This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - July 31, 2012

Diamonds ARE a girl's best friend, But in a pinch, a magic school bus will do.
James Plath's picture
James
Plath
First online:
Monday, July 30, 2012 - 2:27am

Marilyn Monroe came along at just the right time. WWII created a need for pin-up girls like Betty Grable, and the whole idea of sex symbols was still part of the post-war culture when young Monroe’s modeling career took a big turn onto the big screen. Like Elvis, she quickly became larger than life, and, dying young like Elvis, remains “Forever Marilyn” in the minds of her fans.

That’s the title of this week’s biggest release: a seven-film Blu-ray collection from Fox that includes her funniest film (“Some Like It Hot”), her poignant last film (“The Misfits”), a quintessential sex comedy (“The Seven Year Itch”), her only serious Western (“River of No Return”), and a film in which her presence makes it easier to take the foghorn-voiced Ethel Merman (“There’s No Business Like Show Business”). In this set you can watch her perform “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” (“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”), and Monroe meshes well with Grable and Lauren Bacall in “How to Marry a Millionaire.” The set is pricey ($73.86 at Amazon), but the seven films also come out individually this week, if you’re building your monument to Marilyn one film at a time.

Another special lady comes to home video this week, and if you had children who watched TV in the ‘90s (or if you watched animated TV shows yourself) you might be ready to take a ride on “The Magic School Bus.” Each week Miss Frizzle (voiced by Lily Tomlin but drawn a bit like Mrs. Garrett from “The Facts of Life”) took her students on adventures that would cause most school board members to dirty their drawers, with the magic school bus transforming into submarines, space ships . . . anything that was needed to transport students to a hands-on learning experience. The Complete Series comes out on DVD this week from New Video Group, but like the Marilyn offerings you can get the show ala carte, if you prefer.

And if’n you take exception to what I said and are quick to reach for the gun, well, you might be related to the “Hatfields & McCoys,” whose story comes to Blu-ray and DVD after a successful run as a TV miniseries. Everyone has heard of the famous feud, but like politics today, nobody can really explain it. That’s the attraction of this series, which stars Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton, Matt Barr, Tom Berenger, and Powers Boothe in this post-Civil War drama. The show earned a whopping 21 Emmy nominations, and it’s out on both Blu-ray and DVD this week.

Shark Week fans will get their gills fluttering over the Shark Week 25h Anniversary Collection on Blu-ray or DVD, especially after all the real-life reports of recent shark attacks. Now that’s the kind of release you’d think would be in 3D . . . but when the 3D release calendar is full of mediocre titles that couldn’t swim a straight line, you have to wonder if 3D is dead in the water. Again.

Here are select new releases for the week of July 31 19, 2012:

BLU-RAY

  • ATM (2012 horror-thriller)
  • Body and Soul (1947 boxing film noir)
  • Detention (2011 comedy-horror)
  • Faculty, The (1998 horror/sci-fi)
  • Fire with Fire (1986 romantic drama)
  • Firstborn (1984 thriller)
  • Force of Evil (1948 crime/film noir)
  • Forever Marilyn (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes / How to Marry a Millionaire / The Seven Year Itch / Some Like It Hot / The Misfits / River of No Return / There’s No Business Like Show Business)
  • 4.3.2.1 (2010 crime thriller)
  • Fortress (2012 direct-to-video war drama)
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953 musical comedy)
  • Grande Illusion, La (1937 POW drama)
  • Hatfields & McCoys (2012 miniseries)
  • Havre, Le (Criterion) (2011 dramedy)
  • Hijacked (2012 action-thriller)
  • How to Marry a Millionaire (1953 romantic dramedy)
  • LOL (2012 Miley Cyrus comedy-romance)
  • Nazi Invasion (aka Jackboots on Whitehall) (2010 animation-comedy)
  • River of No Return (1954 Western)
  • Scalene (2011 thriller)
  • Seven Year Itch, The (1955 comedy)
  • Shark Week (25th Anniversary Collection)
  • Strike Witches: Season 1 (+ DVD) (anime)
  • There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954 musical dramedy)
  • Total Recall (Mind-Bending Edition) (1990 sci-fi action)
  • Whisperer in Darkness, The (2011 horror)

3D

  • Job, The (+ Blu-ray) (2009 drama)
  • Las Vegas 3D
  • Pete Smalls Is Dead (2010 comedy)
  • 2:22 in 3D
  • War Flowers (+ Blu-ray) (2011 drama) (August 1 release)

RECENT RELEASES

  • Marvel: Wolverine (2012 animated)

CATALOG TITLES

  • Firstborn (1984 thriller)
  • Force of Evil (1948 crime/film noir)
  • 4.3.2.1 (2010 crime thriller)
  • Marilyn: The Premiere Collection (All about Eve / As Young as You Feel / Let’s Make It Legal / Love Nest / Don’t Bother to Knock / Monkey Business / O. Henry’s Full House / We’re Not Married / Gentlemen Prefer Blondes / How to Marry a Millionaire / Niagara)

FAMILY/CHILDREN

  • Dora the Explorer: Dora’s Fantastic Gymnastics Adventure
  • Magic School Bus: Blast Off! From Space to Sea
  • Magic School Bus, The: Complete Series
  • Magic School Bus: Field Trip Fun & Games
  • Magic School Bus, The: Super Star Power
  • Magic School Bus, The: Takes a Dive
  • Magic School Bus, The: Takes Flight
  • Twinkle Toes: The Movie by Skechers

TV-ON-DVD

  • At Home with the Georgians (2010 documentary)
  • Carnal Innocence (2011 mystery)
  • Fog and Crimes: Season 1
  • Hatfields & McCoys (2012 miniseries)
  • Jodi Picoult Collection (Salem Falls / Plain Truth / The Pact)
  • Kent Chronicles, The (The Bastard / The Rebels / The Seekers)
  • Melrose Place: Season 7
  • Misfits: Season 1
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXIV
  • Reality of Love (aka I Want to Marry Ryan Banks) (2004 movie)
  • Shark Week (25th Anniversary Collection)
  • Transformers Prime: One Shall Stand
  • Young Justice: Dangerous Secrets
  • Weight of the Nation, The (2012 documentary)
  • Whisperer in Darkness, The (2011 horror)

SMALL STUDIO/ART-HOUSE/FOREIGN

  • ATM (2012 horror-thriller)
  • Bunny Game, The (2010 horror)
  • Dead Season (2012 horror)
  • Detention (2011 comedy-horror)
  • Fire with Fire (1986 romantic drama)
  • Fortress (2012 direct-to-video war drama)
  • Havre, Le (Criterion) (2011 dramedy)
  • Last Days Here (2011 music documentary)
  • LOL (2012 Miley Cyrus comedy-romance)
  • Nazi Invasion (aka Jackboots on Whitehall) (2010 animation-comedy)
  • Redemption: For Robbing the Dead (2011 Western)
  • Sand Sharks (2011 direct-to-video horror-comedy)
  • Scalene (2011 thriller)
  • Story of the Costume Drama, The (2008 documentary)
  • We the Party (2012 comedy)
  • Zyzzyx Rd. (2006 thriller)