Though devoid of major releases, this week's DVD slate includes a number of potential cult hits including the Oscar-nominated animated film The Illusionist, the hard-hitting Korean revenge drama I Saw the Devil, an uncompromising medieval epic starring Sean Bean (Game of Thrones), a couple of classic Doctor Who episodes, and a documentary/horror film that is in many ways the scariest film released on DVD so far this year.

 

 

No big blockbusters this week, but those who enjoy challenging films will have a number of excellent options, chief among them Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist (Sony, “PG,” $38.96), a superb hand-drawn animated film based on an unproduced screenplay by Jacques Tati, the French screen comedian who was heavily influenced by Buster Keaton. Chomet’s Triplets of Belleville is one of the best animated films of the modern era, and he manages to invest The Illusionist, a touching saga of an aging master of sleight-of-hand whose career is eclipsed by the rise of television and rock and roll with just the right notes of melancholy and nostalgia without ever sliding into bathos. Breathtakingly beautiful and superbly crafted The Illusionist, which earned an exemplary 89% positive rating from the critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes, richly deserved its Academy Award nomination for “Best Animated Feature of the Year.”

 

Equally compelling is Blue Valentine (Anchor Bay, “R,” $29.98, BD $39.99), a powerful film about a marriage on the verge of dissolution that stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Director Derek Cianfrance switches back and forth from the ill-matched couple’s courtship to a point six years into their marriage when it is almost completely breaking down. Williams and (especially) Gosling are fearless in exploring the depths of these very ordinary and very specific characters. Although it does include more humor than you might expect, Blue Valentine is unsparing in its portrait of a doomed marriage and can be tough to watch.

 

Equally difficult to watch, but for very different reasons is the Korean revenge thriller I Saw the Devil (Magnolia, Not Rated, $26.98, BD $29.98) directed by Jee-woon Kim. When the pregnant girlfriend of a Korean secret agent is murdered by a psychopathic serial killer, the agent exacts a terrible painstaking revenge on the killer. There’s an abundance of gore in this film, which examines the terrible toll that the lust for revenge can take on everyone concerned.  Those who enjoyed Old Boy, which also starred Choi Min-Sik, will definitely like I Saw the Devil.

 

Another art film with definite cult appeal is Black Death (Magnolia, “R,” $26.98, BD $29.98), a low-budget medieval saga directed by Christopher Smith that stars Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones), who is quickly becoming everyone’s favorite when it comes to these chain mail and broadsword roles. Black Death does a good job of depicting the terror created by the Bubonic plague, which decimated the population of Europe in the 14th Century. This bleak and uncompromising film’s biggest flaw is a surfeit of shaky camera work, which is unnecessary and distracting.

 

For those looking for more conventional movies there is No Strings Attached (Dreamworks, “R,” $29.99, BD $39.99), a romcom that earns its “R” rating with plenty of raunchy dialogue and situations. The plot of this film is utterly predictable, but the performances of Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher along with the direction of Ivan Reitman do tend to elevate the proceedings a bit.

 

 

The top American releases this week are from animated TV series. Archie comic book fans will want to check out The Archie Show: Ten Riverdale High Adventures (Vivendi, 107 min., $7.93), which collects some of the best 11-minute episodes from Filmation’s The Archie Show, which aired on CBS for one season in 1968, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch: 10 Bewitching Episodes (Vivendi, 101 minutes, $7.93), which includes 10 short episodes from Filmation’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch series that aired on CBS from 1970-1974.

 

Another Filmation series of note was the “space western” series Brave Starr, which aired from 1987 to 1988 in syndication.  Previously released on DVD by BCI, Brave Starr: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, 1400 min, $29.98), is available once again at a much lower price. 

 

Also out this week is Mister T: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros., 325 min., $24.95), which includes the first 13 episodes of the 30-episode cartoon series that aired on NBC from 1983-1984. Based on the popularity of the eponymous gold-chain festooned actor who played B.A. Baracus in The A-Team, the Mister T animated series recently enjoyed a campy revival as part of the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim late night block.

 

Also out this week is the single-disc release Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: Season 1 Vol.2 (Warner Bros., $14.97), which includes episodes from the 11th incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera animated series. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated debuted on the Cartoon Network in 2010 and is still airing new episodes.

 

Those who enjoyed handyman Tim Allen’s sitcom adventures in Home Improvement will be interested in Home Improvement: The 20th Anniversary Complete Collection (Disney, 4700 minutes, $129.99), a mammoth 25-disc collection that comes in a commemorative “tool box” package.

 

The top U.K. releases of the week feature classic Doctor Who episodes.  Doctor Who: Story 055: Terror of the Autons (BBC, 100 min., $24.98), aired in four parts in 1971 and featured the third Doctor (Jon Pertwee). It introduced three new characters, the Doctor’s new companion Jo Grant, his archenemy, the Master, and Captain Mike Yates. Doctor Who: Story 074: Planet of the Spiders (BBC, 150 min., $34.98) also features Jon Pertwee in his last serial (Tom Baker makes an un-credited appearance) and also marks the final appearance of Captain Mike Yates.

 

The other U.K. release of interest is The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (BFS, 193 min., $29.98) a 1996 mini-series that appeared on ITV. It starred Alex Kingston (ER) as Moll and Daniel Craig as Jemmy and is generally considered to be the most faithful adaptation ever of Daniel Defoe’s classic novel.

 

 

The big seller in this category this week will certainly be Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (Paramount, “G,” $29.99, BD $39.99) director John Chu’s portrait of the teenage moptop that will probably trigger an automatic gag reflex in anyone over the age of 16, but the really interesting documentary due on Tuesday is Cropsey (Vicious Circle, Not Rated, $17.99), a chilling “documentary” that blends fact and fiction in a creation that is far more unsettling and scary than almost any of the contemporary gorefests that masquerade as “horror” films.

 

 

The only new anime release this week is Hoshizora Kiseki (Sentai Filmworks, 60 min., $19.98), a 27-minute anime directed by Akio Watanabe and Toshikazu Matsubara that is a good example of the “original net animation” genre of anime produced to air on the Net first. Originally released in Japan in 2006, Hoshizora Kiseki is the story of a young girl Kozue who likes to look at the stars. She meets a boy Ginga who has a strange ability to uncover information about stars, but he is a hopeless geek who has no control over his life until Kozue shows him how to take charge.  Hoshizora Kiseki demonstrates the kind of excellent work that is occasionally produced by gifted outsiders who work without the benefit of mainstream anime studio support.

 

Re-priced releases out this week include Shigurui: Death Frenzy (Funimation, “17+,” 300 min., $29.98, BD $29.98), the gory samurai epic from Madhouse that was originally released in November of 2009 at $45, and the Kiddy Grade Complete Collection (Funimation, “13+,” 600 min., $39.98), the fan service-filled space action epic.

 

 

Those who enjoy classic American musical comedies will certainly like Delovely (MGM, “PG-13,” $19.99) the definitive biography of the great songwriter Cole Porter. Kevin Kline, who makes the most of his supporting role in No Strings Attached (see above), is superb as Porter in this film, which unlike the 1940s Porter biofilm Night and Day, doesn’t ignore the key issue of Porter’s sexuality.

 

Also recently released on Blu-ray for the first time is the 1990 romcom Mystic Pizza (MGM, “R,” $19.99) one of Julia Roberts’ early triumph. The intertwined stories of three waitresses at a pizza parlor in Mystic Connecticut, Mystic Pizza is a “better-than-you-might-expect” comic melodrama, and it does come with an added bonus--the screen debut of Matt Damon (in a tiny role with a very bad haircut).