1. April's hottest Blu-ray of the month: The Hobbit

You can work out what this first prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy is like by comparing its Rotten Tomatoes score from critics – a middling 65 per cent – with its 82 per cent IMDB ranking from “the public”. If you loved LotR and simply want more of the same – dwarf banter, epic battles, lip-trembling male bonding, portentous discussions in elvish meeting rooms – then, brother, tuck in.

For us, shorn of its cinema-screen-sized, 3D, 48fps visual assault, what’s left too often feels bloated and empty, with several CGI set pieces that are more exhausting than exhilarating. When it zooms into the, er, “human” level, drops the grating bonhomie and offers something more dark and adult – Gandalf and Galadriel’s tender exchanges, dwarves bereft at the loss of their homeland, Andy Serkis’ all-too-brief reprise of Gollum – things pick up markedly.

HD Moment:  Thorin waddling purposefully towards his one-armed orc nemesis through a magically blazing forest is pretty cool

Price: £20 (3D Blu-ray), £17 (Blu-ray) £14 (HD download) | Out now

Next April 2013: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning