The big ones have finally begun to drop starting with Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Paul Feig’s action comedy Spy, plus the first season of the CW’s delightful iZombie and the final 12 episodes of the long-running (366 episodes) anime Bleach.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s top release is Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (Disney, “PG-13,” 141 min., $29.99, BD $39.99), which earned a massive $1.4 billion dollars worldwide.  Faced with the difficult challenge of competing with his eminently successful first Avengers film, Whedon gave audiences more of the same, inspired and compelling character interaction punctuated by elaborate CGI-heavy action set pieces.  The formula worked well again, but the addition of Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and The Vision meant that all the characters didn’t necessarily get the attention they may have deserved, and this reviewer is getting tired of the massive CGI throwdowns, which though inventively staged, have a mind-numbing sameness to them.  Still Whedon delivered another superhero film that is actually fun to watch—and that is no mean feat this days as the genre begins to show its age.

Also out on Tuesday is Paul Feig’s R-rated comedy Spy (Sony, “R,” 120 min., $29.99, BD $39.99), which stars Melissa McCarthy in one of this summer’s best action comedies.  There are some really funny bits in this film, but a lot of raunchy stuff too, so it’s not recommended for the excessively genteel.

For horror movie fans this week there is Poltergeist (Fox, “PG-13,” $29.99, BD $34.99), a solid (but largely unnecessary) remake of Tobe Hooper’s classic 1982 supernatural horror film.  Sam Raimi produced the new remake, which was directed by Gil Kenan, and modern audiences may find it “more relatable,” while older viewers (like this one) will likely prefer the original.

One of this summer’s biggest disappointment’s Entourage (Warner Bros., “R,” 120 min., $28.98, BD $44.98), is basically a continuation of the HBO TV series.  The film debuted in June and quickly tanked as the cultural climate in which the TV show flourished has largely vanished.  Still the film will appeal to many of those who liked the show.  The film’s “R” rating allowed for more nudity, so those who would offended should be forewarned.

TV on DVD
This week’s top TV release is iZombie: Season 1 (Warner Bros., 780 min., $39.98), which includes all 13 episodes from the CW series created by Rob (Veronica Mars) Thomas and based on the Vertigo comic book.  Thomas added elements reminiscent of “Chew” to turn this zombie series into a police procedural and the result was a show that was mercifully much closer to the Veronica Mars TV series than the original comic book.  Rose McIver is excellent in the all-important title role and is surrounded by a talented young cast in TV’s most original take on the zombie since the debut of The Walking Dead.

Also of great interest to geek viewers are the fantasy police procedural series Grimm: Season 4 (Universal, $59.98, BD $69.98), and the time-travel fantasy series Outlander: Season 1, Vol. 2 (Sony, $38.99), which is based on the novels of Diana Gabaldon that also spawned a popular graphic novel as well as this TV series that was developed by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica).

Other contemporary shows of note include the long-running forensic crime drama Bones: The Complete 10th Season (Fox, $39.98), the buzzy CW comedy Jane the Virgin: The Complete 1st Season (Warner Bros., $49.98), Fresh Off the Boat: The Complete 1st Season (Fox, 282 min., $29.98), the first sitcom featuring an Asian family to air on American TV since Margaret Cho’s show was cancelled in the mid-1990s, and Reign: The Complete 2nd Season (Warner Bros., $44.98), a CW “fantasy history” drama that features handsome flawless young actors recreating the exile years of Mary Queen of Scots in France to the accompaniment of contemporary rock songs, while dressed in costumes that make the show “more relatable” to modern audience (instead of the early Smallville motto “No tights, no flights, this series might be characterized as “no wimples, no pimples”).

The only animated TV release this week is the single-disc My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic—Games Ponies Play (Shout Factory, 110 min., $14.98).

There are several excellent UK offerings this week led by Inspector George Gently: Series 7 (Acorn Media, 500 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), which includes four feature-length mysteries set in an extremely well-presented late 1960s world as Inspector Gently and his mates try to keep order in the face of rapid social change.  Strong performances and compelling mysteries make this one of the best (and most realistic) police procedurals to come out of Britain.

Another UK police procedural worth watching is Vera: Series 5 (Acorn Media, 300 min., $59.99), which stars Brenda Blethyn (Pride and Prejudice) as the eponymous Detective Chief Inspector in a quartet of feature-length mysteries based on the novels of Anne Cleeves.

Also out this week is the Australian TV mini-series The Slap (Acorn Media, 400 min., $39.99), which is based on the 2008 novel by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas, and which inspired an American adaptation of the novel that starred Melissa George and aired on NBC earlier this year.

Anime
This week’s releases include Bleach Set 26 (Viz Media, 300 min., $44.82) includes episodes 355-366, the final story arc of the epic anime series from Studio Pierrot that is based on the supernatural action manga by Tite Kubo (published here by Viz Media).  The elaborate supernatural world created for the manga includes lots of traditional Japanese Shinto concepts about the relationship of people and spirits as well as methods of purification, along with otherworldly elements borrowed from Christianity and Santeria—and all of these survive in the anime’s compelling supernatural narrative.

Also due this week are Nobunaga the Fool: Collection 2 (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which completes the 24-episode from Satelight that is based on Shoji Kawamori’s multi-media mecha romance saga, and Persona 4: The Animation Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 650 min., $139.98), which includes all 26 episodes of the 2014 anime series from A-1 Pictures that is based on the PlayStation 2 video game.

Vintage anime releases include the 1975 Toei anime feature film Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid (Discotek Media, 68 min., $24.95), which predated Disney’s version by 14 years and managed to follow Andersen’s story much more closely than the better known Mouse House film, plus the 1984 mecha saga Super Dimension Century Orguss: Complete Collection (Discoteck Media, Episodes 18-35 are Subtitles Only, $69.95), the 13-episode Shinigami-filled occult detective saga Descendants of Darkness Complete Collection (Discotek Media, 325 min., $39.95), and the 1991 CB Chara Nagai Go World (Discotek Media, Subtitles Only, $24.95), which includes the 3-episode OVA featuring chibi versions of Go Nagai’s popular characters like Devilman and Mazinger Z.