New on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

“American Dad, Vol. 4”
The CIA under direct fire. The fourth season of “American Dad” follows CIA agent Stan Smith, whose life, shall we say, continues to be unconventional in ways that perhaps only animation can best underscore--the medium finds truth in the abstract, and this show is all about the abstract. In this season, the James Bond franchise is skewered, with highlights including the episodes “Oedipal Panties,” “Tearjerker,” “Pulling Double Booty” and the funny “Choosy Wives Choose Smith.” Developed by the creators of “The Family Guy,” the show has yet to mine its predecessor’s potential, but with this season improving over what came before it, there's every indication that it will. Grade: B



"Boston Legal: Season Five"
Before it ended its run with this final season, this marvelous show featured one of the best casts working on television. Dialogue, characters and story came together seamlessly in this jaunty legal dramedy, with James Spader and William Shatner tapping into a chemistry that continued to thrive straight through to the end. The ending of each show is the mint on the pillow, with these two cutting loose over brandy and a cigar in ways that nicely loosened up network TV. Add the acidity of Candice Bergen, who found a career highpoint here, and you have what once was one of the better series on television. Grade: A




“The Grudge” Blu-ray
This 2004 horror bust begins with heady news: "When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is left behind. Those who encounter it die, and a new curse is born." So, here’s hoping they're wrong, because should someone kick the can after seeing this beauty on Blu-ray, curses will descend everywhere. Shot in the washed-out blues of a corpse, the film stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Karen, an American nurse living in Tokyo with her boyfriend (Jason Behr). When Karen volunteers to tend to a mentally unstable American woman at a nearby house, she finds it haunted by a little boy who shrieks like a cat and his mother, who makes such a corrosive, gargling noise whenever she appears onscreen, some might encourage her to consider acid reflux pills to help heal the apparent damage. Each died brutally in ways that won't be revealed here. Naturally, since Karen has entered the house, she is in danger of also dying because the curse now infects her. Bill Pullman and Clea DuVall appear in sketchy flashbacks, but how they’re introduced to the story is so muddled, it kills the fun. In the end, "The Grudge" is sludge, with time fragmented so completely, it generates a train wreck of confusion onscreen. Rated PG-13. Grade: D-


“Mission Impossible: Sixth TV Season”
Well, not impossible, though each mission certainly is a challenge. Since each show begins with the lighting of a fuse, it's up to the writers, the director and the cast to sustain the excitement and tension inherent within. In the sixth season of this influential espionage show, that proves true once again, with the writing as tight and as inventive as ever. Here, the world is reduced to the size of a postage stamp and we're all over it, with the cast smoothly washing their hands of their share of criminals. Entertainment is key here--gadgets abound--but so is credibility. The show embraces each. Grade: B+