Even a so-so week of home entertainment releases provides some compensations such as a Star Trek: Enterprise Blu-ray, the Oscar-nominated art house film Amour, the excellent BBC supernatural series Being Human, a full slate of new anime titles, and the first Blu-ray releases for cartoon goddess Betty Boop and the classic western Shane.
 
TV on DVD
 
There’s a bit of a lull in this category this week, but a few releases should be of interest to geek viewers including the Blu-ray debut of the often unfairly maligned Star Trek: Enterprise: Season 2 (Paramount, 880 min., $129.99).  Once again I feel an obligation to point out that, while there are some nice extras on this set, Paramount is fleecing Star Trek fans by charging a premium vis-à-vis other series, though the studio would no doubt reply that the special appeal of the Star Trek series justifies the higher prices.
 
Also of interest (and much cheaper) is Being Human: Season 5 (BBC, 360 min., $34.98, BD $39.98), the always entertaining saga of three roommates who just happen to be a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost.  The roomies in this original U.K. series, which has spawned a U.S. version, face a host of new problems in Season 5 as they take jobs in a kitschy hotel where they encounter great danger lurking in the most unlikely place.
 
With the September debuts of most network TV series looming, the release of network shows picks up with the popular NCIS: The Complete 10th Season (Paramount, $64.99), NCIS: Los Angeles—The Complete 4th Season (Paramount, $64.99), the popular drama series The Good Wife: The 4th Season (Paramount, $64.99), the over-the-top soap opera Revenge: The Complete 2nd Season (Disney, $45.99), the plus size sitcom Mike & Molly: Season 3 (Warner Bros., 508 min., $44.96), and the NBC sitcom Parenthood: Season 4 (Universal, $44.98).
 
Animated releases include Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: The Animated Series (TGG Direct, 352 min., $15.98), which collects the 21-episode 1990 series about the time-traveling slackers, and CatDog: Season 4—The Final Season (Shout Factory, 180 min., $14.97), which collects the final season of the Nickelodeon series about a half dog, half cat, plus the less interesting single-disc Alvin & the Chipmunks: Driving Dave Crazier (Bagdassarian Productions, 66 min., $14.99) and Donkey Kong Country, Vol.1 (Peace Arch, 70 min., $9.99).
 
Theatrical Movies
 
The highest grossing release of the week is the eco-themed animated movie Epic (Fox, “PG,” $29.98, BD/Combo $39.99), which was produced by Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age) and earned $252 million worldwide in a very crowded 2013 summer movie season.
 
Horror movie fans will have to make do this week with the wretched Scary Movie 5 (Weinstein, “Not Rated,” $29.98, BD $39.99), which could muster only a 4% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. 
 
Art House movie fans have a much better fate awaiting with Michael Haneke’s Amour (Sony, “PG-13” $30.99, BD $35.99), which features superb performances by Jean Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva in the downbeat saga of a loving elderly couple facing disease and death.  The critics gave this film a 94% positive rating, but this is a movie that one admires more than likes.
 
The early days of the American occupation of Japan were difficult ones indeed, and they are explored in some depth in Emperor (Lionsgate, “PG-13” $18.98, BD $24.99), which features a strong performance by Tommy Lee Jones as General Douglas McArthur.   The critics didn’t like this movie, which only received a 30% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and at times it does appear that this film was made as much for the classroom as the theater, but it does illuminate what was a very dangerous endgame to the war in the Pacific and it provides some clues as to how McArthur was to avoid during the occupation of Japan the kind of violence that was inspired by the American occupation of Iraq.
 
The parade of cinematic bombs that we usually get in August continues with Killing Season (Millennium, “R,” $28.99, $29.99), a lame modern version of The Most Dangerous Game that pits Robert DeNiro against John Travolta in a movie that only received an 11% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and made less than $40,000 in its theatrical release.
 
A far better thriller with political overtones is Shadow Dancer (Magnolia Entertainment, “R,” $26.98, BD $29.98), the saga of a single mother who is forced to return to Belfast to spy for MI5.  Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough star in a film that manages to be tense (though not always in an entertaining way) and powerful in its depiction of the “Troubles” that still echo through Northern Ireland.
 
 
Anime
 
There’s another full slate of anime releases this week including Fairy Tail Part 6 (Funimation, “14+,” 300 min., $54.98), which includes episodes 61-72 of the long-running anime series based on Hiro Mashima’s manga series about a runaway celestial wizard that has considerable appeal to fantasy lovers and gamers.
 
For those who enjoy sexy “fan service” filled seinen anime there is High School DxD: The Complete Series (Funimation, “17+,” 300 min., DVD/BD $64.98, Ltd. Ed. $69.98).  The breasts are large, the panty shots frequent, and the characters fall into embarrassing situations with regularity in this harem fantasy about a perverted high school student who is killed by his first date and then revived as a devil, which gives him plenty of opportunities to indulge in his proclivities.  The Limited Edition features an art box.
 
Also new to North America this week is Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan Set 2 (Viz Media, “13+,” 300 min., $44.98, BD $54. 98), which includes episodes 14-26 of the anime series produced by Studio Deen and based on the supernatural fantasy adventure manga by Hiroshi Shibashi.
 
Another new series that should appeal to fans of science fiction comedy is the Tsuritama Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 300 min., $59.98, $69.98), which collects all 12 episodes of the 2012 series produced by A-1 Pictures.
 
Re-priced releases include the Legend of Legendary Heroes Complete Series (Funimation, “14+,” 625 min., BD/DVD $69.98), which includes all 24 episodes of the series that was previously released in two parts, each costing $64.98.
 
This week’s most intriguing release of the weeks for fans of classic anime is Starzinger: The Movie Collection (Shout Factory, 300 min., $19.93), which contains three cartoon movies created by William Winkler Productions in 2009 from the 73-episode anime series Starzinger that aired in Japan in 1978 and 1979.  This series did enjoy some exposure here in the States where it was known as Spacketeers and in the U.K. where it was released on VHS as Sci-Bots.
 
Classics on Blu-ray
 
Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Vol. 1 (Olive Films, 80 min., BD $29.98) features 12 cartoons directed by Dave Fleischer featuring the sexiest of all the 1930s cartoon stars Betty Boop.  Part of Ms. Boop’s cinematic oeuvre has been available for years in increasingly bad prints, so it is great to see the her films in sharp detail that allows all of Dave Fleischer’s way out visual humor to come through intact.  It would have been nice to see all of the Betty Boop cartoons presented in chronological order, but instead this set concentrates on cartoons that have not been available on disc before.  Perhaps we will get the full output of the Fleischer Studios on Blu-ray someday, but until then at least we can enjoy great versions of these 12 cartoons (and another dozen, which are due out on BD in late September).
 
Fans of classic westerns will want to acquire a copy of George Stevens’ Shane (Paramount, “Not Rated” BD $19.98), a superbly photographed western that was shot by Loyal Griggs who won an Oscar for his work.  Much of the film was shot on location near Jackson Hole, Wyoming with the Grand Tetons looming in the distance behind the Starrett homestead.  The vistas truly are grand in this excellent hi-def transfer, but the performances by Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, Brandon DeWilde, Alan Ladd and Jack Palance are equally iconic in their own ways.  Shane was originally shot (in 1951) in the standard Academy ratio, but then expanded to widescreen when it was released in 1953.  The movie is presented in its original aspect ratio on the Blu-ray—and has never looked better.


Tom Flinn

The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.