This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - September 4, 2012

It’s been a strange week. People in my part of the world are still talking about Clint Eastwood’s somewhat bizarre speech at the Republican National Convention. He’s a brilliant director, but he could have used a little direction on how to fill time here . . . or that empty chair he talked to as he addressed an invisible President Obama. I had flashbacks to “Harvey,” with James Stewart talking to a six-foot rabbit, or Hamlet holding a skull and saying, “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him.”

I had the same feeling as I looked at this week’s releases: The bulk of them are just a little weird, and I found myself thinking fondly of previous release weeks.

Unless you’re a 3D HDTV owner or a lover of sci-fi and horror, there isn’t much to get you excited.

But come September 10 you can experience James Cameron’s groundbreaking CGI effects in 3D when “Titanic 3D” steams into retailers on a combo pack that includes a standard Blu-ray and Digital Copy—surprisingly, no DVD. I thought it was one of the weaker films to win an Oscar for Best Picture (trailer), but this romantic drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet is still big enough to be a take-note release for fans and swamp the other 3D offering this week: "Piranha 3DD," with all its campy gore and gratuitous bikinidom.

With Universal bringing out “Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection” on Blu-ray October 2, the door was open to discount the DVDs, and they’re doing that this week again by bundling more monster titles in a second volume. If you’re not waiting for HD and just want to experience the classic horror films, you can pick up “The Mummy” (1932), “The Wolf Man” (1941), “The Invisible Man” (1933) and “Phantom of the Opera” (1943) on the same DVD. This week Universal is also re-releasing “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957) in a 100th Anniversary edition that includes a Digital Copy.

Then there’s the Blu-ray release of “Re-Animator,” the 1985 sci-fi/horror flick about a med student who follows in Dr. Frankenstein’s footsteps and tries to re-animate dead tissue (trailer). It’s based on an H.P. Lovecraft story.

For more recent sci-fi fare there are Blu-ray releases of two popular TV series, with “Fringe: Season 4” and “Haven: Season 2” coming out this week on DVD as well. And if you need laughs with your supernaturalism, there’s Disney’s “Hocus Pocus,” also out on Blu-ray for the first time this week. The 1993 Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy campy comedy about back-from-the-dead witches on Halloween night isn’t one of my favorites (review), but it’s decent family fare and it was one of Disney’s most requested titles for HD.

Of course, if the supernatural isn’t your thing, you could inject a little straight humor into your life by picking up the Blu-ray of “The Office: Season 8” . . . or you could just watch Eastwood’s RNC appearance again. Somehow, by the end of his talk, this movie icon managed to make everybody’s day.

Here are select new releases for the week of September 4, 2012:

BLU-RAY

• Bored to Death: Season 3
• Child’s Play (1972 drama-mystery)
• Chronos (IMAX) (1985 short documentary)
• Dark Mirror, The (1946 film noir thriller)
• Five-Year Engagement, The (+ DVD + Digital Copy + UV) (2012 romantic comedy)
• Fringe: Season 4
• Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The (20th Anniv. Ed.) (1992 horror-thriller)
• Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection (+ DVD + UV Digital Copy)
• Haven: Season 2
• High School (2010 comedy)
• Hocus Pocus (+ DVD) (1993 horror-comedy)
• How to Make It in America: Season 2
• Hung: Season 3
• Mad Monster Party (+ DVD) (1967 Rankin-Bass animated comedy)
• Man on a Swing (1974 crime drama)
• National Parks Exploration Series: The Great Smoky Mountains
• National Parks Exploration Series: Yellowstone
• Navigator, The (Ultimate Ed.) (1924 Buster Keaton comedy)
• New Leaf, A (1971 romantic comedy)
• Office, The: Season 8
• Person of Interest: Season 1
• Pursued (1947 Western)
• Re-Animator (1985 horror/sci-fi)
• Safe (+ Digital Copy) (2012 Jason Statham crime-action)
• Secret beyond the Door (1947 film-noir drama)
• Sleepwalkers (1992 horror)
• Two Broke Girls: Season 1
• Umberto D. (Criterion) (1952 Italian drama)

3D

• Piranha 3DD (+ Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) (2012 comedy-horror)
• Titanic (+ Blu-ray + Digital Copy) (James Cameron’s 1997 drama-romance) (Sept 10)

RECENT RELEASES

• Baseball’s Greatest Games: San Francisco Giants First Perfect Game
• Piranha DD (2012 comedy-horror)

CATALOG TITLES

• Classic Monsters Spotlight Collection: The Mummy / The Wolf Man / The Invisible Man / Phantom of the Opera
• Dark Mirror, The (1946 film noir thriller)
• Incredible Shrinking Man, The (+ Digital Copy) (1957 sci-fi)
• Last of Sheila, The (1973 crime mystery)
• New Leaf, A (1971 romantic comedy)
• Pursued (1947 Western)
• Secret beyond the Door (1947 film-noir drama)

FAMILY/CHILDREN

• Adventures of Chuck & Friends, The: Monster Rally
• Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The (1938 adventure)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: Halloween Collection
• Cookie Jar Christmas Cartoon Collection
• Cookie Jar Halloween Cartoon Collection
• Huckleberry Finn (1975 Ron Howard adventure)
• Tom and Jerry: Tricks ro Treats

TV-ON-DVD

• Bored to Death: Season 3
• Criminal Minds: Season 7
• Dead Files, The
• Fringe: Season 4
• Ghost Adventures: Season 4
• Good Wife, The: Season 3
• Grey’s Anatomy: Season 8
• Grounded for Life: Complete Series
• Haven: Season 2
• How to Make It in America: Season 2
• Hung: Season 3
• Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Vol. 1
• Office, The: Season 8
• Parks and Recreation: Season 4
• Person of Interest: Season 1
• R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, The Series: Vol. 1
• R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, The Series: Vol. 2
• Roseanne: Season 6
• Sherlock Holmes: TV Miniseries Collection
• That 70s Show: Season 5
• That 70s Show: Season 6
• Two Broke Girls: Season 1
• Young James Herriot

SMALL STUDIO/INDIE/FOREIGN

• Ballplayer: Pelotero (2011 documentary)
• Five-Year Engagement, The (2012 romantic comedy)
• For the Love of Money (2012 crime drama)
• High School (2010 comedy)
• Legend of 1900, The (1998 musical drama)
• Lisztomania (1975 bio-fantasy)
• Man on a Swing (1974 crime drama)
• Megaforce (1992 sci-fi)
• Mother’s Day (1980 horror)
• Sacrifice (2010 historical drama)
• Screaming in High Heels: The Rise and Fall of the Scream Queen Era (2011 documentary)
• Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day (2012 drama)

ANIME/MANGA

• Haibane Renmei: Complete Series
• Pokemon Dp: Sinnoh League Victors, Set 3
• Psychic Squad: Collection 3