar can be said of the bonus material — in “The Return of a Legend”, for example, we learn why it took 18 years for Indiana Jones to pick up his whip once more. Further highlights include an 80-minute production diary and 60 minutes of production featurettes — and it’s almost all in HD.

Place 2: Wall-E

Picture: 39    Sound: 37    Extras: 19       Total: 95 points

Wall-E is one of the best animated films of all time — and the Blu-ray release comes straight in at number two! The Cinemascope transfer is on top form as the robots leave Earth in their gigantic spaceship — the powerful colours and sensational sharpness reach reference level. The 6.1-channel soundtrack is first-rate: Big action scenes such as the sandstorm or the landing spaceship sound fantastic.

Also scoring highly are the extras: a Cine-Explore mode; an audio commentary with the Pixar team; the short features “Burn-E” (7:35), “Presto” (5:15), “Wall-E’s Treasures & Trinkets” (4:56), and “Bot Storybook” (3:07); games (“Axiom Arcade”); “Bot Files”; deleted scenes (with an introduction by the director, 23:08); “Behind the Scenes” (41:11); “BnL Shorts” (9:02); “3D Set Fly-Throughs” (10:36); and “The Pixar Story” (88:30).

Place 1:
Casino Royale (Deluxe Edition)

Picture: 38    Sound: 39    Extras: 19       Total: 96 points

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Although “Casino Royale” was the most successful Bond of all time, the first Blu-ray release, in 2007, was almost devoid of extras. But in autumn 2008, just as the next film in the series, “Quantum of Solace”, hit the cinemas, Sony released this hugely successful Deluxe Edition. The picture is radiant, sharp, and detail-rich — it’s almost as good as HD gets! The sound, too, is spectacular; the Dolby TrueHD mix is reference-quality in all situations — shootouts, collisions, buildings collapsing, you name it! But it’s really the extensive bonus material that earns Bond the top spot.

Of course, all of the extras from the normal release are present here too. On top of these, however, you get an audio commentary, a picture-in-picture commentary, and an interactive quiz with questions on all of the Bond films. Here’s a selection of what you’ll find on disc two: deleted scenes (7:33), a storyboard-film comparison, two background documentaries (45:42) on the novel behind the film, two further documentaries on the role of the Bahamas in Bond films, and various production featurettes — and almost all of it’s in HD!