This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - May 8, 2012

I'm not cowering. I'm just waiting for my super sense to kick in and let me know whether I'll kick ass like a vampire or a werewolf. Decisions, decisions. Hey, maybe BOTH!

James

Plath

First online:

Sunday, May 6, 2012 - 9:14pm

In theaters, “The Avengers”—that superhero-times-seven action film—avenged all the weak box-office openings in movie history with a Friday-night midnight release that brought in $18.7 million, enough to top “The Dark Knight” in that category. I guess it only validates what Hollywood has been saying all these years: more is more.

Don’t look for that same level of excitement for home theaters this week, unless you’re a big fan of Kate Beckinsale or the “Underworld” films. “Underworld: Awakening” is the big-title release this week, and fans of the franchise seem to think that this fourth installment is one of the best. I thought so too, if you’re all about the action—and Beckinsale’s vampire character Selene knows a thing or two about kick-ass vengeance (trailer). The series also gets a much-needed plot lift with the introduction of India Eisley as Beckinsale’s hybrid daughter in this bloodier, more action-packed version of the “Twilight” vampires vs. werewolves narrative. It’s out on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD this week (Blu-ray review).

The action is more realistic in “The Front Line,” an excellent war drama about the last battle fought by a Korean unit during the Korean War (trailer). The Korean language film, with English subtitles, may rely on standard war-movie conventions, but it also incorporates quite a few twists and memorable details. It too is available on both Blu-ray and DVD (Blu-ray review).

Then it’s a case of two Americans—the hyperpatriotic John Wayne, and the radical writer-provocateur Norman Mailer. For less than $4 per film you can get “The John Wayne Film Collection,” which features the Duke on DVD in 10 films—two of them exceptional (“The Longest Day,” “Red River”), three of them solid (“The Horse Soldiers,” “The Comancheros,” “The Big Trail”), two of them decent (“The Alamo,” “The Undefeated”), and two of them less stellar Wayne outings (“Legend of the Lost,” “The Barbarian and the Geisha”). But it’s all Wayne, all-American, in that swaggering, manifest destiny way the Duke had of making you believe he stood for everything this country collectively believed in . . . Pilgrims!

Norman Mailer, meanwhile, seemed to challenge everything about America, as one of its great writers but strongest critics. “Norman Mailer: The American” also comes out on DVD this week, and fans of the writer or of biographies ought to check it out (trailer). This compressed-but-comprehensive film by Joseph Mantegna covers every aspect of Mailer’s sometimes tawdry and tumultuous life, including rundowns on all his books (34, by my count), wives (six), Pulitzer Prizes (two), arrests (several are covered, but this one is tough to count), and runs for mayor (one). The documentary includes never-before-seen footage of Wife #2 talking about the time Mailer stabbed her, and we see real footage of actor Rip Torn (“Men in Black”) hitting Mailer on the head with a hammer and Mailer trying to bite his ear off. There’s some wild and crazy stuff here, with Mailer representing the wilder, darker, hateful, more violent and gun- and sex-obsessed sides of many Americans.

Finally, “La Haine” is worth a mention. The black-and-white French film, whose title translates to mean “The Hatred,” tells the story of three friends living in a non-native suburb of Paris following a clash between the French and immigrants. It’s a thought-provoking film that explores the progressive feelings of intolerance, anger, and violence (French trailer). A Criterion edition of the 1995 film is being released on Blu-ray this week.

So there you have it. May 8 is a violence-filled New Release Tuesday, but there are some entertaining and satisfying moments to be found in the midst of mayhem.

Here are select new releases for the week of May 8, 2012:

BLU-RAY

Beautiful Wave (2011 surfing drama)
Chuck: Season 5
Chuck: Seasons 1-5
Dirty Dancing: 2 Film Collection (Dirty Dancing / Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights)
42nd Street Forever: The Blu-ray Edition
Front Line, The (+ DVD) (2011 Korean war drama)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990 horror-fantasy-comedy)
Guin Saga (Complete Collection) (anime)
Haine, La (Criterion) (1995 drama)
Horror Triple Feature, Vol. 2 (Scar / The Terror Trap / Midnight Movie)
Humans vs. Zombies (2011 comedy-horror)
Humans vs. Zombies (+ DVD + comic book)
Last Breath, The (2010 horror)
Mother’s Day (2010 crime-drama-horror)
Playback (2012 horror)
Psychotica (2006 horror-thriller)
Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 comedy)
Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie
Ultraviolet: Awakening (+ UV Copy)
Underworld: The Legacy Collection (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans / Underworld: Awakening)
Vow, The (2012 romantic drama)

Shock Labyrinth (+ Blu-ray + DVD) (2008 horror-thriller)
Underworld: Awakening (+ UV Digital Copy)

RECENT RELEASES

Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (2012 comedy)
Underworld: Awakening
Vow, The (2012 romantic drama)

CATALOG TITLES

Clear All Wires! (1933 comedy-drama-romance)
Desperate Search (1952 drama-adventure)
Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Wild Women
If Winter Comes (1947 drama)
I’ll Wait for You (1941 drama-romance)
John Wayne Film Collection, The (Big Trail / Red River / Legend of the Lost / Barbarian and the Geisha / Horse Soldiers / The Alamo / North to Alaska / The Comancheros / The Longest Day / The Undefeated)
Mother’s Day (2010 crime-drama-horror)
Three Loves Has Nancy (1938 comedy)
Tish (1942 comedy-drama)
Westward the Women (1951 Western)
Yank at Eton, A (1942 Mickey Rooney comedy)