The final week in May is typically not a time that studios want to release major titles, which would have to compete against summer movie blockbusters in theaters, but even accounting for seasonal factors, this is a very weak slate of movie releases.  Fortunately TV gives us the solid Showtime series Ray Donovan, and the “better-than-the-networks” police procedural Major Crimes from TNT, plus an inexpensive way to get “What’s Opera Doc?" and 17 other music-parodying Looney Tunes.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s highest-grossing release is The Seventh Son (Universal, “PG-13,” 102 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), a fantasy mishmash that wastes the talents of a gifted cast (including Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore), and a skilled director (Sergeo Bodrov who helmed Mongol), as well as the potential of a classic fantasy novel (Joseph Delaney’s The Spook’s Apprentice).  The debut of this special effects-heavy film was postponed several times (always a bad sign), and in spite of its cast, the movie could only earn a 13% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  Not surprisingly, Universal (and Legendary Pictures) lost a bundle on this bomb.

An only slightly better choice this week is The Loft (Universal, “R,” 206 min., $29.98, $34.98), a remake of a Belgian thriller about five married men who share ownership of a loft that they use for assignations, a scheme that goes awry when a murdered girl is found in the loft and the friends begin to suspect that one of them is a killer.  A strong cast led by Karl Urban, James Marsden, and Matthias Schoenaerts tries to salvage this less-than-stellar material, but none of the boorish characters earns or deserves much audience sympathy—and much of this “erotic” thriller’s “eroticism” smacks of plain old misogyny.

TV on DVD

There aren’t a lot of contemporary series due this week, but there are some choice ones including the HBO comedy Hello Ladies: The Complete Series and Feature Length Movie (HBO, $19.98).  Created by Stephen Merchant, who plays the gawky Englishman searching for love in modern Los Angeles, Hello Ladies never quite connected with audiences, though there are lots of funny bits like the hero going to a gay bar to hit on women because a woman friend told him women like to go to gay bars to avoid getting hit on.  At least the eight-episode series went out with a bang—a feature-length movie that is included in the set.

Another interesting pay cable series hits home video on Tuesday, Showtime’s Ray Donovan: Season 2 (Showtime, 636 min., $42.99,  BD $48.99), which stars Liev Schreiber as the eponymous hero, a Hollywood “fixer,” who helps people stay out of jail.  In addition to fixing other people’s “situations,” Donovan has his own problems, including his obstreperous father (Jon Voight) and a flock of FBI agents determined to put Donovan out of business.  Created by Ann Biderman, Ray Donovan is fine addition to the rich history of L.A. crime fiction and TV.

Speaking of L.A., the best of the many series on TNT is the Los Angeles-set Major Crimes.  Major Crimes: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros., 628 min., $59.98) airs when the major networks are in reruns, and anyone who likes police procedurals should definitely check it out.  Major Crimes spun-off from The Closer, and retains many of the excellent cast members from that above-average crime series.  Major Crimes balances humor and grit, private stories and major contemporary issues in ways that the “major” network police dramas don’t even come close to matching.

The History Channel has a problem with drama, and when its shows try to get dramatic, they have a problem with creeping historical inaccuracies.  Both problems are evident in The Sons of Liberty Miniseries (Lionsgate, $26.98, BD $29.99)

The only other current series out this week is the Hallmark Channel family drama/romance When Calls the Heart: Trials of the Heart (Shout Factory, 88 min., $14.98), which is set in Royal Canadian Mounted Police territory and will probably appeal to viewers, who unlike this writer, don’t refer to Nelson Eddy as “the singing capon.”

Animated releases include Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces (Warner Bros., 156 min., $19.97), which contains 18 great musical cartoons only two of which have never been issued on disc before.  However if you don’t own “What’s Opera Doc?” or “The Rabbit of Seville,” it’s a very inexpensive way to acquire some of the best musical parodies ever.

For really young kids (2-5) there is Curious George: The Complete First Season (Universal, 710 min., $19.98), which includes the first season of the PBS series based on the kids’ book by Margret and H.A. Rey.

Fortunately there are some excellent vintage TV series due this week including the classy and empathetic police procedural Hill Street Blues: Season 5 (Shout Factory, 1140 min., $34.93), the superb nostalgia-driven sitcom The Wonder Years: Season 3 (TimeLife, $29.98), the debut of the Fran Drescher-starring The Nanny: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 3300 min., $149.99), the Roger Moore-starring The Saint: The Complete Series (Timeless Media, 5660 min., $199.98), the 70s high school comedy Welcome Back Kotter: The Complete Third Season (Shout Factory, 600 min., $29.93), and the best U.S. TV series of the 1970s The Rockford Files: The Complete Series (Universal, 6871 min., $239.88).

The Canadian-produced period police procedural Murdoch Mysteries has been syndicated in a large number of U.S. markets.  The well-produced show includes plenty of history and historical figures along with its intriguing mysteries.  This week’s offering, Murdoch Mysteries: The Movies (Acorn Entertainment, 271 min., $39.99) collects three made for TV movies the preceded the actual Murdoch series, and featured a different cast.  Murdoch Mysteries, which has now been on the air as a series for 7 seasons, has continued to get better, so potential buyers should be forewarned that these are early efforts, made before the series hit its stride.

Anime

The first season of a superior series gets the hi-def treatment this week in Darker Than Black Complete Season One Premium Edition (Funimation, 625 min, BD $99.98), which presents all 25 Season One episodes in glorious high definition.  Fans of this excellent 2007 action thriller, which was written and directed for Studio Bones by Tensai Okamura, will really love this excellent high-def transfer (especially if they have already bought Season 2: Gemini of the Meteor in hi-def), and the premium edition comes in an oversize box with an art book and set of four postcards.  Extras include commentaries on six key episodes, cast auditions, and production artwork.

New to the U.S. this week is Soni-Ami-Super Sonico The Animation Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the 2014 White Fox series that features Super Sonico, the fictional sexy mascot for the software game company Nitroplus.  J-Pop fans may well find the saga of Super Sonico, who leads a 3-piece all-girl band, to be tuneful.

Also new to these shores is Student Council’s Discretion Lv.2 Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 275 min., $49.98 BD $59.98), which includes the 10 net episodes (plus 2 OVAs) produced in 2012 by AIC and based on the harem comedy/parody light novels by Aoi Sekina, which also spawned a 2009 TV series from Studio Deen.

This week’s prime re-priced re-release is Inusyasha: The Final Act-The Complete Series (Viz Media, 650 min., $44.82, BD $54.97), which collects all final 26 episodes of the Inuyasha anime, which were produced in 2009-10 and were based on the final 21 volumes of Rumiko Takahashi’s Inuyasha manga. This Final Act release contains all 26 episodes, which were previously released in two parts, each of which cost as much as The Complete Series will on Tuesday. 

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