New to View: Belles bring more a cappella onto home screens

By Bob Bloom
The following Blu-rays and DVDs are being released on Tuesday, Sept. 22:
Pitch Perfect 2 (Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet)
Details: 2015, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, language, sexual innuendo
The lowdown: Beca, Fat Amy and the rest of the Barden Belles are back as they face another crisis and work hard at being a time and redeeming their legacy.
The Belles face their stiffest competition when they compete against the German team, Das Sound Machine at the World Championships of A Cappella.
Most of the original cast returns for this musical sequel.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English audio descriptive track and Spanish and French 5.1 DTS Digital surround; English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles; DVD: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English, Spanish and French 5.1 Dolby Digital and English 2.0 Dolby Digital audio descriptive track; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Hours of extras include a Treblemakers performance, a making of the riff-off featurette, a look at Das Sound Machine’s final breakdown, a Green Bay rap, a featurette on Snoop in the house, a line-aca-rama featurette, a look at the world championships of a cappella, a featurette on the Bumper-Fat Amy love story, a featurette on debut director Elizabeth Banks, a look at a cappella camp a look at the Residual Heat internship, a gag reel, deleted, extended and alternate scenes, a featurette on the return of the Belles and extended musical performances.

The Flash: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet)
Details: 2014-15, Warner Home Video
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A four-disc set featuring all 23 first-season episodes of the CW series based on DC Comics’ Scarlet Speedster as forensic investigator Barry Allen, alias The Flash, fights villainy in Central City.
An experiment gone wrong transforms Allen into the fastest man alive, giving him an advantage over the city’s criminal element.
Allen also discovers that his experiment affected others, many of whom are now using their powers for nefarious purposes.
The Flash races from episode to episode protecting his friends, his city and his secret identity.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Among the bonus offerings are a featurette on the return of the Trickster, a behind-the-scenes look at The Flash, a peek at creating the show’s special visual effects, a screen test that looks at the chemistry of Grant and Emily, deleted scenes, a gag reel, a featurette on DC Comics Night at Comic-Con 2014 with presentations on “The Flash,” “Gotham,” “Arrow” and “Constantine” and a commentary track on the pilot episode.

Saint Laurent (Blu-ray)
Details: 2015, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R, nudity, sexual content, language, substance abuse
The lowdown: A biopic about fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent that examines his life, his styles and his excesses.
Gaspard Ulliel plays Saint Laurent and follows his career between 1967 and 1976, when he was at the pinnacle of his success.
The movie, guided by director Bertrand Bonello, does a marvelous job of capturing the colors, tones and hedonism of the era.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English 5.1 Dolby Digital audio descriptive track; English SDH, English and French subtitles.
Don’t miss: A featurette, that includes comments from the filmmakers and cast, about the making of the movie.

Moonrise Kingdom: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 2012, The Criterion Collection
Rated: PG-13, language
The lowdown: Wes Anderson’s delightful feature, set off the New England coast in the summer of 1965, centers on two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact and run away into the wilderness.
Havoc ensues as local authorities begin a hunt for the youngsters, while a storm is brewing off shore.
The film, co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, features an A-list supporting cast including Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Bob Balaban and Jason Schwartzman.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental materials include cast and crew interviews, a commentary track, selected-scene storyboard animatics, a documentary about the movie, Norton’s home movies from the set, behind-the-scenes special effects and test footage, auditions and a booklet with an essay about the film, a selection of commentary from young writers as well as a map of New Penzance Island.

Empire: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)
Release date: Sept. 15
Details: 2015, Fox Home Entertainment
Rated: TV-14
The lowdown: The first season of this highly-acclaimed Fox series that combines music and drama arrives in a three-disc set featuring all 12 episodes.
Memorable characters, especially Taraji P. Henson’s Cookie, dominate these episodes that feature betrayal, power, love, glamour and danger.
With the show’s second season on the horizon, catching up and binge watching the first is advisable.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include uncut music performances, a video medley, a look at the show’s style, a featurette on the series and cast and crew commentaries.

Dog Day Afternoon: 40^th Anniversary (Blu-ray)
Release date: Sept. 21
Details: 1975, Warner Home Video
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: Al Pacino has one of his most memorable roles as he and co-star John Cazale bungle a simply bank robbery, creating havoc and a media frenzy in New York.
The movie, directed by Sidney Lumet, features a strong supporting cast including Charles Durning and James Broderick.
The performances by Pacino and Cazale are what really grips you to the film. It is a timeless feature that does not age with constant viewing.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio and French and Spanish 1.0 Dolby Digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include the documentary, “I Knew It Was You!: Rediscovering John Cazale,” a four-part documentary on the making of the movie, a profile of Lumet, two short films, one with Cazale, the other that he shot, and extended interviews with Pacino and playwright Israel Horowitz about Cazale.

Breaker Morant: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1980, The Criterion Collection
Rated: PG
The lowdown: This Australian drama, directed by Bruce Beresford, deals with the court martial of three Australian army lieutenants for war crimes while fighting during the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20^th century.
An Australian major is appointed the trio’s defense attorney, who must prove that the three were following orders and are being used as political pawns by the British imperial command.
The film is an indictment of the darker aspects of British colonialism during this period.
The cast includes Edward Woodard, better known to American audiences as Robert McCall in the TV series “The Equalizer,” Jack Thompson and Bryan Brown.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a commentary track with Beresford, interviews with Beresford, Brown and cinematographer Donald McAlpine; a 2004 interview with Woodward, a featurette on the Boer War with historian Stephen Miller, a 1973 documentary profiling the real Harry “Breaker” Morant and an essay about the movie.

Sleepy Hollow: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)
Release date: Sept. 15
Details: 2014-15, Fox Home Entertainment
Rated: TV-14
The lowdown: This supernatural series continues to rewrite American history in the most amusing and exciting manner.
In season two, the resurrected Ichabod Crane and police Lt. Abbie Mills ramp up their battle against the forces of darkness and evil that is enveloping the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow.
The Headless Horseman is holding Crane’s wife, Katrina, captive, while the odd couple rely on intuition and instinct to determine who to trust as they strive to prevent the predicted apocalypse.
The four-disc set contains all 18 exciting episodes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French 5.1 DTS; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a featurette that looks at the mysteries and mythology of the second season, a featurette on the creatures that appear in the episodes, a “Hollow” history, deleted scenes, a gag reel, a salute to “Sleepyheads” and commentaries on a few episodes.

Modern Family: The Complete Sixth Season
Details: 2014-15, Fox Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A six-disc set featuring all 24 episodes of this acclaimed and popular ABC series.
Among the season’s plotlines are Cam and Mitch adjusting to marriage, tension grows in Phil and Claire’s marriage because of some annoying neighbors, a Thanksgiving dinner turns into a disaster, a spy camera creates havoc and a close call on the highway make some people rethink their priorities in life.
The show remains as amusing and real as when it began.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Featurettes on the Halloween and Thanksgiving episodes, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of an episode, a gag reel, deleted scenes and a Day with Julie featurette comprise the major bonus offerings.

Zathura: 10^th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet)
Details: 2005, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, fantasy action and danger, language
The lowdown: A family-friendly science-fiction adventure about two battling brothers rocketed into space while playing a mysterious board game they found in the basement of their old house.
In space, they are joined by a stranded astronaut and must deal with meteor showers, hostile aliens, an intergalactic spaceship battle and robot that has run amok.
To prevent being stranded in space forever, the pair must finish the game and reach the planet Zathura.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Thai and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH, English, Arabic, Chinese traditional, Dutch, French, Indonesian Bahasa, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a set of seven behind-the-scenes featurettes and a commentary track with director Jon Favreau and co-producer Peter Billingsley.

The Indian in the Cupboard: 20^th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1995, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, language, mild violence, sexy dancing
The lowdown: Frank Oz directed this adaptation of the children’s novel about a 9-year-old boy who gets an unusual cupboard for his birthday.
The cupboard has magical powers that transform his plastic toy figurines into living creatures. One of his toys is a 19^th century Iroquois warrior named Little Bear, who at first is terrified of his new situation, but soon bonds with his giant playmate.
This is first-rate, family friendly entertainment that remains as fresh as when it was first released.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French Dolby Digital; English SDH, English and French subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary by Oz, a look back at the film with the cast, archival making of featurettes and a return to the film with Little Bear comprise the extras.

Jumanji: 20^th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet)
Details: 1995, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, dangerous fantasy action, language
The lowdown: Robin Williams heads the cast of this family adventure feature in which a mysterious board game creates havoc for a young boy and his friend.
More than two decades later, the now-adult boy reunites with his friends to try to outwit the game and return things to normal.
The supporting cast includes Bonnie Hunt and a young Kirsten Dunst.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH, English, Arabic, Chinese traditional, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Japanese Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Thai subtitles.
Don’t miss: Among the extras are a Jumanji Jungle Adventure virtual board game, a commentary with the special effects team, storyboard comparisons and a trio of behind-the-scenes features.

Mister Johnson: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1990, The Criterion Collection
Rated: PG-13, violence, language
The lowdown: Director Bruce Beresford returns to the subject of colonialism on an individual with this feature about a Nigerian villager who is eager to work as a civil servant for the British authorities in order, he hopes, to better himself in the future.
But his ambition gets the better of him, leading to tragedy in this drama set in 1923 and co-starring Pierce Brosnan as a sympathetic district officer.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English LPCM stereo; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include interviews with Beresford, Brosnan, actor Maynard Eziashi and producer Michael Fitzgerald as well as an essay about the movie.

Black Sabbath
Release date: Sept, 15
Details: 1963, MGM-Fox Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Italian horror master Mario Bava directed this anthology featuring three tales of terror narrated by Boris Karloff, who also stars in one of the short stories.
The stories include a corpse seeking revenge after a nurse takes a diamond ring for its finger, a prostitute receives threatening phone calls from a dead man she once betrayed and a Balkan tale about a hunter who becomes a vampire and must prey on his loved ones.
This is a video-on-demand DVD-R from the MGM Limited Edition Collection. It can be found at www.foxconnect.com or other online dealers.
Technical aspects: 16×9 widescreen picture.

The Red Road: The Complete Second Season
Details: 2015, Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This two-disc set features all six second season episodes of this SundanceTV series about the tensions and conflicts between a Native American tribe and the small town with which they are forced to exist.
Adding to the problems is the long-awaited federal recognition of the tribe.
In season two, the recently paroled Phillip Kopus (Jason Momoa) is trying to keep out of trouble, and the tribe is in talks about building a casino.
Kopus must endure a Native American “ordeal,” a test of courage that will lead to either redemption or death.
Finally, the tribe and community must rethink their futures after both are ravaged by the deaths of some prominent members.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: A look inside the series and an on-set featurette are the major bonus offerings.

Kindness Is Contagious
Details: 2015, Cinedigm-Docurama
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at the impact and rewards for simply being nice and paying it forward.
The features examines scientists, best-selling authors and just regular folks who extol the benefits of kindness and how that generosity can spread around the world quickly thanks to social media and the Internet.
What the film demonstrates is that, in a scientific sense, karma is a reality.
Technical aspects: Widescreen picture; English Dolby Digital; English closed-captioned.
Don’t miss: A question-and-answer sessions at Stanford University with the filmmakers and a featurette at Catalyst University with the film’s director, David Gaz.

The Sentinel (Blu-ray)
Details: 1977, Scream Factory
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: A model rents an apartment in a gloomy New York brownstone. What she does not know is that the building houses a gateway to hell.
She is taken aback when a priest informs her she is the building’s only tenant, despite the fact that she has met her new neighbors.
The film, based on the best seller by Jeffrey Konvitz, features great makeup effects by the legendary Dick Smith as well as a supporting cast of veteran players including Ava Gardner, Jose Ferrer, John Carradine, Burgess Meredith and Jerry Orbach.
The cast also includes some newcomers such as Cristina Raines, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum and Beverly D’Angelo.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural.
Don’t miss: Extras include three commentary tracks and an interview with assistant director Ralph S. Singleton.

Results (Blu-ray)
Details: 2015, Magnolia Home Entertainment
Rated: R, sexual content, drug use, language
The lowdown: A romantic triangle that begins with a trip to the gym by a newly divorced and aimless wealthy man, played by Kevin Corrigan, who falls in love with his trainer, played by Marvel universe regular Cobie Smulders, who happens to be the former girlfriend of the gym’s owner, played by Guy Pearce.
Comedy and misunderstandings soon ensue as their personal and professional lives become intertwined and complicated.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include interviews with Smulders, Corrigan, writer-director Andrew Bujalski and co-stars Brooklyn Decker, Anthony Michael Hall and Constance Zimmer and a fitness promotional video.

Other Blu-rays and DVDs are being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Swamp Monsters: Season 1 (Cinedigm)
Land of Doom (MGM-Fox Home Entertainment) (MGM Limited Edition Collection, Sept. 15)
FOR KIDS
The Adventures of SpongeBob Squarepants (Nickelodeon-Paramount Home Entertainment)

Coming next week: Entourage: The Movie

Bob Bloom is a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. He reviews movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. He can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow Bloom on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. Movie reviews by Bloom also can be found at Rottentomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.