Things are starting to look up in the home entertainment world with the release of the Indiana Jones-like fantasy adventure film based on Jacque Tardi’s Adele Blanc-Sec plus the second season of Once Upon a Time, a fascinating Star Trek documentary directed by William Shatner, the U.S. debut of the ultimate Japanese kaiju TV series of the 1960s, plus two vintage Doctor Who adventures and a full slate of anime releases led by the mecha series Eureka Seven: AO.
 
 
Theatrical Movies
 
The biggest release of the week will undoubtedly be Olympus Has Fallen (Sony, “R,” $30.99, BD $40.99), the Die Hard-like saga about a disgraced former Secret Service agent (Gerard Butler) who saves the day after the President and his staff are held hostage by a gang of mercenaries.  Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) keeps everything moving at a breakneck pace so all the implausibility’s don’t seem to matter that much.  Olympus Has Fallen, which received only a 48% favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes, stole the march on the more expensive White House Down, and managed to earn nearly $100 million and help turn WHD into one of the big flops of the summer.
 
The most interesting release of the week is Luc Besson’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (Shout Factory, “PG,” $14.97, BD $24.97).  Based on the graphic novels of Jacques Tardi, Adele Blanc-Sec is a fast-moving Perils of Pauline/Indiana Jones movie serial adventure set in 1912 that is as funny as it is exciting.  The acting is broad in the manner of the classic French movie serials directed by Louis Feuillade (Fantomas) and the action is fantastic with 136-million year-old pterodactyl flying around Paris and a brigade of re-animated mummies tramping around the Louvre, but this is a very handsomely-produced film that manages to be entertaining for the entire family.  Lead actress Louise Bourgois, who looks astonishingly like a French Jennifer Lawrence, is a fearless wisecracking adventurer with admirable sangfroid.   Adele Blanc-Sec is a fun-filled fantasy romp that is certainly worth checking out.  The film is best viewed in French with English subtitles, but the English dub isn’t bad (though it is impossible to synch it perfectly with the French dialogue).  Extras include a solid “Making Of” feature as well as deleted scenes, and a music featurette.
 
For those who enjoy indie art house movies there is What Maise Knew (Millennium, “R,” $28.99 BD $29.99), a contemporary version of Henry James’ classic 1897 short story.  Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan star in this sad saga of a custody battle in which the child becomes a weapon.  There’s not a likeable character in sight, but this modest movie does manage to ring true thanks to the rigorous performances at its core.
 
TV on DVD
 
The top release in this category for fantasy fans is Once Upon A Time: The Complete Second Season (Disney, $45.98, BD $79.98), the fairy tale-based ABC series that takes place in Storybrooke, Maine.  This series has already spun off a Once Upon a Time in Wonderland show that will debut this fall.  In Season 2 of the original Once Upon a Time Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold introduces magic to Storybrooke and all sorts of narrative twists and turns ensue.
 
The Captains Close Up: The Complete Series (eOne Entertainment, 150 min., $19.98) should appeal to Star Trek fans.  William Shatner directs this series of interviews with other Star Trek Captains (Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, Avery Brooks, and Chris Pine), which are leavened with appearances by other Trek notables (Jonathan Frakes, Walter Koenig, Michael Dorn, Rick Berman, and Brandon Braga).
 
The best release of the week that you have never heard of is Ultra Q: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 690 min., $59.97), which collects all 28 episodes of the tokusatsu/kaiju series that was broadcast (in black-and-white) in Japan in 1966.  Creator Eiji Tusburaya wanted a Japanese version of The Twilight Zone, but the network said, “Add more monsters” and the result is a classic kaiju series that American monster movie fans will certainly enjoy.  Ultra Q was followed in 1967 by the debut of Tsuburaya’s second Ultra series, the more famous Ultraman.
 
The hippest offering of the week is Girls: The Complete Second Season (HBO, $39.99, BD $49.99).  Lena Dunham’s sprawling look at the lives of a number of twentysomethings living in New York City remains compelling viewing as Hannah (played by Dunham) and her friends experience ups and downs in both their careers and personal lives.   It is easy to see why this show is a critical favorite, it’s a bohemian, slice-of-life version of Sex in the City with a nice realistic edge that reflects how really difficult the economic downturn of 2008 has made life for those who are just trying to get a foothold in the arts (or in any other profession for that matter).
 
Mention should be made of Enlightened: The Complete Second Season (HBO, 274 min., $39.98), the excellent series starring Laura Dern as a 40-year-old professional woman whose career and personal lives both implode, forcing her to start from square one as she attempts to put her life back together.   Enlightened was a critical favorite, but low ratings led to its cancellation, so Season 2 will apparently be the show’s last.  Buy or rent this series and give it a chance, Dern is remarkable in the central role, and Enlightened is perhaps best viewed in multiple episode bursts—and Season 2’s narrative in which Amy uncovers massive corporate abuse and corruption and works to expose it is so compelling you will want to get to the conclusion as quickly as possible.
 
Other contemporary series of note include the realistic LA cop drama Southland: The Complete Fifth and Final Season (Warner Bros. 430 min., $39.98) and the sitcom/medical show The Mindy Project: The Complete First Season (Universal, 480 min., $29.99).  Vintage TV releases due this week are the final set of the classic TV courtroom drama series, Perry Mason: The 9th & Final Season Part 2 (Paramount, 778 min., $45.98), the potent World War II drama Combat: The Complete Fifth Season (Image Entertainment, 1275 min., $39.98), and the original Michael J. Fox sitcom Family Ties: The 7th Season (Paramount, 640 min., $45.98)
 
Animated shows out this week include the single-disc The Amazing World of Gumball: Vol.3, The Party (Warner Bros., $14.97), the 2012 CGI series Casper’s Scare School: Season 2 (Classic Media, 132 min., $9.95), and the girl-power-inspired Cartoon Network series Totally Spies: Season 1, Vol. 1 (New Video, 390 min., $19.97) and Totally Spies: Season 1, Vol.2 (New Video, 390 min., $19.97).
 
Fans of the classic Doctor Who TV show have two reasons to celebrate this week led by a new Blu-ray edition of Doctor Who: Story 051: Spearhead From Space: Special Edition (BBC, 100 min., BD $29.98), a classic 4-part saga from the show’s seventh season that introduced Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor, and was the first serial to feature the manikin-like Autons.   Pertwee also stars in Doctor Who: Story 069: The Green Death: Special Edition (BBC, 150 min., $34.98), a six-episode serial from the tenth season that marked the final appearance of Katy Manning as the Doctor’s companion Jo Grant.
 
Anime
 
It’s a big week for anime releases including Eureka Seven: AO Part 1 (Funimation, “14+,” 320 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98, Ltd. Ed. $69.98), which includes the first 12 episodes of the mecha series produced by Bones in 2012.  This action-packed series is a sequel to the original Eureka Seven series, which aired in 2005 and 2006.  Eureka Seven: AO was simulcast here in 2012, but Funimation’s sparkling new Blu-ray release also includes an excellent English language dub track.  The Limited Edition includes a colorful slipcase that will hold both parts of the Eureka Seven AO saga.  Extras include commentaries on two key episodes, textless openings and closings, as well as the behind-the scenes featurette “Eureka Seven: Inside the Booth.”
 
Also new this week is Future Diary Part 1 (Funimation, “17+,” 325 min., $59.98, Ltd. Ed. $64.98), which collects the first 13 episodes of the 2011-2012 anime series produced by Asread and based on the shonen manga by Sakae Esuno about a young loner who is forced into a “battle royale” with 11 other people, each of whom has a diary that can predict the future.  The stakes are high in this contest since the last contestant standing can become the new God of Time and Space and perhaps even delay the Apocalypse.  Once again the Limited Edition comes in a colorful slipcase that will also hold the second volume of the series when it is released.
 
Those who enjoy sexy harem comedies should check out Haganai: I Don’t Have Many Friends (Funimation, “17+,” 325 min., BD/DVD $64.98, Ltd. Ed. $69.98), which collects all 13 episodes of the 2011 anime series from AIC Build that is based on the light novel series and manga written by Yomi Hirasaka.
 
One of the most anticipated new anime series is Sword Art Online: Set 1 (Aniplex of America, “13+,” 175 min., $49.98, BD Ltd.Ed. $112.98), which is set to air on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.  This anime series, which is set in an entangling online game, was a big hit in Japan where characters from the series have been incorporated into the Weiss Schwarz CCG.  In fact the limited edition Blu-ray includes an exclusive playable Weiss Schwarz card (see “Exclusive Weiss Schwarz Card in Sword Art Online BD”) along with a soundtrack CD, a 16-page deluxe art book, and character pin-ups.
 
Also new this week is Shining Hearts (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects all 12 episodes of the 2012 Production I.G. series based on the 2012 PlayStation Portable role-playing game, which features the big-eyed character designs of Tony Taka.
 
Classic On Blu-ray
 
There are two particularly interesting classic releases this week, The Muppet Movie: The Nearly 35th Anniversary Edition (Disney, “G,” $26.50), the 1979 film that was the first in the series of live-action musical feature films featuring Jim Henson’s Muppets, and Seconds (Criterion, “R,” $39.95), John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film starring Rock Hudson that reflects both the stylistic (fisheye lens, weird angles, bizarre close-ups) and the existential (disaffection with staid middle class life) preoccupations of the era.  In Seconds a mysterious corporation offers a middle-aged businessman a chance at an entirely new life with a completely new appearance and identity.  Veteran cameraman James Wong Howe’s superb black-and-white photography really comes through in the brilliant high-def transfer that provides us with our best look yet at this often-overlooked classic of 1960s paranoia.
 

Tom Flinn

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