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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem
(2015) The Dark Knight isn't seeking tricks or treats when Gotham City's most lethal villains take to the streets on Halloween night in the newest DC Comics animated film. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Digital. Extras: "Gotham 2030: Designing a Future World." (Warner).
The Beginners Bible, Volume 3
(2015) Family-friendly series based on the best-selling children's book of the same name. Featuring an original theme song from Kathie Lee Gifford, this series combines music and animation to bring the age-old stories of the Bible to rich and compelling life. Includes English and Spanish language versions. The three new-to-DVD stories: "The Story of Jesus and His Miracles," "The Story of the Good Samaritan" and "The Story of the Prodigal Son."
Formats: DVD: $9.95. (Time-Life).
The Blacklist: The Complete Second Season
(2014-15) Three-disc set with all 22 episodes. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: "Raymond Reddington: Man of the World," "Building a Blacklister: Vanessa Cruz." Blu-ray adds commentaries, Deleted Scenes, "After the Game: Luther Braxton" featurette, Known Associates: Red's Inner Circle. (Sony).
Bottoms Up
(2014) Documentary that examines the newest trend in aesthetic surgery: big butts. The film explores the media's impact and other societal pressures that have propelled big butts from a cult fetish to a mainstream phenomenon. With an influx of new "it" girls from Kim Kardashian to Nicki Minaj, women have taken drastic -- and often dangerous -- measures to achieve the impossible and often unreal. Formats: DVD. (Cinedigm).
Catching Faith
(2015) Lorena Segura York, Dariush Moslemi, Garrett Westton, Bethany Peterson. John and Alexa Taylor appear to have the perfect life – they’re the envy of all the parents in town. Their son Beau is the high school football star and their daughter Ravyn is a straight-A student. But when Beau is caught drinking alcohol, his place on the team and his bright future are on the line. With the football season at stake and the judgmental community turning their backs on them, every member of the Taylor family is at a crossroads. Now, they must find the strength from one another, and the spiritual courage from within, to prove that faith and family is the only score that really matters. Formats: DVD. (RLJ Entertainment).
Day for Night
(1973) This loving farce from Francois Truffaut ("Jules and Ji"m) about the joys and turbulence of moviemaking is one of his most beloved films. Truffaut himself appears as the harried director of a frivolous melodrama, the shooting of which is plagued by the whims of a neurotic actor (Jean-Pierre Leaud); an aging but still forceful Italian diva (Valentina Cortese); and a British ingenue haunted by personal scandal (Jacqueline Bisset). An irreverent paean to the prosaic craft of cinema as well as a delightful human comedy about the pitfalls of love and sex, "Day for Night" is buoyed by robust performances and a sparkling score by the legendary Georges Delerue. In a new 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: New visual essay by filmmaker :: kogonada; new interview with cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn; new interview with film scholar Dudley Andrew; documentary on the film from 2003 featuring film scholar Annette Insdorf; archival interviews with Truffaut; editor Yann Dedet; and actors Jean-Pierre Aumont, Nathalie Baye, Jacqueline Bisset, Dani, and Bernard Menez; television footage of Truffaut on the film's set in 1972; trailer; an essay by critic David Cairns. (The Criterion Collection).
Ejecta
(2014) Julian Richings, Lisa Houle, Adam Seybold, Mark Gibson. A horrific alien invasion forces two men to fight for their lives during one universe-altering night of terror. William Cassidy, a man haunted by a lifetime of alien encounters, searching for answers while evading menacing government agents, invites a paranormal researcher to his secluded home in the woods on the evening of a massive solar flare. What occurs there will change both men -- and possibly the Earth -- forever. Formats: Blu-ray/DVD Combo. Extras: (Scream factory/IFC Midnight).
5 to 7
(2014) Anton Yelchin, Berenice Marlohe, Lambert Wilson, Glenn Close, Eric Stoltz, Frank Langella, Olivia Thirlby. A chance encounter on the streets of Manhattan draws twentysomething aspiring writer Brian (Yelchin) into a passionate love affair with a glamorous Frenchwoman (Marlohe). The catch? She's married, and can only meet him for hotel room trysts between the hours of 5 and 7. As Brian yearns for more than just two hours a day with the woman of his dreams, he learns hard lessons about life and love. Formats: DVD. (IFC Films).
It Happened Here
(2014) A feature length documentary about the alarming pervasiveness of sexual assault on college campuses, the impact on students, their families and institutions, and the burgeoning movement of student survivors coming forth and taking action against their schools -- on campus and in federal court. Formats: DVD. (Docurama/Cinedigm).
Kung-Fu & Titties
(2013) Sean Molnar, Bronson Pinchot, Shawn C. Phillips, John Archer Lundgren, Raine Brown, Seregon O'Dassey. Richard Titties, an out-of-shape martial arts wannabe, is shot into an alternate dimension after his girlfriend Cynthia is kidnapped. Her captors are a group of breast-obsessed madmen led by Zeefros, the master of the supernatural realm. Richard joins up with his sister Raine Brown, a Gorilla and a gaggle of other strange characters in order to save his girlfriend as well as all those who dwell in the alternate world. Formats: DVD. (Green Apple Entertainment/MVD Visual).
La Grande Bouffe
(1973 -- France/Italy) The most famous film by Italian provocateur Marco Ferreri ("Dillinger is Dead"), "La Grande Bouffe" was reviled on its release for its perversity, decadence and attack on the bourgeoisie -- yet it won the prestigious FIPRESCI prize after its controversial screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Four friends, played by international superstars
Little Boy
(2015) Jakob Salvati, Emily Watson, Michael Rapaport, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin James. Family drama about a little boy who is willing to do whatever it takes to bring his father home from World War II. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Deleted scenes, "Sneak Attack" animated short. (Universal).
Mike & Molly: The Complete Fifth Season
(2014-15). Three-disc set with 22 episodes, $24.98. Formats: DVD. Extras: Gag reel. (Warner).
NCIS: The 12th Season
(2014-15) Six-disc set with 23 episodes. Fielding cases from local cyber-terrorists to international pirates and elusive serial killers, the NCIS team keeps adventure in the line of fire. Led by Special Agent Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), this expert squad hunts down humanity's most notorious enemies in the name of freedom and justice for all. Formats: DVD; Blu-ray Disc due Sept. 15. Extras: "Pre-Flight Jitters: Shooting on Location," "Bad to the Bone," "Rocky Carroll: Director," "Inside Season 12," "Table for Ten," commentary on select episodes, deleted and extended scenes. (CBS/Paramount).
NCIS: Los Angeles: Season 6
(2014-15) Six-disc set with 24 episodes. Agents "G" Callen (Chris O'Donnell) and Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) lead their team of high-caliber operatives, including Special Agent Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah), LAPD liaison Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen), tech wizard Eric Beale (Barrett Foa), and intelligence analyst Nell Jones (Renee Felice Smith). This season, the team mobilizes to protect beloved Operations Manager Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt) from a lethal Cold War enemy, even as they're being investigated by the Department of Justice. NCIS Assistant Director Owen Granger (Miguel Ferrer) struggles to keep the unit in check, as they push every boundary and cross every line to defend their country, complete their missions and safeguard their own. Formats: DVD. Extras: "Yippee Ki-Yay," "The World on a String," "Turning Back Time," "Too Late for Comfort," "Clothed for the Season." (CBS/Paramount).
Nomads
(1986) Lesley-Anne Down, Pierce Brosnan, Adam An, Mary Woronov, Frank Doubleday. A French anthropologist moves to Los Angeles and is followed by the evil spirits of an extinct tribe he once uncovered. Bitten by a dying madman named Jean Pommier (Brosnan), Dr. Eileen Flax (Down) becomes the vessel for his turbulent and insane thoughts. Thrust into his last days, she is shocked to discover the existence of mysterious and murderous demons on a quest for destruction. Formats: Blu-ray Disc. Extras: New interviews with Lesley-Anne Down and composer Bill Conti, trailer, radio spot, still gallery. (Scream Factory).
Psycho Beach Party BLU-RAY DEBUT
(2000) Lauren Ambrose, Thomas Gibson, Nicholas Brendon, Charles Busch, Amy Adams, Nicholas Brendon. Based on Charles Busch's hilarious long-running stage play, "Psycho Beach Party" is a wickedly fun satire of Hollywood movie genres. Chicklet (Lauren Ambrose), a wannabe surf-girl with a split personality, becomes the primary suspect after a string of humorously gruesome murders terrifies the teen set. When the clues take her to the beach, the fun and suspense begin. (Strand Releasing).
The Riot Club
(2014) Max Irons, Sam Reid, Sam Claflin, Natalie Dormer, Jessica Brown Findlay, Douglas Booth, Holliday Grainger. An Oxford University dining club with a centuries-old tradition of callous carousing gets its comeuppance in this dark, savage drama from award-winning director Lone Scherfig, who analyzed British class differences in the Best Picture Academy Award nominee "An Education." Here she turns her attention to the privileged sons of modern-day Britain in a scathing look at money, sex and power. The elite Riot Club, named after the 17th-century Lord Riot (murdered for seducing a professor's wife), holds an annual extravagant meal that culminates in wild drunkenness and destruction. Britain's future captains of industry and Tory cabinet ministers drink, take drugs to excess, humiliate women, smash up restaurants and beat up commoners simply because it's an age-old tradition. But the hedonistic night of drinking and drugs quickly spins out of control ... with dire consequences. Formats: DVD, Digital. (IFC Films).
The Royals: The Complete First Season
(2015) Three-disc set with 10 episodes, $39.98. Set in modern-day England, the series follows the lives of a fictional British Royal family that inhabits a world of opulence and regal tradition catering to any and every desire -- a world that also comes with a price tag of duty, destiny and intense public scrutiny. Formats: DVD. Extras: Three featurettes: "Madness in Great Ones: Creating the Royals," Behind the Royal Wardrobe," "Private vs. Public: A Modern-Day Monarchy." (Lionsgate).
Seventeen
(1982) Documentary tells the unvarnished story of a group of seniors in their ultimate year at Muncie's Southside High School, hurtling toward maturity with a combination of joy, despair, and an aggravated sense of urgency. They also learn a great deal about life, both in and out of school, and not what school officials think they are teaching, along the way. Originally slated to air on PBS, "Seventeen" was pulled because of concerns by some over the film's content, which includes interracial romance and vulgar language. When the film was subsequently released theatrically, it was hailed by critics. The final film in the famous "Middletown" six-part series on the city of Muncie, Indiana -- nicknamed "Middletown" after a study in the 1920s deemed it representative of middle America. Formats: DVD. (Icarus Films).
Welcome Back, Kotter: The Final Season
(1978-79) Four-disc set with 23 episodes, $29.93. Season Four of one of the 1970's most fondly remembered sitcoms has some big changes in store for the gang at James Buchanan High School (which, of course, included John Travolta). Mr. Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) gets promoted from teacher to vice principal, which causes some of his students to consider dropping out. The Sweathogs also invite a new member to their ranks: the slick-tongued Southerner Beauregarde
Z Storm
(2014 -- Hong Kong) Louis Koo, Gordon Lam, Dada Chan, Michael Wong, Lo Hoi Pang, Liu Kai Chi. Action-packed Hong Kong crime thriller about Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and its investigation of a charity fund that has become involved in a Ponzi scheme. A scandal that shocked a nation: the biggest financial scam in Hong Kong’s history, with all seven million citizens its unknowing victims. Chief Officer Luk (Koo) of the anti-corruption force ICAC has set a trap, but the web of greed, power, sex, and deception he uncovers reaches the highest levels of power in his own government -- and beyond. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Digital. Extras: Making-of featurette, cast interviews. (Well Go USA).
The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
The highest-grossing Swedish film of all time. Based on the international bestseller of the same name by Jonas Jonasson, which has sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. The tale of centenarian Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafson), a man who has spent his long and colorful life working in the munitions industry while getting entangled in historic events from the Spanish Civil War to the Manhattan Project. Finding himself stuck in a nursing home and determined to escape on his 100th birthday, Allan leaps out of a window and onto the nearest bus, kicking off an unexpected escapade involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some wicked criminals, and an elephant named Sonya. Like an unruly Nordic cousin of Forrest Gump, "The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" offers Allan's present-day exploits alongside flashbacks of his youthful adventures, with his passion for explosives attracting the attention of everyone from Joseph Stalin to Robert Oppenheimer to Ronald Reagan. Allan's adventures of yesterday and today weave together into a delicious treat. In English and Swedish with English subtitles.
Vitals: Director: Felix Herngren. Stars: Robert Gustafsson, Iwar Wiklander, David Wiberg, Mia Skaringer, Jens Hulten, Alan Ford.
2015 -- Sweden, CC, MPAA rating: R, 115 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $.838 million, Music Box Films.
Extras: Making-of featurette, cast and crew interviews, trailer. 
Little Boy
Heartwarming film about a little boy who is willing to do whatever it takes to bring his father home from World War II captures the wonder of life through the eyes of a 7-year-old child and reminds us of the power of faith, hope and love in the face of adversity.
Vitals: Director: Alejandro Monteverde. Stars: Jakob Salvati, Emily Watson, Michael Rapaport, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin James.
2015, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 107 min., Drama, Box office gross: $6.485 million, Universal. Extras Deleted scenes, "Sneak Attack" animated short. 
Blood Cells
(2014) Barry Ward. A decade after a catastrophe destroyed his family and their farm, momentous news from home compels an exiled young man to embark upon an intense and surreal journey through the broken and beautiful margins of contemporary Britain. Formats: DVD, VOD. (Garden Thieves Pictures).
Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret retreat to a country mansion where they are determined to eat themselves to death whilst engaging in group sex with prostitutes and a local school teacher (Andrea Ferreol), who seems to be up for anything. At once jovial and sinister, the film's jet-black humor has a further twist as the reputed actors (whose characters use their own names) buck their respectable trend for a descent into fart-filled chaos that delivers a feast for the eyes and mind.In a new 2K restoration from the original camera negative with original French audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray). Formats: Blu-ray/DVD Combo. Extras: "The Farcical Movie," a French television profile of Marco Ferreri from 1975 in which the director discusses, among other things, the influence of Tex Avery, Luis Bunuel and Tod Browning's "Freaks"; behind-the-scenes footage of the making of "La Grande Bouffe", containing interviews with Ferrari and Mastroianni, Piccoli, Tognazzi and Noiret; extracts from the television series "Couleurs autour d'un festival" featuring interviews with the cast and crew recorded during the Cannes Film Festival; a visual essay on the film by Italian film scholar Pasquale Iannone; select scene audio commentary by Iannone; news report from the Cannes Film Festival where "La Grande Bouffe" caused a controversial stir, including Ferreri at the press conference; original trailer; reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx; booklet featuring new writing on the film by Johnny Mains, illustrated with original archive stills and posters. (Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment Group).
Lambert & Stamp
(2015) The remarkable story of Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert, aspiring filmmakers who set out to find a subject for their underground movie, leading them to discover, mentor and manage the iconic band that would become known as The Who. They forged a complex and moving relationship, fueling the band's artistic development, which would leave an indelible imprint on its time and on generations to come. The film is charged with a mad concoction of noise, love, rebellion, artistry and hilarity, as it takes us along on the surprise ride of two men who shaped one of the most exciting bands of all time. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Commentary with director James D. Cooper, Q&A with Henry Rollins Cooper.Blu-ray adds never-before-seen archival footage of The Who: The Who in Finland, The Who Promotional Film 1967, Where The Action Is. Call Me Lightning. (Sony).
NCIS: New Orleans: The First Season
(2014-15) Six-disc set with all 23 episodes, $55.98. A spin-off of "NCIS is set in the Crescent City. The cases and lives of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's New Orleans branch, which consists of Senior Special Agent Dwayne Cassius "King" Pride (Scott Bakula)), Special Agent Christopher LaSalle (Lucas Black), Special Agent Meredith Brody (Zoe McLellan), forensic scientist Sebastian Lund (Rod Kerkovich) and Medical Examiner Loretta Wade (CCH Pounder). Together, they can counter any threat, from escaped prisoners, to bio-threats, to unrepentant killers. Formats: DVD Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Commentaries by Jeffrey Lieber and James Hayman; commentary by Mark Harmon and Gary Glasberg; deleted scenes; launch promos; "Crescent City (Part I)"; "Crescent City (Part II)"; "After The Storm"; "A Big Easy Success"; "Spooktacular"; "Mardi Gras: The NCIS Way"; "Touring the Sets"; "The Write Angle"; "Strike Up the Band"; "Starting Up in New Oleans"; "How Rob Got the Job." (CBS/Paramount).
Rookie Blue: Season Five, Volume One
(2014) Three-disc set. Series about a group of green rookies fresh out of the Academy who start their careers with 15 Division -- one of the most elite units in the city. Now, as Andy McNally (Missy Peregrym) and her fellow officers enter their next year as seasoned pros, more resilient than ever, each day still continues to bring new surprises and revelations. Formats: DVD: $39.98. Extras: "Life is Not a Fairytale" featurette, webisodes. (Entertainment One).
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
(2015) Kelli Garner, Susan Sarandon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Emily Watson. Based on the best-selling book by J. Randy Taraborrelli, the film -- which originally aired on Lifetime, explores the life of cultural icon and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, tracking the troubled starlet's road to global superstardom in tandem with her personal struggles. "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe" begins with the young Norma Jeane Mortenson (Garner) as she battles a lonely, loveless existence with an absent and mentally ill mother. She ultimately reinvents herself as the sex symbol of an era. A fragile artist, she's very different from the larger-than-life image she portrayed. The great secret of Marilyn's life is that her mother, Gladys (Sarandon), remained a vital -- and troubling -- part of her world. Her marriages to Joe DiMaggio (Morgan) and Arthur Miller collapse in part due to her own inner demons and the onslaught of her mother's illness. As Marilyn cares for her mother, her obsession with President John F. Kennedy leads to a breakdown and hospitalization. Still, she gives the performance of her life as Marilyn Monroe.
Formats: DVD: $19.98. (Lionsgate).
The Seventh Dwarf
(2015) CG-animated musical mash-up of classic fairy tales with a winged dragon, a brave little dwarf and a host of storybook characters. It's the eve of Princess Rose's 18th birthday and everyone in the kingdom has come to Fantabularasa Castle to celebrate -- including Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood. But just before the stroke of midnight Bobo, the youngest dwarf, accidentally pricks the finger of Princess Rose (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) with a cursed needle and sends the kingdom into a century-long slumber! To find Rose's true love to save her with a kiss, Bobo and the other six dwarfs must go on a treacherous journey, face a fiery dragon and outwit the jealous, scheming and evil witch Dellamorta. Features the voices of Peyton List and Norm MacDonald. Formats: DVD, 3D-2D Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital. Extras: Character profiles, sing-alongs, downloadable Royal Birthday Invitation. (Shout! Factory).
Vendetta
(2015) Dean Cain, Paul Wight, Michael Eklund, Benjamin Hollingsworth. A detective pushed beyond his limits will stop at nothing for vengeance: When his wife is killed by a criminal that he put away, a hard-nosed detective deliberately gets arrested in order to get revenge. While inside, he discovers a new criminal enterprise that those behind it would kill to protect. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: "The Making of Vendetta," "A Haunted Location" featurette, "A Big Transformation featurette." (WWE/Lionsgate).
"Beau" De LaBarre (Stephen Shortridge). And in perhaps the most surprising situation of all, the oddball Horshack (Ron Palillo) finds love and gets married. Formats: DVD. (Shout! Factory).
August 16, 2015
(ISSN 1094-3676).
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