"Fast Five" (Universal) takes the fast cars and speed-demon criminals of the surprisingly resilient action franchise to Rio, which becomes more than just an exotic landing pad for the wanted crew.

 

After kicking off with a prison transport jailbreak (because they don't take on any job that doesn't include precision driving and auto mayhem), the core team—street smart crew chief Dom (Vin Diesel), ex-cop turned outlaw Brian (Paul Walker) and Dom's sister/Brian's girl Mia (Jordana Brewster)—reunites co-conspirators from all four previous installments to take on a drug lord and heist a cool $100 million. Meanwhile Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who signs on as their new nemesis. "This guy, he's Old Testament," explains Brian. "Blood, bullets, wrath of God. That's his style." Okay, whatever. Mainly he's a humorless cartoon character of an American agent whose brawny presence that makes him a veritable double for Vin Diesel, minus the street-smart grin.

 

You can credit Justin Lin for keeping the franchise as supercharged as it has become. "Fast Five" isn't particularly smart or savvy as a heist film or a battle of wits but Lin knows how to keep things moving, whether it's a footchase through the alleys and over the corrugated roofs of the favelahs or a precision-driving getaway with tandem cars dragging a bank vault. They, of course, turn this anchor into a wrecking cube of a weapon. Forget physics, it's just a fun blast of action movie ingenuity, as is the film as a whole. These guys make robbing a mobster into a party game for criminal buddies who revel in the adrenaline rush of speed and psych-outs between the rubber and the road.

MSN film critic James Rocchi, who gives it high marks, calls "Fast Five" "the improbable offspring of "Bad Boys II" and Soderbergh's "Ocean" films -- the visceral violence and vengeance meshing perfectly with the clockwork cleverness of the caper." You can read his "five good reasons to like "Fast Five"" in his MSN review here.

 

Ken Burns has spent all of his thirty year (and running) career as a documentary filmmaker turning his camera back on the history of the United States: the defining people, events and accomplishments that defined, divided and united the country. From "Brooklyn Bridge" and "The Statue of Liberty" to "The Civil War" and "Jazz" and "The National Parks" (to name but a few), he has tackled subjects small and expansive with the same focus: finding the human stories that illuminate the history. His latest production, "Prohibition" (PBS/Paramount), presents a complex story of unlikely allies, disastrous political misjudgments and destructive consequences, and a political climate that is eerily familiar today.

The three-part documentary debuted over three nights on PBS and arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, October 4. Videodrone spoke with Burns about "Prohibition," his fascination with American history and what he's been watching. 

What have you been watching?

 

Ken Burns: Not much. I've been working 24/7 promoting the "Prohibition" series. Basically I've been watching "Boardwalk Empire," which is a kind of cousin of what we've done, a dramatic, fictionalized version of the themes that we tackled with our documentary on "Prohibition."

 

What does Ken Burns pull out of his DVD library to watch to relax after working on a documentary all day?

 

I'm a child of R&B and rock and roll, I was born in the early fifties and grew up in the late fifties and early sixties and that was my music, but in 2001 we released a 17 ½-hour history of jazz and everything is filled with jazz, I listen to it all the time. I like the old stuff, I like the new stuff, I listen to Louis Armstrong, I think he's God. I think he is to music in the 20th century -- and I didn't say jazz -- I think he is to music in the 20th century what Einstein was to physics, what Freud was to medicine and what the Wright Brothers are to travel, that is to say, a quantum leap in our musical understanding.

 

My father told me stories of my grandfather, who as a child in the Dakotas would accompany my uncle as he made deliveries of moonshine that his family made from a still in the hills.

 

Burns: You know what? We traveled all around the country on this promotional tour, every walk of life, and I don’t know anybody that doesn't have some related prohibition story. It's really wonderful. I love the way our films -- "The Civil War," "Baseball," "Jazz," "The National Parks" -- but this one in particular draws out stories in people quite apart from our own stories that we're trying to tell.

 

 

New Releases:

"Fast Five" (Universal) takes the fast cars and speed-demon criminals to Rio, where they take on a drug lord and a cool $100 million. It’s a cast reunion featuring co-conspirators from all four previous installments and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who signs on as their new nemesis: a humorless American agent with a brawny presence that makes him a veritable double for Vin Diesel, minus the street-smart grin. Videodrone's review is here.

 

"Scream 4" (Anchor Bay) reunites director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson for a revival of the self-aware horror franchise. Videodrone's review is here. "Submarine" (Anchor Bay) is a British indie coming-of-age drama.

 

And a big week for non-fiction cinema: "African Cats" (Disney) is Disney's natural history documentary, the acclaimed "Buck" (IFC) profiles the real-life man who inspired "The Horse Whisperer, and "Jig" (Screen Media), a look into the little known world of competitive Irish Dancing.

Browse the complete New Release Rack here

 

TV on DVD:

Just a day after concluding its three-night run on PBS, Ken Burns' "Prohibition" (PBS/Paramount) arrives on DVD and Blu-ray. Though not one of the director's epics, it explores a misunderstood period of American history and discovers remarkable parallels to contemporary politics. Videodrone's review is here, and I interview Ken Burns here.

 

"Moby Dick" (Vivendi), the new made-for-cable mini-series, stars William Hurt, Donald Sutherland, Ethan Hawke and Gillian Anderson.

 

New deluxe editions are now out for "The Walking Dead: Special Edition" (Anchor Bay) and "Planet Earth: Six Disc Special Edition" (BBC), on both DVD and Blu-ray (reviewed here), and "The Honeymooners Lost Episodes: The Complete Restored Series" (MPI) in an exhaustive 15-discs DVD box set.

 

"In Treatment: The Complete Third Season" (HBO) brings the high-concept HBO drama serial to an end, and there are new collections of "Bored to Death: The Complete Second Season" (HBO), "Melissa & Joey: Season One, Part Two" (Shout! Factory) and, in anticipation of the revival of MTV's signature animated series, "Beavis And Butt-Head: Mike Judge’s Most Wanted" (Paramount).

Flip through the TV on DVD Channel Guide here

 

Cool, Classic and Cult:

"Amer" (Olive), a Belgian mindtrip from directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani,  pays tribute to the giallo, a deliriously stylish brand of Italian horror, with a subjective psychosexual trip that defies explanation but is a glorious experience nevertheless (or perhaps because of it). Videdrone's review is here.

 

"Friday the 13th: The Ultimate Collection" (Paramount) boxes up the eight films of the original slasher series in a Limited Edition box with a replica of Jason’s hockey mask, and "Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection" (Universal) collects five Hitchcock masterpieces of the fifties and sixties in a digipack packed with supplements (all previously available in earlier releases).

 

And from the stage (via cable specials) comes "The Pee-Wee Herman Show On Broadway" (Image) and "Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On" (Image).

All of the Cool, Classic and Cult here

 

Blu-ray Debuts:

"The Lion King / The Lion King 3D" (Disney) comes off a successful theatrical 3D revival and on to Blu-ray, in both the original theatrical version and the new 3D incarnation.

Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (Lionsgate) and "Jackie Brown" (Lionsgate) debut on Blu-ray (reviewed here), as do Tim Burton's "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (Warner) and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (Warner).

Videodrone talks with "Jackie Brown" stars Pam Grier and Robert Forster here.

Peruse all the new Blu-rays here

 

The complete calendar of releases this week is after the jump:

 

Here's what's new on DVD and Blu-ray this week as featured on Videodrone

 

Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs for September 27

 

New Releases:

'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' - Giant Robot Redux

'Carlos' – The Making of a Terrorist Superstar

Foreign Affairs: 'Viva Riva!,' 'The Stool Pigeon' and more from Italy, China, South Korea, India and elsewhere

The New Release Rack: 'Transformers,' 'Carlos,' 'The Ledge'

 

TV on DVD:

'The Hour' – Cold War and Hot News at the BBC

TV on DVD Channel Guide: "Queer at Folk" U.K., "How to Make It in America," plus new seasons of "How I Met Your Mother" and every "CSI" franchise and many more

 

The Cool and the Collectible:

Cult Watch: Basket Case of Blood

Cool, Classic and Collectible: Silent 'Treasures' – 'The West' and 'The Phantom Carriage,' plus films from Italy's Fernando di Leo, India's Ritwik Ghatak and Ma and Pa Kettle

 

Blu-ray Debuts:

'Ben-Hur' Turns 50 with a Lavish New Box Set

'Footloose' Style Guide (with an exclusive clip)

Blu-ray Round-up: Buster Keaton comedies and Guillermo del Toro's 'Mimic: The Director's Cut'

 

Coming up next week:

"Fast Five" (Universal)

"Scream 4" (Anchor Bay)

"Submarine" (Anchor Bay)

"African Cats" (Disney)

"Amer" (Olive)

"Buck" (IFC)

"Jig" (Screen Media)

"Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection" (Universal)

"The Pee-Wee Herman Show On Broadway" (Image)

"Friday the 13th: The Ultimate Collection" (Paramount)

"Prohibition" (PBS/Paramount)

"The Walking Dead: Special Edition" (Anchor Bay)

"Planet Earth: Six Disc Special Edition" (BBC)

"The Honeymooners Lost Episodes: The Complete Restored Series" (MPI)

"Friday Night Lights: The Complete Series" (Universal)

"Bored to Death: The Complete Second Season" (HBO)

"In Treatment: The Complete Third Season" (HBO)

"Beavis And Butt-Head: Mike Judge’s Most Wanted" (Paramount)

"The Lion King" (Blu-ray) (Disney)

"Pulp Fiction" (Blu-ray) (Lionsgate)

"Jackie Brown" (Blu-ray) (Lionsgate)

"Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (Blu-ray) (Warner)

"Salò, or 120 Days of Sodom" (Blu-ray) (Criterion)

"Harakiri" (Blu-ray) (Criterion)

 

For calendar of upcoming releases, click here

 

"Ben-Hur: 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition" (Warner) is the latest Oscar-winning epic to the Blu-ray treatment in a newly-remastered HD edition. Videodrone's review is here. "The Blood Trilogy" (Image) features the Blu-ray debut of three grindhouse gore classics from Herschel Gordon Lewis and "Basket Case" (Image) is Frank Henenlotters ingenious indie horror debut. Videodrone reviews them both here.  "Footloose" (Paramount) gets its HD debut as the remake is set to hit theaters. See Videodrone's coverage (with an exclusive clip from the new edition) here.

 

Kino continues rolling out Keaton on Blu-ray with "Buster Keaton: Go West / Battling Butler" (Kino). "Go West" (1925) is a (for Keaton) subdued sentimental comedy about a city boy gone west and his attachment to a cute little heifer. And by that I mean an actual cow, a big-eyed bovine ostracized from the herd. They hardly smile at one another, but this inseparable pair is utterly charming and more convincing than the contrived romance between Keaton and the Rancher’s daughter, the official romantic interest of the film. Keaton eschews his usual brand of spirited physical gags and elaborate set pieces for the quiet sentimental comedy, and even the climactic urban cattle drive through downtown Los Angeles becomes a gently surreal spectacle: curious cattle wander from shop to shop without breaking so much as a teacup and Keaton shoos then out like they were children lost children.

 

"Battling Butler" (1926) features Keaton in the familiar role of the meek son of affluence, who is sent away by his father to toughen up and ends up mistaken for a boxing champion, a charade he carries on to impress a rustic girl. It's one of Keaton's weaker stories but features creative gags, physical invention and, of course, the greatest stone-faced takes in silent cinema. Features a bonus 1923 comedy short also called "Go West" but featuring a cast of monkeys, a rare 60-minute audio recording of Keaton, galleries of stills and excerpts from an unproduced Keaton screenplay.

 

"Mimic: The Director's Cut" (Lionsgate) is Guillermo del Toro's reworking of his American film debut, a sly little horror about insects that have evolved in the sewers and subway tunnels to become human predators, thanks to a growth spurt and an ingenious adaptive mechanism that allows them to mimic human forms in the creepiest ways. The studio reworked the film slightly for release and del Toro, now quite the Hollywood genre auteur, has gone back to restore seven minutes of deleted scenes and re-edit certain sequences. ""Mimic" starts out smart and stays that way for almost two hours of non-stop scares," writes Glenn Erickson at DVD Savant, who finds that "In this longer version del Toro is able to suggest more interesting ideas…" The Blu-ray only release features all new supplements, including an introduction and commentary to this cut by del Toro, three featurettes and more deleted scenes. Also includes a bonus digital copy.

 

"Torso" (Blue Underground), a gruesome 1973 giallo from Italian horror director Sergio Martino, is a body count film about a masked maniac murdering and mutilating beautiful young college girls. When four co-eds (including Suzy Kendall and Tina Aumont) head off to a villa in the country, he decides to follow, and with a title like "Torso" you can imagine how well that turns out for them. There's some vague "Psycho" backstory involving a hazy childhood trauma but it's really all about the spectacle of sadistic, unmotivated violence. Martino has none of the grace of Dario Argento and executes (an appropriate term) the violence with a blunt viciousness, but it's still more stylish than most of the American slasher movie counterparts of the seventies. The Blu-ray features both the American cut and the uncut Italian version, in both Italian and English language versions (the uncut version features some scenes in Italian only, as they were never dubbed into English). Also features an interview with director Martino, the alternate U.S. credits, trailers and other promotional supplements.

 

Best Buy Exclusives:

Here are three Blu-ray debuts available exclusively (for the time being) from Best Buy: "Airplane!" (Paramount), arguably one of the funniest movies ever made (and featuring commentary, trivia and a "Long Haul Version" with deleted scenes), "The Naked Gun" (Best Buy Exclusive) from "Airplane!" co-creator David Zucker (with commentary) and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (Paramount) with Steve Martin, John Candy and lots of supplements.

 

For more releases, see Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs for September 27

 

 

"Treasures 5: The West, 1898-1938" (Image), a collection of features, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, travelogues and fragments from the silent and early sound eras, is more about preservation and education than simple entertainment, but it is entertaining as well as revealing. It's a record of the American West as it was transforming from frontier to modern world, as viewed through fictional representations and documentary recordings. The fictions are generally (but not exclusively) westerns, from Broncho Billy and Tom Mix shorts to a Clara Bow comedy (yes, the silent cinema's "It" girl brings her sexy, seductive ways to the Yukon frontier in the delightful "Mantrap") but the non-fiction films include a marvelous scope of offerings. The span of formats presents a visual record that makes the case for film preservation better than any lecture. It's a treat for any fan of archival cinema, film history or visual documents of the early 20th century and a must for any silent film aficionado. Like me.

 

Dave Kehr, in his weekly home video column at The New York Times, celebrates the virtues and pleasures of this three-disc set more eloquently than I can: " the “Treasures” sets offer an invaluable glimpse of that monumental yet increasingly inaccessible achievement that was American moviemaking in the 20th century."

 

"The Phantom Carriage" (Criterion), directed by and starring Victor Sjöström, is one of the masterpieces of Swedish cinema and its reputation is well deserved. Where most of the great Swedish classics of the era were sweeping sagas set in the rugged landscape of grand outdoors (like his own "The Outlaw and His Wife"), this mix of folk tale, tragedy and redemptive melodrama is a more intimate work created in the controlled environment of the studio. Sjöström sculpts his images in light and shadow, from the squalid lives of his characters to the phantom images of Death's carriage collecting souls, and brings the performances down to level of nuance and quiet intensity that only rarely explodes in fury and self-disgust. It's remarkably modern for 1921, evoking D.W. Griffith at his most intimate and looking forward to the grace of Murnau's "Faust" and Sjöström's own American masterpieces. An international sensation, "The Phantom Carriage" brought Hollywood calling and the father of Swedish cinema answered. This was one of his final Swedish films but it is still considered his greatest.

 

Criterion presents its long-awaited home video debut in a superb edition on DVD and Blu-ray, beautifully mastered from a restored print from the Swedish Film Institute. Both DVD and Blu-ray feature commentary by film historian Casper Tybjerg and a choice of two scores, one lyrical and lovely score by composer/pianist Matti Bye and performed by a nine-piece ensemble (my preference), and the other by the experimental duo KTL. The generous collection of supplements includes a 16-minute interview clips of Ingmar Bergman discussing Sjöström (excerpted from the 1981 documentary "Victor Sjöström: A Portrait") and Peter Cowie's original visual essay "The Bergman Connection," which examines the film's influence on Bergman. Also features archival footage of the construction of Rasunda studio (where the film was shot) and a booklet with an essay by Paul Mayersberg.

 

Gangster movie specialist Fernando di Leo shifts genres for the sexploitation youth drama "To Be Twenty" (RaroVideo), about a pair of young liberated women from the provinces who hitchhike to Rome full of idealistic dreams and, after a series of erotic romps, end up mired in prostitution and criminal gangs. The film was heavily censored before release and the two-disc set features both the theatrical version and the uncensored director's cut. This set comes to DVD by way of a well-curated Italian edition featuring a documentary and a copy of the screenplay, and features a booklet with notes by Nathaniel Thompson.

 

"The Cloud-Capped Star" (Facets), from Indian film master Ritwik Ghatak (little seen in the U.S. but celebrated in India), is a 1960 family melodrama set in Calcutta and considered a classic of Indian cinema. Strictly Film School film critic Acquarello describes the film as "a visually sublime, idiosyncratically overripe, but provocative and deeply personal account of poverty, disillusionment, and exile" in his notes on Ritwik Ghatak. In Bengali with English subtitles, and features a video introduction and film notes by British film critic Derek Malcom.

 

"Ma & Pa Kettle Complete Comedy Collection" (Universal) features all ten films featuring the corny backwoods couple played by Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. They are only supporting players in "The Egg and I" (1947), a comedy about city girl Claudette Colbert’s adventures in rural America when her husband (Fred MacMurray) indulges in his dream: chicken farming. No, it’s not a dry run for "Green Acres," simply a good-natured comedy with colorful country folk and a determined gentleman farmer who not only loves his work, but turns out to be quite good at it. The series continues with the antics of the spirited Ma Kettle, her lazy husband, their unusually responsible eldest son Tom (Richard Long), and their out-of-control brood of 15 kids in "Ma and Pa Kettle" (1949), where the family sets about refurbishing the family farm when Pa wins a slogan contest. The hijinks of this bunch are decidedly low key, your basic hick comedy written by Hollywood city slickers, but Main and Kilbride know how to sell the humor: she’s loud and loving as a mother hen with no pretensions and he’s a pleasantly irresponsible loafer who barely raises an eyebrow during his most audacious schemes to get out of working for a living. The luck of Pa continues when "Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town" (1950), Manhattan to be specific, after Pa wins another contest, and the collection is filled out with "Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm" (1951), "Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair" (1952), "Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation" (1953), "Ma and Pa Kettle at Home" (1954) and "Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" (1955), which also marked Percy Kilbride’s final film appearance. He was replaced in "The Kettles in the Ozarks" (1955) with Arthur Hunnicutt as a Kettle cousin and "The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm" (1957) with Parker Fennelly stepping in for Kilbride. Five discs in a standard case with hinged trays.

 

"Roger Corman’s Cult Classics: Vampires, Mummies & Monsters 2-Disc Special Edition" (Shout! Factory) is a grab bag of indifferent genre pictures of the seventies and eighties. "Lady Frankenstein" (1971) stars Joseph Cotten as Baron Frankenstein and Rosalba Neri as his daughter, and is presented in two different cuts. Stephanie Rothman directs the erotic "The Velvet Vampire" (1971), which features commentary by star Celeste Yarnall. "Time Walker" (1982) is a mummy movie with an alien connection and "Grotesque" (1987) is a horror film starring Linda Blair, who was hardly the mark of quality even before 1987. The two-disc set also features an interview with "Time Walker" star Kevin Brophy and producer Dimitri Villard and trailers.

 

And the rest:

"Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore" (Image) from fellow cult horror director Frank Henenlotter, profiles the director of such sixties gore classics as "Two Thousand Maniacs." Videodrone gets and down and dirty with it here.

 

"Jackie Mason: One Angry Man" (SRO Entertainment) reworks the classic stage play "Twelve Angry Men" as a Broadway comedy for the comedian.

 

"Live From Tokyo" (MVD Visual) is a documentary on he underground music scene of Tokyo. "ZhuZhu Pets: Quest for Zhu" (Universal) is a direct to DVD feature from the TV series based on the line of toys.

 

"Buster Keaton: Go West / Battling Butler" (Kino) and "Footloose" (Paramount) are covered in Blu-ray but also get new DVD editions.

 

For more releases, see Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs for September 27

 

"Ben-Hur: 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition" (Warner) is the latest Oscar-winning epic to the Blu-ray treatment in a newly-remastered HD edition. Yes, it is a big, lumbering epic that can barely support its own weight, but then it has the square shoulder of the even squarer Charlton Heston to hold it up. And he does, with stiff masculinity and simmering, strutting pride, as the Jewish nobleman enslaved by the Romans (and specifically by his boyhood chum, Stephen Boyd).

 

Get a look behind the scenes of the film's legendary chariot race sequence in the MSN exclusive clip below, after the jump

 

Soberly show-offy and humorless, this super-production is a triumph of craft over art, spectacle over drama, and William Wyler is the perfect craftsman for the job. The roaring sea battle and the show stopping chariot race -- two of the most spectacular scenes of epic action ever mounted on Hollywood -- were helmed by unheralded second-unit superstar Andrew Marton and legendary stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt. They look as good as ever, even in the age of CGI, because digital still hasn't quite matched the presence of physical action. Jack Hawkins, Sam Jaffe, Frank Thring, Haya Harareet, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, and Cathy O’Donnell co-star. It won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler ), Best Actor (Charlton Heston), and Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith).

 

The film, restored from the original 65mm camera negative (complete with Overture and Entr’acte music) and presented in the MGM Camera 65 aspect ratio of 2.6:1 (the widest ever used theatrically), is spread across two discs on Blu-ray and features commentary by film historian T. Gene Hatcher with scene specific comments from Charlton Heston (Hatcher fills in the dead spots left by Heston when he recorded the track years before) and a music-only track showcasing Miklos Rozsa’s Oscar winning score.

 

 

"The Hour" (BBC), a BBC mini-series set in the fifties, is an odd but intriguing hybrid of journalism drama and Cold War conspiracy thriller starring Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai and Dominic West star. Videodrone's review is here.

 

"Queer as Folk (Original U.K. Series): The Complete Collection" (Acorn) presents the entire run of the groundbreaking British series created by Russell T. Davies. Set in the gay culture of Manchester, the series was a minor phenomenon in Britain, very successful and not without some controversy, and also launched the careers of Aidan Gillen ("Game of Thrones") and Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") and spawned an American remake. For survey of the initial press response to the show, here's a piece from The Independent from 1999. The three-disc set also includes the featurette "What the Folk…?," deleted scenes with commentary, interviews and a 20-page booklet.

"How to Make It in America: The Complete First Season" (HBO), the half-hour dramedy from HBO, plays a bit like the flip side of "Entourage": guys on the streets of New York to hit the American Dream. Ben and Cam (Bryan Greenburg and Victor Rasuk) want to skip over the hard part and jump right in to the big time. It's not a matter of laziness -- these guys are constantly on the hustle as they try to put together their own hip fashion line with New York style -- simply ambition. But for all the show's attempt at street smart storylines and Big Apple atmosphere, with characters bouncing between living large and going broke, it's still a fantasy of living on wits, talent and smooth talk in the margins between art and commerce while leveraging the commerce of art. Lake Bell, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi, Shannyn Sossamon and Luis Guzman co-star. Eight episodes on two discs in a three-panel digipak, with cast and crew commentary on every episode, featurettes and deleted scenes. The second season begins on HBO in October.

 

Jason Priestly stars in "Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season" (eOne), a black comedy made for Canadian cable about womanizing, morally bankrupt used car salesman who ends up working for a new guy on the lot who claims to be his conscience and is determined to make this unapologetic reprobate repent, or at least ease off on his worst instincts. Of course you know, this means war. 13 episodes on three discs, plus featurettes.

 

Another season:

"How I Met Your Mother: The Complete Season Six" (Fox) is still working toward that fateful meeting. Maybe. But while Ted (Josh Radnor) looks (this season, it looks like Jennifer Morrison may be the one), Marshall and Lily (Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan) try to have baby and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) continues his quest to conquer as many women as possible. Cobie Smulders co-stars and Katy Perry guest stars. 24 episodes on three discs, plus commentary on four episodes, deleted scenes and featurettes.

 

The entire "CSI" franchise rolls out last season's line-up "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – The Eleventh Season" (Paramount) marks the final season for Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Ray Langston, who stars the season off recovering from a stabbing by a serial killer, and features a guest shot  by Justin Bieber. 22 episodes on six discs, with commentary on two episodes, featurettes and deleted scenes.

 

"CSI: Miami – The Ninth Season" (Paramount), the far sunnier spin-off headlined by David Caruso, is back with Emily Procter, Adam Rodriguez, Rex Linn and the rest. 22 episodes on six discs, with commentary on two episodes, featurettes and deleted scenes. "CSI: New York - The Seventh Season" (Paramount) brings Sela Ward on to the team led by Gary Sinise's Detective Mac Taylor and features guest appearances by John Larroquette and Peter Fonda. 22 episodes on six discs plus featurettes. All collected in space-saving standard cases with tightly-packed hinged trays.

 

Also continuing on: "The Middle: The Complete Second Season" (Warner) with Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn as overwhelmed parents in middle American (24 episodes on three discs), HBO's "Hung: The Complete Second Season" (HBO), the comedy of a part-time gigolo starring Thomas Jane, Jane Adams and Anne Heche (10 episode on two discs on DVD and Blu-ray, plus commentary, deleted scenes and a featurette), "Army Wives: The Complete Fifth Season" (ABC) from the Lifetime Network (13 episodes on three discs, plus a featurette and deleted scenes) and the animated "The Cleveland Show: The Complete Season Two" (Fox) (22 episodes on four discs, plus commentary and featurettes).

And on the vintage side... Who loves ya, baby? "Kojak: Season Two" (Shout! Factory) presents 24 episodes of the Telly Savalas cop show on six discs .

 

BritTV:

"Gavin & Stacey: The Complete Collection" (BBC) features all three seasons (plus the Christmas Special!) of the BAFTA-winning comedy of true love, from first meeting to married life, in a box set of five discs in three standard cases (one per season, of course). James Corden and Ruth Jones write and star as the titular couple, just a couple of normal kids from crazy families who fall in love. The first season was released a couple of years ago but this marks the debut the rest of the seasons, which are also available separately as "Gavin & Stacey: Season Two" (BBC) and "Gavin & Stacey: The Christmas Special and Season Three" (BBC).Also includes commentary on select episodes, interview, featurettes, outtakes and other supplements.

 

Colin Firth stars in the 1986 miniseries "Lost Empires" (Acorn), based on the novel by J.B. Priestly about a young man who joins his uncle's touring theatrical troupe. It's one of his earlier leading roles and the series features Laurence Olivier in a small role.

 

"New Tricks: Season Five" (Acorn), the British "Cold Case File" squad of aging cops and old-school attitude, presents 8 more episodes on three discs. And yeah, it's a lot of fun. "Art of the Western World" (Athena) is a nine-episode art history lesson from historian Michael Woods.

And the rest:

"Holly's World: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2" (MPI) and "Kendra: Seasons 2 & 3" (MPI) are evidence that there is life after being one of "The Girls Next Door" in the Playboy Mansion… if reality TV is your idea of life.

 

"The Looney Tunes Show: Season 1, Vol. 1" (Warner) features four episodes from the new Cartoon Network animated series with Bugs and Daffy. "Adventure Time: My Two Favorite People" (Warner), the first collection from of the Cartoon network series, features twelve episodes from the first two seasons. "Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos" (Paramount) is the latest stand-up concert special from the popular ventriloquist.

 

For more releases, see Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs for September 27