This week’s home entertainment releases include a Brad Pitt-starring, hard science fiction epic, a very successful film based on the Downton Abbey TV miniseries, the latest animated film from Dreamworks, the fifth and final Rambo film, and the last season of the Syfy bounty-hunters-in-space series Killjoys.

Theatrical Releases

This week’s lone science fiction release is Ad Astra (Fox, “PG-13,” $29.98, BD $37.98, 4K $45.99), a near-future, hard science fiction film written and directed by James Gray that stars Brad Pitt.  The critics loved Ad Astra (84% positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences didn’t (it made only $127 million worldwide).  Despite its realistic space travel scenes Ad Astra is bogged down in its family drama as Pitt journeys across the solar system to find his father whose experiment might just put our sun and its planet in danger.  Audiences found Ad Astra, which clocks in at 124 minutes, slow moving and a bit on the ponderous side, while critics marveled at Pitt’s subtle, buttoned-up performance.

This week’s most successful (at the box office) release was an unlikely hit, a movie that continues the narrative of the U.K. TV series Downton Abbey.  Downton Abbey: The Movie (Universal, “PG,” 122 min., $29.98, BD $34.98) takes place in the 1920s and centers on a royal visit to the great house, which unleashes a whirlwind of intrigue, romance, and scandal.  Fans of the series will enjoy this film, which was written by series creator Julian Fellowes and features quality performances from the TV series’ cast including Hugh Bonneville, Michele Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, and especially Maggie Smith.

This week’s animated release is Abominable (Universal, “PG,” 98 min., $29.98, BD $34.99, 3D $39.99), the latest feature film from Dreamworks (Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar).  There is nothing really wrong with Abominable (unless you count the way it glosses over the Chinese occupation of Tibet), and kids will probably enjoy it, but it is a bit too predictable for adults, who taken their brood to a few too many uplifting cartoon epics.

This week’s most disappointing release might be Rambo: Last Blood (Lionsgate, “R,” $29.98, BD $34.98, 4K $42.99), the fifth and likely final Rambo film, which finds Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo character in an adventure that bears more than a little resemblance to Taken as Rambo travels to Mexico to rescue the daughter of a friend from a fiendish drug cartel.  It’s a bit sad to see a venerable action franchise end in this sort of imitative fashion, but diehard fans will find lots of bloody action in this film that doesn’t spare the body count.

TV on DVD

This week’s lone TV release of interest is Killjoys: Season Five—The Final Season (Universal, 427 min., $39.98), the last 10 episodes of the recently-concluded Syfy network series about a trio of hard-living bounty hunters who patrol a four-planet-and moon system known as “The Quad.”  Killjoys is old school “adventure sci-fi” with plenty of genre-friendly characters, quips, and tropes—and no overbearing message or thematic seriousness.

The only other release is the penultimate season of the Netflix series Fuller House, a continuation of the 1980s sitcom Full House.  Fuller House: Season 4 (Warner Bros. $24.98).  The critics hate this series, but fans of the original series evidently enjoy it.

Anime

This week’s lone new anime release is the Bloom Into You: Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., BD $69.99), which collects the 13-episode 2018 anime series from Troyca that is based on the yuri (“women in love with women”) manga written by Nia Nakatoni.  The anime series covers the events of the first five volumes of the manga series, which is published here by Seven Seas Entertainment.