This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - August 28, 2012

There! Maybe next time I tell you claymation pirates are following us, you'll believe me!

James

Plath

First online:

Sunday, August 26, 2012 - 2:59pm

It’s another big release week, so, like the Republicans in Tampa, brace yourselves. In fact, the high-profile titles are a couple of offshore adventures.

It may be imperfect, and as William Lee says, it's everything audiences have come to expect from a summer blockbuster. "It's loud and dumb with story secondary to expensive special effects." But I have to say it’s refreshing to see a movie inspired by an old Hasbro board game, rather than a video game. “Battleship” sails onto home theater screens this week in two editions: The Dinghy Edition DVD (as I’m christening the no-frills release) and The Flagship Edition—a Blu-ray combo pack that includes everything but the galley sink— a DVD, Digital Copy, and UV copy of the film (trailer). It’s aliens vs. the Navy in this action film from Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”).

In the other big release, Pirate Captain tries to win the cherished Pirate of the Year Award, though, as pirates go, he and his crew really are what the title says: “The Pirates! Band of Misfits.” Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman and Imelda Staunton lead a talented voice cast for Aarman’s fifth animated feature film, and the first of their claymation stop-motion features to be filmed in 2:35:1 widescreen and released in 3D. You can get this one in 3D combo pack, Blu-ray combo pack, or DVD (trailer).

If you’ve been dying to introduce someone squeamish to the Universal classic horror films, maybe a good way to begin is to show them “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” a 1948 comedy that throws in Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolfman and Bela Lugosi as Dracula at no extra charge (trailer). The comic duo of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello shine in the first of their “meets monsters” films, this time playing freight handlers whose latest shipments—creatures headed for a horror museum—turn out to be very much alive. The classic horror comedy comes to Blu-ray for the first time as one of the headliners in this week’s Universal 100th Anniversary offerings of new Blu-ray combo packs, which also includes the 1950 James Stewart Oscar winner “Harvey,” about an alcoholic who's convinced he's keeping company with a six-foot rabbit (trailer).

When it rains it pours, and TV-on-DVD fans will feel the deluge as they try to figure out which releases to target. At the top of most people’s list will be “The Walking Dead: Season 2,” that gotta-love-‘em zombie apocalypse saga starring Andrew Lincoln. Also topping the list are “Boardwalk Empire: Season 2,” the Emmy-winning series about Atlantic City politician-mobster Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), and “Homeland: Season 1,” about an Iraq War vet and CIA operative in a cat-and-mouse game. All of them come out in Blu-ray or DVD. And tailgating right behind them are the bad boys from “Sons of Anarchy: Season 4” and the fairytale smitten residents of Storybrooke in “Once Upon a Time: Season 1,” also out in Blu-ray or DVD (trailer).

Off the radar there’s “Headhunters,” a Norwegian crime-thriller about a headhunter who’ll stop at nothing to get his hands on a painting owned by a former mercenary (trailer). It’s out on both Blu-ray and DVd, as is “Monsieur Lazhar,” an uplifting drama about an Algerian immigrant who’s hired to replace a Quebec teacher who killed herself . . . in the classroom (trailer). Talk about a tough act to follow.

Here are select new releases for the week of August 28, 2012:

BLU-RAY

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (1948 comedy-horror)
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 6
Airport (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (1970 disaster drama)
Apartment 143 (2011 horror)
Atonement (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2007 drama)
Battleship (+ DVD + Digital Copy + UV) (2012 action-adventure)
Boardwalk Empire: Season 2
Darling Companion (2012 dramedy)
Death Watch (1980 sci-fi drama)
Doin’ It Again (Beach Boys 50th Anniversary performances/behind-the-scenes)
Double Indemnity (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (1944 film noir crime drama)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2004 sci-fi drama)
Freezing: Complete Series (Ltd. Ed. + DVD) (anime)
Harvey (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (1950 James Stewart dramedy-fantasy)
Headhunters (2011 crime thriller)
Viral Factor, The (2012 Hong Kong action drama)
Homeland: Season 1
Jersey Shore Shark Attack (2012 TV movie)
Jurassic Park (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (1993 sci-fi adventure)
K-On!: Season 2, Collection 2 (anime)
Living Dead Girl, The (1982 horror)
Lonesome (Criterion) (1928 romantic dramedy)
Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Ed. 5-Disc Set) (2001)
Lord of the Rings, The: The Return of the King (Extended Ed. 5-Disc Set)
Lord of the Rings, The: The Two Towers (Extended Ed. 5-Disc Set)
Lovely Molly (2011 horror)
Lucky One, The (2012 drama)
Lucky One, The (+ DVD + UV)
Monsieur Lazhar (2011 dramedy)
Moth Diaries, The (2011 horror)
Once Upon a Time: Season 1
Out of Africa (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (1985 drama)
Pirates!, The: Band of Misfits (+ DVD + UV) (2012 animation)
Quadrophenia (Criterion) (1979 crime drama-musical)
Scarface (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (1983 crime drama)
Sons of Anarchy: Season 4
Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012 animated sci-fi action)
Think Like a Man (+ UV) (2012 romantic comedy)
Two Orphan Vampires (Remastered Ed.) (1997 horror)
Walking Dead, The: Season 2
Walking Dead, The: Season 2 (Ltd. Ed.)

Pirates!, The: Band of Misfits (+ Blu-ray + DVD) (2012 animation)

RECENT RELEASES

Battleship (2012 action-adventure)
Doin’ It Again (Beach Boys 50th Anniversary performances/behind-the-scenes)
Lucky One, The (2012 drama)
Pirates!, The: Band of Misfits (2012 animation)
Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012 animated sci-fi action)

CATALOG TITLES

Birds, The (+ Digital Copy) (1963 Hitchcock)
Disney 4-Movie Collection: Classics (The Gnome-Mobile / Darby O’Gill and the Little People / The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band / The Happiest Millionaire)
Disney 4-Movie Collection: Herbie (The Love Bug / Herbie Goes Bananas / Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo / Herbie Rides Again)
Looney Tunes: Mouse Chronicles (The Chuck Jones Collection)
Vertigo (+ Digital Copy) (1958 Hitchcock)

FAMILY/CHILDREN

Dinosaur Train: Big Big Big
I Am Gabriel (2012 direct-to-video inspirational)
Shrek’s Thrilling Tales (Halloween)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Ghouls Fools (Halloween)

TV-ON-DVD

Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 6
Amazing World of Gumball, The: The DVD
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations – Collection 7
Boardwalk Empire: Season 2
Danny Phantom: Season 2, Pt. 2
Green Lantern Animated Series: Season 1, Pt. 1
Homeland: Season 1
In Plain Sight: Season 5
Jersey Shore: Season 5 (Uncensored)
Nickelodeon Double Feature: Big Time Movie / Rags
Once upon a Time: Season 1
Rooftop Prince (Korean dramatic series)
Sons of Anarchy: Season 4
Streets of San Francisco, The: Season 4
Two and a Half Men: Season 9
Walking Dead, The: Season 2

SMALL STUDIO/INDIE/FOREIGN

Ancient Alien Question: From UFOs to Extraterrestrial Visitations (2012 documentary)
Apartment 143 (2011 horror)
Area 407 (2012 sci-fi/horror)
Blood Money (2012 Hong Kong action)
Citizen Gangster (2011 crime drama)
Cocktail (2012 Bollywood)
Darling Companion (2012 dramedy)
Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer
Headhunters (2011 crime thriller)
Life Happens (2011 comedy)
Lonesome (Criterion) (1928 romantic dramedy)
Louie Giglio: How Great Is Our God (Passion Talk Series)
Lovely Molly (2011 horror)
Monsieur Lazhar (2011 dramedy)
Moth Diaries, The (2011 horror)
Nate & Margaret (2012 dramedy)
Newest Pledge, The (2012 Jason Mewes comedy)
Quadrophenia (Criterion) (1979 crime drama-musical)
Think Like a Man (2012 romantic comedy)
Viral Factor, The (2012 Hong Kong action drama)