2016 is off to a pretty good start in the home entertainment realm with the release of the powerful drug war saga Sicario, Robert Zemeckis’ underrated The Walk, the second season of HBO’s groundbreaking True Detective, and the 1995 UPN science fiction/western saga Legend, which is one of the most requested series that has heretofore never appeared on disc.

Theatrical Movies

2016 gets off to a solid start on Tuesday with the release of a number of interesting films including the highly regarded drug war thriller Sicario (Lionsgate, “R,” 121 min., $29.95, BD $39.99), which stars Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, and Josh Brolin.  The film, which was directed by Denis Villeneuve, has earned a sterling 95% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  This is a gripping film that doesn’t shy away from the enormity of the problem of the Mexican cartels or the horrific violence that those organizations inspire.

Another very interesting film is The Walk (Sony, “PG,” 123 min., $30.99, BD $34.99, BD/3D $40.99), which stars Joseph Gordon-Leavitt as Phillipe Petit who walked a wire suspended between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.  As the critics pointed out, Robert Zemeckis’ film takes some time to get going—but once it gets to the filming of the actual walk, the movie is flat-out spectacular (and not recommended for those with acrophobia).  In spite of strong reviews (85% positive on RT), The Walk fared poorly at the box office, where it made just $10.1 million—but that is no excuse to miss a chance to see this extraordinary film on disc.

Those who enjoy slice-of-life indie dramas should definitely check out Infinitely Polar Bear (Sony, “R,” 88 min., $25.99, BD $27.99), which stars Mark Ruffalo as a bipolar man, who flips out and loses his job, leaving his wife (played by Zoe Soldana) to fare for herself and their two young girls.  When his wife gets a chance at a scholarship to Columbia, Cam (Ruffalo) has to take charge of his two daughters in Maya Forbes’ powerful drama, which doesn’t sugarcoat either the effects of Cam’s mental condition or the difficulties involved in earning a decent enough income to provide a good education for your children in contemporary America.

Horror film fans have several choices this week including M. Knight Shyamalan’s The Visit (Universal, “PG-13,” 188 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), a creepy “found-footage” saga about a young brother and sister who are sent to live with their grandparents on a remote Pennsylvania farm, and soon discover that their grandparents are involved in some deeply disturbing activities.

For fans of hardcore horror there is Eli (The Saw) Roth’s The Green Inferno (Universal, “R,” 101 min., $29.98, BD $33.98), a grisly homage to the Italian cannibal films of the 1970s and 80s.  A young American woman and her lover travel to Brazil to help save the rainforest only to be captured by a tribe of cannibals.  Suffice it to say, this grindhouse film is not for the faint of heart, but there are visual aspects to this long-delayed film that do set it apart from run-of-the-mill horror entries.

For those who like zombie films, there is the zombie comedy Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (Paramount, “R,” 93 min., $29.98, BD $39.99).  Paramount is trying something new by shortening the non-theatrical window for some genre films like the Scout’s Guide, which opened in theaters on Oct. 30, and theater owners didn’t like it one bit.  While Scout’s Guide is no threat to unseat Zombieland as the (intentionally) funniest zombie movie ever, fans of the genre will want to check it out.

TV on DVD

This week’s top release for geek viewers just might be Legend: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, 546 min., $14.98), which collects for the very first the 1995 UPN science fiction/western series that starred Richard Dean Anderson (McGyver) in a dual role as a western novelist and as his heroic creation Nichodemus Legend.  Michael Pillar (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine & Star Trek: Voyager) created Legend, which matched a lighthearted tone with an action-packed narrative and interesting historical settings.  Similarities to The Wild Wild West aside, Legend is one of the most requested TV series that has never appeared on disc before and is well worth a look, especially at this price.

Viewers with a more contemporary sensibility might prefer True Detective: The Complete Second Season (HBO, $59.98, BD $79.98).  The first season of True Detective, which starred Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey investigating crimes in Louisiana in the 1990s was one of the most highly praised new series of 2014, but the second season, which features Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Vince Vaughn was not nearly as well received by either the critics or audiences.  Eventually it may be clear that Season One was somewhat overpraised, while the widely-panned Season 2, which is set in contemporary California, was greatly undervalued. 

Fans of contemporary comedy have a number of shows to choose from including the sophisticated sketch comedy series The Birthday Boys: The Complete Second Season (Starz, 226 min., $19.98), the female-centric Comedy Central sitcom Broad City: Season 2 (Comedy Central, $26.98), the FX network sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Fox, $29.98), Man Seeking Woman (Fox, 220 min.,DVD-R, $29.98), the surreal show based on short stories by Simon Rich,  and the podcast-based Comedy Bang! Bang! Season 3 (Starz, 230 min., DVD-R, $24.98), which was created by Scott Aukerman, the co-creator (with Zack Galifianakis) of Between Two Ferns.

Flesh and Bone (Starz, 482 min., $39.99, BD $49.98) is a gritty miniseries, from the producing team behind Breaking Bad, that strips the glamor off the shimmering surface of the highly competitive New York City ballet scene by following the career of a transcendent ballerina, who is also emotionally disturbed, sexually wounded, and often self-destructive.

There are quite a few imports this week including the interesting BBC historical drama about King Alfred the Great’s battles with the Vikings, The Last Kingdom: Series 1 (BBC, 480 min., $29.98), as well as the excellent adaptation of G.K. Chesterton’s 1930s Jesuit detective, Father Brown: Season 3, Part 1 (BBC, 356 min., $39.98), and the Idris Elba-starring police procedural Luther: Season 4 (BBC, $24.98).

But the cream of this week’s imports is Agatha Christies’s Partners in Crime (Acorn Media, 322 min., $39.99).  In the tradition of the superb period production of Dame Agatha’s novels, Partners in Crime adapts two novels featuring Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, a sometimes bickering, but always lovable couple that gets involved in cold war espionage in these sparkling adaptations of two of Ms. Christie’s novels set in the 1950s. 

This week’s lone vintage release is Party of Five: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, $89.98), which collects all 142 episodes of the Fox teen drama series that aired from 1994 to 2000.

Anime

This week’s top release is the Dai Shogun Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., Subtitles Only, $49.98, BD $59.98), which contains the 12-episode 2014 mecha anime, directed by Takashi Watanabe and animated by JC Staff.  This series takes place in a Japan where the Meiji Restoration never happened (Commodore Perry was kept at bay), and Japan continued to develop cut off from the rest of the world.

For those who like their mecha anime a little bit more in the classic mode there is the Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy (The Right Stuf, 232 min., Subtitles Only $49.98).  In 1981 the original Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino reworked the original 43-episode Mobile Suit Gundam anime TV series that ran in Japan in 1979 and 1980 into three anime movies, which are now going to be available in high quality edition from The Right Stuf.

This week’s re-priced re-release is the Pet Shop of Horrors Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 100 min., $19.98), which was originally released in 2009 at $24.98.