As the holidays loom, the number of choice home video releases drops, an indication that in spite of a healthy box office (in dollars if not in the number of admissions), 2010 was not a vintage year for Hollywood.  Still the surprise hit of 2010 Christopher Nolan’s Inception is debuting along with the final installment of the Shrek saga, and what might be the grittiest documentary spawned by America’s two 21st Century wars, and a couple of fascinating Roger Corman Cult Classics double features from the 1970s.

 

Theatrical Films

 

The top release of the week is also the surprise hit of 2010.  Christopher Nolan’s science fiction heist thriller Inception (Warner Bros., “PG-13,” $28.98, 3-disc BD $35.99) earned an astounding $823.5 million worldwide. Yes, certain details of the plot might have been lifted from Disney’s Duck books (see “Inception Plot Stolen From Uncle Scrooge”) or more likely from the works of Roger Zelazny, but this cleverly mounted caper film is both an intricate puzzle and a visual tour de force.  Because of the film’s intense visual style, Blu-ray is the way to go, especially since the BD includes a standard DVD as well as a digital copy.

 

Although Shrek Forever After (Dreamworks, “PG,” $29.99, BD $49.99) is the last and in many ways the weakest film in the Shrek franchise, it might well end up being the bestselling DVD of the week, given the popularity of animated features during the holidays.  In spite of a fairly clever premise that involves an animated reworking of It’s A Wonderful Life, the Shrek formula, which involves poking fun at fairy tales and adding a layer of knowing pop culture references for adults onto the slapstick and bathroom humor revered by kids, has clearly worn thin in this the fourth film in the series.

 

Anime

 

The Right Stuf/Nozumi Entertainment has two “thinpak” releases this week, the high school romance/comedy Boys Be (Nozumi, “13+,” 325 min., $29.99), the complete 13-episode anime series produced by Hal Film Maker in 2000, and Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye (Nozumi, “13+,” 600 min. $49.99), a 24-episode series based on the manga by Ryou Hoshino, which Nozumi first released in North America in 2007.

 

The parade of anime Blu-ray releases continues with three discs from the popular Ghost in the Shell series getting the Blu-ray treatment.  The trio includes the feature film Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society (Manga Entertainment, “13+,” 109 min., $34.98), the compilation film based on the first season of the popular GIS TV anime, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man (Manga Entertainment, “13+,” 106 min., $34.98), and the compilation film based on the second season, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Individual 11 (Manga Entertainment, “13+,” 161 min., $34.98).

 

The one release featuring new material this week is Kimikiss: Pure Rouge Collection 2 (Sentai Filmworks, “13+,” 300 min., $49.98), the second half of the 24-episode harem romance drama series produced by J.C. Staff that aired in Japan in 2007 and 2008.

 

Bargain-priced reprint editions out this week include the stylish spin-off, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Image Entertainment, “13+,” 116 min., $14.98), the 24-episode mecha series previously released by ADV, Gad Guard: Complete Collection (Funimation, “13+,” 630 min., $29.98), the slickly-produced period drama also previously issued by ADV Le Chevalier D’Eon: The Complete Series (Funimation, “16+,” 576 min., $29.98), the sexy girl-fighting martial arts saga Ikki Tousen: Complete Collection (Funimation, “16+,” 325 min., $39.98), and the fantasy romance thriller from 2008 Spice and Wolf: Season 1 Collection (Funimation, “13+,” 312 min., $49.98).

Classics on DVD

This might not be the ideal category for Shout Factory’s excellent series of Roger Corman Double Features, but a fairly high percentage of Corman films are “cult classics,” a designation that should certainly be assigned to Crazy Mama/ The Lady in Red (Shout Factory, “R,” $19.99).  The key film here is Crazy Mama, the second film directed by Oscar winner Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), who is one of the many key Hollywood figures who got his start working with Roger Corman.  Other alumni of the “Corman Film School” include Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich, Ron Howard, John Sayles, and Gale Anne Hurd to name just a few.  The 1975 Crazy Mama stars Cloris Leachman, Ann Sothern, and Linda Purl as three generations of a family running a beauty parlor in California.  When their shop is repossessed they return to the family home in Arkansas on a road trip-turned crime spree that has few parallels in film history. With a strong cast that also includes Stuart Whitman, Jim Backus, and Donnie Most (Happy Days), Crazy Mama provides plenty of evidence of director Demme's talents.  The DVD includes commentaries by Demme and Corman along with an interview the dynamic producer/director duo.

 

Not nearly as good, but enlivened by copious nudity and fascinating in its own right, is the Big Bad Mama/Big Bad Mama II (Shout Factory, “R,” $19.95).  The initial 1974 Big Bad Mama film features Angie Dickinson in a sort of Bonnie & Clyde love triangle with Tom Skerrit and a suave young William Shatner. The scene with a topless Dickinson seated on a bed in front of Shatner is almost worth the cost of this DVD by itself.

TV on DVD

 

The weakest slate of releases in this category in a long time consists mostly of continuing releases from mid-tier series like Bonanza: The Official Season 2, Pt. 1 (Paramount, 895 min., $39.98), Boy Meets World: Season 4 (Lionsgate, 528 min., $29.98), Dragnet 1969: Season 3 (Shout Factory, 660 min., $34.93), Law & Order: The Eighth Year (Universal, $59.98), and Vegas: The Second Season, Pt. 1 (Paramount, $36.98).

 

The animated TV releases aren't any better.  They include Spongebob Squarepants: Season 6, Vol.2 (Nickelodeon, 265 min., $26.98), Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5-Season 1, Pt.2 (Warner Bros., $19.98), and just in time for the release of the live-action hybrid Yogi Bear movie, The Yogi Bear Show: Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper (Warner Bros., 24 min., $14.97).

 

Documentaries

 

Restrepo (Virgil Films, “R,” $19.99, BD $34.99) is an innovative documentary shot by Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) and Tim Hetherington in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan.  Restrepo manages to provide viewers with a tangible sense of the enormous difficulties faced by American soldiers in Afghanistan and it does by eschewing the talking heads interviews with generals or military experts if favor of providing a grunt's eye view of the war from one of the most dangerous outposts in that war torn country.