Things are really getting interesting on the home entertainment front with a plethora of geekcentric TV series releases, plus the campy sensation Sharknado, the entertaining feature Now You See Me, the overlooked horror comedy Cockneys vs. Zombies, a sensitive new Ghibli film written by Hayao Miyazaki, and a brilliant new comedy series based on the delightful stories of P.G. Wodehouse.
 
TV On DVD
 
September brings the start of the new TV season and a glut of TV on DVD releases with more than a few of interest to geek viewers.  For those who enjoy comedy there is the innovative single-camera sitcom Parks and Recreation: Season 5 (Universal, 450 min., $39.98), which includes all 22 episodes of the wonderfully snarky mockumentary style TV comedy.  This season won TV Critics Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Comedy” and was named the number one network TV series by Time Magazine.
 
Another comedy series with serious geek cred is the American version of The Office.  The Office: The Ninth and Final Season (Universal, $59.98, BD $69.98), collects the final episodes of the NBC series that was based on English original created by Ricky Gervais, and then there is FX network sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Complete Season 8 (Fox, 220 min., $38.98, BD $49.99).
 
The highest profile TV release of the week is Sharknado (Asylum, “Not Rated,” 90 min., $14.97, BD $19.97), the wonderfully cheesy SyFy network movie, which at its first showing attracted a subpar audience, but thanks to twitter comments from the likes of Damon Lindlof and Will Wheaton, the show grew its audience by 38% for its second showing and then set a SyFy made-for-TV movie viewing record during its third airing.  Some will doubtless be disappointed, but those who enjoy classic old school shamlessly brainless monster dramas won’t be disappointed.
 
There are plenty of action adventure series with geek appeal due this week including Spartacus: War of the Damned—The Complete 3rd Season (Starz, 440 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), which collect the most recent season of the sword and sandals epic, Haven: The Complete 3rd Season (eOne Entertainment, 572 min., $39.98, BD $49.98), the SyFy drama based on The Colorado Kid by Stephen King, the new post-apocalyptic NBC hit series Revolution: The Complete 1st Season (Warner Bros., 860 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), Person of Interest (Warner Bros., $59.98, BD $69.98), the NSA spying show that if people would have been paying attention scooped Edward Snowden by two years, the CW hit The Vampire Diaries: The Complete 4th Season (Warner Bros., $49.98, BD $59.98), the well-mounted BBC fantasy series Sinbad: Season 1 (BBC, $29.98, BD $34.98),  the David Goyer penned fictional account of the ultimate renaissance man, Da VInci’s Demons (Starz, 466 min., $44.98, BD $54.98), the FBI profiling drama Criminal Minds: Season 8 (Paramount, $64.98), and the popular DC drama Scandal: The Complete 2nd Season (Disney, $45.99).
 
The top animated release is The Regular Show, Vol. 4: Fright Pack (Warner Bros., 176 min., $19.82), a single-disc collection of the brilliant Cartoon Network series.  Also due this week is Tom and Jerry: Halloween Hijinks (Warner Bros., 51 min., $9.97), which contains seven horror-themed cartoons.
 
Vintage TV series range from the 2000-era Canadian-produced science fiction show, Lexx: The Complete Series (Echo Bridge, 3051 min., $69.99), to the groundbreaking cop series Cagney & Lacey: Season 1 Part 1 (VEI, 480 min., $14.99), the classic road series Route 66: Season 1 (Shout Factory, 1560 min., $29.98), and the classic FX network cop show The Shield: The Complete Series (Sony, 4191 min., $65.99).
 
The funniest release of the week is Blandings: Series 1 (Acorn Media, 182 min. $39. 98), a bang-on 2012 adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s Blanding Castle stories that stars Timothy Spall,  the versatile actor who played Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) in the Harry Potter movies and Winston Churchill in The King’s Speech, as the feckless Lord Emsworth, Jennifer Saunders (AbFab) as his imperious sister Connie, and Jack Farthing as Emsworth’s son, who is perhaps the upper class twit of all time and comes equipped with an anime-like coif that at times appears to express more emotion than his vapid features.  Those who don’t enjoy the typical Wodehouse humor, which largely comes from the interactions of a group of wildly eccentric characters, should avoid this series, though that also means forgoing an audience with the Empress.  For everyone else however, this series will prove a delight with its mixture of verbal wit, earthy humor, and delightfully comic characters engaged in fierce competitions such as winning the all-important “Fattest Pig in Shropshire” contest.  Is Blandings as good as the peerless Jeeves and Wooster series?  Well perhaps not, but it is different and brilliantly mounted with excellent modern production values.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
The highest-grossing film due on disc this week is Now You See Me (Summit, “PG-13,” $29.95, BD $39.99), which broke the rule that states that films about illusionists and ventriloquists don’t work on screen since the cinema’s special effects capabilities are so well known to audiences.  Now You See Me defied the conventional wisdom by combining a film about four magicians with the caper film genre and adding a populist twist as the quartet of prestidigitators rob from corrupt banks and give the money away.  If you don’t examine the plot points too rigorously or expect too much depth from this fast-moving popcorn film, it delivers a very entertaining thrill ride.
 
Cockney’s vs. Zombies (Shout Factory, “R,” $19.97, BD $24.97) is a film that should please Shaun of the Dead fans and those who enjoy horror comedies.  Of course the plot doesn’t bear a lot of scrutiny, but there is something very heartwarming about a gang of East End pensioners fighting off the zombie hoards---and how many chances does one get to see James Bond’s Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) as a gun-toting granny?  The fact that this zombie film got a 69% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes should tell you that this is a well-made movie.
 
Another film that got short shrift in theaters, but which is worth checking out is The Iceman (Millennium, “R,” $28.99, BD $29.99), a true crime period drama that follows the real life adventures of Richard Kuklinski, a New Jersey hitman who killed over 100 people from 1964-1986 and yet, like so many of the Nazi concentration camp guards, maintained a stable bourgeois household with a loving wife who was utterly unaware of his real profession.  Michael Shannon (Man of Steel’s General Zod) gives another excellent performance backed by a solid cast that includes Winona Ryder, Chris Evans (Captain America), David Schwimmer (Friends), and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas).
 
Less successful, but still of interest to hardcore crime movie buffs, is Empire State (Lionsgate, “R,” $19.98, BD $24.99), which is also based on a true story about a 1982 robbery that provided the largest cash haul in U.S. history.  Liam Hemsworth stars as a security guard who functions as the inside man, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays a police detective on the trail of the robbers, who are also being pursued by local hoods upset that somebody else pulled off such a big score on their turf without letting them in on it.
 
For horror movie fans this week there is Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem (Anchor Bay, “R,” $28.98, BD $39.99).  This film is not your typical modern gorefest.  A Massachusetts DJ receives a strange gift, a record that appears to open some sort of gateway that allows the evil of Salem’s notorious past to seep into the present day.  Though it may be a bit disjointed and is certainly not recommended for anyone who does not like modern horror films, this is an ambitious effort as Zombie channels his inner David Lynch and creates some really interesting visuals.
 
Anime
 
This week’s top release is From Up on Poppy Hill (New Video, “13+,” 91 min., $29.95, BD/Combo $34.95), a Studio Ghibli film directed by Goro Miyazaki, the son of anime grandmasters Hayao Miyazaki, who wrote the screenplay for From Up on Poppy Hill, a nostalgic look at Japan in 1963 on the brink of the Tokyo Olympics, which certified Japan’s emergence from the devastation of World War II.  As usual Miyazaki weaves a sensitive personal story into an interesting social context.  Two high school kids fight to preserve the “Latin Quarter,” a dilapidated building that housed all the school clubs.  Treasure the joyous hand drawn animation of these Studio Ghibli films, we may not soon see their like again.
 
Other key new releases include One Piece Season 5 Part 2 (Funimation, “14+,” 300 min., $39.98), which features the North American debut of episodes 276-287 of the rollicking anime pirate saga that remains one of the very top manga and anime properties in Japan.
 
J-Pop fans may well be interested in the AKB0048 Season 1 Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, “13+,” 325 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the 13-episode first season of the anime series created by Satelight that is based on the popular Japanese idol group AKB48.  Many of the characters on the show are voiced by real-life members of AKB48, SKE48, and NMB48.
 
The top re-release of the week is The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (Right Stuf, “13+,” 360 min., $29.99), which contains a remastered collection of 10 OVAs from the classic 1990s adventure-filled space opera that was based on the light novel series written by Hitoshi Yoshioka.  As usual Right Stuf has done a superb job in restoring this anime classic, which is definitely recommended for fans of old school anime outer space adventures.
 
The other re-release is the Elfin Lied Complete Collection (Section 23, “17+,” 350 min., $39.98, BD $49.98), which collects the 2004 series plus a 2005 OVA animated by Arms that was based on the seinen manga series by Lynn Okamoto.

Tom Flinn

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