This week’s home entertainment releases include two films that were box office “failures,” but are well worth checking out, plus the latest entry in the Ice Age franchise, the sixth season of the brilliant Adventure Time cartoon series, and a stunningly restored version of Fritz Lang’s first great film.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s top two release each made about $126 million at the North American box office, at total that would have in previous years insured profitability, yet because of their extensive cost of production, David Yates’ The Legend of Tarzan and Paul Feig’s reboot of Ghostbusters with a primarily female cast are both considered flops, in spite of the fact that both movies have their virtues.  The Legend of Tarzan (Warner Bros., $28.98, BD $35.99) features a fine cast (Alexander Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Christoph Waltz) and has far more regard for the way in which Edgar Rice Burroughs presented Tarzan in his novels than most Tarzan movies.  ERB fans will definitely want to check this Tarzan movie out, it is far from perfect, but it still rates high among Tarzan film adaptations.

Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters (Sony, 250 min., $30.99, BD $34.99) was subjected to ridiculous sexist attacks well before it got to movie theaters.  Guess what, it’s not a superb film, but neither was the original Ghostbusters.  Still the 2016 version, like its predecessor, is a good-natured fantasy romp, and well worth checking out for those who enjoy comedies that provide more spectacle than they do belly laughs. 

For younger viewers there is Ice Age: Collison Course (Fox, 94 min., $29.99, BD $39.99), the fifth film in the series.  Ice Age has lost its mojo here in the States, though it remains popular in other parts of the world.  Collison Course, which could garner only a 13% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes is the weakest entry in the series yet and is for Ice Age fans only.

Bryan Cranston, who proved In Breaking Bad that he is one of our very best actors, makes The Infiltrator (Broadgreen, 127 min., $29.99, BD $39.99).  Based on a true story about an American agent who infiltrated Pablo Escobar’s cocaine smuggling operation, The Infiltrator may seem a bit clichéd at time, but strong performances and the plot’s basic tensions make The Infiltrator an enjoyable film for those who enjoy drug war thrillers.

TV on DVD

This week’s top release is Adventure Time: The Complete Sixth Season (Warner Bros., 473 min., $34.98, BD $39.98), which continues Pendelton Ward’s excellent adventures of Finn and Jake in the post-apocalyptic land of Ooo.  With adventure elements ripped from rpgs, and an unfailing knack for quirky character comedy, Adventure Time is one of the most consistent Cartoon Network series.

Other current series available on Tuesday include the hilarious hipster comedy Portlandia: Season 6 (VSC, 220 min., $19.95); the New York restaurant drama Feed the Beast: Season 1 (Lionsgate, 352 min., $29.98, BD $29.98), the Hallmark series The Good Witch: Season 2 (Cinedigm, 420 min., $24.99), the BBC series The Three Musketeers: The Complete 3rd Season (BBC, 600 min., $34.98 BD $39.98), the BBC police procedural Scott & Bailey: Season 5, the stop motion superhero saga (SuperMansion: Season 1 (Sony, 286 min., $30.99), and the PBS miniseries, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands: The Complete Miniseries (PBS, 720 min., $59.99).

With the holidays not far away, there are lots of complete series available in new editions including: Degrassi Junior High: The Complete Series (PBS, 1140 min., $$34.98); Hannibal: The Complete Series (Lionsgate, 1680 min., $29.76, BD $39.97); the classic “smart car” series Knight Rider: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, 9,999 min., $69.98, BD $99.98); Kolchak: The Night Stalker (Universal, 1026 min., $29.98); Miami Vice: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, BD $99.98); the popular sitcom Mike & Molly: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. $112.99); and the iconic Sci-Fi adventure Sliders: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, $44.98).

Anime

After a major list of releases last week, the pace slows a bit this week.  The top release for many will be One Piece: Collection 17 (Funimation, 625 min., $34.98), which presents 25 episodes of the long-running pirate anime, which are now available at about half the per-episode cost of the initial One Piece releases.

Other re-priced re-releases due on Tuesday include the Level E Complete Collection (Funimation, 324 min., BD/DVD Combo $29.98), an alien refugee saga based on the manga by Yu Yu Hakusho creator Yoshihiro Tagashi, and Lupin the 3rd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (Funimation, 275 min., BD/DVD Combo $44.98).

This week’s new (to North America) release is Wish Upon the Pleadies (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., Subtitles Only, $49.98, BD $59.98), a 2015 “magical girl” series produced by Gainax in cooperation with the Japanese automaker Subaru.

Classics on Blu-Ray

While many fans are familiar with Fritz Lang’s silent film science fiction classics Metropolis and The Woman in the Moon, as well as his brilliant early sound film M, but Lang’s first German cinema masterpiece was his 1921 film Destiny (the film’s German title is Der Mude Tod—literally “The Weary Death”).  A complicated fantasy that incorporates elements from German folklore (courtesy of Lang’s wife Thea von Harbou, who wrote the screenplay), Destiny (Kino, 98 min., $29.98), which stars Lil Dagover from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, is Lang’s most expressionistic film.  Bernhard Goetzke, who plays the stone-face Death, is an iconic, implacable presence throughout the film that sends Dagover on a wild chase through three periods in history (Persia, Renaissance Venice, and China).

Not only is Destiny Lang’s first great film, it actually looks the part in this great Blu-ray reconstruction, which provides the best version ever of this classic since the original appeared in theaters in the early 1920s.  Anyone who has enjoyed Lang’s Metropolis, should consider giving Destiny a chance, particularly in the beautiful new version that presents the film’s expressionistic visuals in nearly pristine form.