It’s been a fairly slow summer for home entertainment releases, but this is a great week for geek viewers thanks to X-Men: Days of Future Past, the inventive AI sci-fi film Ex Machina, the superior horror film It Follows, the first season of the Powers superhero/police procedural, plus the 5th season of the D&D influenced Adventure Time animated series.

Theatrical Films

This week’s big release is X-Men: Days of Future Past (Fox, PG-13, $19.98, BD $29.99), which is also available as the X-Men: Days of Future Past Rogue Cut (Fox, PG-13, $29.98, BD $29.98).  The difference between the two versions is 17 minutes of extra footage in the Rogue Cut (which also contains the theatrical version).  Most comic fans will probably appreciate the Rogue Cut, which includes more interaction between the X-Men, and just feels less rushed and more nuanced.  Those who like breathless, fast-paced action will be better off with the standard version.  Overall Days of Future Past with its mix of different generations of X-Men characters is perhaps the most enjoyable of Bryan Singer’s X-Men movie to date, thanks to its Chris Claremont-inspired storyline that originally appeared in Uncanny X-Men in 1981.

But Days of Future Past isn’t the only release of major interest to geek viewers this week.  Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later, brings his incisive style to Ex Machina (Lionsgate, “R,” 108 min., $19.99, $24.99), a brilliant exercise in artificial intelligence science fiction that earned a sterling 91% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  Alicia Vikander is brilliant as the robot Ava.  Ex Machina may too arty for some, but most science fiction fans will agree this is a worthy new addition to the genre.

At the other end of the excellence spectrum is Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (Sony, “PG,” $30.99, BD $39.99), a totally unnecessary sequel that could register only a 6% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  Quite a bit better, but still not really worth the time unless you just love the actors involved, is another sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Fox, “PG,” 123 min., $29.98, BD $39.98).

Horror movie fans have a bit of a treat with It Follows (Anchor Bay, “R,” 100 min., $26.98, BD $29.98), which uses retro horror film techniques to deliver real scares in a saga where teen sex leads to horrific consequences.  It Follows is one very deeply unsettling movie that really pleased the critics with its intelligence earning a 96% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but never caught on with audiences, earning just 14.1 million.  It Follows has all the makings of a cult horror classic on disc, and promises to be much more influential than its box office numbers would indicate.

For fans of the rather saccharine romances of Nicholas Sparks, The Longest Ride (Fox, “PG-13,” 129 min., $29.98, BD $39.99) is at least a little more straightforward and believable than most of the films made from his novels.

For art movie lovers the top film this week could be The Clouds of Sils Maria (Paramount, “R,” $29.99), a talky, somewhat slow drama that features excellent performances from Juliette Binoche and especially Kristen Stewart, who can be an exceptional actress when she gets a role like this that is right in her wheelhouse.

TV on DVD
{IMAGE_4)This is a very good week for Geek TV releases starting with Powers: Season 1 (Sony,437 min., $35.99, BD $45.89), an online streaming series that adapts the comic book by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming about a group of policemen who are given the job of riding herd on a bunch of super-powered individuals (known as “Powers”).  Kudos for Sony for getting Powers out on a disk in a hurry (unlike Netflix’s hoarding of its superb Daredevil series).  While the TV critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes only gave Powers just a 53% positive rating, the series’ combination of superhero action and hardboiled police procedural is really interesting and Powers (the first two episodes were written by Charlie Moon Knight Huston) does a good job of constructing a very interesting world that fans of both superheroes and police procedurals might want to visit.

A different approach to the superhero genre can be seen in Batman: The Second Season, Part 2 (Warner Bros. 700 min., $39.98), which collects the final 30 episodes of the second season of the high camp 1960s Batman TV series.  The hijinks are wacky and the guest stars like Tallulah Bankhead, Victor Buono, and Eli Wallach put Western States’ pork producers in jeopardy with their over-the-top performances, which would only work in this crazy context.

A third great offering this week is Adventure Time: The Complete 5th Season (Warner Bros, 561 min., $29.97, BD $35.97).  The only problem with Adventure Time DVDs is the number of “themed” releases Warner Bros. has put out, though they are now releasing the brilliant Cartoon Network series in season sets like this, which warm my collector’s heart.  Created by Pendelton Ward and influenced by D&D, Adventure Time is one of the most consistently intriguing cartoon series of our era, and well worth checking out.

Yet another item of interest this week is Doctor Who: The Daleks (BBC, 225 min., $24.98), which functions as a retrospective of the Daleks’ appearances in the revived Doctor Who series.  This collection includes episode that feature the Daleks along with the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Doctors, plus a bonus classic Doctor Who episode, “The Genesis of the Daleks,” which features the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker).

The only other animated show of interest in addition to Adventure Time is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Vol. 7: Return to New York City (Nickelodeon, 157 min. $14.98), a single disc that collects seven episodes from the current TMNT series that airs on Nickelodeon.

Other contemporary shows out on Tuesday include the Andy McDowell-starring Hallmark Channel romance Cedar Cove: Season 2 (Cinedigm, 504 min., $19.97), and the British World War I field hospital miniseries drama The Crimson Field (PBS, 360 min., $35.99, BD $39.99).

Vintage TV series out this week include the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains: The Complete 5th Season (Warner Bros., 611 min., $35.99), and the classic 1970s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete Third Season (Shout Factory, 540 min., $24.97).

Anime
This week’s releases include One Piece Season Seven: Voyage 1 (Funimation, 325 min., $39.98), which includes episodes 385-396 of the long-running anime series that remains one of the most popular anime and manga properties in Japan.  Also due this week is One Piece: Collection 13 (Funimation, 625 min.,$34.98), which provides twice as many (previously released) episodes of the series for a slightly smaller price.

Also of very great interest is Sailor Moon R: Season 2 Part 1 (Viz Media, $44.82, BD/DVD Combo $69.98, BD/DVD Combo Ltd. Ed. $79.98), which collects the first part of the Sailor Moon R series produced by Toei Animation that aired in Japan in 1993-94.  The popular Sailor Moon anime is now available once again in its uncut original version.  The Limited Edition comes with a chipboard cast case that will hold both parts of the Sailor Moon R saga as well as with a 96-page art booklet.

Also out this week is Is the Order a Rabbit? (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), which collects the 2014 anime series by White Fox that is based on a 4-panel seinen slice-of-life manga series by Koi, and The Familiar of Zero F: Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), which collects the 12-episode 2012 JC Staff series based on the series of fantasy/adventure harem comedy light novels by Noburu Yamaguchi.

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