It must be gamers’ week in the home video world with the release of with the video game-themed animated feature Wreck-It Ralph, a collection of cartoons based on the multi-media Lego Ninjago property, and an animated film set in the world of the Warhammer 40K game and written by Black Library specialist Dan Abnett, whose many credits include the latest iteration of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, which has earned nearly $433 million worldwide, will undoubtedly be the bestselling release of the week, but there is another animated feature that many geek-oriented viewers will prefer. Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie (Anchor Bay, “R,” 77 min., $19.98, BD $24.98) has been released before in a pricy collector’s edition, but is now available at a more reasonable price. Written by Black Library stalwart Dan Abnett and based on the hugely popular Games Workshop science fiction tabletop miniatures combat game, Ultramarines features a strong vocal cast (Terence Stamp, Sean Pertwee, and John Hurt) plus plenty of that old ultra-violence that makes the Warhammer 40K game so addictive. Animated using Image Metrics’ facial capture techniques this film was first released in the UK in late 2010. The movie has received mixed reviews from 40K fans with the production’s animation getting the majority of the criticism. Image Metrics has worked primarily on video games (Grand Theft Auto IV, Assassin’s Creed II and there is no denying that Ultramarines has a “video game animation” look about it, and clearly the film would have benefited from a higher budget, but then how many Warhammer 40K movies are there?
 
Wreck-It Ralph (Disney, “PG,” $29.99, BD Combo $39.99), which won the “Annie Award” for “Best Animated Feature” and scored an impressive 86% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, is no run-of-the-mill Disney feature. Ralph has a strong vocal cast as well as some Pixar-like “heart.” The versatile John C. Reilly voices the title character, a video game villain, who desperately wants to be the good guy. Folks who grew up on video games will find plenty of knowing references to the early generations of arcade games, and Wreck-It Ralph manages to have some cute fun by aping the jerky animated style of the old eight and sixteen bit games as well as the music, kill screens, and character costumes from the vintage games.
 
Viewers who enjoy wallowing in teenage male wet dream fantasies about banding together with your buddies and driving out an invading army will love the abysmal Red Dawn (MGM, “PG-13,” $29.98, BD Combo $39.99) a totally unnecessary remake of John Milius’ deliriously absurd 1984 film about a group of teens (known as “The Wolverines”) who wage a guerrilla war against an invasion force of Soviets, Cubans, and Nicaraguans. At least the Milius had the Cold War to provide some basis for his film. In the new version, directed by Dan Bradley, it is the North Koreans who have invaded and occupied much of the U.S. Critics loathed the 2012 version, which only managed an 11% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned just $44.8 million versus its $65 million production cost.
 
But Red Dawn doesn’t have the lowest Tomatometer reading of the week. That honor belongs to the Gerard Butler comedy/drama Playing for Keeps (Sony, “PG-13,” $30.99, BD $35.99), which scored a miniscule 4% positive rating. This sorry and predictable saga features Butler as a divorced soccer player who agrees to coach his son’s soccer team and sticks around to feast on the delights offered by a bevy of sexy soccer moms played by Judy Greer, Uma Thurman, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, before, in a plot twist that no one could have possibly predicted, going back to his ex-wife (Jessica Biel).
 
Bruce Willis is nearly ubiquitous in Hollywood these days and he’s not afraid to take challenging roles in offbeat indie films like Stephen Frears’ Lay the Favorite (Anchor Bay, “R,” $24.98, BD $29.98) where he shambles around fearlessly in Bermuda shorts and support stockings playing an aging professional Las Vegas sports better with a trophy wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a generous attitude towards employee benefits, and a ferocious temper. Lay the Favorite is based on the true life adventures of stripper-turned-pro better-turned writer Beth Raymer—and that is sort of the problem with the film, it has some dramatic high points, but it also reflects some of the chaos of real life as it lurches from comedy to drama. At 94 minutes the movie feels a little choppy and meandering, but Frears manages (like the novels of James M. Cain) to take viewers inside a complicated little world with its own lexicon, rules, and dramas. Lay the Favorite found favor with neither the critics nor the general public, but this small, unpretentious film, which was shot in a naturalistic style with hi-def digital cameras by Michael McDonough (Winter’s Bone, Albert Nobbs), does contain especially fine performances from Willis and Rebecca Hall, who demonstrates some subtle comic flair in her key role as the wide-eyed, naïve, and trusting Raymer.

Written and directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, The Intouchables (Sony, “R,” $30.99, BD $35.99) is one of those uplifting French comedies that art house movie fans can’t resist. This gussied-up “movie of the week” inspirational saga is about a handicapped millionaire played by Francois Cluzet whose existence is greatly enriched when he bonds with his caretaker, a street-smart ex-con played by Omar Sy.
 
TV on DVD
 
Once again the top domestic releases in this category are mostly animated shows led by the Cartoon Network hit Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu: Season 2 (Warner Bros., $19.98, BD $24.98), which collects all 13 episodes of the action-packed series that has been a big hit young boys. With toys, games, and a bestselling series of graphic novels Ninjago is the most popular multi-media property that most American adults wouldn’t recognize, with the exception of those who have 6 to12 year-old boys.
 
Older viewers who have to watch cartoons along with their kids (or grandkids) will likely prefer another Cartoon Network offering, The Regular Show: Party Pack (Warner Bros., 176 min., $19.82). The Regular Show is a wonderfully inventive series created by J.G. Quintel about a couple of fascinating slackers, a Blue Jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby. This show won an Emmy Award, and if you’ve ever it seen it, you will know why. The Party Pack is a single-disc sampler with 16 episodes drawn from 3 different seasons of the show, so those who prefer season-long collections that present the episodes in their broadcast order should be forewarned.
 
Other animated “TV on DVD” releases include Transformers: Rescue Bots, Vol.2 Energize (Shout Factory, 110 min., $14.93), Tom and Jerry: Pint-Size Pals (Warner Bros., 154 min., $19.97), and the cavity-inducing Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot: Totally Sweet Adventures, while live-action kiddie fare includes Power Rangers Samurai: Clash of the Red Rangers—The Movie (Lionsgate, 45 min., $14.98).
 
There is a real lack of interesting live-action domestic programming debuting this week, though Tyler Perry fans will likely want to check out House of Payne, Vol. 10: Episodes 192-212, while those who enjoy vintage westerns might want to check out Wagon Train: The Complete 6th Season (Timeless Media, 1850 min., $59.99), which comes in a box with a rounded (wagon-like) top.
 
A better bet for those who enjoy mysteries where forensics play a major role in the solution is Murdoch Mysteries: Season 5 (Acorn Media, 624 min., $59.99, BD $59.99). This Canadian-produced series, while never quite reaching the heights of a Midsommer Murders or a Foyle’s War, has improved steadily from its first season. Murdoch Mysteries stands out from the current batch of forensic-themed police procedurals because it is set in Victorian Toronto at the end of the 19th Century. Season Five finds Murdoch, who has suffered a number of personal and professional setbacks, prospecting for gold in the West, but he soon is forced to return to his previous profession and his old haunts in this 13-episode 4-disc collection. Since the Blu-ray and the DVD have the same price, those who are equipped should definitely opt for the Blu-ray to take full advantage of this series’ solid production values.
 
Also due this week is Dalziel and Pascoe: Season 7 (BBC, 360 min., $34.98), which collects 6 feature-length mysteries that revolve around the eponymous “odd couple” of detectives, the street-smart Andy Dalziel and his young, university-educated partner Peter Pascoe.
 
Anime
 
The top release this week is Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc (Sentai Filmworks, “17+,” 90 min. $29.98, BD $39.98), which collects two 45-minute OVAs produced by Studio Deen that debuted in Japan in 2011 and 2012. These two films basically retell the Kyoto Arc of the Rurouni Kenshin saga from the point of view of Makimachi Misao, the skilled female ninja from the Oniwabanshu clan.
 
Also new this week is the Bodacious Space Pirates Collection 2 (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 325 min., $59.98, $69.98), which includes episodes 13-26 of the 2012 series from Satelight based on the series of light novels written by Yuichi Sasamoto.
 
Re-releases include Maria Watches Over Us Season 4 Litebox (Right Stuf, “13+,” 325 min., $39.99), which contains all 13 episodes of Season 4 and specials 1-11 with the original Japanese language soundtrack with a choice of two subtitle tracks, one of which includes all the Japanese honorifics.

--Tom Flinn

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