Although this week’s theatrical releases are weak, there is a strong slate of “TV on DVD” offerings including Midsomer Murders and Flash Forward, a slew of great documentaries, a Justice League animated movie, and the first appearance on DVD of Make Way for Tomorrow, one of the very best Hollywood films of the 1930s.

 

Direct to DVD

The top Direct-to-DVD release this week is Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (Warner Home Video, “PG-13” Single-disc $19.98, Two-Disc Special Edition $24.98, BD $29.99), the latest in DC’s series of superhero cartoons for grown-ups.  Written by Dwayne McDuffie, this Justice League adventure recalls Crisis on Infinite Earth in its vision of the DC Universe.  Although the action is largely confined to two worlds, the plot has consequences for all the parallel worlds in the DCU.  The cartoon feature is a good introduction to the Crime Syndicate, a sort of Justice League in reverse that consists of the Superman-like Ultraman, Wonder Woman equivalent, Superwoman, the Green Lantern-like Power Ring, the Flash’s counterpart Johnny Quick, and the Batman-like Owlman.  Owlman takes center stage in Crisis on Two Earths and James Woods is brilliant as the voice of the demented criminal superhero.  The plot of Crisis on Two Earths is actually quite interesting--the film’s only problem is that it is just larded with too many battles between the members of the Justice League and their equivalents in the Crime Syndicate.  The fights are generally well-staged and kinetic--they just get repetitive after awhile.

 

While not quite as interesting as the New Frontier and Wonder Woman animated features, Crisis on Two Earths more than holds its own with the other DC animated releases.  It also has the advantage of coming with an excellent ten-minute short film featuring The Spectre, which was written by Steve Niles, and an excellent documentary “DCU: The New World” in which writer Brad Meltzer talks about Identity Crisis and its effect on the DC Universe.  Also not to be missed is an extended preview of Batman: Under the Red Hood, which is due out this summer and looks like it just might be the best DC animated film yet.

 

TV on DVD

Anyone who enjoys a good mystery will love Midsomer Murders Set 14 (Acorn, $49.99), which includes four stand-alone whodunits that have never aired in the U.S.  The well-plotted mysteries will keep viewers guessing and engrossed in these realistic, character-driven tales.  Much of “Death and Dust” takes place in the incredibly picturesque Welsh countryside, while “They Seek Him Here,” which could easily have been called “The Case of the Headless Helmer,” takes place behind the scenes of a movie production of The Scarlet Pimpernel and provides plenty of opportunities for its superb cast to shine.  As usual John Nettles, who plays Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, holds it all together with his totally unflappable manner, though in “Picture of Innocence” Barnaby himself is a suspect in a murder that stems from a dispute between traditional photographers and those snapshot artists who have gone digital.  With its charming, fully realized settings and sharply drawn characters it’s easy to understand why this series is a favorite of Johnny Depp.  Anyone who enjoys Perry Mason will find much to admire in the Midsomer Murders episodes, which are equally puzzling and which can accommodate even more character development due to their 100 minute-length.

 

Also out this week is Taggart: Set 2 (Acorn Media, $59.99), which includes the full 20th season of world’s longest running police drama.  Filmed in Scotland, this gritty (and witty) crime drama is best viewed with subtitles by Americans because of the thick Glaswegian accents of the principal players.

 

American fans of Michael Palin typically think of him in the context of Monty Python, but the G.B.H. mini-series (Acorn Media, 588 min. $59.99) proves that he can be an effective dramatic actor.  A political drama of a complexity that would be impossible in an American setting, G.B.H. takes place at the end of the Thatcher era in Britain at a time when local Labor party leaders were attempting to fight Thatcher’s right wing policies by creating a sort of municipal socialism.  Robert Lindsey plays a very corruptible Labor Party mayor who soon becomes a prisoner of his party’s Trotskyite wing.  Palin portrays a mild-mannered school principal, who is a gentler sort of socialist.  The two become locked in a public struggle, but that’s only part of the story as the audience eventually learns about a plot directed from the highest levels of the central government to discredit the Labor Party leader.

 

The top U.S. releases this week are Flash Forward, Season 1, Part 1 (Disney, 430 min., $29.99), which collects the first ten episodes of the hot ABC science fiction serial drama written by David Goyer (Batman Returns, The Dark Knight), and Nurse Jackie (Lionsgate, $39.98, BD $39.98), the Showtime cable series that stars The Sopranos’ Edie Falco as a flawed emergency room nurse with great skills, a sharp tongue and a taste for Vicodin.

 

Continuing releases of fictional TV series due out this week include Adam-12: Season 4 (Shout Factory, 540 min., $34.97), My Three Sons: Season 2, Vol.1 (Paramount, 461 min., $39.95), and Night Court: The Complete Third Season (Warner Home Video, 512 min., $29.98).

 

Documentary series include the History Channel’s foray into the history of weapons, Lock ‘N Load With R. Lee Ermey: The Complete First Season (A&E, 540 min. $34.95), Mike Rowe’s examination of the nastiest jobs afloat, Dirty Jobs: Something Fishy (Gaiam, 167 min. $14.98), and A&E’s astronomy series, The Universe: The Complete Season 4 (564 min., BD, $54.95).

 

The only TV animated release of the week is Superjail: The Complete Season One (Warner Home Video, 110 min. $19.97), the bizarre series created by Augenblick Studios that appears on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

 

Anime

It’s another light week for anime, but there are some gems.  Funimation continues to release top anime series on Blu-ray.  This week it’s the 24-episode, humans versus vampires, Trinity Blood ( Rated “TV MA,”528 minutes, $79.98) series produced with great style by Gonzo.  Tokyopop has published a 12-volume shojo manga series based on the anime, which itself was an adaptation of Sunao Yoshida’s series of light novels (also published here by Tokyopop).  Also out this week from Funimation and Gonzo is Tower of Druaga: Season 2 (“PG-13,” 260 min., $59.98), the second 12-episode anime series based on the Namco fantasy adventure video game.

 

For fans of vintage anime (and 1980s American cartoons) there is Media Blasters’ Armored Fleet Dairugger Collection 1 (“PG-13,” 450 min., $34.99), the first collection of the 1980s Japanese anime series that formed the basis for the popular Voltron cartoons that aired in the U.S. in the 1980s.

 

For those who like quirky releases of a more recent vintage there is Maria-Holic: The Complete Collection (Sentai Films, 300 min., $39.98), the 12-episode anime based on the seinen comedy manga series by Minari Endo about a lesbian high school girl who transfers to an all-girl school where she falls for a girl who is actually a cross-dressing boy.

 

Theatrical Films

Once again this category doesn’t provide anything stellar, but a couple of films due out on Tuesday do have cult potential.  Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) has impeccable “cult” credentials and The Box (Warner Home Video, “PG-13,” $28.98) is an improbable, but ultimately compelling thriller based on Richard Matheson’s 1970 short story, “Button, Button,” about a cash-strapped middle class couple who are presented with an opportunity to obtain a million dollars—but the windfall comes at a cost.  If they accept, someone will die.

 

Another new release with at least some chance of improving on a poor theatrical showing is Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (Universal, “PG-13” $29.98, BD, $36.98), a vampire film based on Darren Shan’s popular series of YA novels (Yen Press has published a manga adaptation).  Though few series have been able to replicate the success of Harry Potter on screen, YA novels have become almost as popular in Hollywood as comic books.  The Vampire’s Assistant was released last October, but it was too tame to find favor with the Halloween horror audience and may have lost its chance to reach the fans of the book at least in theaters, though it may do better on DVD.

 

Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant! (Warner Home Video, “R,” $29.98, BD $35.98) features a bloated Matt Damon as a less-than-heroic whistleblower in what is a less-than-hilarious comedy, but since it is a true story, this saga of price-fixing by Archer Daniels Midland is perhaps the most interesting release in this category this week.  It is certainly far better than the family drama Everybody’s Fine (Miramax, “PG-13,” $29.99), a tepid remake of a 1990 Italian film that wastes the considerable talents of its cast (Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sam Rockwell).

 

Even lamer is Sorority Row (Summit, “R,” $26.99, BD $34.99), a weak horror film that in spite of a wide September release, earned only $11 million at the box office.

 

Documentaries

This category is really hopping this week with a number of great releases.  Amie Williams’ No Sweat (IndiePix, $24.95) is a disheartening documentary about what it takes to succeed in the garment business in the U.S. these days.  Williams tells the parallel stories of two companies operating within blocks of each other in downtown L.A. attempting to create t-shirts without oppressing their workers with sweatshop conditions.  SweatX is an idealistic start-up funded to the tune of several million dollars by ice cream magnate Ben Cohen (of Ben & Jerry’s), while American Apparel is a vertically-integrated company created by the self-described Canadian “hustler” Dov Charney.  SweatX is a union shop with plans for worker ownership, but with its excessive layers of management, it can’t compete with sweatshops foreign or domestic.  American Apparel pays a living wage and provides health benefits, but Charney resisted efforts to unionize his business and was the subject of several sexual harassment lawsuits.  American pays on a piecework basis and manages to compete because its workers are incredibly productive and work with an intensity that is hard to sustain. No Sweat brilliantly lays out the difficulties in producing made-in-the-USA garments in a non-exploitative way—and the picture isn’t pretty.

 

Joe Berlinger’s Crude (First Run, $24.95) takes a thorough, objective look at the legal battle waged in Ecuador since 1993 over damage to the environment caused by Texaco’s development of oil in the Amazon basin.  Subtitled, “The Real Price of Oil,” this documentary is one of the most powerful films released so far in 2010.

 

Another equally compelling environmentally-themed film is Rupert Murray’s The End of the Line (New Video Group, $26.95).  Based on Charles Clover’s book, this hard-hitting documentary will make anyone think twice about eating at Red Lobster, since as the scientists interviewed point out, if current fishing and consumption practices are not changed, we face the likelihood of oceans without fish by 2048.

 

Also compelling in a very different sort of way is R.J. Cutler’s The September Issue (Lionsgate, “PG-13” $29.98), an appropriately stylish documentary, which profiles fashion maven Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue, the inspiration for the imperious character played by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.

 

Foreign Films

 

The best bet in this category is $9.99 (E1 Entertainment, $24.98), an “R” rated stop motion animated feature directed by Tatia Rosenthal.  This Australian/ Israeli co-production has an unpretentious handmade feel and tackles big philosophical issues with considerable aplomb.

 

Also worthy of attention is Bliss (First Run Features, $24.95), a courageous 2007 Turkish film by Abdullah Oguz that examines “honor” killings from a unique perspective.  An unwilling executioner and his victim take a trip to Istanbul from which only one is expected to return, but this strangely beautiful and most unconventional road movie has more than a few surprises in store for both its characters and the viewer.

 

Classic Films on DVD

 

Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow is simply one of the most unusual and one of the very best films made in Hollywood in the 1930s.  There’s comedy and pathos, but no fairytale ending in this ultimately unsparing look at what happens to an elderly couple whose working years occurred before the advent of the Social Security system.  Made in 1937 when unemployment and poverty made a big comeback thanks to a Congressionally-inspired wave of fiscal discipline that cut back the expenditures of the New Deal that had helped lift the country out of the depression, Make Way for Tomorrow has additional resonance and relevance in our current sorry economic climate.