This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - August 7, 2012

Give ME bottom billing, will they?

James

Plath

First online:

Sunday, August 5, 2012 - 1:16pm

In just a little over a week fans can see Whitney Houston’s final performance when “Sparkle” hits the theaters (trailer). On New Release Tuesday they can pick up the Blu-ray of “The Preacher’s Wife,” featuring one of Houston’s best performances in an underrated film that’s one of my family’s holiday favorites (trailer).

Houston has plenty of sparkle in this remake of “The Bishop’s Wife,” especially playing opposite Denzel Washington, who’s an angel returned to earth charged with answering one family’s prayers. He can’t help falling in love with the reverend’s wife, and neither can we. “The Preacher’s Wife” is available on high definition for the first time this week, along with four other comedies from Disney: “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” (starring Lisa Kudrow and Mia Sorvino at their Valley Girl best) (trailer), “Adventures in Babysitting” (starring Elisabeth Shue in a film that was remade less successfully as “The Sitter” with Jonah Hill) (trailer), and two John Cusack films, “Grosse Pointe Blank” (in which he plays a hit man goaded into showing up at his 10-year high school reunion) (trailer), and “High Fidelity” (where he’s a record store owner who has better luck with vinyl than women) (trailer).

It’s a week for oldies on the new format. “Clue: The Movie” also comes to Blu-ray for the first time this week (trailer), and while the 1985 crime comedy based on the popular game disappointed some critics, it was still solid enough to please audiences. Western lovers get two big titles on Blu-ray: “Rio Grande,” the third installment in John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, and “Johnny Guitar,” a revisionist Western in which Joan Crawford plays a strong woman who doesn’t need Johnny to help her deal with the bad men in her life (clip). French critics named it the Number 1 Western at one point, so is it worth adding to your collection? Oui oui!

Then there’s the Blu-ray Book 25th Anniversary Edition of “Full Metal Jacket,” the powerful Vietnam War drama from Stanley Kubrick that followed recruits from boot camp to street fighting in Vietnam (trailer). “Spaceballs,” Mel Brooks’ “Star Wars” send-up, also comes out in a 25th Anniversary Edition, though it’s not clear what the bonus features are or if they’re worth the upgrade (trailer).

If you liked “Avatar” and are annoyed that “Avatar 2” won’t come out until 2015, maybe “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale” will hold you. Te-Sheng Wei directed this story of an indigenous people whose harmonic existence is threatened by people from another culture who want to enslave them. Curse those imperialists and developers . . . in any language! “Warriors” comes out on both Blu-ray and DVD this week (trailer).

If documentaries are your thing—or reggae, pot, or Bob Marley—look for “Marley” on Blu-ray and DVD. The documentary from Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland,” “A Brief History of Errol Morris”) comes out on both Blu-ray and DVD this week (trailer).

Finally, for new releases there’s “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” starring the voice talents of Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, and Danny DeVito, the casting of whom proves that Universal was going after a short audience (trailer). But since 3D features have been few and far between, “The Lorax” will probably look pretty big to 3D-HDTV owners. Gigantic, even. It’s also available on standard Blu-ray and DVD.

Here are select new releases for the week of August 7, 2012:

BLU-RAY

Adventures in Babysitting (25th Anniversary Edition) (1987 comedy)
Blue Like Jazz (2012 dramedy)
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998 sequel)
Boogens, The (1981 horror)
Bound (1996 crime thhriller)
Clue: The Movie (1985 crime comedy)
Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat (1971 animation)
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (+DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 animation)
Evan Almighty (2007 comedy-fantasy)
Family Guy: Blue Harvest
Full Metal Jacket (25th Anniversary Edition Digibook)
Grimm: Season 1 (+ UV Copy)
Grosse Pointe Blank (15th Anniversary Edition) (1997 crime comedy)
High Fidelity (2000 dramedy)
Incredible Mr. Limpet, The (1964 comedy)
Iron Sky (2012 sci-fi comedy)
Johnny Guitar (1954 Western)
Killing Bono (2011 Irish comedy)
Marley (2012 music documentary)
Preacher’s Wife, The (1996 holiday fantasy-drama)
Rio Grande (1950 Western)
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (15th Anniversary Edition) (1997 comedy)
Sebastiane (Remastered Edition) (1976 historical drama-thriller)
Spaceballs (25th Anniversary Edition) (1987 parody)
Steve Niles’ Remains (2011 drama-horror)
Strike Back: Season 1
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (4.5 hour international version)
World God Only Knows, The: Season 2 (anime)

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (+Blu-ray +DVD + Digital Copy)

RECENT RELEASES

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax
Marley (2012 music documentary)

CATALOG TITLES

Bound (1996 crime thriller)
Calendar Girl (1993 teen comedy)
Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Vol. 4 (Jewel Robbery / Lawyer Man / Man Wanted / They Call It Sin)
Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Vol. 5 (Miss Pinkerton / Hard to Handle / Ladies They Talk About / The Mind Reader)
Johnny Guitar (1954 Western)
Long Memory, The (1953 drama-thriller)
Oklahoma Crude (1973 comedy-drama)
Time Out for Rhythm (1941 musical)

FAMILY/CHILDREN