Even more Avengers characters
Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron Walt Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99 Available on VOD Oct. 2
After proving he could effectively juggle half a dozen heroes in 2012’s “The Avengers,” writer-director Joss Whedon drops even more characters into this blockbuster sequel. Following up on previous Marvel movies’ offhanded critiques of well-meaning but reckless militarization, the new film has the super-team fighting against a sentient computer originally created by Tony “Iron Man” Stark to identify and squash threats to global security. Partly an action-packed war movie with costumed heroes and partly a spirited debate over modern security-state, “Age of Ultron” is ultimately a little overstuffed but always exciting. The DVD and Blu-ray are similarly jam-packed, with a Whedon commentary track, deleted scenes, a gag reel and a slew of behind-thescenes featurettes.
Cop Car Universal, $19.98; Blu-ray, $26.98 Available on VOD
Director Jon Watts recently became the surprise choice to helm the next Spider-Man reboot because of his work on this tense, twisty small-town thriller (which he co-wrote with Christopher Ford). Kevin Bacon plays a corrupt sheriff who has his cruiser stolen by a pair of bored preteen boys, then spends the day trying to hunt them down before they inadvertently expose his dark secrets. Watts brings a twisted wit and tightly controlled visual style to what’s ostensibly one long chase scene, although the movie’s biggest streng th is the realistic kid dialogue, well delivered by James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford. More than anything, “Cop Car” understands what it’s like to be young, idle and overconfident. The DVD and Bluray
add a featurette.
The Connection Cinedigm, $24.99; Blu-ray, $29.93 Available on VOD
This sprawling cops-vs.-druglords drama tells the European side of the real-life saga documented in William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning classic “The French Connection.” Jean Dujardin plays a Marseilles magistrate who spends the better part of a decade trying to nail a free-spending criminal kingpin (Gilles Lellouche), in a rich study of two men whose ambitions and fortunes change over the course of a long, destructive rivalry. While writer-director Cédric Jimenez doesn’t successfully construct a compelling narrative out of all of the minute details of this case, his film does offer fascinating insight into how smugglers operate. The DVD and Blu-ray include a featurette and deleted scenes.
The Duke of Burgundy
Shout! Factory Blu-ray, $26.99
Peter Strickland’s 2012 cult film, “Berberian Sound Studio,” used the basic form of old Italian suspense films to explore one man’s loneliness and paranoia, and now his excellent follow-up describes the common give-and-take of romantic relationships via the story of a kinky lesbian couple who’ve stepped right out of 1970s European erotica. Sidse Babett Knudsen and Chiara D’Anna are by turns funny and heartbreaking, playing lovers who spend their days playing increasingly frustrating sex games in an opulent mansion. Strickland places the ladies within a dreamy tableau that sometimes devolves into pure avant-garde impressionism, but this film is in no way inaccessible because it’s about recognizable human beings trying honestly to respond to each other’s sometimes strange needs. “The Duke of Burgundy” is one the damnedest — and best — movie romances in recent years. Shout! Factory’s Blu-ray set is loaded up with a Strickland commentary track and interview, plus deleted scenes and a bonus short film.
And…
Aloft Sony Blu-ray, $34.99 Available on VOD Tuesday
Black Coal, Thin Ice
Well Go USA, $24.98; Blu-ray, $29.98
Entourage: The Movie Warner Bros., $28.98; Blu-ray, $44.95 Available on VOD Tuesday
Poltergeist 20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99/$49.99 Available on VOD Tuesday
A Room with a View
Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95
Spy 20th Century Fox, $19.99; Blu-ray, $26.99 Available on VOD Tuesday