It is a rare week indeed that there are three very different, but almost equally interesting theatrical films hitting DVD, but this week the franchise-inaugurating LEGO Movie streets along with Wes Anderson’s brilliant The Grand Budapest Hotel, and David Gordon Green’s Joe, plus there are new seasons of the Cartoon Network’s popular Regular Show and Netflix’s high profile House of Cards.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
This week’s top release also happens to be (for one more day at least) the highest-grossing film released so far in 2014, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s The LEGO Movie (Warner Bros., “PG,” $28.98, BD $34.95).  This inspirational saga of a lowly construction worker who manages to thwart the evil ambitions of Lord Business earned a fantastic 96% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  The LEGO Movie is clever and compelling—chock full of interesting characters, like its vainglorious Batman, who will appeal to both younger and older viewers.  The tremendous success of this computer-animated film about little block-like people established a potentially potent animated movie franchise with a clever narrative that captures the zeitgeist of our polarized politics.  By all means make sure you get a chance to see The LEGO Movie somewhere, just don’t try to order it from Amazon (see “Amazon Pulls Pre-Order Buttons on Warners, Viz Videos”).
 
The other major cinematic treat that is due out on Tuesday is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel (Fox, “R,” 120 min., $29.98, BD $39.99), a delightful cinematic treat set in a 1930s “Grand Hotel.  Anderson mixes genres (mystery, romance, comedy, thriller) with abandon and the result is a true delight that earned a 92% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  Those who enjoyed Anderson’s quirky films like Moonrise Kingdom and the Fantastic Mr. Fox will love his latest effort, which is notable for, among many other things, the way the director uses CGI and locations to recreate a key Central European metropolis of the 1930s.
 
Regular readers of this column will no doubt remember that I have often criticized Nicholas Cage and some of the god-awful films that he has chosen to act in, but there is no doubt that he is a talented actor and given the right material as in the underrated Joe (Lionsgate, “R,” 117 min. $19.98, BD $24.98), he can be extremely effective.  Joe is a powerful character study in which Cage plays an ex-con with a short fuse who is trying very hard to keep it together while simultaneously helping a neglected and abused teenager played by Mud’s Tye Sheridan.  David Gordon Green, who specializes in coming-of-age sagas in Gothic southern settings, directed this adaptation of a novel by Larry Brown that is set in rural Texas and feels authentic in pretty much every frame.
 
TV on DVD
 
This week’s top release is The Regular Show: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros., 440 min., $26.95), which contains all 40 eleven-minute episodes of the third season of the Cartoon Network hit created by J.G. Quintel that features two delightful slacker characters Mordecai (a Blue Jay) and Rigby (a raccoon), who are employed as groundskeepers in a city park.  A great cast of secondary characters (Pops, Benson, Skips, and Margaret) helps make this series one of the very best contemporary TV cartoons when it comes to pleasing both adults and kids.
 
Tuesday will also see the debut of the second season of Netflix’s most prestigious series.  House of Cards: The Complete 2nd Season (Sony, 663 min., $55.99, BD $65.98) presents all 13 second season episodes of the American adaptation of BBC miniseries.  Among the extras included in this set is an interesting examination of the differences between the English and American series, as well as another extra about the show’s “breaking the fourth wall” technique in which Francis (Kevin Spacey) addresses the camera.
 
Other releases of interest include Wilfred: The Complete 3rd Season (Fox, DVD-R only, $29.98), which collects all 13 third season episodes of the FX dark comedy series starring Elijah Wood that was based on an Australian TV show, the latest collection of the Comedy Central series Tosh.0, Vol. 4: Collas and Exposed Arms (Comedy Central, 462 min., $19.99 BD $22.99), the single-disc kids release Power Rangers Megaforce Vol. 4: Ultra Defenders (Lionsgate, 92 min., $14.98), and the two-disc “Peanuts version” of American History, This Is America, Charlie Brown (Warner Bros., 192 min., $26.99).
 
Vintage TV shows available on Tuesday include the 1950s sitcom My Little Margie, Vol. 3 (VCI, 90 min., $24.97), and a DVD-R set featuring the innovative 1950s Warner Bros. western series, Sugarfoot: The Complete Third Season (Warner Bros., 983 min., $39.95). 
 
Offerings from the U.K. debuting on this side of the pond this week include DCI Banks: Season 1 (BBC, 270 min., $34.98), a six episode police procedural based on the Inspector Banks novels by Peter Robinson, Death in Paradise: Season 1 (BBC, 466 min., $34.98), the fish-out-of-water cop show in which a quintessential British policeman is posted to the tiny laid-back island of Saint Marie, and Scott and Bailey: Season 1 (BBC, 270 min., $34.98), a police procedural that focuses on two very different female detectives who just happen to make a great crime-fighting team.
 
 Anime
 
It is a very light week for anime releases led by Red Data Girl (Funimation, “14+,” 300 min., $54.98), which contains all 12 episodes of the 2013 anime series produced by P.A. Works and based on the light novel series by Noriko Ogiwara about a young girl, who has been raised at a shrine, and who destroys any electrical device that she comes into contact with.
 
Also due this week is Busou Shinki: Armored War Goddess Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 300 min., $49.98), a 12-episode 2012 mecha series produced by 8Bit and based on action figure toys manufactured by Konami Digital Entertainment. 
 
--Tom Flinn
 
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.