Selected home-video releases:
“Knocked Up”: Writer-director Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) strikes again with one of the summer’s funniest and smartest comedies.
Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl star in the story of a slacker forced to grow up and become a man after his drunken one-night stand with a career-minded woman leaves her pregnant.
The movie is available in single-disc DVD editions ($29.98) containing either the R-rated theatrical release or an unrated version, a two-disc DVD set ($30.98) with the unrated version and more extras, and a combination disc ($39.98) with the unrated cut on standard DVD and high-definition HD DVD. Among the bonus materials are a huge collection of deleted and extended scenes, a mock segment on other actors considered for Rogen’s role and commentary with Apatow and Rogen. (Universal)
“Evening”: The filmmakers rounded up a remarkable cast for this yawner of a chick flick, including Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Claire Danes, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson. Based on Susan Minot’s novel, the weepy romantic drama flits back and forth in time as a woman on her deathbed (Redgrave) relates to her daughters (Collette and Richardson) the story of a weekend 50 years earlier when she met the love of her life. Danes plays Redgrave’s character in her youth.
Available in a standard DVD ($29.98) or a combination disc with the standard DVD and HD DVD formats ($39.98), the movie is accompanied by deleted scenes, a making-of feature and a segment with Minot and co-screenwriter Michael Cunningham. (Universal)
“Black Book”: After years of making Hollywood sci-fi and thriller hits such as “RoboCop,” “Basic Instinct” and “Starship Troopers” (along with the notorious bomb “Showgirls”), director Paul Verhoeven returned to his more character-driven European roots with this foreign-language mini-hit set during World War II. The film follows the undercover adventures of a double agent (Carice van Houten), a survivor of a Nazi assault against Jews fleeing Holland who infiltrates the enemy’s ranks for the Dutch Resistance by seducing a German captain.
Along with a making-of feature, the DVD ($29.95) and Blu-ray high-definition disc ($38.96) include commentary by Verhoeven. (Sony)
TV on DVD
“As You Like It”: Bryce Dallas Howard, Kevin Kline and Alfred Molina lead the cast as filmmaker Kenneth Branagh (“Henry V,” “Hamlet”) returns to Shakespeare with this adaptation of the romance between a banished woman disguised as a man and the lover who fails to recognize his lady in guy’s garb. $26.98. (HBO)
“The King of Queens: 9th Season”: The final season of the sitcom with Kevin James, Leah Remini and Jerry Stiller comes to DVD, $29.95. (Sony)
“My Name Is Earl: Season Two”: Jason Lee and the rest of his trailer-trash associates return in the sitcom about a lottery winner aiming to right past wrongs. $49.98. (20th Century Fox)
“Numbers: The Third Season”: FBI guy Rob Morrow and math-whiz brother David Krumholtz crack more puzzling cases in the crime drama. $61.99. (Paramount)
“The Unit: Season 2”: Dennis Haysbert and Robert Patrick head the cast of the military drama about a clandestine band of special-ops soldiers. $59.98. (20th Century Fox)
“The Streets of San Francisco: Season 1, Volume 2,” “The Untouchables: Season 1, Volume 2”: Two venerable crime dramas resume their DVD afterlife in four-disc sets with the second half of their first seasons. “The Streets of San Francisco” stars Karl Malden as a veteran cop and Michael Douglas as his young partner. Robert Stack plays G-Man Eliot Ness in “The Untouchables.” $42.99 each. (Paramount)
“Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Granada Television Series”: The late Jeremy Brett arguably was the best to ever play Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective with the incisive mind. A 12-disc set packs all 41 installments of Brett’s 1980s and ’90s run as Holmes, along with interviews by co-star Edward Hardwicke, who played Watson, and the author’s son, Adrian Conan Doyle. $229.98. (MPI)
“George Carlin: All My Stuff”: The standup comic’s 12 HBO specials, from 1977’s “On Location: George Carlin at USC” through 2005’s “Life Is Worth Losing,” are collected in a 14-disc set. Extras include interviews and a radio conversation with Carlin. $189.98. (MPI)
“What About Brian: The Complete Series”: The short-lived ensemble series stars Barry Watson as the odd man out, a bachelor among his paired-off friends. 59.99. (Disney)
“Midsomer Murders: Set Nine”: John Nettles is back as the veteran British police inspector, with John Hopkins as his raw young aide. $49.99. (Acorn)
“Drawn Together: Season Two”: The animated comedy features a gang of cartoon characters sharing a house in a spoof of reality-TV shows. $26.99. (Paramount)
Other new releases
“The TV Set”: David Duchovny is back in television — sort of — playing a writer struggling to usher his pilot through casting and production while negotiating a minefield of obstacles that includes a bullheaded network executive (Sigourney Weaver). $27.98. (20th Century Fox)
“Bug”: Ashley Judd turns downright scary as she deteriorates mentally and physically in this tale of a waitress drawn into the seemingly delusional world of a drifter (Michael Shannon), whose conspiracy-theory paranoia may or may not be justified. $28.98. (Lionsgate)
Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen star in “Knocked Up.”
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