New on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

"BBC High Definition Natural History Collection" Blu-ray
At the end of the year, when it’s time to decide which boxed Blu-ray set was the year’s best, the BBC's "High Definition Natural History Collection" might just be the one at the top. It’s so good, it’s worth making the time to watch it twice. Newly released on eight-discs, the set includes the BBC’s acclaimed series “Planet Earth,” as well as the documentaries “Galapagos,” “Wild China” and “Ganges.” Much like the recent high-definition release of “The Pirates of the Caribbean Collection,” all have previously been released separately on Blu-ray disc, so the set is designed for those who don’t own any of the films and who might like to have them collected in one set. It’s worth it. Each show digs into the Earth’s fantastic nooks and crannies in ways that raise questions (and awe) about how the filmmakers captured certain shots, and also which reveal just how little we still know about our planet, its inhabitants and, in the cases of “Wild China” and “Ganges,” its people. The photography is as rich and as stunning as anything you’d expect from the BBC, which has some of the world’s finest cinematographers. You watch each show in admiration for the effort, and come away grateful for having experienced something new about the world you likely wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

"The Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 5"
Sidney Toler continues on as Chan, the smooth Chinese sleuth you could have over for dinner or a murder, preferably the latter, though his manners certainly are good enough for the former. Seven Toler films comprise this lively set of B-movies from Fox--“Charlie Chan in Panama” (1940), “Charlie Chan’s Murder Cruise” (1940), the very good “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum” (1940), “Murder Over New York” (1940), “Dead Men Tell” (1941), “Charlie Chan in Rio” (1941) and “Castle in the Desert” (1942). The fact that all of these films were shot and released over the course of two years says it all for the production values. These movies were made on the cheap, but they’re still engaging. Now that they're fully restored, they also almost look respectable. Grade: B+

“Leatherheads” DVD, Blu-ray
A revisionist screwball comedy that works hard to capture the look and feel of another time while also reflecting elements of our own time. Set in 1925, when professional football was in its infancy, director George Clooney’s film is shot in warm, buttery hues, but it finds its noteworthy flash of color in its female lead. She’s the very blonde and red-lipsticked Lexie Littleton (Renee Zellweger), a reporter for the Chicago Tribune charged to seek out the truth about Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinski), Princeton's star football player who may or may not be the former war hero he claims to be. Along the way, Lexie connects with Clooney's Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly, who is trying to convince Rutherford to join his own scrappy football team. For a steep price, Rutherford agrees to does so--and ticket sales for Dodge’s team soar. Toss in a romantic triangle between Lexie, Rutherford and Dodge, and you have a familiar premise that stumbles when Clooney segues into slapstick. But given the film’s strong cast, its otherwise well-written script and the real chemistry between Clooney and Zellweger, “Leatherheads” mostly scores. Rated PG-13. Grade: B-

“Pirates of the Caribbean: 3-Movie Collection” Blu-ray
Its presence on the scene begs a question. Since each title in the “Pirates” franchise already has been released separately on Blu-ray, what’s the point of buying a boxed set beyond the convenience of its packaging? Turns out there isn’t one, particularly since each title in the set is identical to what you’d purchase in its stand-alone edition. That’s a missed opportunity on Disney’s part--it limits the set’s appeal--but for those who don’t own any of the films on Blu-ray, here’s your chance to have them all. About the movies: The first film in the franchise is the most appealing, the second supersizes what worked in the original to the point that it becomes less a movie and more a spectacle (albeit a reasonably entertaining one), and the third film, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” is such a disappointment that turned this particularly world flat. Throughout, Johnny Depp’s performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow remains a delight--he comes off as a drunken gypsy drag queen fallen on hard times. His is the sort of inspired, campy performance that says to hell with convention and turns even the weak third movie into something that has one very special element in its possession--him. Rated PG-13. Grade: B-

"Pushing Daisies: Season One" DVD, Blu-ray
Death literally is popping up everywhere in the first season of “Pushing Daisies,” a highlight now available on DVD and Blu-ray disc. The show offers an ingenious twist on the crime-solving/romantic comedy genre, with a pie-maker named Ned (Lee Pace) able to bring the dead back to life with a mere touch. This proves invaluable in finding out who might have killed certain people and why, but it also complicates matter significantly since just one more touch from Ned will leave them dead for eternity. And how is Ned to handle that dilemma when his beloved Charlotte (Anne Friel) is murdered? Ned brings her back to life, sure, but since he can never touch her again, their relationship hovers in a kind of romantic purgatory, one treated with wit and finesse in one of last year’s better new television shows. Grade: B+

“Speed Racer” DVD, Blu-ray
This unbearable movie from the Wachowski Brothers forgot to bring the speed, it forgot to bring the fun and it forgot to remember that restraint, even in an action movie, can make individual scenes of action more exciting if moments of calm are there to set them off. That isn’t the case here. This empty, annoyingly overwrought movie roars with dizzying flashes of color, sound and light, but given the film’s bloated running time (135 minutes!), its dim script, junk performances, absolute lack of momentum and boring characters (played by Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Paulie Litt, Susan Sarandon and a chimpanzee), the movie’s engine doesn’t just stall--it catches fire and explodes, in your face. The Wachowskis wrote the script from the popular 1960s “Speed Racer” cartoon series, itself a delicate concoction of corny throwaways wrapped around appealingly crude anime that existed best in the painted realm of another’s imagination-- not theirs. What unfolds is a muddled plot that should have matched the winding loops and curves of the tracks upon which Speed (Hirsch) races, but it doesn’t. This is a movie that’s so unimaginative when it comes to its storyline and its underdeveloped characters, that it tarts up the tedium with nightmarish, quick-cut editing, and ongoing eruptions of color and bombast meant to distract us from the fact that there’s nothing here. Too bad the Wachowskis failed to pull that off, too. Rated PG. Grade: D-

Join WeekinRewind on Facebook.