This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - March 29, 2011

Can I borrow some money? This Tuesday I'm going to need a briefcase full. There are so many titles to talk about, I'd better dust off the subheads so you can skip past things that don't interest you.

New Releases
This past week Natalie Portman's stunt double, an American Ballet Theatre soloist, said she couldn't keep quiet any longer--that Natalie did only 5 percent of full-body dance shots in the movie, as opposed to the 85 percent Natalie's choreographer-fiancé said she did. "It is demeaning to the profession and not just to me. I've been doing this for 22 years," she told Entertainment Weekly. "Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if you're a movie star?"

Uh, that would be no. But give Ari Handel a break. He's in love, Natalie's having his baby, and to him she probably seemed like Wonder Woman in a tutu (she certainly did to me) . . . or maybe with the Blu-ray and DVD of "Black Swan" (2010) coming out this Tuesday he just got his numbers confused and was thinking about how much royalty money they're going to have to fix up the nursery. But that stunt double would rip out her bun if she read Christopher Long's review of the dance sequences as being "rather leaden." However much dancing Portman did, "Black Swan" captivated fans (other than Chris) for its combination of dance drama, dark mystery, and thriller. And shouldn't Portman get some credit for losing 20 pounds so she could fit into a leotard? For most of America, that's the real feat.

What Glen Keane and his animators did in "Tangled" was also quite an accomplishment, making 70 feet of Rapunzel hair look as if it had a mind of its own and creating smooth-skinned CGI figures that have an actual soft appearance. Rapunzel looks as warm and wide-eyed as Ariel, and she and the frying pan she uses as a weapon have an even bigger adventure. It's Disney's 50th animated feature, and "Tangled" does the tradition proud. It belongs in every family movie collection, and I say as much in my Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D review. It comes out in 4-disc or 2-disc combo packs and DVD.

If you like political intrigue or dramas based on true stories you might check out "Fair Game," available in Blu-ray or DVD. It's the story of how Valerie Plame was "outed" as a CIA covert operative by someone in the Bush administration and how she and her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, fought back. It's surprisingly well done, and as I say in my Blu-ray review, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn work well together to make the story believable on a number of different levels.

"Made in Dagenham" struck a chord with David Van Der Haeghen, who found this story of female factory workers fighting for rights downright inspiring. According to David's review, we're talking about 187 women out of 55,000 at a Ford Motor Factory. That's a story in and of itself.

Catalog Titles
Easter is coming up, and this week you can get three biblical spectacles on Blu-ray: "The Greatest Story Ever Told," "King of Kings," and the best of the bunch--the one that made Charlton Heston as big as the Bible, "The Ten Commandments." Heston plays Moses in this Cecil B. De Mille epic, and WOW does it look fantastic in fully restored HD. John J. Puccio gave it a 10 for video in his Blu-ray review, and I'd have to agree that it looks phenomenal. It gives an old movie new life, and that's a miracle too--available in two-disc Blu-ray or gift box set with added bonus features.

The best bet for a catalog family title this week is "The Secret of NIMH," a near-epic tale of what one field mouse will do to try to save her son. Here's the trailer from the Don Bluth animated film.

If pre-orders are any indication, there are a lot of anime fans waiting to get their hands on "Evangelion: 2.22 You Can [Not] Advance," which played in theaters as 2.0. It's the second of four films from Hideaki Anno's "Rebuild of Evangelion" tetralogy, and the fighters in this film really have a lot of NERV.

If you're a fan of horror, a couple of things might tempt you to open that wallet. "Scream" comes out on Blu-ray (as well as its lackluster sequels), and Ranjan Pruthee says in his Blu-ray review that it's "one of the best slasher movies out there." I don't know. What Scooter Libby did to the Wilsons in "Fair Game" was also a pretty good hatchet job. The other horror temptation might be "Dementia 13," which sounds like the psyche floor in a hospital but is really a collaborative effort between campy horror-master Roger Corman and his padawan, a 24-year-old Francis Ford Coppola. It comes out in Blu-ray + DVD combo pack.

TV
"Mad Men: Season 4" comes out this week, and this show has a following that's addicted to it as some of the characters are to booze. And what's not to like? This drama successfully recreates a world from the Sixties that no longer exists, and it earned an insane amount of Emmy nominations its first three seasons--49! Season 4 is available on both Blu-ray and DVD.

Highbrow TV lovers will be happy to see a 40th anniversary "Upstairs, Downstairs: Complete Series" available on DVD, because the 1971 mini-series about Edwardian England is mesmerizing, even for people who don't typically like such things. And fans of old-time classic sitcoms ought to go for "Dennis the Menace: Season 1," which, as I say in my review, is still entertaining and appeals to kids today as much as it did in 1959.

Speaking of kids, if your kids like "SpongeBob SquarePants" or "The Simpsons," you might introduce them to "Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Fifth Season." Jay Ward's manic brand of cartoon satire mixed kid fun with jokes that only their parents would get, influencing generations of animated TV shows to follow.

Indie/Foreign
If documentaries are your thing, Christopher J. Long highly recommends "The Times of Harvey Milk" (Criterion Collection), and in his Blu-ray review calls it "an early candidate for "Best of the Year" lists. "As a story of a man, a time, a place, a tragedy, and a legacy, it is an unqualified success," Chris writes. Milk, of course, was the first openly gay candidate to be elected to public office in California at a time when no openly gay candidates to speak of were in politics anywhere in America. And like most trailblazers, he paid for it with his life, murdered just 11 months into his term.

Finally, there's "Mesrine: Public Enemy #1, the follow-up to "Mesrine: Killer Instinct," based on the life of one of Europe's most notorious gangsters. Ranjan Pruthee called it "highly satisfying" in his Blu-ray review. I wonder if star Vincent Cassel had a stunt double for all but 5 percent of his gangland "dance"?

Here are select new releases for the week of March 29, 2011:

BLU-RAY
Against All Odds (Special Edition) (1984 Jeff Bridges adventure)
All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989, Don Bluth animation)
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
All Good Things (2010 Ryan Gosling/Kirsten Dunst drama)
Apocalypse: World War II (2009 documentary)
Attack Force Z (Anniversary Edition) (1981, Mel Gibson)
Awakenings (1990 De Niro/Williams drama)
Black Swan (2010 ballet drama-thriller)
Charlotte's Web (2006 live-action animals)
Dementia 13 (+ DVD) (1963 Roger Corman/Francis Ford Coppola horror)
Dogtooth (2009 drama)
Embodiment of Evil (+ DVD) (2008 Brazilian horror)
Evangelion: 2.22 You Can [Not] Advance (anime)
Fair Game (2010 political drama)
Greatest Story Ever Told, The (1965 biblical epic)
Inferno (1980 horror)
King of Kings (1961 biblical epic)
Long Kiss Goodnight, The (1996 Geena Davis/Samuel L. Jackson crime drama)
Mad Men: Season 4
Made in Dagenham (2010 UK dramedy)
Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008 French crime drama)
Mikado, The (Criterion) (1939 musical-comedy)
National Geographic: When Rome Ruled
Poor Pretty Eddie (+ DVD) (1975 drama-horror)
Resident, The (2011 Hammer Films horror-thriller)
Scream (1996 crime-horror)
Scream 2 (1997 quick follow-up)
Scream 3 (2000 "threequel")
Secret of NIMH, The
Sherlock Holmes: Complete Collection (Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce)
Soylent Green
SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The (+ DVD) (2004)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan/Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Tangled (+DVD) (2010 Disney animation)
Teen Wolf (1985, Michael J. Fox)
Ten Commandments, The (2-Disc Special Edition)
Ten Commandments, The (Limited Edition Gift Set) (+ DVD)
Terror, The (+ DVD) (1963 Roger Corman/Jack Nicholson horror)
Times of Harvey Milk, The (Criterion) (1984 documentary)
Topsy-Turvy (Criterion) (1999 bio-dramedy)
Treme: Complete First Season
UFC: Best of 2010

3D
Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (IMAX)
Tangled (+ Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)
Ultimate G's: Zac's Flying Dream (IMAX)

RECENT RELEASES
Apocalypse: World War II (2009 documentary)
Black Swan (2010 ballet drama-thriller)
Evangelion: 2.22 You Can [Not] Advance
Fair Game (2010 political drama)
Husk (2010 horror)
Imax: Hubble 3D (2010 documentary)
Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
Prowl (2010 horror)
Tangled (2010 Disney animation)
UFC: Best of 2010

CATALOG TITLES
Capone (1975 crime bio)
4 Film Favorites: Randolph Scott Collection (Colt .45/Fort Worth/Tall Man Riding/Ride the High Country)
Mikado, The (Criterion) (1939 musical-comedy)
Ten Commandments, The (2-Disc Special Edition)

FAMILY/CHILDREN
Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown (2011 direct-to-video)

TV-ON-DVD
Alan Bennett Collection, The (11 episode collection)
American Experience: Lee & Grant, Generals of the Civil War
Anything Goes
Big Time Rush
Capture of the Green River Killer, The (2008 crime drama)
Dennis the Menace: Season 1
Emergency: The Final Rescues
Everybody Loves Raymond: Seasons 6 & 7
Gangland: Final Season
Hercules, The Legendary Journeys: Season 2
Here's Lucy: Season 4
In Plain Sight: Season 3
Ken Burns: The Civil War (Commemorative Edition)
Mad Men: Season 4
National Geographic: When Rome Ruled
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete 5th Season
Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (1995 movie, Alec Baldwin/Jessica Lange)
Treme: Complete First Season
Upstairs, Downstairs: Complete Series (40th Anniversary Collection)
Upstairs, Downstairs: Series One (40th Anniversary Collection)
Vegas: Season 2, Vol. 2
Xena Warrior Princess: Season 2

INDIE/ART-HOUSE/FOREIGN
All Good Things (2010 Ryan Gosling/Kirsten Dunst drama)
Antony and Cleopatra (1972 Charlton Heston costumer)
Cool It (2010 documentary about dealing with global warming)
Human Experience, The (2008 search-for-answers documentary)
Ingredients (2009 obesity documentary)
Made in Dagenham (2010 UK dramedy)
Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 (2008 French crime drama)
Mother Lode (1982 Charlton Heston adventure, Australian)
Resident, The (2011 Hammer Films horror-thriller)
Restaurateur, The (2010 documentary)
Teenage Paparazzo (2010 documentary)
Times of Harvey Milk, The (Criterion) (1984 documentary)
Topsy-Turvy (Criterion) (1999 bio-dramedy)
Vanquished, The (I Vinti) (1953 Antonioni drama)

ANIME/MANGA
Evangelion: 2.22 You Can [Not] Advance
Guin Saga Collection 1
Linebarrels of Iron: Complete Series (Seasons 1, 2 and OVA)