This week’s top home entertainment release is probably Gareth Edward’s estimable monster movie Godzilla, but there is also a host of geek-friendly TV shows including Arrow, The Big Bang, South Park, Spartacus, Grimm, Sleepy Hollow, and more, plus an excellent series based on the popular European series XIII.
 
TV on DVD
This is a great week for geek TV with a wide assortment new series hitting retail including Arrow: The Complete 2nd Season (Warner Bros., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the sophomore session of the CW’s most popular series, one that is based on the DC Comics’ Green Arrow.  Already Arrow has not only established itself as the flagship for the CW network, it has also spun-off a Flash series that will debut this fall.
 
Also due on Tuesday is the seventh season of the most popular sitcom on television, which just happens to be about geek culture as much as anything else.  The Big Bang Theory: The Complete 7th Season (Warner Bros., $44.98, BD $54.98) isn’t the only geek comedy favorite this week, South Park: The Complete 17th Season (Comedy Central, 210 min., $29.99, BD $42.99) remains one of the edgiest and funniest series on television.
 
For lovers of sword and sandals epics there is Spartacus: The Complete Collection (Starz, 2138 min.,$119.98, BD $149.99, Ltd. Ed. $199.99), which includes all 39 episodes of the cable series based on famous revolt of the gladiators. 
 
Other collections of interest to geek viewers include the inventive fantasy/police procedural Grimm: Season 3 (Universal, $59.98, BD $69.98), the serial killer drama Hannibal: Season 2 (Lionsgate, 560 min., $39.97 BD $39.98), the Robert Rodriguez-produced From Dusk till Dawn: The Complete Season 1 (eOne, 450 min., $39.98, BD $49.98), the popular Fox fantasy series Sleepy Hollow: Season 1 (Fox, 629 min., $39.98, BD $49.98), the forensic anthropologist procedural Bones: Season 9 (Fox, 880 min., $59.98), the revamped Hawaii Five-O: The 4th Season (Paramount, $64.99), and the ABC romantic detective series Castle: The Complete 6th Season (Disney, $45.99), which has spawned numerous Marvel comics.
 
For comic book fans, especially those who have read the breathless, Ludlum-like XIII series by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance, XIII: The Series—Season 1 (Funimation, 584 min., $49.98) is a real treat.  This English-language Franco-Canadian series aired in France in 2011 and loosely follows the story of a covert operative who awakens on beach with no knowledge of who he is, but all his formidable combat skills intact.  This plot-driven saga is great fun, and the fun continues in XIII: The Series-Season 2 (Funimation, 598 min., $49.98).  Those who enjoy action-packed espionage dramas with serious conspiratorial overtones will love this.
 
Vintage series out this week include Highway to Heaven: The Complete 5th Season (Mill Creek, 622 min., $14.98), and the first TV series about the Vietnam War Tour of Duty: The Complete 1st Season (Mill Creek, 1018 min., $14.98).
 
The best foreign TV release of the week is Prisoner of War (Hatufim): Season 2 (Shout Factory, 498 min., $29.93), which collects the second season of the excellent Israeli series upon which the award-winning American drama Homeland is based.  All the complexity of Homeland is here in Prisoner of War, but with an added layer of intensity that permeates every frame of this series that is actually made in the Middle East.
 
Also due on Tuesday is Ken Burns masterful portrait of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (PBS, 720 min., $99.98).  This series, which is currently airing on PBS, masterfully intercuts the lives of these three key members from two generations of America’s most influential political family.  Burns glories in the flaws of his subjects and in demonstrating how they had to overcome some enormous physical and mental obstacles in these three skillfully intertwined screen biographies.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
This week’s top release is Gareth Edward’s Godzilla (Warner Bros., “PG-13,” $28.98, BD $35.99), a solid monster film that follows the Godzilla narrative model to a “T” and yet manages to tell an original story that is more than just “localizing” Godzilla in the U.S.  Like the original Japanese Godzilla movies, Edward’s film spends most of its time with its human characters, which means the big guy is probably on screen for less than 15 minutes.  Some modern filmgoers are so conditioned by wall-to-wall action films that they don’t appreciate a good build-up, but there is a reason for the tried and true Godzilla formula, and of course when he does appear, this 21st Century CGI Godzilla wreaks all kinds of destruction to whatever stands in his way.
 
Godzilla made just over $200 million in the domestic market, and it cost about five times as much as the movie adaptation of John Green’s mega-popular YA novel The Fault In Our Stars (Fox, “PG-13,” $28.98, BD $49.99), which managed to bring in $125 million, a demonstration that intimate drama can sometimes be more efficient than grand scale spectacle.  Shailene Woodley gives a very affecting performance in this teen weeper about a girl dying of cancer—and few sensitive teens can resist a stirring existential drama like Green’s book, which contains loads of realistic touches resulting from the author’s interactions with a young fan who was stricken with cancer.  The Blu-ray edition includes an extended (by 32 minutes) version of the film that those who love the book will enjoy since more scenes are included.  Just as Green’s book has been read by many adult women, the movie adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars, will likely appeal to the same demographic that Douglas Sirk’s melodramas like Magnificent Obsession reached in the 1950s.
 
Kevin Hart is clearly one of the breakout performers of 2014.  Just about everything he has been in has scored a solid success at the box office and Think Like a Man Too (Sony, “PG-13,” 106 min., $30.99, BD $35.99) owes much of whatever box office success it achieved ($65 million) to his antics.  This sequel to the 2012 ensemble comedy directed by Tim Story continues to follow the fortunes of four couples, taking the cast to Las Vegas for comic hijinks loosely based on Steve Harvey’s bestselling advice book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.
 
Anime
 
This week’s selection includes Dragon Ball Z: Season 7 (Funimation, “13+,” 600 min., BD $44.98), which includes episodes 196-219 of the long running anime based on Akira Toriyama’s martial arts comedy manga.  This hi def version does mess with the original aspect ratio a bit, but in all other respects this is a major upgrade over the old DVD versions.
 
Also due this week is Majestic Prince Collection 2 (Sentai Filmworks, “17+,” 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which includes episodes 13-24 of the 2013 anime series produced by Dogakobo that is based on the mecha sci-fi comedy romance manga written by Rando Ayamine.
 
Re-priced reissues include the classic martial arts comedy from Romiko Takahashi Ranma ½: Season 3 (Viz Media, “13+,” 530 min., $44.82, BD $54.97), and the popular card game tie-in anime Yu-Gi-Oh: Zexal: Season 1 (Cinedigm, $24.95).

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