This week’s home entertainment releases include a complete reworking of the Dracula legend, perhaps the year’s best action movie, a horror movie based on a board game, and a full slate of anime including a very “Japanese” series about the cutthroat competition for closeout cuisine, the bruising battle for half-price bento boxes that takes place late in the day in supermarkets all across Japan.

Theatrical Movies

The film due out on Tuesday that earned the most at the box office was Legendary Pictures’ Dracula Untold (Universal, “R,” $29.98, BD $34.98), which jettisons Bram Stoker literary Dracula in favor of a sort of comic book origin story-like saga looselybased on the historical figure Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler.  Rebooting the Dracula legend and rooting it in the historical record is not a bad idea, but Dracula Untold quickly dispenses with history in favor of hackneyed action movie clichés and hordes of mediocre CGI creatures.  Dracula Untold only managed a 22% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the problem that both critics and audiences had with the film was that it missed an opportunity to do something new and interesting with the vampire film genre.

Readers of this column know that the author is not a major fan of actor Keanu Reeves, but it must be said that John Wick (Lionsgate, “R,” 101 min., $29.98, $39.98), which stars Reeves, was one of the very best action movies produced in 2014.  Now this is not a movie for the faint of heart, it is a film for folks who like extremely violent, fast-paced action movies—and this revenge saga delivers the goods.

Horror movie fans will have to be satisfied with Ouija (Universal, “PG-13,” 180 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), a low-budget horror film ($5 million) that features some talented young (relatively unknown) actresses, who get more than they bargained for when they pull out the Hasbro Ouija board game.  Not a hit with critics, who gave the film just a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Ouija did better with its young target audience as the movie went on to earn $95 million worldwide.

Almost equally despised by the critics was another genre film that is due out on Tuesday, the Nicholas Sparks-based romance The Best of Me (Fox, “PG-13,” 118 min., $29.98, BD $39.98), which received only an 8% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  Still horror movie and romance movie fans know better than to pay much attention to the critics when it comes to films in their favorite genres.

The most fascinating comedy that is due out on Tuesday is Dear White People (Lionsgate, “R,” 111 min., $19.98, BD $24.98), an indy film from first time director/writer Justin Simien about race relations at an elite Ivy League college.  Dear White People doesn’t just expose racism on campus, it also puts its black and half-black characters under the microscope as well, and the best thing is—none of them are stereotypes—they may not represent the entire black collegiate educational experience, but they are well-realized and highly individualized characters.  While not totally successful, it is easy to see how Dear White People managed to gain a stellar 92% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes—it tackles problems of race and identity in contemporary America with a lot more sophistication that they typical “Movie of the Week” production with its standardized anti-racism message.

Anime
One of this week’s most interesting releases is the Ben-To: Complete Collection (Funimation, 300 min., $64.98, Ltd Ed. $69.98), which includes all 12 episodes of the 2011-2012 anime based on a light novel series by Asaura about the battles in supermarkets when the bento boxes are marked down to half-price.  The characters in this very Japanese action comedy vie to become kings of clearance cuisine in brawls that are governed by a set of unspoken rules. 

Also due from Funimation this week is One Piece Collection 11 (Funimation, 640 min., $34.98) that was originally slated for release in January (see “DVD Round-Up: Gone Girl, Boardwalk Empire, & Stingray” for a description).

Another very interesting release is the Coppellion Complete Collection (Viz Media, 312 min., DVD/BD Combo $69.98), which includes all 12 episodes of the 2013 anime series produced by GoHands and based on the seinen manga by Tomonori Inoue about three genetically engineered teenage girls who, because they are immune to radiation, are sent on a rescue mission into a Tokyo that has become a ghost city in the wake of a horrific nuclear accident.

Also this week Disney is releasing Blu-ray/DVD Combo editions of three great Studio Ghibli films, the best of which is Hayao Miyazaki’s hymn to early aviation, Porco Rosso (Disney, BD/DVD $36.99).  Also out on Tuesday is the almost equally effective Pom Poko (Disney, BD/DVD $36.99), Isao Takahata’s delightful saga of the raccoon-like tanuki, a folklore-derived “species” that is perhaps distinguished primarily by its prominent testicles (both Porco Rosso and Pom Poko appeal to older viewers more than young children), and Goro Miyazaki’s anime adaptation of Ursula K. Leguin’s Tales from Earthsea (Disney, BD/DVD $36.99).

Also new this week are Golden Time: Collection 2 (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), the subtitles-only second half of a 24-episode anime created by J.C. Staff in 2013-2014 that is based on the comedy-filled romantic light novels of Yuyuko Takemiya, and Leviathan: The Last Defense Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the 12-episode anime produced by Gonzo and based on the dragon-filled mobile game created by GREE.

TV on DVD
This week’s top releases are all of the vintage variety headed by The Bob Newhart Show: The Final Season (Shout Factory, $24.97), which presents the sixth and final season of the Chicago-set series in which Newhart played the psychologist Dr. Robert Hartley, whose friends were often as crazy as his patients.

Also of great interest to many is The Wonder Years: Season 2 (StarVista, 570 min., $39.95), which collects one of the best seasons of the sensitive TV series.  In Season 2 Kevin (Fred Savage) has to learn to stand-up against his old brother, take the heat when he participates in a demonstration against the Vietnam War, and finally try to save a favorite childhood haunt from the clutches of developers.

Other vintage releases include the Norman Lear-produced sitcom Maude: The Complete First Season (Mill Creek, 574 min., $9.98), and the Britcom Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 2003 (BBC, 330 min., $34.98).

--Tom Flinn

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