The biggest box office hit among Tuesday’s releases is Ride Along 2 (Universal, “PG-13,” 204 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), director Tim Story’s sequel to his 2014 action comedy hit that paired a hapless high school security guard played by Kevin Hart with a tough-as-nails undercover cop played by Ice Cube. Though the narrative essence of the sequel is nearly identical to the first film, it still manages to be funny, much funnier than its 15% positive critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes would suggest.
“Art” movies out this week include the revisionist western Jane Got a Gun (Anchor Bay, “R,” 97 min., $28.98, BD $34.98), which Scottish director Lynne Ramsay was set to helm, only to step down at the last minute after which she was replaced by Gavin O’Connor. The film focuses on the eponymous heroine played by Natalie Portman, and provides more of a “woman’s eye” view of the Old West than the typical oater, but it shouldn’t necessarily be classified as a “feminist western.” A pitiful box office showing ($1.4 million) was partially the result of a botched release—the film was set to debut in 2014, but the demise of Relativity Media delayed the film’s opening until January 29, 2016.
Anime
Equally interesting to those same viewers is GARO the Animation: Season 1, Part 1 (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), which contains the first 12 episodes of a 24-episode 2014-2015 anime from MAPPA that is based on the 2005 Garo tokusatsu (live-action, special effects heavy) TV series, so popular in Japan that it has already spawned two anime series. GARO the Animation is set in a fictitious European kingdom that closely resembles Spain under the Inquisition, which is the perfect location for this sort of supernatural fantasy/action saga.
Other key Funimation releases this week include the Kamisama Kiss: Season 2 Collection (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), which collects the 12-episode 2015 fantasy/romantic comedy anime from TMS that is the second anime series based on Julietta Suzuki’s shojo manga series, and One Piece: Season Seven, Voyage 6 (Funimation, 274 min., $39.98), which contains episodes 446 to 458 of the long-running pirate anime series that remains extremely popular in Japan.
The hard sci-fi anime series Space Brothers, which follows the exploits of two brothers who join Japan’s astronaut training program, has developed a devoted following here in North America. Space Brothers: Collection 8 (Sentai FIlmworks, 300 min., Subtitles only $49.98, BD $59.98) includes the final 12 episodes of this epic 99-episode series.
For fans of early anime there is a rare treat on Tuesday, the Dororo Complete Collection (Discotek Media, 650 min., Subtitles Only, 49.98) includes all 26 episode of the 1969 anime adaptation of the manga about a pint-sized demon written by the “giant” of manga Osamu Tezuka.
A more recent anime series that is seeing its North American debut is the Earl and Fairy Complete Collection (Discotek Media, 300 min., Subtitles Only $44.95), which contains all 12 episodes of the 2008 fantasy/romance anime based on the shojo manga series by Mizuo Tani that is set in Victorian England.
TV on DVD
It is a very slim week for new TV releases. For those who like a little comedy and romance with their medical dramas there is the concierge/doctor saga Royal Pains: Season 7 (Universal, 336 min., $26.98), and for those who enjoy watching veteran TV stars do their thing in a contemporary setting there is the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland: Season Six (Comedy Central, 500 min., $29.98), the final season of the series chronicling the adventures of a quartet of ladies played by Betty White, Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, and Wendy Malick, as well as Hot in Cleveland: The Complete Series (Comedy Central, $89.99), which contains all 128 episodes of the series.
For those who like the new versions of the classic Looney Tunes characters there is Wabbit: Season 1, Part 1—Hare-Raising Tales (Warner Bros., 286 min., $19.97), two-disc collection of the reconfigured Termite Terrace heroes, in which Wile E. Coyote is Bugs Bunny’s wise-cracking neighbor and the Tasmanian Devil (“Theodore Tasmanian”) is an accountant—will someone please check the graves of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and Friz Freleng for recent catastrophic movements?
Vintage series due on Tuesday include the classic sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official First Season (Paramount, 921 min., $29.95), the 1970s animated sequel to Gilligan’s Island, The New Adventures of Gilligan: The Complete Series (Warner Bros., 552 min., DVD-R, 29.99), and for the first time in high definition, there are collections of the three series of shorts that made up the late 1960s animated series The Pink Panther Show, The Pink Panther Show: Crazylegs Crane (Kino, 98 min., $19.98, BD $29.98), The Pink Panther Show: The Ant and The Aardvark (Kino, 108 min., $19.98, BD $29.98), and the flagship Pink Panther episodes, The Pink Panther Show: The Inspector (Kino, 237 min., $29.95, BD $39.98).
{IMAGE_5}This week’s only non-U.S. offering is 19-2: Season 1 (Acorn Media, 447 min., $39.99), a gritty Canadian police procedural set on the streets of Montreal that provides an unsparing look at urban crime and at the way it affects both the professional and personal lives of two cops, one a hardened veteran, and the other a veteran constable who takes a job in the big city to escape the troubles of his previous posting in rural Quebec.
