In spite of a slowdown in sales in the DVD marketplace, once again it seems like there is a full slate of new DVD releases across all the categories that ICv2 covers.

 

Theatrical Films

 

The best bet in this category this week is Ricky Gervais’, The Invention of Lying (Warner Home Video, Rated “PG-13,” $28.98, BD $35.99), a high concept comedy that really delivers the goods for the first hour and remains amusing throughout.  Fans of Gervais’ snarky comic style (he created The Office) shouldn’t miss this effort, which also includes a fine comic performance from Jennifer Garner.  However those who are devoutly religious might want to avoid this film, which has more than a little satirical fun with organized religion.  The Blu-ray contains some great extras including a “prequel” narrated by Patrick Stewart that is as funny as anything in the film.

 

The most challenging film in this week’s lineup is Steven Soderbergh’s Che (Criterion, Rated “R,” $49.99, BD $49.99), which stars Benicio del Toro, who gives a tour de force performance as the iconic revolutionary Che Guevara.  Previously released in two-parts, this Criterion edition includes the complete 261-minute saga—and the good thing about viewing it at home--you don’t have to watch the 4-hour plus saga all in one night. 

 

Dominic Cena’s adaptation of Greg Rucka’s Whiteout (Warner Home Video, Rated “R,” $28.98, BD $35.99) is a missed opportunity of major proportions.  While the basic elements of Rucka’s saga of murder in the confined cold spaces of Antarctica remain, Cena’s plodding direction and the insistence on reinforcing visual images with dialogue (perhaps forced on the director by the studio during the film’s long post-production trip to the screen) have largely neutered what could have been a superior thriller.  Cena’s Whiteout, which earned only $10.2 million at the box office, scored a miserable 7% positive rating (based on 104 reviews) at Rotten Tomatoes.

 

Also out this week is Gamer (Lionsgate, Rated “R,” $29.95, BD $39.95), the latest adrenaline-fueled epic from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the creators of Crank.  Basically it’s Deathrace 2000 remade as a video game instead of an auto race, and in spite of the film’s name, real gamers, may not be its target audience, since the film’s portraits of actual gamers are stereotypical in the extreme, and it involves a lot of elements (static, shaky camera work, jump cuts that interrupt and confuse fight sequences, etc.) that don’t relate at all to modern video games.  Critics didn’t like this Gerard Butler epic either (only29% positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes), but what the heck do they know about this kind of movie anyway, and at least they won’t be able to listen to Old Blue Eyes croon “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” in the same way ever again.

 

Robert Altman’s 1983 film of David Rabe’s play Streamers is finally coming to DVD this week from Shout Factory (Rated “R,” $19.99).  Like Hitchcock’s Rope, the action in Streamers is confined to a single set of rooms—in this case an army barracks where a group of soldiers are preparing to ship out for Vietnam.  But the war is not so much the issue here as it is in Rabe’s other works (Sticks and Bones, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel).  Streamers examines the issue of homophobia in the armed forces in the era before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”—and as imperfect and unjust as that policy may be, it is clear that it replaced something that was even worse.

 

Several films that had a limited theatrical release are also due out this week including Joel ( "I put nipples on the Batsuit")Schumacher’s Blood Creek (Lionsgate, Rated “R,” $26.98), a horror film that spans the decades from 1936 to the present and involves Nazi vampires, and According to Greta (Anchor Bay, Rated “PG-13,” $26.97, BD $34.98), the sensitive story of a rebellious teen (Hilary Duff) who is shipped off to live with her grandparents in New Jersey.  First time director Nancy Bardawil does a nice job elevating this slice-of-life material above TV movie-of-the-week standards.

 

Direct to DVD

 

There are several interesting non-theatrical releases including Alan Merkin’s Across the Hall (Image, Rated “R,” $27.98), a noir thriller based on his 2005 short film that stars the late Brittany Murphy in one of her last roles, Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball (Universal, Unrated, $29.98, BD $36.98), a prequel to Joe Carnahan’s action-packed 2007 film, and No Greater Love (Lionsgate, Rated “PG,” $19.98), a Christian film that was featured at the Projecting Hope Film Festival.

 

Anime

 

Funimation is back this week with a major lineup that includes Linebarrels of Iron, Part 1 (Rated 17+, 300 min., $59.98), the first 12 episodes of the exciting Gonzo anime about a wimpish teen who gains incredible power (and a giant robot), but who (at least at first) acts like a jerk rather than a hero, and Bamboo Blade, Part 2 (Rated 13+, 325 min., $59.98), which includes the final 13 episodes a very enjoyable sports comedy/slice-of-life story about a luckless teacher who leads a high school girls Kendo team.  Based on the seinen manga series by Masahiro Totsuka (published here by Yen Press), the Bamboo Blade anime series aired in Japan in 2008.

 

Also due out from Funimation this week are One Piece: Season Two—5th Voyage (13+, $49.98), which contains uncut and unedited episodes 104-116 from what is arguably the most popular anime series in Japan, and Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne (17+, 300 min., $59.98) a series of six 50-minute segments animated by Xebec that feature grotesque and erotic visuals.  Based on a series of light novels by Hiroshi Onogi, Rin is the story of a female detective who is, thanks to a time spore, immortal.  But that doesn’t mean she can’t get royally messed up before she can reconstitute herself, which is exactly what happens in just about every episode of this boundary-pushing series.

 

Among the other new releases this week Sentai Filmworks’ Glass Mask: Collection 1 (13+, 650 min. $49.98), the first half of the 51-episode anime series based on the shojo manga by Suzue Miuchi, stands out.  Produced by TMS, the Glass Mask anime series aired in Japan in 2005 and 2006. 

 

As for new single-disc releases, Viz Media is putting out the 24th volume of the popular Bleach ($24.98) anime that airs on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, and Funimation has scheduled Case Closed Movie 5: Countdown to Heaven (100 min., $19.98), a stand-alone movie from the hugely popular (in Japan) Detective Conan series.

 

Documentaries

 

Two controversial documentaries street this week including No Impact Man (Oscilloscope, Not Rated, $29.99), the story of  a self-described New York City “liberal schlub” Colin Beavan who decides to embark on a year-long adventure with his wife and two-year-old daughter in which they went off the grid and tried to have as little environmental impact as possible.  Directors Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein do a good job of illustrating the kind of tensions and contradictions created by this sort of environmental grandstanding.

 

Kirby Dick’s Outrage is, if anything even more controversial.  Dick’s documentary exposes closeted gay politicos who push anti-gay legislation in a film that actually manages to find some compassion for its “victims” such as Republican Senator Larry Craig.  Is hypocrisy reason enough to expose someone’s private life?  This documentary asks tough questions and is particularly hard on those who use homophobia as a political tool.

 

TV on DVD

 

This is a big week for TV on DVD releases including Return to Cranford (Warner Home Video, Unrated, 177 min., $24.98), a second helping of the star-studded (Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis & Julie McKenzie) BBC mini-series based on a series of 19th Century novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.  Cranford, the original series that was broadcast here in May of 2008, and Return to Cranford are prime examples of the high quality period dramas for which the BBC is so justly famous. 

 

The first seasons of a number of TV series are due out on DVD in new low-priced editions including the 1980s TV police series Hunter, which starred former pro football player Fred Dryer as a “Dirty Harry”-like L.A. cop (Mill Creek Entertainment, Rated “PG,” 1010 min., $14.98), the cop show that introduced Johnny Depp, 21 Jump Street (Mill Creek, 605 min., $14.98) and the syndicated series The Renegade (Mill Creek, 1010 min., $14.98), which stars Lorenzo Lamas.  These three series have been out before but not at this low price.  This kind of price cutting reflects the intense competition in this overheated category that is glutted with releases new and old.

 

This week’s top “TV on DVD” animated releases include Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series—The Complete Series (Lionsgate, 312 min., $19.98), which contains the 13 episodes of the animated version of the Henson Company series that aired on NBC on Saturday mornings in 1987, and Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A Lympics Vol. 1 (Warner Home Video, 88 min. $14.97), which includes 5 episodes of the popular animated series.

 

Also out this week are Dallas: The Complete 12th Season (Warner Home Video, 1,378 min., $39.98), Jonathan Creek Season 4 (BBC, WHV $34.98), Law & Order: The 7th Season (Universal, 1080 min., $59.98), thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season (Shout Factory, 810 min., $59.98), Waking the Dead: The Complete 4th Season (BBC, WHV, 690 min., $39.98), and Weeds: Season 5 (Lionsgate, $39.98, BD $39.97).

 

Foreign Films

 

Dani Levy’s My Fuhrer (First Run, Not Rated, $24.95) is the first comedy about Adolph Hitler produced in Germany.  Unfortunately unlike Ernst Lubitsch’s masterful To Be Or Not To Be, the humor in My Fuhrer is not based on the absurdities of the Nazis’ slavish obedience to hierarchy or the exaggerated cult of personality surrounding its leader.  My Fuhrer settles for an absurd plot full of puerile humiliations and paints the evil mastermind as a childish wimp, suggesting that a rotten childhood is behind the horrors of the Third Reich.