THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

Barbarella (Paramount)

Barbarella isn’t a very good movie. It isn’t even very good when it comes to the whole cheesy/sci-fi/sex-romp/shagadelic-’60s mash-up it falls into and may be the sole representative of. But the 1968 fantasy – directed by Roger Vadim and starring his then-wife Jane Fonda in one of the most awesomeriffic, if not exactly practical, spacesuits ever designed – is a cultural milestone for its balls-to-the-wall vision of Flash Gordon for swingin’ adults. Plus, Duran Duran named itself after a character. This Blu-ray debut doesn’t offer a whole lot of valuable extras, but the film’s psychedelic-colored influence on 2001: A Space Odyssey and others is significant.

Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Giant Monsters (Entertainment One)

These four episodes from the horror host’s syndicated TV show feature movies featuring creatures that are even more massive than Elvira’s prominently displayed boobs. You know what you’re getting with The Giant Gila Monster and Attack of the Giant Leeches.

God Bless America (Magnolia)

Writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait’s amusing bloodfest is part social satire, party revenge fantasy. Bill Murray’s brother plays a guy with a brain tumor who slaughters reality-TV stars, religious nuts, and other people who piss him off, which is pretty much everybody.

The Hunter (Magnolia)

Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as a mercenary hired by a shadowy organization to hunt a tiger that’s near extinct … if it even exists at all. But this meditation on the soul of man and course of nature wanders off path when the hunter’s quest takes a turn toward redemption.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

The Christopher Nolan Blu-ray Collection (Warner)

We can’t think of a better way to pump ourselves up for the upcoming Dark Knight Rises than with this hefty Blu-ray box set featuring all but one of the movies made by this generation’s best director. The excellent magician-movie mind-fuck The Prestige is MIA, but everything else is here: 2000’s twisty-narrative breakthrough Memento, the oft-overlooked Insomnia, the dream-tripping Inception, and, of course, the two Batman films that redefined the concept of comic-book movies. Hours of commentaries, production features, and deleted scenes should keep you busy until the Dark Knight rises again in three weeks.

The Artist (Sony)

If you haven’t seen this year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture, here’s your chance to marvel at one of the best movies of 2011, a tribute to silent-screen cinema that hits all the right notes without uttering a single word until the end.

Deliverance (Warner)

The movie that gave backwoods hillbillies a bad name celebrates its 40^th anniversary with a special Blu-ray book package that includes a bunch of behind-the-scenes info, including new interviews with the cast.

The 39 Steps (Criterion)

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 movie about a man, a spy, and a misunderstanding – a foreshadowing of sorts to Hitch’s classic North by Northwest – makes its Blu-ray debut. Scholarly extras give it historical heft.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

Louie: Season Two (Twentieth Century Fox)

Sometime during the second seasons of Louis C.K.’s FX show, it became the best comedy on TV. The seeds are planted in the second episode, when a crazy homeless man chasing Louie is decapitated by a truck – possibly the single funniest moment of the entire series. But Louie transcends television’s guidelines midway through the 13-episode run, when Louie takes his two young daughters to visit an elderly aunt. During their long, boring drive, Louie cranks up the Who’s “Who Are You” and proceeds to rock out to the song – all six minutes of it – while behind the wheel. It’s brilliant. And it’s the cornerstone of this essential set.

Big Miracle (Universal)

This boring family film, based on a true story about a reporter and his activist ex who set out to save a family of whales trapped beneath a sheet of Arctic ice, certainly has good intentions. And stars John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore are less annoying than usual.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home (Paramount)

The writer-director sibling team responsible for Cyrus scores again with this sweet comedy (starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms) about a lazy dude who lives in his mom’s basement. He finds purpose when he helps his brother spy on his maybe cheating wife.

Wanderlust (Universal)

So-so comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as a recession-smacked metro couple settling into a new life on a neo-hippie commune. Dick jokes, Malin Akerman, and Justin Theroux’s hair angle for screen time, but once again Rudd saves the day.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

The Gold Rush (Criterion)

Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 silent comedy The Gold Rush isn’t his best movie, but it his most popular and iconic film. This is the one where his Little Tramp eats a shoe and makes his dinner dance. But more importantly it’s the movie where Chaplin whittles down the sugary pathos found in his other work and keeps the entire 90 minutes – his first film to reach this length – moving at a fast, furious, and funny pace. This Blu-ray debut includes lots of terrific supplements: four features about the movie, commentary by a guy who wrote a book about the director-star, and, best of all, a 1942 version of the movie recut by Chaplin to include narration and music. Essential.

Entourage: The Complete Eighth Season (HBO)

The final season of HBO’s series about a struggling actor and his group of hangers-on just sorta sputters out. Two discs collect all eight episodes plus a behind-the-scenes chat with cast and crew. But there’s not much to care about at this point.

In Darkness (Sony)

Based on a true story, this Holocaust drama about a sewer worker who hides a group of Jews from the Nazis is pretty much what you’d expect from the great director Agnieszka Holland. It’s like a sewers-set Schindler’s List – not as good, but just as inspiring.

Meatballs (Lionsgate)

Just in time for summer, Bill Murray’s first starring movie from 1979 finally comes to Blu-ray. It’s filled with the usual summer-camp stuff – panty raids, bitchy counselors, horny teens, the works – but with plenty of Murray snark roasting the wienies.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

The Sting (Universal)

The greatest con job this 1973 Oscar winner for Best Picture pulls isn’t the one Paul Newman and Robert Redford reveal onscreen. It’s the one the movie pulls on the audience. This Depression-era buddy pic – about two swindlers looking to get even with the mobster who killed their pal – never shows its hand, even though you think it has. It’s a neat trick, and it hasn’t lost any of its sting over the past 40 years. The Blu-ray debut, part of Universal’s 100^th Anniversary Collector’s Series, includes an hour-long documentary carried over from the old DVD and a new look back at the studio’s classic movies from the period. This is one of the very best.

Act of Valor (Twentieth Century Fox)

Real Navy SEALs star in a movie about real Navy SEALs on a mission to rescue a kidnapped CIA agent in Mexico. It’s based on a true story, and it’s total propaganda, no doubt about it. It’s like watching someone play Call of Duty, and just as much fun.

Machine Gun Preacher (Twentieth Century Fox)

Don’t be fooled by the grindhouse title. This pious true story about a former drug dealer who found God and helped save Sudanese children from Joseph Kony’s murderous army has more in common with The English Patient than Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Safe House (Universal)

Denzel Washington plays a rogue spy whom everybody wants a piece of; Ryan Reynolds is the rookie charged with keeping him alive. Twists, turns, and lots of action keep this thriller on its toes. It’s minor-league Bourne with some major-league performances.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

This Means War (Twentieth Century Fox)

McG, whose heavy-handed direction made a mess of the last Terminator movie, tries his hand at romantic comedy with this labored story about two CIA agents dating the same woman, played by Reese Witherspoon. The director stages scenes with his usual carelessness, throwing together action sequences with little concern for plot or common sense. Chris Pine (Captain Kirk in the Star Trek reboot) and Tom Hardy (seen in approximately 73 percent of the movies that have been released over the past couple years, including the upcoming Dark Knight Rises) rightfully seem pained, bored, and confused by the whole thing.

Certified Copy (Criterion)

Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s 2010 twisty mind-bender – available as a luscious Criterion Blu-ray — starts in one place and ends up in a completely different one. Juliette Binoche hooks up with a British writer in Tuscany. And then the games begin.

Red Tails (Lucasfilm/Twentieth Century Fox)

The true tale of the black Tuskegee airmen who fought in World War II stays grounded for far too long for this movie to be called thrilling or anything like that. But it comes close a few times, especially when the crew takes flight and heads into combat.

The Woman in Black (Sony)

Daniel Radcliffe – or Harry Potter, as we will always refer to him – stars in this semi-spooky ghost story set in a small village in the early part of the 20^th century. The scares are subtle ones – more mood than blood. And in the end it’s more bark than bite.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

The Vow (Sony)

This super-soggy romance bears all the hallmarks of a shitty Nicholas Sparks story: Paige (a bored and confused Rachel McAdams) ends up in a coma after a car accident. When she wakes, she can’t remember a thing about her life, including her doe-eyed and devoted husband Leo (Channing Tatum, dialing down his 21 Jump Street swagger). It’s up to Leo to win his wife’s heart all over again, which means another first date, another first kiss … you get the idea. Four different writers get credit for this bland love story, but not one of them is Sparks. But The Notebook scribe deserves at least an “inspired by” credit. After all, he’s the modern master of crap like this.

Chuck: The Complete Fifth and Final Season (Warner)

After almost biting the dust a couple of years ago, the geeky TV show about a reluctant spy was finally put to rest. This set includes the final 13 episodes, which tie up loose ends and settle for a kind of closure in Chuck’s spy and love life.

Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (Magnet/Magnolia)

The small-screen cult heroes’ leap to the big screen is about as necessary as your average SNL movie … and about as funny. Forget plot, and pretty much everything else, as one gag after another is farted out. Not a total waste, but close.

Underworld: Awakening (Sony)

Kate Beckinsale returns as sexy vampire hunter Selene, who was MIA in 2009’s origins story. This one’s better, but that’s really not saying much. This time she hooks up with bloodsuckers to battle even scarier monsters: greedy human assholes.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

Chronicle (Twentieth Century Fox)

Chronicle has all the ingredients of a sci-fi quickie targeting teen audiences looking for a little weekend escapism: Three high-school pals stumble into cosmic telekinetic superpowers, which they document with a hand-held camera (just like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, plus dozens of other movies you didn’t see). You know it’s only a matter of time before the kids get some bad ideas to go with all that new power they’re packing. But the movie turns out to be smarter, wilder, and way more innovative than any other recent movie using the same recipe. The extended director’s cut, plus deleted scenes, makes it an even richer experience.

Albert Nobbs (Lionsgate)

Glenn Close dresses like a man and falls for the girl who played Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. They’re both good in their roles, but the movie often feels like a flimsy profile of a torn and tormented woman.

Rampart (Millennium)

Woody Harrelson is on a roll lately, with Zombieland, The Hunger Games, and this sleeper, a crime story about a sociopathic cop who’s caught on camera doing some bad shit. His downward spiral is well-deserved.

The Walking Tall Trilogy Collectors Edition (Shout! Factory)

All three Walking Tall movies from the ’70s – about a real-life Tennessee sheriff who took care of business with a baseball bat – are collected on this box. Extras include a new documentary about the badass lawman.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

Haywire (Lionsgate)

What’s up with Steven Soderbergh lately? Sex, Lies, and Videotape made him an indie darling. Out of Sight proved he could handle more than just talking people. Erin Brockovich and Traffic made him respectable. And the Ocean’s movies made him rich. But it’s been a decade since he’s made a good movie. In the past year alone he directed the deadly-disease bomb Contagion and this tossed-together action pic starring Gina Carano, an MMA fighter with little movie experience. She doesn’t have to do much more than look good and kick ass in this story about a black-ops babe who’s out for revenge after she’s set up. It’s as predictable as it sounds.

Covert Affairs: Season Two (Universal)

The second season of the USA Network series about a female spy gets a little more interesting, but it’s still a long way away from Alias or even Chuck, as far as these things go. At least star Piper Perabo has a little more to do now.

Mimic: 3-Film Set (Lionsgate)

Two of the three movies on this Blu-ray set were released straight to video, so we can’t think of any reason why you’d watch them. But the first one, from 1997, helped launch director Guillermo del Toro, who brings bite to this giant-bug thriller.

New Year’s Eve (Warner)

Awful Garry Marshall-directed romantic comedy with an all-star cast (Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Katherine Heigl, Sofia Vergara, Sarah Jessica Parker and literally dozens of others) falling in and out of love on New Year’s Eve. Auld Lang Blah.

THIS WEEK’S HOME VIDEO RELEASES

Contraband (Universal)

Who decided it would be a really cool idea to make Mark Wahlberg an action star? In his best movies – his breakthrough role as a super-dick porn star in Boogie Nights, a surprisingly solid turn as the desk jockey who takes care of some final business in The Departed – he tunes down his Boston-bred brawn and comes off like a career-minded doofus who just happens to be totally ripped. In his latest crime-drama quickie, Wahlberg plays an ex-smuggler who’s dragged back in the game for one more score by a bunch of ruthless dudes with a complicated plan and plenty of weapons. Wahlberg runs around a lot but never really goes anywhere. Just like this movie.

Billy the Exterminator: The Complete Season Four (A+E)

The reality TV show about a dude who takes care of pest problems couldn’t be set in any other place but the South. Where else would you just happen to stumble upon big-ass snakes and ferocious gators but in Florida and Texas? Exactly.

Cinema Verite (HBO)

This kinda-fascination, kinda-dull look at TV’s first reality show – PBS’ 1973 series An American Family – stars Diane Lane and Tim Robbins as the Louds, whose marriage, among other things, falls apart on camera. Not as good as the real thing.

Pariah (Universal)

A teen struggles with her sexuality in this absorbing indie drama by first-time director Dee Rees. Adepero Oduye plays the 17-year-old black girl at the center of the story, and she’s terrific as she wrestles with all the usual growing-up shit and then some.