Selected home-video releases:
“Meet the Robinsons”: A boy genius embarks on a time-traveling adventure to save the world in this sturdy animated hit. With a voice cast that includes Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck and Laurie Metcalf, the movie follows the exploits of a young inventor whisked into the future, where he teams up with a family of oddballs to take on a villain in a bowler hat, whose voice was provided by director Stephen J. Anderson.
Among the extras on the DVD ($29.99) and Blu-ray high-definition disc ($34.99) are a handful of deleted scenes, a segment on how the film was developed from the work of children’s author William Joyce, and a feature on Walt Disney and other visionaries whose advances changed the world. The disc also has commentary from Anderson and two music videos. (Disney)
“Mr. Brooks”: If you’re a serial killer, what better cover than to be a civic booster and the local business community’s man of the year? Kevin Costner plays seemingly upright citizen Mr. Brooks, whose cozy family life and position as a bland but likable businessman belie his avocation: committing an unsolvable string of mass murders and taunting police by leaving behind his victims’ thumbprints.
William Hurt co-stars as Brooks’ Jekyll-and-Hyde evil alter ego, with Demi Moore playing a cop on the killer’s trail and Dane Cook playing a witness who wants a taste of the perpetrator’s bloody glory. The DVD has deleted footage, three making-of features and commentary with director Bruce A. Evans and his co-writer, Raynold Gideon. $29.98. (MGM)
“Hostel Part II”: Lightning failed to strike twice for director Eli Roth’s horror franchise, whose grisly second chapter proved a box-office dud. The sequel terrorizes three American women studying in Europe as they meet up with an art-class model who baits them into a murder-for-pleasure den.
The movie comes to DVD ($28.95) and Blu-ray disc ($38.96) in an unrated version with deleted scenes, commentary from Roth and collaborators including executive producer Quentin Tarantino, and features on gory effects and production design.
Also debuting in a two-disc DVD set ($19.98) and single-disc Blu-ray edition ($28.95) is Roth’s director’s cut of the original “Hostel,” with an alternate ending, four commentary tracks and a full disc of interviews and background features. (Sony)
“Stanley Kubrick”: Five Kubrick films get fresh boxed-set treatment and enter the high-definition age with HD DVD and Blu-ray releases. The 10-DVD set has remastered two-disc versions of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “The Shining” and “Eyes Wide Shut,” plus a single-disc release of “Full Metal Jacket” and a disc with the documentary “Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures.” Stars of the films including Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, Malcolm McDowell and R. Lee Ermey provide commentary, and each movie is accompanied by interviews and features, among them a segment on unfinished Kubrick films. The two-disc DVD sets also are available separately, though the new release of “Full Metal Jacket” comes only in the boxed set. All five films come in single-disc Blu-ray and HD DVD versions, as well.
DVD boxed set, $79.92; two-disc DVD sets, $26.99 each; Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, $28.99 each. (Warner Bros.)
“Battleship Potemkin”: Nipped and tucked repeatedly over the decades, Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent masterpiece is restored to what the overseers of this marvelous two-disc set say is the closest to the director’s original version since its premiere. Set in 1905, the film chronicles a naval mutiny that was a step on the road to communism as a ship’s crew rises up against its oppressive commanders and the popular rebellion is beaten down by thugs of the czar.
The set features a 42-minute documentary examining the restoration of the film, which included new title cards both in Russian and English. The film is accompanied by a 55-piece orchestra’s rendition of a 1926 score authorized by Eisenstein. $29.95. (Kino)
Criterion releases
“Days of Heaven”: Terrence Malick’s gloriously photographed 1978 film gets grand treatment from the cinephile DVD maestros at Criterion. Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepard star in the strange love triangle that develops among a farmhand, his girlfriend and a rich, ailing farmer. The DVD has interviews with Gere and Shepard, commentary with collaborators of the reclusive Malick and a chapter from cinematographer Nestor Almendros’ autobiography. $39.95. (Criterion)
“Breathless”: Venturing into a loose, formless film style that broke with many stiff screen conventions, Jean-Luc Godard signaled the arrival of the French New Wave with his 1960 tale of a petty thief turned killer (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and the object of his romantic dalliance (Jean Seberg). This two-disc release has archival interviews with the director and stars, a 1959 short film by Godard with Belmondo and a making-of documentary. $39.95. (Criterion)
“Under the Volcano”: John Huston’s 1984 adaptation of Malcolm Lowry’s novel stars Albert Finney as a drunken British diplomat stumbling through his last tortuous day of life in a small Mexican town as World War II approaches. The two-disc set has a 1984 interview with Huston, a new interview with co-star Jacqueline Bisset, a documentary about Lowry and commentary with the director’s son, Danny Huston, and others. $39.95. (Criterion)
TV on DVD
“The Sopranos — Season Six, Part II”: The final nine episodes of one of television’s most-acclaimed series ever arrive in a four-disc set, with James Gandolfini’s mob boss beset by fresh rivalries and taking shocking action to quell potential betrayal within his own ranks. DVD set, $99.98; Blu-ray and HD DVD sets, $129.95 each. (HBO)
“The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones — Volume One”: The buildup to next year’s fourth “Indiana Jones” film continues with the first of three boxed sets gathering all of the adventurer’s early exploits from the early 1990s TV show. With 12 discs, this first collection begins at the beginning, reorganizing the episodes into seven feature-length installments that trace Indy’s roots chronologically as boy Indy (Corey Carrier) and teen Indy (Sean Patrick Flanery) encounter such figures as Teddy Roosevelt, Sigmund Freud, Pablo Picasso and Franz Kafka. Creator George Lucas has overseen 38 documentary segments to accompany these first episodes, with top filmmakers, military leaders and statesmen offering insights on the history lessons the show provides. $129.99. (Paramount)
“The L Word — The Complete Fourth Season”: $69.99. (Showtime)
“Veronica Mars — The Complete Third Season”: $59.98. (Warner Bros.)
“NCIS — The Fourth Season”: $64.99. (Paramount)
“Mind of Mencia — Season 3”: $26.99. (Paramount)
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