New on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Lately, Warner has dipped back into its past to offer several throwbacks on Blu-ray, including the 1996 thriller “Eraser,” in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a U.S. Marshal working to protect Vanessa Williams’ Lee Cullen from certain doom; 1978’s “Every Which Way But Loose,” with Clint Eastwood paired opposite an orangutan--certainly not the highlight of his career, but not without a few laughs tucked with the canned shenanigans; 1977’s “The Gauntlet,” with Eastwood protecting a prostitute with ties to the mob; and Eastwood again in the 1985 Western “Pale Rider,” with Eastwood cast as the Preacher, who finds God in the business end of a gun.

Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman and Rene Russo struggle to suppress a deadly virus in 1995’s freak-out disease thriller “Outbreak,” and in 1995’s “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory,” Steven Seagal delivers his last good movie in a story that finds him fighting strangers on a train (in this case, terrorists). Of that lot, recommended are “Eraser,” “Gauntlet,” “Rider” and “Siege.” Skip the others.

In the spirit of sending out a warning call for the weakest of what’s currently available, audiences should avoid the DVD and Blu-ray release of “Street Kings,” a stinker surprisingly written by the otherwise gifted James Ellroy. He joins director David Ayer in wasting Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie and Forest Whitaker in a police thriller so overblown, the chaos it creates is silly--and off-putting.

Everything is overblown in “The Love Guru,” an almost laughless comedy in which Mike Myers plays the self-help-loving guru Pitka. It’s a shoddy, gross-out dud, with Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake and Vern Troyer competing for attention amid the haze of elephant, scat and male genitalia jokes.

The week’s best release belongs to “The Busby Berkeley Collection, Vol. 2.” For fans of Berkeley, the set pales slightly in the wake of the terrific first volume, but the four films featured here still are a kick (literally), with Berkeley whipping himself into a froth as he stages his typical whirlwind of massive musical numbers. Included are 1936’s Academy Award-winning “Gold Diggers of 1937,” with Dick Powell and Joan Blondell; 1938’s “Gold Diggers in Paris,” with Rudy Vallee maneuvering the highs and lows (mostly the highs) of a robust Parisian nightclub; 1937’s “Hollywood Hotel,” in which Dick Powell is paired opposite Lola Lane; and Powell again in 1937’s “Varsity Show,” which finds Berkeley staging a football-themed finale that’s among his most dazzling work.

The dead-on-arrival sex-thriller “Deception” is a mess and, worse, it manages to be a mostly dull mess at that, with screenwriter Mark Bomback’s script piling on so many heated (and telegraphed) twists that the movie might as well be the cinematic equivalent of a stripped-down version of the Kama Sutra--one without the surprises, the promised peaks, the necessary thrills to make this tangled effort worth it. Ewan McGregor is Jonathan McQuarry, a lonely New York accountant who one day meets Hugh Jackman’s Wyatt Bose, a devil in a blue suit who leads Jonathan down the sort of dark corridors that might initially have a touch of glamour, but which quickly leads to ruin via one ugly cell phone deception. For an additional dose of trouble, the movie offers up a gorgeous blonde named S (Michelle Williams), just S, who in typical femme fatale form turns out to cause plenty of difficulties for poor Jonathan. Watching him fall into her clutches, you want to scream at him, “Deception!” But why bother? At this point, all is lost, save for a kidnapping, a wealth of double-crosses and more than a few sniggers from those who watch.

Two sci-fi horror films are just out on Blu-ray disc, marking the first and second part of Timur Bekmambetov’s proposed trilogy. First is 2005’s “Night Watch,” in which chaos and confusion thrive among a hive of vampires, and second is 2007’s “Day Watch,” in which vampires thrive among the chaos and confusion. Tipping the balance in favor of the vampires makes “Day Watch” especially recommended, as is John Carpenter’s 1982 film “The Thing,” a beautifully atmospheric, creepy horror movie starring Kurt Russell. That film also is out on Blu-ray.

Joining it in there (and also on standard DVD) is the romantic comedy “Made of Honor,” a slight romp starring Patrick Dempsey as a wealthy cad who decides the love of his life is his best friend, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), but only after she falls for another man (Kevin McKidd). The rest is a predictable, straight shot to the end, with moments so light, they alone could lift the economy. In spite of their cardboard characters, Dempsey and Monaghan do have chemistry and they make the best of it here, but they deserve better. And, really, so do we.

Also on DVD are several television shows, including the very good first season of the comedy-action series “Chuck,” which stars Zachary Levi in an espionage series just tipsy enough to be unique; the unintentional comedy series “Cashmere Mafia: Complete Series,” which saw only one season because, well, the cashmere in this “Sex and the City” knockoff felt a lot like wool; and the fifth season of “One Tree Hill,” which essentially takes the angst of several polished twentysomethings, tosses it into a blender, hits “puree,” and serves it up neat to its core audiences of teens. It’s ripe, but the familiar challenges these boobs face helps it to succeed.

Rounding out the week is the terrific, complete collection of the mystery series “Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Definitive Collection,” which includes all twelve feature films from A&E, the best of which are “Five Little Pigs,” “After the Funeral” and “Death on the Nile.” As Hercule Poirot, David Suchet comes to the part prepared to move within worlds in which fine silver is placed either on linen-covered tables or stuck deep within someone’s back. He can handle each.