This Week's DVD Releases

We are really in the thick of it. I just mentioned last week that there were a bunch of bad DVDs to come, and that is borne out with the new batch of releases. The biggest relatively high profile release is Ryan Reynolds' confined space thriller Buried, which I never saw, because I'm not into claustrophobia. Besides that, the terrible Photoshopped poster of Takers tells you everything you need to know about that one. And in Stone, Edward Norton continues to demean himself (this time with cornrows!) just to log some quality time with Robert DeNiro.

In the indie realm are several films I barely remember: YouTube high school raunch com The Virginity Hit; Freakonomics, which used the pop economists' book as the starting point for a disjointed multi-storyline ensemble piece; Paper Man, with Ryan Reynolds as Jeff Daniels' imaginary action hero friend; and Jack Goes Boating, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut. (Did you realize any of those films even existed? I did that from memory!) One film you should actually see: Animal Kingdom, the Australian crime thriller that just might get Jacki Warner a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nom. And if you didn't get enough Death Race, check out Death Race 2.

In TV on DVD, if you miss Comedy Central's airing of Denis Leary and friends in Douchebags & Donuts, it's out this week, with a portion of the proceeds going to Leary's firefighter charity. There's Justified's first season, Merlin's second season, and Anthony Bourdain has another disc of No Reservations out. And at long last you can own Hey Vern, It's Ernest!: The Complete Series.

It must be Jim Varney's best week ever, because a triple-feature DVD set is also out with Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Scared Stupid, and Ernest Goes to Jail. Shout Factory has another couple additions to their Roger Corman's Cult Classics series with Attack of the Crab Monsters / War of the Satellites / Not of This Earth and Up From The Depths / Demon Of Paradise. The Criterion Collection has a couple new titles: Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss. It's shaken not stirred via Volume 1 of the Sean Connery 007 Collection. And finally, you can prepare for the end of the world, thanks to 2012 Apocalyptic Prophecies and Inexplicable Phenomena.