Several of this week’s home entertainment releases debuted in 2014 including Ride Along, the cop comedy that was the first 2014 film to break the $100 million mark, but there are also some key 2013 films including the powerful Philomena starring Judi Dench, and Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, plus the gritty period police procedural Ripper Street and a new anime film based on the bloody Berserk manga.
 
Theatrical Releases
 
This week’s biggest release will probably be Ride Along (Universal, “PG-13,” 200 min., $29.98, BD/Combo $34.98).  One of the best comedies released in 2014 so far, Ride Along, a cop “buddy movie” with a serious twist, stars Kevin Hart as a high school security guard who is about to marry the sister of a decorated police detective played by Ice Cube.  Suspicious of his sister’s suitor, the detective takes him on the film’s eponymous trip, during which the cop hopes to scare the bejesus out the man who wants to join his family.  The result is a film that does have some problems with shifting tones of violence and comedy, but what would you expect if somebody decided to try and find a way to play Training Day for laughs?
 
Art movie fans are in for a treat in Philomena (Anchor Bay, “PG-13,” $29.98, BD $34.98), which stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan in the heart-rending true story of an Irish woman, who is forced to give up her baby as a teenager, and spends the next 50 years of her life tracking him down.   Strong performances, straightforward storytelling, and a powerful real life drama make this an “art” movie with more appeal than most.
 
Ben Stiller’s remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Fox, “PG,” 115 min., $29.98, BD $39.99) may not be a complete success, but Stiller, who both stars in and directs the film, deserves credit for not just doing a straight remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye film that was also based on the James Thurber short story.  Stiller forsakes the satire of the original in favor of an examination of personal growth in the face of adversity by setting the film during the last days of Life Magazine.  Critics didn’t like this movie, giving it just a 49% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences responded to the earnest saga, which eschews cheap humor in favor of a grander design, which if it isn’t always completely realized, is at the very least an honorable attempt to adapt Thurber’s story for our more self-absorbed times.
 
Like Ride Along, the independently-produced animated feature The Nut Job (Universal, “PG,” 172 min., $29.98, BD/Combo $34.98) was released in 2014.  The Nut Job features an anarchic character named “Surly Squirrel,” who will remind animation fans of Tex Avery’s classic Screwy Squirrel.  Like Screwy Squirrel, Surly Squirrel is an unlikable character—and the anarchic fun that works so well in the shorts of Tex Avery, falls flat in this largely uninspired effort that received only an 11% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
 
New on Blu-ray is Kevin Smith’s Mallrats (Universal, “R,” 219 min., BD/Combo $19.98).  While it didn’t enjoy the success of Smith’s breakout hit Clerks, Mallrats, which debuted in 1995, was way ahead of its time and has become a cult movie.  Now at least we will have a definitive Blu-ray edition.
 
TV on DVD
 
The top release in this category this week is Ripper Street: Season 2 (BBC, 480 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), a chilling series set on the streets of Whitechapel six months after the last Jack the Ripper killing.  Amazon has revived this series with new episodes that are set to begin shooting this spring.  Ripper Street is a gritty show that is not for the faint of heart, but after a slow start it has managed to provide some interesting and original drama in one of the most overworked and overused of TV and movie settings.
 
This week’s other major contemporary series release is The Bletchley Circle: Season 2 (BBC, 180 min., $34.99), a fascinating series about four women, former codebreakers at the British government’s hugely successful deciphering operation at Bletchley Park, who discover a patterns in several series of murders that have baffled the police.
 
Two other contemporary releases are due on Tuesday, Anger Management: Vol. 3 (Lionsgate, 506 min., $39.98 BD $39.98), the over-the-top sitcom featuring the imploded hulk that was Charlie Sheen, and the single-disc Angry Birds Toons, Season 1, Vol. 2 (Sony, $19.99, BD $26.99).
 
Vintage TV releases range from the fairly recent, The Practice: Season 8—The Final Season (Shout Factory, 960 min., $29.93), the David E. Kelley legal series that aired in 2003-2004, to the 1960s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies: The Official 4th Season (Paramount, 680 min., $29.98), and also includes the Beverly Hillbillies spin-off Petticoat Junction: The Official 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Seasons (Paramount, 880 min., $29.98 each), the 1980s classic The Cosby Show: Seasons 3 & 4 (Mill Creek, 1196 min., $14.98 for both, what a deal), and the 1990’s sitcom Married With Children: Seasons 3 & 4 (Mill Creek, 1042 min., $14.98 for both).
 
Anime
 
New releases this week include Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 3: The Advent (Viz Media, “17+,” 110 min., $19.98, BD $24.98), the third film in a series of anime movies from Studio 4C adapting the popular seinen manga series, and the first film in the series to utilize new animated footage that goes beyond what was already created for the Berserk anime TV series, and the One Piece Uncut Collection 9 (Funimation, “17+,” 640 min., $34.98), which contains episodes 209 to 235 of the long-running pirate anime, which remains one of the most popular manga and anime properties in both Japan and the U.S.
 
Re-priced re-releases include the fan-service filled Heaven’s Lost Property Season 1 (Funimation, “17+,” 350 min., $39.98), and Spice and Wolf: Seasons 1 & 2 (Funimation, “14+,” 630 min., BD/DVD Combo $54.98), which collects the two 13-episode anime series from Brain’s Base that adapt the light novels written by Isuna Hasekura.

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