Blu-ray

Brad Pitt plays against type as a mob hit man in this darkly comic and very violent neo-noir thriller-cum-political-allegory from the director of The Assassination of Jesse James. Despite updating the action to play against the 2008 US presidential election, the film remains most squarely rooted in '70s cinema – a fact reflected in this disc's dark and grainy AVC 2.40:1 1080p imagery. Much of the DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix is given over to dialogue, but it also knows when to cut loose (such as the bone-crunching blows during Markie's beating). Seven short interviews are the only extras.

When a young agent is killed in action, his superior Harry Hart (Colin Firth) visits his widow and young son to offer his condolences and give them a number to call if they ever need a favour. Years later, the boy, now a young man called Eggsy (Taron Egerton) does just that after he's arrested by the police following a spot of joy riding. Freeing him from jail, Harry takes Eggsy under his wing and offers him a chance to live up to his potential by competing for a vacant position in a top-secret team of super spies: the Kingsmen.

Between Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, George A. Romero took time out to riff on classic Arthurian legends with this frequently overlooked tale of a renaissance fair troupe of jousting bikers.

When his tomboy cousins mock Max (Emjay Anthony) for writing a letter to Santa, his love of all-things Christmas reaches breaking point and he tears the letter up and scatters it to the wind. The following day, Max's family wake up to discover that the entire area has been hit by a sudden blizzard and they are soon under siege by a horned ghoul and his army of misfit monsters.

While it never quite matches up to the brilliance of the original, this second animated outing for Po and the Furious Five is a worthy sequel that stands up there with the best of DreamWorks’ animated output.

Having demonstrated a flair for rhythm-based cinema with 2014's Whiplash, writer-director Damien Chazelle took it a step further with this fully-fledged 21st century Hollywood musical. What emerged was a slice of cinematic spectacle that wowed critics, audiences and award-givers with its mix of romance and nostalgia.

Optimum Home Entertainment has had something of a spotty history with the quality of its Blu-ray releases. That said, the company definitely appears to have found its footing with its recent Studio Canal Collection of classic films, and nowhere is that more evident that with this lavish high-definition treatment of Alain Resnais' mind-bending 1961 French New Wave outing Last Year at Marienbad (L'Annee derniere a Marienbad).