Blu-ray

When the White House is overrun by terrorists, it falls on the shoulders of one man to keep the president safe from harm… Hold on a minute. Doesn't this all sound rather familiar?

Based on the true story of the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama container ship by Somali pirates, director Paul Greengrass' movie stars Tom Hanks as the commanding officer who was taken hostage.

When Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is infected by an ancient weapon known as the Aether and awakens the Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), the fate of all Nine Realms hangs in  the balance. The only person who can help Thor (Chris Hemsworth) save the universe is his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) – but could he be an even bigger threat to Asgard than Malekith's army?

Back in 1995 Louisiana detectives Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) solved the ritualistic murder of a former prostitute that was connected to a series of other missing person reports. Flash-forward to 2012 and it looks like the murders have started up again. So what exactly happened all those years ago and why did the now-retired cops' friendship come to such a bitter end?

While this TV drama about the formative years of a young Norman Bates naturally owes a great debt to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, it's really far more of a spiritual sibling to David Lynch's legendary Twin Peaks. As for this two-disc Blu-ray set – the show's stylish cinematography holds up very well, with each hi-def platter hosting five richly-detailed 1.78:1 1080p encodes. Aiding these are classy DTS-HD MA 5.1 mixes that add plenty of atmosphere. Extras take the form of deleted scenes and a 50-minute Q&A with the main cast and crew.

Those of you who weren't exactly thrilled with the original 2009 Blu-ray release of Luc Besson's acclaimed action film are unlikely to find much to celebrate about this new 20th anniversary release. Like its predecessor it boasts two cuts of the film and seems to be based on exactly the same masters, judging from the AVC 2.35:1 1080p imagery's pushed yellow hues and boosted contrast. Amazingly there are even less extras this time around – just short interviews with Jean Reno and composer Eric Serra. But it does come in a very snazzy steelbook…

Excellent performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman are the twin driving forces behind the success of this morally murky thriller about two kidnapped children and a father willing to go to any length to find them. The dour nature of the story extends to the film's aesthetics, something that this Blu-ray handles very well with its nuanced AVC 1.78:1 1080p encode and brooding DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. It's just a pity that there are so few extras – all you get are a pair of short promo featurettes. But with the film clocking in at 153 minutes, maybe there just wasn't room for anything else.