This week’s home entertainment releases include the pro football drama Draft Day, the excellent martial arts epic 14 Blades, the effective indy thriller Night Moves, the anime movie Hal, the taut TV thriller Line of Duty: Series 2, as well as another TV gem from the UK, the second series featuring Ian McShane as the loveable anti-hero Lovejoy.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
It’s a bit of a weak session in this category where the top-grossing film due out on disc is the pro football drama Draft Day (Lionsgate, “PG-13,” 94 min., $29.98, BD $39.98), which stars Kevin Costner as the beleaguered GM of the Cleveland Browns.  While it is obviously not a film for everyone, football fans will enjoy the behind-the-scenes action, and Kevin Costner gets to add yet another telling portrait of an iconic American sports figures to his impressive body of work in that genre.  Perhaps when he retires Costner will get the praise he deserves for his brilliant work in a number of sports films including Tin Cup, Bull Durham, and Field of Dreams.
 
Next in terms of box office power is the Christian-themed Moms Night Out (Sony, “PG-13,” 99 min., $28.98, BD $30.99), a slice-of-life comedy about what happens when a group of hardworking moms decide to go out for a dinner that doesn’t come in a paper bag, leaving their husbands to take care of the kids.  The comedy here may be too tame for some, but just right for others who long for the days of wholesome comedies that did not dwell almost exclusively on what Preston Sturges called “Topic A.”
 
Not surprisingly Moms Night Out was not a hit with critics who gave it a terrible 18% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  Contrast that with Night Moves (New Video Group “R,” $19.95, BD $29.98), the fifth film directed by Kelly Reichardt, an intense indy thriller about a trio of eco-terrorists who plan to blow up a hydroelectric dam and produce lots of unintended consequences.  It is no surprise that critics gave Reichardts complex and innovative thriller an 85% positive rating.  Reichardt doesn’t dumb down the subject matter.  Many will find this well-acted film that stars Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard too slow, but others will glory in an intense thriller that doesn’t need the gunfights and car chases that are so commonplace in Hollywood films to generate real suspense.
 
They Came Together (Lionsgate, “R,” $19.98) stars Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler in a full-blown parody of every romantic comedy cliché in the book.  Director David Wain has a penchant for this sort of no-holds-barred parody, something that anyone who has seen his parody of summer camp movies, Wet Hot American Summer will understand.  Some might question whether the best way to parody romcom clichés is by aping them, but once viewers get used this film’s shtick, many of them will find it very amusing, especially if you have suffered through lots of lame romantic comedies—which explains why the critics gave They Came Together a solid 69% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
 
Those who enjoy martial arts movies are in for a real treat this week with the release of 14 Blades (Anchor Bay, “R,” 113 min., $24.98, BD $29.98), which stars Donnie Yen, the martial arts superstar behind Ip Man, Hero, and Iron Monkey.   In what appears to be a remake of the 1984 classic, Secret Service of the Imperial Court, Yen plays Quinlong, a legendary royal guard, who has been trained in a secret form of combat.  When the Imperial Court is taken over by the traitorous Jia, it is up to Quinlong to rally the loyal forces and restore the Emperor, a feat that can’t be accomplished without a series of martial arts set-pieces that will definitely appeal to fans of the genre—and watch out for that female assassin, she nearly steals the show.
 
 
This week’s top documentary is Citizen Koch (MPI, “Not Rated,” 86 min., $24.98).  Directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, Citizen Koch is an ultimately depressing look at the influence of money in politics in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.  Given that the growing economic inequality in this country is the ultimate reason that so much money is being used for political propaganda that sways elections in favor of policies that favor the rich, this is a very broad subject that is far too big to examine in one 90-minute documentary.  And the “problem” of so much money in political campaigns is utterly intractable in light of the current political paralysis brought on in large part by well-funded sources, which makes this one hell of a depressing subject.  In spite of these criticisms, this is still a film worth watching, and it is not quite as one-sided as one might expect—the directors interview a number of conservative Republicans like Buddy Roemer—though it is also crystal clear which political party benefits the most from the lifting of virtually all restraints on campaign spending.
 
TV on DVD
 
As the new TV season approaches the pace of releases in this category picks up.  This week’s batch includes contemporary shows with some geek interest such as the CBS uber-surveillance drama Person of Interest: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros., $59.98, BD $69.98), the CW supernatural horror drama The Originals: Season 1 (Warner Bros., 928 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), and the influential ABC comedy series New Girl: Season 3 (Fox, $39.98).
 
Other contemporary series due this week include Chicago Fire: Season 2 (Universal, 934 min., $44.98), Chicago PD: Season 1 (Universal, 682 min., $44.98), the new cable pirate series starring John Malkovich Crossbones: Season 1 (Universal, $44.98), the medical soaper/drama Grey’s Anatomy: The Tenth Season (Disney, $45.99), the cable comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 9 (Fox, $39.98), and the semi-improvised FX comedy The League: Season 5 (Fox, $29.98).
 
Fans of the revived Doctor Who series might be interested in a new lower-cost Doctor Who: The 4th Series, Part 2 (BBC, 315 min., $19.98), while those who like TV animation will want to check out Beast Machines: Transformers—The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 690 min., $29.93), which includes all 26 episodes of the American-produced CGI series that was a direct sequel to Beast Wars and aired on Fox Kids in 1999 and 2000.
 
Other animated TV releases include the single-disc Transformers: Rescue Bots: Vol. 5, Mystery Rescue (Shout Factory, 110 min., $14.99), and the single-disc Woody Woodpecker and Friends Halloween Favorites (Universal, 79 min., $14.98).
 
Two of this week’s best offerings, one old and one new, are from the U.K.  The new series is the taut and gripping thriller Line of Duty: Series 2 (Acorn Media, 369 min., $39.99), a thriller that was the highest rated BBC series in ten years.  This 2-disc collection includes six episodes that all stem from an incident in which a police convoy is ambushed with three officers killed and a protected witness is seriously injured.  The investigation, which is being carried out by the police anti-corruption unit AC-12, takes all sorts of twists and turns as the inquiry leads higher and higher into the police  hierarchy.  The events at the end of the first episode will keep viewers hooked on this well-plotted, paranoia-inducing saga that easily the best pure “thriller” of series produced on either side of the Atlantic in quite some time.
 
Lovejoy: Series 2 (Acorn Media, 650 min., $49.99) is a sort of U.K. version of The Rockford Files with Ian McShane starring as the eponymous hero, a slightly dodgy antiques dealer with the ability to recognize fakes at a glance.  In these 12 humor-filled adventures Lovejoy and his team, which consists of his heavy metal-loving apprentice Eric, the smooth-talking Tinker, and the comely Lady Jan Felsham, take on a vicious Greek tycoon, a roving band of French thieves, and a wide variety of nasty British aristocrats in a series of truly enjoyable tales.  While the visual quality of this set is not quite up to modern hi-def standards, it is much better than previous Lovejoy releases, and this edition also has subtitles that are very useful for American audiences unused to the various dialects of the U.K.
  
Vintage TV series due out on Tuesday include Benson: Seasons 1&2 (Mill Creek, 1101 min., $14.98), the single-disc anthology The Dick Van Dyke Show: Halloween Episodes Collection (Image Entertainment, 100 min., $14.98), which includes the hilarious “It May Look Like a Walnut,” the soap-opera parody Soap: Seasons 1&2 (Mill Creek, 1207 min., $14.98), and the sitcom What’s Happening? Seasons 1&2 (Mill Creek, 1080 min., $14.98).
 
Anime
 
This week’s top release is the anime feature film Hal (Funimation, “14+,” 60 min., DVD/BD Combo $29.95).  Directed by Ryotaro Makihara, Hal is a sci-fi romance about a teen girl whose boyfriend dies.  She turns into a recluse and even a lifelike robot made in the image of her former beau has a hard time overcoming her resistance in this interesting anime feature film that deals with the basic existential meaning of “human life.”  In addition to its original Japanese soundtrack (with English subtitles), this edition also includes an English language dub.
 
Also of great interest is the Blood Lad Complete Series (Viz Media, 275 min., $44.82, BD/DVD $69.99), which includes all 10 episodes (plus 1 OVA) produced by Brains Base in 2013 and based on the seinen black comedy supernatural manga by Yuri Kodama about a vampire who attempts to save a beautiful girl who wanders into the Demon World.
 
Those who like the “Magical Girl” genre will want to check out Fate/Kaleid liner Prisma Illya (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 250 min., $59.99, BD $69.98), a 10-episode 2013 anime by Silver Link based on Hiroshi Hiroyama’s manga, which itself is an alternate universe spin-off of the Fate/stay night visual novel by Type-Moon with Illyasviel von Einzbern as the main protagonist.
 
Also new this week is the Stella Women’s Academy, High School Division Class C (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 325 min., $49.98), a subtitles-only collection of the 13-episode 2013 Gainax anime based on the slice-of-life comedy school manga by Ikoma.  This series was simulcast on Crunchyroll.
 
Re-priced reissues out this week include the S.A.V.E. editions of Baka & Test Season 1 (Funimation, “14+,” 325 min., $29.98) and Baka & Test Season 2 (Funimation, “14+,” 417 min., $29.98), and an excellent Right Stuf litebox edition of the anime based on the popular yaoi manga (the first yaoi title to make the New York Times Manga Best Seller List) Junjo Romantica.  The Junjo Romantica Season 1 Collection (Right Stuf, “17+,” 300 min., $44.98) is an excellent subtitles-only version that also includes a U.S. trailer and a TV spot for the series.
 
Tom Flinn
 
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.