There are plenty of options on the DVD shelves this week for those who don’t care to watch brides at war or dogs checking into hotels. Fans of measured contemporary dramas ought to check out Brian Goodman’s gritty Boston crime saga What Doesn’t Kill You (featuring Mark Ruffalo as a drug-addicted crook having a hard time getting away from his friends) or Rod Lurie’s torn-from-the-headlines Nothing But The Truth (with Kate Beckinsale as Judith Miller, essentially). Fans of edgy genre fare might try the hyper-meta Jean-Claude Van Damme hostage thriller JCVD, or the ultra-violent French revenge flick Martyrs. Those who like really edgy genre fare should pick up the Criterion edition of Nagisa Oshima’s In The Realm Of The Senses, a violent and sexually explicit examination of a sadomasochistic relationship. (Or perhaps the Criterion disc of Stephen Frears’ 1984 neo-noir The Hit, which isn’t edgy in the slightest, but is very, very cool.)
Also of note this week are two excellent concert films: one featuring Pete Seeger playing before a huge crowd in Australia in 1963, and one featuring Wilco in an especially jammy mode on their last tour. Great songs on both, performed magnificently.
Alain Resnais: A Decade In Film (Life Is A Bed Of Roses/Love Unto Death/Melo/I Want To Go Home)
Kino, $49.95
American Dad!, Vol. 4
20th Century Fox, $39.98
The Booby Hatch
Synapse, $24.95
Bride Wars
20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
Cargo 200
Disinformation, $24.95
The Centerfold Girls
Dark Sky, $14.98
The Cunning Little Vixen
Euroarts, $28.98
The Da Vinci Code
Sony Blu-ray, $38.96
Deadly Sweet
Cult Epics, $29.95
Empire Of Passion
Criterion, $29.95
Frost/Nixon: The Complete Interviews
Liberation, $39.95
Gangland: The Complete Season Three
A&E, $34.95
Glen And Randa
VCI, $19.99
Hallelujah!: The Complete Collection
Acorn, $39.99
The Hit
Criterion, $29.95
Hotel For Dogs
Paramount, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99
In The Realm Of The Senses
Criterion, $39.95; Blu-ray, $39.95
JCVD
Peace Arch, $19.99; Blu-ray, $34.99
Jetsons: The Movie
Universal, $14.98
Johnny Got His Gun
Shout! Factory, $19.99
Legally Blondes
MGM, $26.98
Little Dorrit
BBC Warner, $49.98
The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie
Warner, $14.98
Martyrs
Weinstein, $19.97
Milking The Rhino
Facets, $29.95
Mission: Impossible – The Sixth TV Season
Paramount, $49.99
Naked Rashomon
Mondo Macabro, $24.95
Never Surrender
Lionsgate, $26.98
Nothing But The Truth
Sony, $24.96
One-Eyed Monster
Liberation, $24.95
Pete Seeger: Live In Australia 1963
Acorn, $24.99
The Price Of Sugar
New Yorker, $29.95
Pulling: The Complete First Season
MPI, $24.98
Rookies: The Complete Season One
A&E, $19.95
Sex & Lies In Sin City
Sony, $24.96
The She-Beast
Dark Sky, $14.98
Spin City: The Complete Second Season
Shout! Factory, $39.99
Star Trek: The Original Series – Season One
Paramount Blu-ray, $129.99
Stephen King Presents Kingdom Hospital: The Entire Series
Madacy, $24.98
Streisand: The Concerts
Hip-O, $34.98
Stranded
Zeitgeist, $29.99
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: WWII – Battlefront Asia (Bataan/Back To Bataan/The Green Berets/Destination Tokyo)
Warner, $27.92
UFO Hunters: The Complete Season Two
A&E, $39.95
The Uninvited
Dreamworks, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
The Waltons: The Complete Ninth Season
Warner, $39.98
What Doesn’t Kill You
Sony, $24.96; Blu-ray, $34.95
While She Was Out
Starz/Anchor Bay, $27.97
Wilco Live: Ashes Of American Flags
Nonesuch, $19.98
X-Men: The Animated Series – Vol. 1
Disney, $23.99
X-Men: The Animated Series – Vol. 2
Disney, $23.99