This week’s home entertainment releases include Amy Schumer’s breakout comedy hit, Ian McKellen’s portrait of an aging Sherlock Holmes, and Arnold’s return to his classic Terminator role, plus the first season of the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul, and a Blu-ray edition of the Justice League: Unlimited animated series.

Theatrical Releases

This week’s highest-grossing release is the “R” rated comedy Trainwreck (Universal, “Unrated Version,” $29.98, BD $34.98).  Stand-up comedian Amy Schumer makes the transition to the big screen with the help of Judd Apatow, who reverses his usual formula of “boys who can’t grow up finally get a smidgen of maturity with the aid of more mature female” with a drug-abusing heroine who careens into a relationship with a serious, earnest, and supposedly mature male played by Bill Hader.  Fans of Amy Schumer’s earthy stand-up routine and Judd Apatow’s raunchy comedies will certainly enjoy Trainwreck, which scored an impressive (for a comedy) 86% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but the squeamish should be forewarned that there is a serious raunch factor in play here.

Also of interest is Mr. Holmes (Lionsgate, “PG,” 104 min., $19.99, BD $24.99), which stars Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, X-Men movies) as an aging Sherlock Holmes in a sensitive film portrait directed by Bill Condon.  McKellen gives a performance for the ages, but there is an air of elegiac sadness in this portrait of a super genius as an old and increasingly fallible man that may put off some.  With all the crass versions of Arthur Conan Doyle’s super sleuth that we have had to endure over the years, Mr. Holmes remains true to the character even if the actual mystery involved is one of the film’s weaker points, it matters little when McKellen is working his magic.

It is unclear at this moment whether Terminator Genisys (Paramount, “PG-13,” 125 min., $29.99, BD $39.99) will mark the end of the science fiction franchise.  The expensive film earned just $89.7 million in North America, but did well enough overseas (especially in China) that there may well be another Terminator film.  Unfortunately, in spite of the appearance of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Genisys couldn’t generate much excitement here in the States where the critics gave it a rating of just 36% positive on Rotten Tomatoes.  Still fans of this franchise will want to at least see this latest chapter, which isn’t quite as bad as the reviews would suggest.

Self/less (Universal, “PG-13,” $29.99, BD $29.99), stars Ryan Reynolds and Ben Kingsley in the story of an immensely rich man who, when diagnosed with terminal cancer, “sheds” his body for a younger one and assumes a new identity.  While there are lots of interesting possibilities suggested by the mechanics of this plot, very few of them are actually explored in this film, which could muster only a 20% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

TV on DVD

This week’s top contemporary release is Better Call Saul: Season 1 (Sony, 420 min., $55.99, BD $65.99), the prequel/spin-off from Breaking Bad that features Bob Odenkirk as small time lawyer Jimmy McGill, six years before he showed up on Breaking Bad.  Written by Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, Better Call Saul is one of the most slyly humorous and corrosive series on American TV.

The only other contemporary American release of note is Nathan For You: Seasons 1 & 2 (Shout Factory, 510 min., $24.99), which collects the first two seasons of the Comedy Central series in which Canadian comedian Nathan Fiedler dispenses manic marketing ideas (like poo-flavored yogurt) to help small businessmen with outlandish schemes that usually have some twisted bit of a connection to actual practices.

It is easy to argue that the best TV material this week comes from overseas.  Foyle’s War: The Complete Saga (Acorn Media, 2760 min., $199.99) is a massive 29-disc collection that contains 28 feature-length episodes starring Michael Kitchen as DCS Christopher Foyle, a policeman of immense integrity who plies his trade during the stressful times of World War II and the Cold War.  Meticulously produced, superbly written, and brilliantly acted, Foyle’s War is one of the best crime series of our era, in no small part because of its stubborn insistence in on the pursuit of justice in spite of the exigencies of Wars, both hot and cold.

Fans of Ian Rankin’s gritty, award-winning detective novels will love Rebus: The Ken Stott Collection (Acorn Media, 500 min., $59.99), which includes 10 engrossing mysteries set in the mean streets of modern day Edinburgh and starring Ken Stott as Rankin’s DI John Rebus.  This is an exciting police procedural with great performances all around.

For those who enjoy a good spy drama there is Restless (Acorn Media, 200 min., $34.99), which is based on the novel by William Boyd and features excellent performances by Michele Dockery (Downton Abbey) and Hayley Atwell (Captain America, Agent Carter).  This Emmy-nominated series deftly switches back and forth from the 1970s to WWII to tell a tale that is full of deceptive turns that will take many viewers by surprise.

This week’s top animated release is Justice League—Unlimited: The Complete Series (Warner Bros., 897 min., BD $35.99), which collects the series that first aired on The Cartoon Network in 2004 and 2005.  This was the last series that was set in the DC Animated Universe, which began with the launch of Batman: The Animated Series in 1992.  Justice League-Unlimited, which lasted for 39 episodes, was noted for expanding its character roster by adding DC Universe characters who were not “founding members” of the Justice League.

Another animated TV release of great interest to collectors is The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: The Complete Season 2 (Warner Bros., 568 min., DVD-R, $29.98), which was produced by Hanna Barbera and aired in two 26-episode seasons in 1996 and 1997.  

Vintage TV releases this week include at least one series of great interest to geek viewers, Automan: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 690 min., $26.99) includes all 13-episodes of the “soft” sci-fi superhero/crime-fighting series created by Glen A. Larsen that aired on ABC in 1983 and 1984.  Like most Shout Factory releases, the Automan set comes with lots of great interviews and extra features.

Other vintage TV releases of interest include a completely new re-mastered edition of The Dick Van Dyke Show: The Complete Remastered Series (Image 3950 min., $224.98), which sports superb visuals to go along with one of the best sitcoms ever, plus the He-Man-esque Hanna Barbera 1980s series Galtar and the Golden Lance: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. 448 min., DVD-R $29.98), the 1980s NBC action/adventure show Manimal: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 428 min., $26.99), the Norman Lear sitcom Maude: The Complete Third Season (Shout Factory, 570 min., $26.99), and minus just a bit of its original music, WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete Fourth and Final Season (Shout Factory, 360 min., $26.99).

Anime

This week’s top anime release is Danganronpa the Animated Series: Complete Collection (Funimation, 325 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98, Ltd. Ed. $69.98), which collects all 13 episodes of the 2013 anime series produced by Lerche and based on Spike Chunsoft’s murder mystery video game in which 14 students are imprisoned in an elite academy where they are told that they will only be released after they have committed (and gotten away with) the “perfect” murder.

Another key release this week is Naruto Shippuden Uncut Set 24 (Viz Media, 325 min., $44.82), which contains episodes 297-310 of the hugely popular anime series based on Masashi Kissimoto’s ninja manga.  The Naruto Shippuden anime series has reached 435 episodes in Japan, so Viz Media still has a ways to go to make the entire series available with its excellent English dub.  Also due from Viz on Tuesday is Pokemon: The Johto Journeys Complete Collection (Viz Media, 925 min., English Dub Only, $44.82), which collects the 41-episode third season of kid-targeting Pokemon anime.

Anime based on shojo manga series are not released as often here as many American fans would like, but this week there are two, The Blue Spring Ride Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., Subtitles $49.98, BD $59.98), a 13-episode 2014 series from Production I.G. based on the comedy/romance manga by Io Sakisaka, and La Corda D’Oro: Blue Sky (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., Subtitles Only $49.98, BD $59.98), a 12-episode 2014 anime produced by TYO and based on the music-themed shojo manga series by Yuki Kare.

This week’s re-priced re-release is One Piece: Collection 14 (Funimation, 600 min., $34.98 ), which includes episodes 320 to 342 of the long-running pirate anime, which were previously released in 12-episode sets.