This week’s home entertainment releases include the highly enjoyable new SpongeBob Movie, the Wachowski’s visually stunning and narratively challenged Jupiter Ascending, the first high def edition of The Wire, the final seasons of Parks & Rec and Justified, plus all the Tom & Jerry cartoons animated by Gene Deitch (Kim’s father), and a full slate of anime titles.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s highest-grossing release by far is The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (Paramount, “PG,” 83 min., $29.99, BD $39.99, 3D BD Combo $52.99), which earned over $162 million at the domestic box office.  Though the SpongeBob cartoon series continues to be a hit for Nickelodeon, this is first SpongeBob movie in ten years, and it found favor with audiences young and old. 

Will Smith hasn’t exactly made the best film choices lately, but Focus (Warner Bros., “R,” 104 min. $29.99, BD $44.95), is a slick, though somewhat predictable caper movie in which Smith plays a master of misdirection, who teaches the tricks of the trade to a willing young newcomer played by the stylish Margot Robbie.  Robbie and Smith make a great couple, and their polished work more than makes up for any plot deficiencies.

Even when the Wachowskis fail (Speed Racer), they come up with some stunning visuals and there are plenty of those in their new space opera Jupiter Ascending (Warner Bros., “PG-13,” $28.98, BD $44.95), which stars Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum.  In spite of some great images, Jupiter Ascending was a big budget flop that earned just a 25% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

This week’s other major theatrical release is McFarland, USA (Disney, “PG,” 129 min., $29.99, BD $39.99), an inspiring true sports story based on the career of Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner), who develops a cross-country team at a Latino high school.  Predictably after some early humiliations, the boys become champions in this well-made film, which in spite of its clichéd narrative, earned an excellent 79% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

TV on DVD

This week’s top release is The Wire” The Complete Series (HBO, 3645 min., BD $199.99), the gritty serial crime drama that ran on HBO from 2002 to 2008.  The recent civil unrest in Baltimore makes this brilliant series more relevant than ever.  The Wire is the antithesis of the typical police procedural.  It is a complex, slow-building, and ultimately compelling look at almost every level of crime and punishment in the Maryland metropolis.  Baltimore is in fact the central character is this densely-populated drama filled with great performances by actors you never heard of before (though thankfully many have gone on to other projects)—and if you have watched The Wire, which was more popular with critics than it was with viewers, you’ll at least partially understand what was going in the streets of Baltimore last month.  Be forewarned, there are no neat and tidy endings in this series created by David Simon that is as messy as an alley behind a block of crumbling row houses.  But The Wire is widely acknowledged as one of the best TV series of all time, so it is a very good week when this show is finally available in high definition.

It might be stretching it a bit, but Parks and Recreation, available on Tuesday in both Final Season and Complete Series formats, is sort of the sitcom equivalent of The Wire.   Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, Parks and Rec, a groundbreaking single-camera show starring Amy Poehler as a perky mid-level bureaucrat in a fictional city in Indiana, was always more popular with the critics than it was with audiences.  Like The Wire, Parks and Rec was often on the verge of cancellation, though it did finally manage to make it through 125 episodes.  Parks and Recreation: Season 7-The Farewell Season (Universal, 280 min., $39.98) collects the final episodes, while Parks and Recreation: The Complete Series (Universal, 2706 min., $149.98) contains all 125.  Parks and Rec is a certified Geek Favorite—and not just because the show gave a huge boost to the career of Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy).

The final season of another excellent series due out on Tuesday, Justified: The Complete 6th and Final Season (Sony, $55.99, BD $65.99), which stars Timothy Olyphant as Depute U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens in a show based on short stories by Elmore Leonard.  Justified, which is set in Appalachia, demonstrates that you don’t need an urban setting like Baltimore to create a gritty crime drama.  Like The Wire, Olyphant’s antagonists in Justified are largely spawned by this country’s failed attempt to solve the “drug crisis” by criminalizing drugs, a policy that gives rise to criminal organizations like yeast leavens bread.  It should also be mentioned that like Olyphant, Walter Groggins, as the Marshall’s chief nemesis Boyd Crowther, is off-the-charts good.

Another new release from a contemporary series of interest is Falling Skies: Season 4 (Warner Bros. 528 min., $39.98, BD $49.99) the post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama starring Noah Wylie as a Boston University history professor turned militia/guerilla leader in the all-out battle will alien invaders who have taken over the planet.  This TNT series, which has developed a solid following, has been renewed for a fifth and final season.

Other contemporary shows due out on Tuesday include the TNT police procedural Rizzoli & Isles: The Complete 5th Season (Warner Bros., 792 min., $39.98), and the ABC Family teen drama mystery Pretty Little Liars: The Complete 5th Season (Warner Bros., $59.98).

Animated releases of note include Tom & Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection (Turner Home Ent., $26.99), which includes all 13 of the Tom & Jerry episodes produced by Gene Deitch, the father of underground comix artist Kim Deitch, the Beetle Bailey: 65th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (Madacy, 265 min., $39.98), which collects all 50 six-minute episodes of the Beetle Bailey cartoons produced in the early 1960s by the Paramount Cartoon Studio and Artransa Film Studios in Australia, and Turbo FAST: Season One (Dreamworks, 599 min, $19.98), which collects the flash-animated Netflix series for kids, which is based on the Dreamworks animated feature Turbo.

Vintage TV series due on Tuesday include the classic family western Bonanza: The Official 8th Season (Paramount, $69.98), and the vintage soap opera parody Soap: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, 2312 min., $44.98).

There is also an interesting release from the U.K. this week.  Jamie Dorman (50 Shades of Grey) stars as a rebel against the autocratic King Charles II in New Worlds (Acorn Media, 233 min., $39.99), a 4-part miniseries combines political intrigue, passionate romance, and action-packed adventure.  Dorman actually acquits himself quite well in a swashbuckling role, and the 1680s period and costumes are very well done.

Anime

This a rich assortment of anime goodies on tap for Tuesday including the North American disc premiere of Nobunagan: Complete Collection (Funimation, 325 min., DVD/BD Combo $64.98, Ltd.Ed. $69.98), which collects the 13-episode series from 2014 created by Bridge and based on the manga by Masato Hisa about a group of special warriors called E-Gene holders who are reincarnations of historical figures.  The main protagonist of the action-packed series is Sio Ogura, a teenage girl who is the reincarnation of Oda Nobunaga, the fierce samurai warlord who began the campaign that eventually unified Japan.  The E-Gene holders summon AU weapons to battle the alien invaders, who are known as “Evolutionary Invasion Objects.”

For those who enjoy fan-service filled anime there is Wanna Be the Strongest in the World (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98, Ltd. Ed. $69.98), a prurient panorama of panty shots and related fan service clichés set in the world of women’s professional wrestling.

Another sports series (though thankfully this one really is about sports) is the volleyball saga Haikyu!! Collection 1 (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., Subtitles Only, $49.98, BD $59.98), which collects the first 13 episodes of the 25-episode 2014 series from Production I.G. that is based on the popular manga series by Haruichi Furudate.

There are plenty of great re-releases including Fairy Tail: Collection 4 (Funimation, 600 min., BD/DVD Combo $54.98), which includes episodes 73-96 of the delightful fantasy-themed series,  the classic martial arts comedy Ranma ½: Set 6 (Viz Media, $44.82, BD $54.97), which is available in BD for the first time, plus the 2002 Please Teacher: Complete Collection (Right Stuf, 325 min., $39.99), which was previously released in 2004 by Bandai for over $100, the 1992 Lupin the Third Television Special, Lupin III: From Siberia With Love (Discotek, Subtitles Only, $24.95), and the beautiful and poetic anime feature by Makoto Shinkai,5 Centimeters Per Second (Discotek, 63 min., $24.95).

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