New on DVD: March 26

Lincoln

In Steven Spielberg’s epic biopic about the iconic U.S. President, Daniel Day-Lewis crafts another of his Oscar-winning performances. The film covers the final four months of the man’s life, covering all the familiar moments including the end of slavery, the Civil War and that fateful visit to the theatre.

Parental Guidance

When Artie (Billy Crystal) and Diane (Bette Midler) agree to look after their grandchildren for three days, it becomes a generational clash of the titans in this comedy.

Killing Them Softly

Brad Pitt stars in this talky neo-noir thriller about a hitman who is brought in to clean up the mess made by the amateur robbery of a mob-run poker game. Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini and Richard Jenkins co-star.

Easy Money

The Killing’s Joel Kinnaman stars in this Swedish thriller about a business school grad who finds himself attracted to the big money world of organized crime until he begins to see the ever-increasing violence that accompanies it.

The Collection

In this sequel to the 2009 horror film The Collector, a survivor of the serial killer known as The Collector is blackmailed by the father of one of the killer’s latest victims to track his daughter down and rescue her from a booby-trapped warehouse.

RE-RELEASED DVDs:

Westworld

Before he worked out all the kinks of his “theme park characters go mad” plotline in Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton wrote and directed this 1973 sci-fi thriller about a theme park populated with realistic human-looking robots where wealthy visitors can party among several different worlds (West World, Medieval World and Roman World). Things go terribly wrong for our two heroes (James Brolin and Richard Benjamin) when a robot gunslinger (Yul Brynner) goes off-line and begins killing people for real. EXTRAS on this blu-ray edition include the pilot episode of the short-lived 1980 TV spin-off series Beyond Westworld and more.

Timerider

Although it may be best remembered among cult film connoisseurs for being scored and co-written by former Monkee Mike Nesmith, this sci-fi Western is an enjoyable oddity on its own. Fred Ward stars as Lyle Swann, a professional motorcycle champion who somehow is transported back in time 100 years and has a run in with some outlaws who want his bike.

TV ON DVD:

Veep: Season One

The creator Armando Ianucci of the swear-filled and hilarious British series The Thick of It (and it’s feature-film spin-off In the Loop) brings his unique look at the political scene to the U.S. in this HBO series starring Julia Louis Dreyfus. Dreyfus plays former Senator turned Vice President Selina Meyer, a woman who struggles to make the right decisions both personally and professionally in a world where lying and backstabbing are a daily routine. Matt Walsh (Outsourced) plays the acerbic and foul-mouthed assistant among other strong supporting players. This two-disc set features all 10 episodes.

 

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: The Complete First Season

This Australian mystery series (based on the novels by Kerry Greenwood) stars Essie Davis (two of the Matrix films) as the sexy and witty Phryne Fisher, a socialite who returns to Melbourne and is immediately dropped into the lap of murder, cocaine smuggling and a handsome Russian dancer. And that’s only the first episode. Set during the 1920s, this light-hearted mystery series mixes the stylish art-deco world of high society with the gritty reality of criminal behaviour for a combination sure to appeal to fans of similar British TV mysteries as Miss Fisher, along with the beleaguered DI Jack Robinson (Nathan Page) set about bringing various nefarious villains to justice. This 4-DVD set features all 13 episodes. (Acorn)