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OnVideo's Weekly Guide to Home Video Releases
Alyce Kills
(2011) Jade Dornfeld, Tamara Feldman, James Duval, Eddie Rouse, Larry Cedar. After accidentally knocking her best friend off a roof, Alyce is haunted by guilt and delves into a brutal nightmare wonderland of sex, drugs and violence, her mind tearing itself apart along with anyone else who gets in her way. Formats: DVD, Digital. Extras: Behind-the-scenes footage, cast interviews, trailer. (Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment).
Amour
(2012 -- France) Dir.: Michael Haneke; Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: "The Making of Amour," Q & A with director Michael Haneke. (Sony).
Being Human: Season 5
(2013) Two-disc set with six episodes. Formats: DVD $34.98; Blu-ray $39.98. (BBC Home Entertainment).
The Best of American Pickers: Mike and Frank's Picks
(2012) Two-disc set with seven episodes, $14.98. Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz are on a mission to recycle America by restoring forgotten relics to their former glory. This collection highlights some of their finest excursions and best picks. From the holy grail of motorbikes (the XAVW) to military artifacts, and from rare toys to huge elephant heads, Mike and Frank never know what they'll come across or who they'll meet along the way. Formats: DVD. (Lionsgate).
The Best of Storage Wars: Life in the Locker
(2011-13) Two-disc set with 13 episodes that revisits the highs and lows of the modern-day treasure hunters -- Barry, Jarrod, Brandi, Darrell, Brandon, Dan and Laura -- in their bidding wars for the ultimate jackpot in storage locker auctions. Each buyer has chosen their favorite and least favorite episodes. In "Portrait of the Gambler," Darrell's favorite episode, Barry bids blindfolded on his mother's advice and makes a sweet score -- candy-making equipment. In Dan's favorite episode, "The Drone Wars," Barry tries to use a mini helicopter mounted with a video camera to get a unique look inside a unit which disqualifies him from the bidding -- and a big payout. In Jarrod's favorite, he and Brandi walk away with real pirate booty, while Dave lands a rare snuff box and looks headed for a big score -- until he drops it on the way to getting it appraised. And in Darrell's least favorite episode, Barry discovers a unique $7,000 toy car while Dave goes all out for a unit that hasn't been opened in 20 years. Formats: DVD, $14.98. (Lionsgate).
The Big City
(1963) "The Big City (Mahanagar)," set in mid-1950s Calcutta and directed by the great Satyajit Ray ("The Music Room"), follows the personal triumphs and frustrations of Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee), who decides, despite the initial protests of her bank-clerk husband, to take a job to help support their family. With remarkable sensitivity and attention to the details of everyday working-class life, Ray gradually builds a powerful human drama that is at once a hopeful morality tale and a commentary on the identity of the contemporary Indian woman. New 2K digital film restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: New interview with actor Madhabi Mukherjee; "Satyajit Ray and the Modern Woman," a new interview program featuring Ray historian Suranjan Ganguly; "The Coward" (1965), a feature film directed by Ray that also addresses modern female identity and stars Mukherjee and Soumitra Chatterjee; booklet featuring an essay by scholar Chandak Sengoopta and an interview with Ray from the 1980s by his biographer Andrew Robinson. (The Criterion Collection).
Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Third Season
Charulata
(1964) This film about a woman's artistic and romantic yearning by Satyajit Ray ("The Music Room") is set in late 19th-century, pre-independence India. It takes place in the gracious home of a liberal-minded, workaholic newspaper editor and his lonely, stifled wife, Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee), whose exquisitely composed features mask a burning creativity. When her husband's poet cousin comes to stay with them, Charulata finds herself both inspired by him to pursue her own writing and dangerously drawn to him physically. Based on a novella by Rabindranath Tagore, "Charulata" is a work of subtle textures, a delicate tale of a marriage in jeopardy and a woman taking the first steps toward establishing her own voice. New 2K digital film restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: New interview program with actors Madhabi Mukherjee and Soumitra Chatterjee; "Adapting Tagore," a new interview program featuring Indian film scholar Moinak Biswas and Bengali literature historian Supriya Chaudhuri; archival audio interview with director Satyajit Ray by film historian Gideon Bachmann; booklet featuring an essay by critic Philip Kemp and a 1980s interview with Ray by his biographer Andrew Robinson. (The Criterion Collection).
Chuggington: Chug Patrol -- Ready to Rescue
The Dragon Pearl
(2011) Sam Neill, Louis Cobett, Li Lin Jin, Wang Ji. When two kids join their parents on a "boring" archaeological dig in China, they discover a mournful dragon trapped deep inside a mystical temple; the pair must battle evil forces (and some very skeptical parents) to help the dragon regain its life force: a sacred, magical pearl. Formats: DVD. (Ketchup Entertainment).
Amour
Winner of the Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Language film. Octogenarians Georges and Anne are retired music teachers whose daughter lives abroad with her family. When Anne suffers a stroke and is left paralyzed on one side of her body, the couple's abiding love for each other is put to the test. In French with English subtitles.
Vitals: Director: Michael Haneke. Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert.
2012, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 127 min., Drama, Box office gross: $6.738 million, Sony.
Epic
When a disbelieving teenager (Amanda Seyfried) visits her scientist dad's home -- where he's trying to prove the existence of a tiny kingdom in the forest -- she's shrunken down to miniature size and transported to a magical world where she's recruited by a nature spirit, Queen Tara (Beyonce Knowles), to help the "Leafmen" save their existence -- and ours -- from evil warriors known as the Boggans.
Extras: "Mub & Grub Intro" tour through the special features; "Rot Rocks"; "Bugs of Camouflage"; "Epic Coloring & Storybook Builder App" with exclusive pages on your iOS or Android devices that allows you to become the story teller by recording your own voice and sharing with family and friends; theatrical trailer. Blu-ray adds "Birds, Bugs and Slugs: Forest Explorer"; "The Epic Life at Two Inches Tall"; "Mysteries of Moonhaven Revealed" with the filmmakers, artists, and animators at Blue Sky films.
Vitals: Director: Chris Wedge. Stars voices of Amanda Seyfried, Blake Anderson, Aziz Ansari, Allison Bills, Jim Conroy, Todd Cummings, Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler, Pitbull, Beyonce.
2013, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 102 min., Animated, Box office gross: $105.595 million, Fox.
Scary MoVie V
This latest installment includes send ups of "Paranormal Activity," "Mama," "Sinister," "The Evil Dead," "Inception," "Black Swan," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and pop culture.
Vitals: Director: Malcolm Lee. Stars: Ashley Tisdale, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg, Katt Williams, Molly Shannon, Terry Crews, Simon Rex, Jerry O'Connell, Sarah Hyland, Katrina Bowden, Tyler Posey, Shad Moss aka Bow Wow, Kate Walsh, Heather Locklear, Mac Miller and Mike Tyson.
2012, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 96 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $31.433 million, Dimension Films.
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The Best of Pawn Stars: The Greatest Stories Ever Sold
(2009-2012) Two-disc set with eight episodes, handpicked by the stars, $14.98. Ccontains the best episodes from the hit series. See Chumlee dress up like an elf, lasso a mechanical horse, and mash grapes with his feet to make wine (not at the same time). Catch Rick in complete hysterics when Corey wears a classic Christmas sweater knit by his grandma. And watch the old man purchase an amazing book from Isaac Newton's library -- with Newton's own handwritten notes in the margins. It makes Rick bounce off the walls with excitement. In another priceless episode, a man unable to sell his Pez dispensers lets everyone know, in no uncertain terms, that he's totally pezzed off. Formats: Two-disc DVD. (Lionsgate).
(2012) Five-disc set with 12 episodes of the immensely popular HBO series. In this season, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) has become Atlantic City's undisputed czar during Prohibition and is facing the challenge of mending old relationships. While his marriage lies in shambles, he faces new competition from Gyp Rosetti (Bobby Cannavale), a hair-trigger gangster determined to siphon off his alcohol business. The conflict brings out the best and worst in Nucky, who proves his brutal mettle in a series of violent encounters, as new and familiar faces also undergo compelling metamorphoses. Formats: DVD, $59.99; Blu-ray Disc, $79.98; Digital. Extras: "Distilling Season 2"; "New Characters"; "Boardwalk Empire -- Director's Chair"; "Scorsese on Season 3": Award-winning director and executive producer Martin Scorsese provides a unique and detailed perspective on the third season; six audio commentaries with cast and crew. Blu-ray adds "American Empires": Interactive compendium on Prohibition, the gangsters, their influence, and their systems of distribution; "Boardwalk Chronicle": Interactive feature to track the major players and locations within each episode; "Newsreels" explores some of the real-world events and historical figures that inspired Season Three with 24 exclusive featurettes. (HBO).
(2012) Six new episodes for the pre-school train crowd. In the title episode, a special slated to premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel this fall, Wilson takes on new challenges and makes daring rescues as the newest member of Chuggington's emergency rescue squad. Other episodes include "Skylar's Squad," "Brewster's Crane Training," "Wobbly Wheels," "Wilson's Paper Trail" and "Koko's Guard." Formats: DVD, $14.98. Extras: Two bonus episodes, coloring and activity sheets. (Anchor Bay).