TV

New on DVD: May 28

This week on DVD, from the producers of Paranormal Acitvity and Insidious comes Dark Skies, an extraterrestrial thriller where terror comes from above

Dark Skies

A suburban family (Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton) becomes the target of extraterrestrial visitations that take on more and more disturbing elements and alienate them from their friends and neighbours in this psychological thriller from writer-director Scott Stewart (Priest).

The Numbers Station

After a botch mission, a CIA agent (John Cusack) is given the thankless task of guarding a numbers station in the remote British countryside which is only manned (or should I say “personned”) by one woman named Katherine (Malin Ackerman). After spending months together alone, the two develop a relationship. When the station becomes compromised and the agency demands her termination, the agent becomes conflicted in what to do.

Priest of Evil

In this Finnish thriller, a Helsinki detective traumatized by the death of his daughter struggles to track down a serial killer who hunts his victims along the subway system of the city. (Shout Factory)

CLASSIC RE-ISSUES

Swimming to Cambodia

Actor and writer Spalding Gray became famous for his autobiographical monologues that he performed on stage in one-man shows. This 1987 film (from Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme) captures his 1985 play which itself is based on Gray’s experiences filming a small role for the movie The Killing Fields the year before. With little more on stage with him than a table, Gray manages to keep you mesmerized with his words and his voice. This release includes a 17-minute interview with Demme who describes the difficulty of adapting this monologue to film and keeping it interesting. (Shout Factory)

TV ON DVD

Red Widow: Season One

While this is being released as “Season One”, it might as well as been called “The Complete Series” as this drama was cancelled after only 8 episodes (which are all included in this 2-disc set). For years Marta (Radha Mitchell) has stayed on the outskirts of her family’s illegal activities in the Russian mob, but after the brutal murder of her husband she is forced to risk her life and carry on in his place working for a deadly crime boss (ER’s Goran Visnjic).

Power Rangers: Season 2, Vol. 2

In the final half of this 1994 season of the long-running franchise, the Rangers – along with some new allies – continue to battle the evil Lord Zedd and his Thunderzords in these action-packed adventures. This 3-disc set contains the final 26 episodes of the season. (Shout Factory)

Beetlejuice: The Complete Series

Based on the 1988 film from Tim Burton, this animated series captured some of the director’s style and wit and went off madly in all directions after that. Here, the otherworldly Beetlejuice and teenage Lydia are best friends and share adventures in the Neitherworld, where just about anything can happen and often does. This series originally ran on ABC on Saturday mornings beginning in 1989 before becoming a mainstay on Fox on weekday afternoons in the early 1990s. This 12 disc set features all 94 episodes. (Shout Factory)

George Gently: Series 1-4 collection
George Gently: Series 5

A murder in Northumberland that seems related to the same man that may have killed his wife, pulls Inspector George Gently (Martin Shaw) out of retirement for one last case in the first episode of this gritty 1960s-set British mystery series based on the novels by Alan Hunter. What Gently discovers is that it takes almost as much effort keeping his new young assistant (Lee Ingleby) in line as it does tracking down clues.  Thus begins a mystery series in 2007 that continues to run today (four new feature-length episodes are expected to air in the UK later this year). This first set contains all 10 episodes that span the 2007 – 2011 seasons (on 11 DVDs), while the Series 5 set contains the four 2012 episodes (on 4 discs).  (Acorn)

Longmire: The Complete First Season

Based on the character originated in the best-selling novels by Craig Johnson, this new mystery series follows the adventures of a small town Wyoming sheriff named Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor), who throws himself into his work to recover from the loss of his wife. When one of his deputies decides to run for office against him, he struggles to put that betrayal behind him and solve a murder with connections to the local First Nations tribe and his friend Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips).  All 10 first season episodes are available on this 3-disc set. (Warner)