This week’s home entertainment offerings include Warner Bros. first R-rated Batman animated feature, a delightful Jacques Tardi-influenced cartoon feature, Key & Peele’s underrated action comedy Keanu, the high-concept dystopian comedy The Lobster, and an elaborate adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s 1975 cult classic novel, High Rise.

Theatrical Movies

This week’s most interesting offering is the Warner Bros./DC animated adaptation of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s classic Joker origin saga, The Killing Joke (Warner Bros., “R,” 77 min., $19.98, BD $24.98), the first of these DC fan-targeting films to get an “R” rating.  What’s wrong with a little bit of the old “sex and violence?”  The problem is that Moore’s original story, which is just 64 comic pages long, is a bit short for a feature-length adaptation, so writer Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) made some additions (SPOILER ALERT from here on) grafting on an original Batgirl story that takes up about the first half-hour of the film (The Joker does appear in his “origin” film until after the first 30 minutes have unspooled).  In a stunningly iconoclastic move, the screenwriters added a rooftop sex scene between Batman and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon).  Your mileage may vary, but put me on the side of the traditionalists on this one—the additions to the story involve changing the point of view and clash with the film’s second half, which is a fairly accurate version of The Killing Joke, and which features an excellent vocal performance from Mark Hamill as The Clown Prince of Crime (and good work by Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight).  The Killing Joke is such an important part of the Batman canon, and when this film finally gets down to it, it does a pretty good job of telling the story, so I think most hardcore Batman fans will want to own this version, but others will be put off the rather clumsy liberties the film takes with the Caped Crusader’s character.

Another comic book-influenced animated offering that is well worth checking out is April and the Extraordinary World (Universal, “PG,” 214 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), a visually stunning French animated feature that takes its visual style from the works of Jacques Tardi.  This science fiction saga, which features the voice of Marion Cotillard, and is set in 19th Century France, has a 98% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is highly recommended for animation fans, and for those who love films of Studio Ghibli.

But those aren’t the only films of interest this week.  The underrated comedy Keanu (Warner Bros., “R” 99 min., $15.98, BD $19.98) features Comedy Central’s Key and Peele in a hilarious sortie through the drug underworld that is well worth checking out, and The Lobster (Lionsgate, “R,” 89 min., $19.98, $24.99), a hilarious, high-concept dystopian comic fantasy starring Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell who are singles in a world in which unmarried people have just 45 days to get hitched or be turned into animals.

Also quite interesting is High Rise (Magnolia, “R,” 120 min., $26.97, BD $34.98), an adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s cult classic 1975 novel about a luxury building that gradually consumes those who live there.  Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, and Elizabeth Moss are all very good, and this dark comedy/thriller, which managed a 62% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, will please those looking for a different sort of black comedy.

The least inspiring of this week’s releases is Mother’s Day (Universal, “PG-13,” 119 min. $28.98, BD $34.98) an ensemble “event-day” comedy starring Jennifer Anniston, Kate Hudson, and Julia Roberts that was the last film directed by Garry Marshall (Laverne & Shirley).

TV on DVD

This week’s top TV releases are the NBC crime thriller The Blacklist: Season 3 (Sony, $65.95, BD $75.99), which stars James Spader as a “bad guy” turned crime fighter; another NBC crime drama Blindspot: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros., 800 min., $49.97, BD $54.97); the hip Comedy Central stalwarts Key and Peele: The Complete Series (Comedy Central, $55.98); the escort drama, The Girlfriend Experience: The Complete First Season (Starz, $39.98, BD $49.99); and the period (circa 1900) medical drama The Knick: The Complete Second Season (HBO, $24.98, BD $34.98).

Not much to appeal to geek viewers among the top offerings, and that holds true for the animated releases as well unless you are a big fan of the single-disc My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic—Soarin’ Over Equestria (Shout Factory, 110 min., $14.98) or of Heathcliff: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, 1927 min., $19.98), the second Heathcliff series, which debuted in 1984 and features the voice of the great Mel Blanc in the title role.

Other vintage series include the 2006-2008 ABC show, The Cashmere Mafia: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, 292 min. $14.98), and The Titanic: The Complete Epic Miniseries (Mill Creek, 174 min., $14.98), which collects the 2-part 1996 CBS miniseries.

Shows from other countries due this week include the excellent BBC forensic drama Silent Witness: Season 3 (BBC, 383 min., $34.98), and the long-running Canadian period police procedural, Murdoch Mysteries: Season 9 (Acorn Media, 800 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), in which a team of investigators uses advanced forensic methods (for the show’s early 20th Century period) to solve some fascinating crimes, and meet some fascinating historical characters such as Carrie Nation, Anne of Green Gables  author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and Mark Twain (who is played by William Shatner).

Anime

New (to North America) releases this week include The Rolling Girls Complete Collection (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), 12-episode 2015 series produced by Wit Studios, a coming of age saga about a group of girls who travel across a divided, post-apocalyptic Japan; World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman Complete Collection (Funimation, 300 min., BD/DVD Combo $64.98), a 12-episode 2015 adaptation by Diomedia of a series of fantasy/martial arts light novels by Akamitsu Awamura that take place at Akane Academy where the students are reincarnated spirits of individuals who have memories of the lives they have lived in the past; the 2013 Sunrise production Gundam Build Fighters Complete Collection (Right Stuf, 650 min., $59.99, BD $74.99), a series about kids who build Gundam model kits that gets its mecha action via a virtual reality game that the kids play; and the Gourmet Girl Graffiti Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., Subtitles Only, $49.98, BD $59.98), which collects the 2015 series based on the 4-panel comedy manga.

The lone re-priced reissue is the Anime Classics edition of the Samurai 7 Complete Collection (Funimation, 650 min., BD/DVD Combo $49.98).  The only other anime release of note comes with a volume of the popular Attack on Titan manga.  The Attack on Titan Vol. 19 Special Edition (Kodansha USA, DVD Subtitles Only, $19.99) includes the second half of Attack on Titan: No Regrets, a 2-part OVA from 2014 based on the spin-off prequel manga written by Gun Snark.