This week’s home entertainment releases include perhaps the most realistic tank combat film of World War II ever, plus a delightful animated feature produced by Guillermo Del Toro, the current season of the stylish PBS soaper Downton Abbey, and a movie that is sort of an acting master class with Robert Downey, Jr. squaring off with the masterful Robert Duvall.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s top release is Fury (Sony, “R,” 134 min., $30.99 BD $34.99), director David Ayer’s fierce World War II film starring Brad Pitt as a battle-hardened U.S. tank commander.  Military gamers will appreciate the fact that this is perhaps the most historically accurate World War II tank battle movie of all time.  It is also more than that in its searing portrayal of the effects of war on the crew of a Sherman tank prowling through the German countryside during the last months of the war.  Though by this time the final outcome of the war was not in doubt, these American tankers were seriously outgunned by the superior German Tiger tanks, and they are just battling to survive.  One of the key sources for this film was Belton Cooper’s book Death Traps, which details the shortcomings of American tanks, failings that have been typically glossed over in previous Hollywood World War II movies.  Ayer, who is currently preparing to direct a Suicide Squad movie for Warner Bros., is relentless in his creation of some of the scariest war movie scenes ever.  Fury is definitely not for the faint of heart, Ayer rubs the horrors of war into the face of audience—there’s no sugarcoating here.

Also of interest this week is The Book of Life (Fox, “PG,” 96 min., $30.99, BD $39.99), an animated feature film produced by Guillermo Del Toro and directed by Jorge Gutierrez (El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera) that was originally entitled Day of the Dead.  Produced by the Dallas-based Reel FX Animation Studios, The Book of Life is a major step forward from the studios first film (Free Birds), and a visually stunning celebration of Mexican culture and folklore that received an excellent 82% fresh rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Fans of Robert Downey, Jr. will definitely want to check out The Judge (Warner Bros., “R,” 141 min., $28.98, BD $35.99), a father-vs.-son saga that exists primarily to give viewers the pleasure of seeing Downey acting with Robert Duvall in a number of emotionally-charged scenes that bring this family drama to life.  In fact it is the acting rather than the plot or the writing that makes The Judge worth watching—and that’s not surprising since this was a “passion” project for Downey, who produced the film.

For those who enjoy thrillers, Before I Go to Sleep (Fox, “R,” 92 min., $19.98, BD $29.98), a not entirely successful exercise in the genre starring Nicole Kidman as a woman who wakes up with no memories and gradually learns that she is the victim of a major conspiracy, is worth a viewing, especially for those who enjoy this genre, which has a long history dating back at least as far as Hitchcock’s Rebecca and Suspicion.

TV on DVD
For most folks this week’s top release is Downton Abbey: Season 5 (PBS, $49.98, BD $54.98), which collects the latest season of the popular historical drama that is the most expensive series in BBC history.  With its multiple upstairs/downstairs plotlines, meticulous prepared period setting, and especially because of those caustic lines delivered with such evident glee by Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess, Downton Abbey is a true guilty pleasure.

PBS is piggybacking on the release of Downton Abbey with Arthur’s Fountain Abbey (PBS, 45 min., $6.99), an animated treat for the younger set, but the real treat this week for both kids and older animation fans is The Regular Show, Vol.7: Mordecai Pack (Warner Bros., 176 min., $19.82), which includes 16 Mordecai-centric episodes from one of the Cartoon Network’s most enjoyable shows, which chronicles the adventures of those lovable slackers, Mordecai and Rigby.

Vintage TV releases include the mid-1950s Los Angeles harbor adventure series Waterfront Collection 1 (VCI, 250 min., $24.97), a syndicated series that starred Preston Foster and was actually filmed on location, and Mama’s Family: Mama’s Favorite’s Season 4 (Time Life, 165 min., $12.98), a “best-of” collection of the sitcom starring Vicki Lawrence.

Anime

This week’s top new release is Log Horizon: Collection 2 (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the second half of the 25-episode anime series produced by Satelight that aired in Japan in 2013 and 2014 (and was simulcast here by Crunchyroll).  The anime is based on a series of light novels written by Mamare Touno that Yen Press plans to publish this year about a group of gamers who get sucked into the world of a long-running MMORPG, when a game update proves to be even more “immersive” than advertised.

Also out this week is the Maid Sama!: Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 650 min., $79.98, BD $99.98).  This series was released on a subtitles-only DVD in 2011, but is now available with an English dub as well as re-mastered high definition visuals in the Blu-ray version.

Also new on Blu-ray is A-Channel: The Animation Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, $59.98, Subtitles Only), which was released on DVD back in 2012.

Collectors should also be interested in the new Blu-ray of the anime movie Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Discotek Media, $29.95), a wonderfully complex tale of rebellion and terrorism in an alternate future Japan, and Lupin the 3rd fans will rejoice at the opportunity to get Lupin the 3rd: Napoleon’s Dictionary (Discotek Media, $24.95, Subtitles Only).  This 1991 TV special was the third in a series featuring Lupin the 3rd, and it’s a lot of fun as Lupin enters an auto race in which the prize is Napoleon’s dictionary (which reportedly doesn’t include the word “impossible”).

--Tom Flinn

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