This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - September 18, 2012

Maestro, a little mood music please. 

Yep. Indy is finally here, and of course I’m not talking about the 500. This is the four—all four Indiana Jones movies on high definition Blu-ray for the first time. “Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures” includes “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” and “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull” in quasi-book packaging. If you missed seeing old serials starring the likes of Gene Autry and Buster Crabbe, then George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s tongue-in-cheek adventures are the next best thing—better, actually, because they give B movies the A-movie treatment and star the charismatic Harrison Ford. This set, which comes with a fifth disc full of bonus features, ought to be at the top of everyone’s list this week (Blu-ray review). 

There’s also something nostalgically retro about Drew Goddard’s horror-thriller “The Cabin in the Woods,” which comes to Blu-ray (and DVD) for the first time this week (trailer). It’s like you’ve seen it all before, but as with the Indy sagas, if you’re a fan of the genre it’s a film that both celebrates its roots and throws in some new elements . . . and was that a wink you just noticed, or a very slight tongue in cheek?  Or maybe fingernails in your arm—watch out if you view this with someone else. The 2011 horror-thriller stars Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, and Anna Hutchison, with a screenplay by Joss Whedon (“The Avengers”) and Drew Goddard (“Lost”).

The horror comes mixed with sci-fi in “Supernatural: The Complete Seventh Season,” which is also available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning September 18. The popular WB/CW show, starring Jared Palalecki and Jensen Ackles, earned a People’s Choice Award for Best Sci-Fi TV Series and Best Drama Series the seventh season. Can you buy just this season and get what’s going on? Uh, probably not. The main storyline wrapped up in Season 5, so maybe you could get away with a Season 6 entry, but I doubt it. This one is for avid fans. 

You don’t have to have seen previous seasons of “Modern Family” to enjoy Season 3, which arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this week. It’s one of the most consistently LOL funny comedies on television, and it has two Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series to prove it. There hasn’t been an ensemble cast with this much personality and charisma since the old “Mary Tyler Moore Show.”  Everyone’s a star with this group, and it shows in the final product.

This week, Tim Burton fans can finally pick up a copy of “Ed Wood” on Blu-ray, the fact-based, stranger-than-fiction dramedy about the self-styled King of B Movies, starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, and Sarah Jessica Parker (trailer).

If you were holding out for a Criterion release of “The Game,” the 1997 mystery-thriller starring Michael Douglas, your strike is over. The David Fincher film comes to Blu-ray and DVD again in a new edition (trailer).

There are a lot of things that will appeal to various readers, so be sure to go through the release list—but be careful where you step. The closer we get to Halloween, the more the release calendar starts to look like a minefield of horror do-do.

I won’t go into detail, but some of the other things that stand out:

• For families, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta!” in Blu-ray combo pack and DVD (trailer)
• For Katy Perry fans, she offers “Katy Perry: Part of Me” (in 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD) (trailer)
• For fans of adult animation there’s the charming Oscar nominee “Chico & Rita” on Blu-ray and DVD (trailer)
• For baseball fans, there are gigantic box sets celebrating the "100th Anniversary of Fenway Park, Home of the Boston Red Sox," and the "50th Anniversary of the New York Mets"
• For “Suburgatory” lovers, Season 1 comes to DVD (promo)
• For classic cinema fans, there’s José Ferrer as “Cyrano de Bergerac” (trailer) and Orson Welles as “Macbeth” (trailer) on Blu-ray
• For fans of old-time Japanese fantasy-horror: “Daimajin” Triple Feature Collector’s Edition Blu-ray (trailer)
• For 3D lovers, there’s “Bait 3D” about sharks at a mall (trailer)
• For anime fans, there’s the creepily weird “Persona 4: Collection 1," on Blu-ray and DVD (opening)

And for people who are curious to see the first U.S. film to feature beastiality (and earn an X-rating), there’s “End of the Road” on DVD

Yeah, it’s a something-for-everyone kind of week. As Indy would say, grab a torch and wave it at anything that slithers.

Here are select new releases for the week of September 18, 2012:

BLU-RAY

• Babymakers, The (2012 adventure comedy)
• Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The (2011 dramedy)
• Best of Ancient Aliens, The (History Channel)
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta! (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 direct-to-video talking dogs)
• Black Sunday: Remastered Edition
• Cabin in the Woods, The (+ Digital Copy) (2011 horror-thriller)
• Chico & Rita (+ DVD + CD) (2010 animated musical-romance)
• Children of Paradise (Criterion) (1945 drama-romance)
• Cyrano de Bergerac (1950 José Ferrer drama-romance)
• Daimajin (Triple Feature Collector’s Edition)
• Devil’s Advocate, The (1997 thriller)
• Do-Deca-Pentathlon, The (2012 comedy)
• Double Life, A (1947 crime drama)
• Ed Wood (1994 Tim Burton dramedy)
• Fafner: Complete Series (anime)
• Game, The (Criterion) (1997 thriller)
• Games of the XXX Olympiad (2-Disc Collector’s Edition)
• Halloween II (Collector’s Edition)
• Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Collector’s Edition)
• Hatchet for the Honeymoon (Remastered Edition)
• Hawaii Five-O: Season 2 (new series)
• Hysteria (2011 romantic comedy)
• Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures
• Judge Dredd (1995 Stalone sci-fi crime action)
• Katy Perry: Part of Me (+ DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 documentary)
• King of Thorn (+ DVD) (anime)
• Macbeth (1948 Orson Welles drama)
• Magic of Belle Isle, The (2012 dramedy)
• Man-Trap (1961 drama)
• Mario Bava Collection, The: The House of Exorcism / Lisa and the Devil (Remastered)
• Modern Family: Season 3
• Persona 4: Collection 1 (anime)
• Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge (1991 direct to video horror)
• Queen of the Damned (2002 horror-fantasy)
• Supernatural: Season 7
• Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery, The Movie
• Victim, The (2011 thriller)
• Visiteurs du Sour, Les (Criterion) (1942 drama-romance)
• War of the Roses (Filmmaker Signature Series)

3D

• Bait 3D (+ Blu-ray + DVD) (2012 action thriller)
• Katy Perry: Part of Me (+ Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 documentary)

RECENT RELEASES

• Bait (2012 action thriller)
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta! (2012 direct-to-video talking dogs)
• Fenway Park Centennial: 100 Years as the Heart of Red Sox Nation
• Games of the XXX Olympiad: Gymnastics – Going for the Gold
• Games of the XXX Olympiad: Highlights
• Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012 documentary)
• New York Mets 50 Greatest Players
• New York Mets 50th Anniversary Collector’s Set
• 100 Years: Fenway Park, Home of the Boston Red Sox Collector’s Set

CATALOG TITLES

• Battle Circus (1953 Korean war drama-romance)
• Game, The (Criterion) (1997 thriller)

FAMILY/CHILDREN

• Kaboom! Halloween Spooktakular
• Lorax, The (1972 TV animated short)
• Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery, The Movie
• 3 2 1 Penguins!: Season 1
• VeggieTales: Little Ones Can Do Big Things

TV-ON-DVD

• American Experience: Death and the Civil War
• Army Wives: Season 6, Pt. 1
• Best of Ancient Aliens, The (History Channel)
• Body of Proof: Season 2
• Frontline: Endgame – AIDS in Black America
• Get a Life: Complete Series
• Hawaii Five-O: Season 2 (the new series)
• Mentalist, The: Season 4
• Modern Family: Season 3
• Rawhide: Season 5
• Suburgatory: Season 1
• Supernatural: Season 7
• Whiplash: Complete Series

SMALL STUDIO/INDIE/FOREIGN

• Adventures in Plymptoons! (2011 documentary)
• Babymakers, The (2012 adventure comedy)
• Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The (2011 dramedy)
• Chico & Rita (2010 animated musical-romance)
• Children of Paradise (Criterion) (1945 drama-romance)
• Detachment (2011 Adrien Brody drama)
• Do-Deca-Pentathlon, The (2012 comedy)
• End of the Road (1970 x-rated comedy-drama)
• Hysteria (2011 romantic comedy)
• Magic of Belle Isle, The (2012 dramedy)
• Man-Trap (1961 drama)
• Oslo, August 31st (2011 drama)
• Revenant, The (2009 horror-comedy)
• Salt of Life, The (2011 comedy)
• Salvation Boulevard (2011 action dramedy)
• Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap (2012 documentary)
• Understanding Art: Impressionism
• Victim, The (2011 thriller)
• Visiteurs du Sour, Les (Criterion) (1942 drama-romance)
• Woman in the Fifth, The (2011 thriller)

ANIME/MANGA

• Persona 4: Collection 1