This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - July 10, 2012

'Scuse me while I kiss this guy . . . off.

James

Plath

First online:

Sunday, July 8, 2012 - 3:10pm

The Make-a-Wish Foundation tries to make wishes come true for children who are being treated for illnesses that can be terminal. This week, just when you were about ready to puke if you read just one more article about the Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes breakup, The Hollywood Reporter warded off the gag reflex with a story about how Ron Perlman sat through four hours of make-up in order to spend a day with a six-year-old leukemia patient whose wish it was to “meet and become Hellboy.” So the star of “Sons of Anarchy” hung out with young Zachary, who then got to sit in the make-up chair himself.

How cool is that? As it turns out, way cooler than any of this week’s new releases.

There are a few goodies to put in your carts—no superheroes, hellish or otherwise, but Sean Connery comes close in “Outland,” out on Blu-ray for the first time this week. The futuristic cult classic crime thriller features Connery as a marshal who’s the only law on one of Jupiter’s moons, and that can be a drag when he runs into a bunch of drug smugglers. “Outland” and “Frequency,” starring Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel as father and son who somehow connect across time via a radio signal, are the best of the sci-fi offerings this week.

The high-profile release is “American Reunion,” a 2012 comedy that checks in with the “American Pie” gang 10 years later as they converge at their high school reunion. Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Tara Reid star in the R-rated romp. Call it a pieunion.

‘Scuse me, while I kiss the sky.

Jim Hendrix’s feedback-soaked guitar riffs will be rocking a lot of reunions and home theaters this week, as two offerings featuring the late guitar wizard come to Blu-ray for the first time. Bob Smeaton’s documentary “Voodoo Child” combines concert footage with interviews and Hendrix himself talking about his life and career. And for a time capsule of the ‘60s—which historians consider the period between the Kennedy assassination and Nixon resignation—you can’t do much better than “Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Plays Berkeley,” a film that intercuts a story of student unrest with footage from two concerts Hendrix played at the Berkeley Community Theatre in May 1970.

Two other documentaries also rise to the top of this week’s digital slag heap: “Senna,” a biography of late Formula 1 race car driver Ayrton Senna (out on Blu-ray), and “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope” (out on DVD), which tracks five attendees as they navigate the famed geek and tech fest.

As for the Best of TV, that’s for you to say, really, but a lot of people are going to be buying Season 1 of “Adventure Time,” the quirky Cartoon Network show about a boy and his dog that’s 100 percent fantasy. Same with fans of the Emmy-winning sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” featuring Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, and Kunal Nayyar. “Big Bang: Season 1” is available on both Blu-ray and DVD, while “Adventure Time” is only out on DVD. Meanwhile, classic TV fans who’ve been wondering how many decades it will take for “Alice” to make it to home video can breathe a sigh of relief. The Complete First Season of the diner sitcom, starring Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, and Polly Holliday, comes out on DVD this week.

Finally there’s the Blu-ray Digibook appearance of “Chariots of Fire,” a film about runners training for the Olympics that John J. Puccio says "does everything a good picture should do: It moves us. It challenges our mind. And it touches our heart." That's John. I personally think it's one of the more overrated films to win Best Picture. Though it was only 124 minutes, I found myself wishing it were shorter. Then again, I feel that way about every jog I take. I'd rather watch a vintage Red Skelton movie, and there are six to choose from this week—the best of which is "A Southern Yankee."

Here are select new releases for the week of July 10, 2012:

BLU-RAY

Altered States (1980 drama-fantasy)
American Reunion (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 comedy)
Astronaut’s Wife, The (1999 sci-fi thriller)
Being Flynn (2012 De Niro dramedy)
Big Bang Theory, The: Season 1
Big Bang Theory, The: Season 2
Bitch Slap (2009 crime comedy)
Blade II (2002 fantasy-action)
Brainstorm (1983 sci-fi thriller)
Chariots of Fire (1981 sport drama)
Cherry Bomb (2011 crime action)
Coma (1978 medical thriller)
Dark Nemesis (2011 direct-to-video fantasy-action)
Fightville (2011 documentary)
Flowers of War, The (2011 WWII-era drama)
Frequency (2000 sci-fi drama)
Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Plays Berkeley (2012 concert/documentary)
Margaret (2011 drama)
Mercenary for Justice (2006 Steven Seagal direct-to-video)
National Geographic: Untamed Americas
Outland (1981 Sean Connery sci-fi action)
Saphead, The (Ultimate Ed., Kino Classics) (1920 Buster Keaton comedy)
Senna (2010 racing biography-documentary)
Spawn (1997 John Leguizamo action fantasy)
Twins of Evil (1971 horror)
Voodoo Child (2012 Hendrix documentary)

RECENT RELEASES

American Reunion (2012 comedy)
Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Plays Berkeley (2012 concert/documentary)

CATALOG TITLES

Clown, The (1953 Red Skelton comedy)
Great Diamond Robbery, The (1954 Red Skelton comedy)
Half a Hero (1953 Red Skelton musical comedy)
Heat on the Street 4 Films: In Too Deep / Glass Shield / Malevolent / Rage in Harlem
Miramax British Romance Collection: Becoming Jane / Brideshead Revisited / Jane Eyre
Southern Yankee, A (1948 Red Skelton comedy)
Yellow Cab Man, The (1950 Red Skelton comedy)
Watch the Birdie (1950 Red Skelton comedy)

FAMILY/CHILDREN

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Batmunk
Barney: All about Opposites
Best of Caillou, The: Caillou’s Mysteries and Adventures
Despicable Me Presents: Minion Madness (3 mini-movies)
Sesame Street: Elmo’s Magic Numbers
Thomas & Friends: Schoolhouse Delivery
Wild Kratts: Jungle Animals

TV-ON-DVD

Adventure Time: Season 1
Alice: Season 1
Dark Shadows: Complete Original Series (Deluxe Ed.)
Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks
Doctor Who: Episode 47 – The Krotons
Duck Dynasty: Season 1
Earthworm Jim: Complete Series
Father Dowling Mysteries: Season 2
Frontline: Money Power and Wall Street
G.I. Joe Series 2: Season 2
Glades, The: Season 2
iCarly: Season 4
Jem and the Holograms: Season 3
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Discovery)
National Geographic: Untamed Americas
Note III, The (2012 movie)
Off Limits: Season 1
Warehouse 13: Season 3

INDIE/ART-HOUSE/FOREIGN

All In: The Poker Movie (2006 dramedy)
Being Flynn (2012 De Niro dramedy)
Black Limousine (aka The Land of the Astronauts) (2010 drama)
Butterfly Swords (aka Butterfly and Sword) (1993 action)
Cherry Bomb (2011 crime action)
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (2011 documentary)
Dark Nemesis (2011 direct-to-video fantasy-action)
Fightville (2011 documentary)
Flowers of War, The (2011 WWII-era drama)
41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It (2010 direct-to-video parody)
Freak Dance (2010 parody)
I Kissed a Vampire (2010 musical)
On the Ice (2011 drama-thriller)
Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog (2004 drama)
(R)evolution of Immortal Technique, The (2011 music documentary)
Royal Deceit (1994 adventure-drama)
Seven Minutes in Heaven (2009 indie drama)
Silent House (2011 drama-horror)
Zoom In: Sex Apartments (aka Zoom In: Rape Apartments) (1980 Japanese erotic horror)