This week’s home entertainment offerings include the sequel to Warren Ellis’ Red, a biopic about Steve Jobs, the final season of one of this era’s dominant TV dramas, and an anime film that many both inside and outside Japan are comparing to the work of the recently retired anime grandmaster Hayao Miyazaki.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
The highest grossing film due out on disc this week is Red 2 (Summit, “PG-13,” $29.95, BD $39.99), which earned $53.2 million at the box office.  Like the original Red film, which earned $90 million in 2010, Red 2 features characters created by Warren Ellis for a comic book published by DC Comics.  When Warner Bros. passed on the project, Summit stepped in and scored one success, though it appears that Red 2 will end up with a bit a red ink on the balance sheet.  In Red 2 the implausible plot lines of the original film are stretched thinner than ever, but it is still fun to watch this cast, which includes Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker the underrated Bruce Willis, interact in the roles of superannuated Cold War spies who someone rather inexplicably keeps trying to kill. 
 
The apotheosis of the late Steve Jobs appears to be way out of proportion to his achievements (an Edison of the information age, he definitely was not), but the response to film Jobs (Universal, “PG-13,” 129 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), which stars Ashton Kutcher as the Apple iPod and iPhone guru, may indicate that the mass audience is less interested in the details of Jobs’ life than the cognoscenti who eagerly lapped up Walter Isaacson’s fawning biography.  Perhaps moviegoers are just waiting for the actual film based on Isaacson’s book to make it to the screen, though we will have to wait a bit to find out the answer to that query, but my thinking is that perhaps the saga of Jobs life just doesn’t have the kind of emotional or social arc to sustain a great film (think about a comparison between the Jobs movie and the William Randolph Hearst-inspired Citizen Kane).
 
The critics clearly didn’t like Jobs, which got only a 26% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and in spite of a wide release, it earned just $16.1 million in North America.  Still that is a better rating than the 22% positive and zero box office dollars that Paul Schrader’s The Canyons (MPI, “R,” $24.98, BD $29.98) was able to earn.  This acerbic look at the seamy side of Hollywood stars the sadly-depleted Lindsay Lohan and too often betrays the limitations of its miniscule budget.  Spotty performances and sloppy mise-en-scene sabotage the film almost as much as its one-note Calvinist world view that sees corruption everywhere.
 
But the “worst film of the week” award goes to Getaway (Warner Bros., “PG-13,” $28.98, BD $29.98), which stars Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez in one long dog's breakfast of a car chase through Bulgaria.  Getaway serves as a reminder that the forward momentum of a chase is not enough to make up for the lack of an interesting plot, compelling characters, or coherent editing.
 
Those who enjoy rock and roll documentaries should definitely check out Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, an enlightening, behind-the-scenes look at the failure of the rock band Big Star, a Memphis group that included Alex Chilton and is credited by some with invention of “power pop” (if you remember that musical subgenre, your 1980s are showing).  Despite being a “commercial failure,” the band put out three albums that have proven to be highly influential on groups like The Replacements and REM.
 
Movies about magicians have typically had tough sledding at the box office, but that axiom works best for fictional films, since audiences are skeptical that the “magic” they see in movies about magicians is just cinematic special effects.  Even those who don’t like movies about fictional practitioners of legerdemain will find much of interest in the documentary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (Kino, “Not Rated,” 88 min., $26.96), which provides a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of illusion into the secret world of magic and magicians.  Jay is not only a practitioner, but also a historian of magic, and an actor who appears frequently in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson and David Mamet.  Molly Bernstein and Alan Edelstein’s Deceptive Practice includes plenty of interesting footage from Jay’s TV appearances as it traces the arc of Jay’s career and examines the magicians who influenced him.
 
TV Shows on DVD
 
There aren’t many releases this week, and the reason may be that no one wants to compete with the final season of the Emmy Award-winning AMC drama Breaking Bad.  Breaking Bad: The Final Season (Sony, $55.99, BD $65.99) collects the searing end to the groundbreaking series about a financially-strapped high school chemistry teacher, who becomes a major manufacturer of illegal drugs.  While never as popular as fellow AMC saga, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad has long been a water cooler favorite that has won ten Primetime Emmies including three consecutive “Best Actor” awards for Bryan Cranston.  Extras on the set include alternate endings, including a hilarious Newhart homage in which the entire Breaking Bad saga appears to be just a nightmare experienced by Cranston’s beleaguered father character who appeared in the long-running sitcom Malcom in the Middle.  Sony is also releasing all five season of the series in Breaking Bad: The Complete Series (Sony, 2600 min., $250.99) in a massive set that comes in cleverly designed chemical barrel packaging.

Also due this week is a release that should have a strong appeal to pop culture aficionados who love to make fun of schlocky movies.  The Mystery Science Theater 3000: 25th Anniversary  Collector’s Tin (Shout Factory, 660 min, $64.99) includes four previously unreleased episodes plus a bonus DVD that contains two back-to-back episodes that have been out of print for years.  Among the movies that get the sarcastic MST3K treatment are Moon Zero Two, The Day the Earth Froze, The Leech Woman, Gorgo, Mitchell, and The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.
 
The best release from overseas is Poirot: Series 10 (Acorn Media, 388 min., $39.99, BD $49.99), which features four beautifully re-mastered full length feature films from the superb series that stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian sleuth.  By all means acquire the Blu-ray version to see these sumptuous Art Deco-inspired productions in all their pristine glory.  Guest stars in these four films include the red hot Michael Fassbender, Elliot Gould, Alice Eve, Honeysuckle Weeks, Lucy Punch, and James D’Arcy.
 
Those who enjoy forensic crime shows like the various CSI series might want to check out Murdoch Mysteries Season 6 (Acorn Media, 572 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), a Canadian show about a clever Edwardian detective who solves the toughest cases in Toronto with a combination of scientific ingenuity and brilliant deductions.  An attractive cast and solid production values (though not nearly to Poirot levels) make this show lots of fun for mystery fans.
 
Anime
 
This is a good week for anime releases including Wolf Children (Funimation, “10+,” 117 min., $29.98, BD combo $34.98), a 2012 anime film directed by Mamoru Hosoda that won the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year for 2013.  Hosoda has drawn comparisons to Miyazaki for his work on Wolf Children, a film that smoothly integrates fantasy with realistic settings while taking on social issues and presenting complex characters replete with messy emotions.  This is a funny, often wrenching film that anyone who admires the works of Miyazaki will want to check out.  It turns out that Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro may not be the only “heir apparent” to the recently retired anime grandmaster.
 
Also due this week are Accel World Part 1 (Viz Media, “17+,” 300 min., $44.82, BD $54.97), which collects the first 12 episodes of the 2012 Sunrise-produced series based on the series of cyberpunk “light” novels written by Reki Kawahara, and La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 325 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which includes all 12 episodes of the 2012 series produced by J.C. Staff based on the “otome” game (a video game produced for the female market) that has also spawned a shojo manga series.
 
The strangest release of the week comes from a very popular property, High School of the Dead.  High School of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead OVA (Sentai Filmworks, “17+,” 16 min., $6.98) is a 16-minute OVA production that was included in the Japanese Blu-ray release of the anime TV series as a free extra, but will evidently stand on its own (at least for the present) here in North America.
 
For fans of classic anime there is Cutie Honey: The Complete Collection (Eastern Star, 550 min., $59.95), which collects all 25 episodes of the original 1973 anime series.

Tom Flinn

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