This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - October 9, 2012

Man, compiling this week’s list was about as fun as a trip to the dentist. I’m on the road, using a borrowed laptop that has a mind of its own (with, for example, keys that suddenly decide to go upper or lower case, without me pushing anything). I’ve really been wrestling with this computer. Or rather, being pinned by it and shouting UNCLE! UNCLE! as if I was Flick from "A Christmas Story" and this mechanical monster was Scut Farkus.

So it’s a darned good thing that, unless you're feeling an urge to "call home," this week’s column is basically just one word: “Prometheus.” 

Without question, it’s the most high-profile film of 2012 (trailer). The only thing that’s been more heavily hyped is the U.S. jobs report. Movie Met’s Henning Molbaek is going to hate me for this, but frankly I’m tired of hearing about both of them. So everyone run out and buy the 3D version of “Prometheus” that Henning recommended so we can all get on with our lives. Just don’t expect “Alien 5.” It may have started out that way, but “Prometheus” took on a life of its own. The action is set in the same galaxy (uh, far far away), but the film has its own mythology. As director Ridley Scott explained, “Prometheus” has “some of the same strands of DNA” as “Alien." Okay, but isn’t human and ape DNA like 98 percent alike?

There’s more sci-fi adventure in “E.T.,”which comes to Blu-ray for the first time in an edition that includes a DVD and Digital Copy, so it's the time to ride that bicycle again. "E.T. The Extraterrestrial Anniversary Edition" features all new bonus features in addition to the high-def transfer. It's a little harrowing in spots for younger family members, but if seven-year-old Drew Barrymore can hack it, so can they. E.T. put Barrymore on the map.

Meanwhile, Beatles fans can get “Magical Mystery Tour” on Blu-ray this week, but I’d wager that they’ll probably watch it with nostalgic anticipation and go, “What were we thinking?” Well, you probably weren’t thinking. You were probably smoking something, even if it was only like Bill Clinton, who famously claimed to have tried pot but “didn’t inhale.” I’d sooner believe a professor friend of mine who said he tried it but didn’t exhale. The Beatles films may have worked during the Psychedelic Sixties, but their amateurish quality is really exposed if you watch it straight.

You’ll be scared straight with a couple of classics that remind you of how good Hollywood thrillers used to be. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford star in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” a 1962 drama-chiller about a former child star and her sister who live in seclusion. Or if you have a 3D TV you can watch one of the best film noir crime mystery-thrillers ever made. “Dial M for Murder” is directed by none other than Alfred Hitchcock and stars Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings in a tale about an ex-tennis pro who sets out to murder his wife, until things get complicated.

There are a lot of family offerings this week, the best of which is Disney’s “The Great Mouse Detective,” a darker-than-usual mystery based on the Basil of Baker Street children’s books and featuring the voice of Vincent Price as the villainous Professor Ratigan. It's out on Blu-ray for the first time (review).

Finally, for a little down-to-earth sci fi, a little total eclipse of the sun fun, there’s the musical version of “Little Shop of Horrors” starring Rick Moranis in a family-friendly tale of an extraterrestrial plant that thrives on blood. It’s out in a new Director’s Cut Digibook, and Steve Martin is hilarious as the leather-wearing dentist who enjoys causing people pain.

Heck, he should have been a computer designer or programmer.

Here are select new releases for the week of October 9, 2012:

BLU-RAY

• Barrens, The (+ DVD) (2012 horror)
• Beatles, The: Magical Mystery Tour (1967 fantasy)
• Beatles, The: Magical Mystery Tour (Deluxe Box Set)
• Bedevilled (2010 horror)
• Bones: Season 7
• Cat in Paris, A (+ DVD) (2010 animation)
• Dead Ringer (1964 Bette Davis crime drama)
• Deep Rising / The Puppet Masters (Double Feature)
• Doom / The Scorpion King / The Rundown (Triple Feature)
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Anniv. Ed.) (+ DVD + Digital Copy + UV) (1982 sci-fi)
• Father Hood / Life with Mikey (Double Feature)
• Find Me Guilty (2006 crime dramedy)
• Great Mouse Detective, The (+ DVD) (1986 Disney animation)
• Heaven’s Memo Pad: Complete Collection (anime)
• Holliston: Season 1
• Hostel / Hostel II (Double Feature)
• Ice Station Zebra (1968 action)
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 7
• Jarhead / The Kingdom / Green Zone (Triple Feature)
• Last House on the Left, The / The Strangers / A Perfect Getaway (Triple Feature)
• League, The: Season 3
• Little Shop of Horrors (Director’s Cut Digibook) (1986 musical)
• Orchestrion Project, The (Pat Metheny concert jam w/extras)
• Poseidon Adventure, The (1972 disaster movie)
• Prometheus (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 sci-fi adventure)
• Raven, The (2012 mystery-thriller)
• Red Dawn (Patrick Swayze/Charlie Sheen action)
• Rock of Ages (+ DVD + UV) (2012 music dramedy)
• Rock of Ages (+ UV)
• Scooby-Doo!: Big Top Scooby-Doo!
• Strangers on a Train (1951 film noir crime drama)
• Werewolf: The Beast among Us (2012 horror)
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (50th Anniv. Digibook) (1962 thriller)

3D

• Dial M for Murder (1954 film noir thriller)
• Orchestrion Project, The (music)
• Prometheus (+Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 sci-fi adventure)

RECENT RELEASES

• Prometheus (2012 sci-fi adventure)
• Raven, The (2012 mystery-thriller)
• Rock of Ages (2012 music dramedy)
• Werewolf: The Beast among Us (2012 horror)

CATALOG TITLES

• E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (Anniv. Ed.) (1982 sci-fi)
• Little Shop of Horrors (Director’s Cut) (1986 musical)
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (50th Anniv. Ed.) (1962 thriller)

FAMILY/CHILDREN

• Annie Claus Is Coming to Town (live-action movie)
• Arthur: Arthur’s Perfect Christmas
• Balto / Balto II: Wolf Quest Double Feature
• Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia
• Care Bears: The Original Series Collection
• Curious Garden, The . . . and more stories about nature (Scholastic)
• Fireman Sam: Holiday Heroes
• Happiness is Peanuts: Go Snoopy Go!
• Monster High: Ghouls Rule (2012 animated)
• Robot Zot . . . and more rhyming stories (Scholastic)
• Scooby-Doo!: Big Top Scooby-Doo!
• Thomas & Friends: A Very Thomas Christmas
• Too Many Toys . . . and more stories about problem solving (Scholastic)
• 12 Dogs of Christmas: Great Puppy Rescue (live action)

TV-ON-DVD

• Bones: Season 7
• Combat!: Fan Favorites
• Digimon: Digital Monsters – Season 1
• League, The: Season 3
• Lucy Show: Season 6
• Whitney: Season 1
• Yancy Derringer: Complete Series

SMALL STUDIO/INDIE/FOREIGN

• Barrens, The
• Basket Case 3
• Cadaver Christmas, A
• Cat in Paris, A
• Chinese Odyssey 1 & 2
• Cottage, The
• Courier, The
• Eclipse 36: Three Wicked Melodramas from Gainsborough Pictures (Criterion) (The Man in Grey / Madonna of the Seven Moons / The Wicked Lady)
• Four More Years
• Mechanical Man, The
• God Is the Bigger Elvis
• Orchestrion Project, The (concert jam w/extras)
• Semper Fi: Always Faithful
• Something Big (Western)
• Tokyo Stories

ANIME/MANGA

• Deadman Wonderland: Complete Series (Ltd. Ed.)
• Heaven’s Memo Pad: Complete Collection
• Naruto Shippuden: Set 12