It’s a good thing SIFF starts soon, because we are well within another dry spell in new releases. The highest quality film new to DVD is Blue Valentine, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams’ brutal-but-true acting tour de force about falling in and out of love. After that, there’s…The Green Hornet. Aw really, I can get it as a three-disc combo pack, with a Blu-ray 3D, a Blu-ray, and a plain old DVD?!? Yeah…something tells me that’s not going to be necessary, since even the visual talents of Michel Gondry didn’t make that film worthwhile. And then there’s No Strings Attached, but why bother renting that rom-com when it’ll be out again in a few months, this time called Friends With Benefits?

Now you run up against a whole bunch of movies I can barely remember being in theaters. Example: The Dilemma, in which Vince Vaughn (playing Vince Vaughn) struggles with having to tell his buddy that his wife has been cheating on him. But even that flick is more memorable than Waiting for Forever and From Prada to Nada, both of which involve spoiled rich girls. The Other Woman is another Natalie Portman film, this time with her as the titular character.

Then there’s a series of movies only memorable for not being very good. The Mechanic is the latest Jason Statham action film, starring a poster of a gun made out of other guns. The Rite is Anthony Hopkins once again cashing a paycheck, this time as an exorcising priest. The Roommate is Single White Female with Leighton Meester and Minka Kelly, and Vanishing on 7th Street has Hayden Christensen in a post-apocalyptic Detroit (redundant). Although none of those thrillers are quite as scary as Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.

Something I did like: Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench is a special little black-and-white love story with musical moments that played at the Northwest Film Forum earlier this year. In foreign films, A Somewhat Gentle Man has Stellen Skarsgard as a gang leader just getting out of prison, trying to go straight. Mao’s Last Dancer played SIFF last year, and now the biopic on the defector dancer is out on DVD. I Saw the Devil is a graphic Korean revenge fantasy, while 3 Idiots is a high-grossing Bollywood comedy.

Like Planet Earth and Life before it, Human Planet is the latest epic series from the BBC and Discovery. In other documentaries, Lucky is a look at the lottery, while Chicago Cubs: The Heart & Soul of Chicago is the exact opposite of luck. Bhutto examines the life and death of the influential Pakistani leader, Cropsey investigates a boogey man who just might be real, and AC/DC: Live at River Plate rocks.

Criterion’s had a smattering of new releases of late: Smiles of a Summer Night, Fat Girl, Something Wild, Diabolique, and Pale Flower. And there’s new Blu-Ray editions of Twelve O’Clock High, El Topo, Holy Mountain, Taps, Some Like It Hot, Misfits, and Beverly Hills Cop. In TV on DVD, out now is the remake of Upstairs, Downstairs, the British Being Human season 3, and the American Skins season 1. The 14th season of South Park is now available, as is the 5th season of Boy Meets World, and for some reason, if you love Home Improvement, the 20th Anniversary Complete Collection is out now. Characters welcome, as USA releases Covert Affairs season 1 and Royal Pains season 2. And if you’re looking for a kids’ show with the voices of Lacey Chabert, Tim Curry, and Flea, you’re in luck with the release of The Wild Thornberrys season one.

In the grab bag, Sniper: Reloaded earns that colon. Celebrate the beginning of SIFF with co-founder Dan Ireland’s Jolene. There’s not one but two terrible SyFy films out on DVD, in the forms of Dinoshark and Almighty Thor. Cuba Gooding Jr stars in The Hit List, yet another direct-to-DVD title to add to his discography. And Zach Galifianakis makes with the funny in Visioneers.