A lot of the late 60s-early 70s T&A movies are guilty pleasures, but this doesn’t even reach that exulted level. From its ear-splittingly awful title tune, this hackneyed flick follows the unarousing London exploits of a quartet of young women just arrived from the continent.

Even by the era’s low standards, Girls never rises to the occasion, despite ample nudity during many compromising positions. The Blu-ray image, obviously from a bad source, also disappoints.

Set in New Jersey woods, this would-be creepy thriller channels superior movies like The Hills Have Eyes (setting) and The Shining(father goes insane) without approaching either in quality.

While his cast is adequate—although it’s off-putting to see Mia Kirshner in a drab stepmom role—writer-director Darren Lynn Bousman never figures out how to make the horror real rather than risible. The Blu-ray image looks fine; extras are a director/cinematographer commentary and a deleted scene.

Broadway—
The American Musical  

Michael Kantor’s six-part historical overview of America’s great contribution to theater spans its beginnings in 1893 to 2004, when this film was originally shown on PBS.

Crammed full of amazing excerpts from classic musicals and interviews with the likes of Stephen Sondheim and Carol Channing, this monumental undertaking is narrated by Julie Andrews—a British singing superstar at home on the American stage throughout her career. The Blu-ray image is decent; voluminous extras include three hours of additional interviews and a featurette, Wicked: The Road to Broadway.

These foreign animated features prove there is life left in the non-computerized cartoons we’re used to. Paris is a charming adventure about a feline who takes off for the rooftops of the world’s most beautiful city each night, while Chicois a romantic glimpse at the Cuban and American music scenes before and after Castro, and by extension savvily political.

Both films’ hand-drawn animation look eye-poppingly good on Blu-ray; Paris extras include a short film, and Chico extras include a making-of featurette, directors’ commentary and soundtrack CD.

When dumb American tourists visit Pripyat, the town near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, they get more than the thrills they bargained for: after the van breaks down, they are attacked by mutants and are picked off one by one.

This might have made a diverting little thriller if it wasn’t yet another “found-footage” feature, a gimmick that seems never ending. The ending is particularly yawn-inducing; an alternate ending, included among the extras along with a deleted scene and featurette about Chernobyl itself, is more clever. The graininess of the “shot cheaply” look lends itself well to Blu-ray.

Stanley Kubrick’s 1953 debut, though far from auspicious, contains the seeds of his later, superior war films Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket. An otherwise naïve effort, it’s unsurprising Kubrick never wanted it from being shown. That now, years after his death, it reappears is due to the Kubrick estate’s ignoring his wishes, an about face from immediately after his death.

All the better for fans, I suppose. The B&W movie is undistinguished in every way except visually, and the Blu-ray transfer is strong enough to make fans happy they’ve finally seen Kubrick’s worst film. The lone extra is 1953’s The Seafarers, Kubrick’s 28-minute short about merchant seamen, most interesting as Kubrick’s first foray into color.

Although Modest Mussorgsky’s epic opera details 17^thcentury Russian history—a rebellion against Peter the Great’s western reforms—Dmitri Tcherniakov’s 2007 Munich production instead updates it with modern dress that makes the drama nonsensically absurd.

It’s too bad, for the singers (led by John Daszak and Valery Alexejev) and Bayerische Staatsoper Orchestra, led by conductor Kent Nagano, stirringly perform what the composer himself described as a “national music drama.” The static visuals do look clear in hi-def, and the music sounds fantastic.

Based on the campy Broadway musical, Frank Oz’s 1990 Little Shop tries to be scary and funny simultaneously, but the creaky, low-brow material trips it up: only Steve Martin escapes with his tongue-in-cheek portrayal of a nasty dentist (which owes something to his Maxwell in the botched Sgt Pepper movie).

Robert Aldrich’s 1962 camp fest, Mary Jane, smartly trains its cameras on Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and lets them go at it. Both movies have top-notch hi-def transfers; extras include Oz’s commentary on Shop, and a commentary and Davis and Crawford featurettes on Baby.

In the fifth season of the perennial Best Drama Emmy winner, the divide between protagonist Don Draper and the ‘60s becomes more pronounced, visualized by his pulling the needle on the Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows”: Draper doesn’t get it….get it?

Despite its production sheen and committed acting by a large and interesting cast, Mad Men isn’t as brilliantly groundbreaking as defenders claim: its originality is more a case of nostalgia for a bygone era, which it captures well. The Blu-ray image is excellent; extras include interviews, featurettes and commentaries.

Best known as the Beatles’ producer, George Martin’s storied career before and after his amazing Fab Four studio work is chronicled by his son Giles, who asks him about his time at EMI and afterwards, with Martin engagingly and modestly discussing his work with comedy legends like Peter Sellers and the Goons, and what he did when he wasn’t in the studio with John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Paul and Ringo also sit down with Martin, and the mutual respect among the men is obvious even while they joke around together. The Blu-ray image is first-rate; extras include 52 minutes of additional interviews.

Yet another set of Bill Moyers’ excellent interviews has the PBS host speaking with famous intellectuals including Noam Chomsky, Jonas Salk and movie producer David Puttnam.

Brave New World is an intelligent British series featuring Stephen Hawking, who introduces episodes of fantastic scientific breakthroughs that may well change our very lives, like cars that drive themselves and wheelchairs motored by the occupant’s brain power.

These quintessential sex-ed DVD releases feature explicit but clinical footage of couples as narrators explain how men and women can enjoy better sexual experiences.

The two five-disc sets, the Original Collection and the Essential Collection, summarize basic and advanced lessons for those who want to improve their sex lives. There’s also a one-disc primer, Sexual Positions, for those whose budget doesn’t allow picking up either (or both!) of the collections.

Dramatizing the horrific stories of those inhuman collaborators who willingly helped the Nazi regime murder their fellow citizens, comrades, friends and even families, this four-disc set deals with dozens of such people, from the Polish Jew Chaim Rumkowski to traitors from Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Holland, even Germany.

Each one-hour program lucidly tells one story, interviewing surviving witnesses and showing compelling footage that underline unbelievable but true tragedies.

This hour-long PBS documentary—narrated by Kerry Washington and with Kevin Kline as Olmstead—about American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted informatively provides biographical bits and glimpses of grandest creations, starting with Manhattan’s Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

I know there are dozens of his glorious spaces spread across the country, but not even mentioning—let alone giving any face time to—his incredible achievement designing Buffalo’s linked park system is a crime.

Writer-director Alexis Lloyd’s tired look at ten New Yorkers’ roundelays during a steaming hot day is an unnecessary update of Arthur Schnitzler’s classic drama La Ronde.

There’s a sense of arbitariness to the structure, which a better director would more interestingly tease out; with few exceptions—Condola Rashad in the first and last episodes most particularly—there’s little insight nor, for those so inclined, any titillation.

This mostly fact-free documentary hopes to scare us about President Obama’s Otherness. What’s surprising is that Dinesh D’Souza is an outsider himself, so his pointing out Obama’s foreignness bumps up against out-of-context insinuations that are easily refuted, like a Winston Churchill bust taken out of the White House not because Obama hates imperialism, but because it was returned after a loan.

The casual linking of Obama to anti-Americanism—because a friend of his father has such ideas, so must Obama by implication—is most troublesome. D’Souza flies around the world, but 2016 is no travelogue: this slapdash doc is so ideologically rigid and pandering that only those who already hate Obama will fall for it.

Alison Balsom: 
Sound the Trumpet 

Trumpeter Alison Balsom returns with a beguiling disc of works by Handel and Purcell. Although the baroque music world is one I return to far less often than others, Balsom’s assured technique on historically correct valveless trumpets carried me through excerpts from works like Handel’s Water Music and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen.

Superior cameos by singers Iestyn Davies and Lucy Crowe don’t overshadow Balsom, who has the last word with a technically astonishing performance of Handel’s Oboe Concerto, modified for her triumphant trumpeting.

Bedrich Smetana: 
The Bartered Bride 

Smetana’s perennial folk-opera favorite—and the breakthrough Czech opera that anticipated Dvorak and, later, Janacek—gets a glistening performance by a group of mainly Czech artists, beginning with Jiri Belohlavek (who conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra with brio) and extending to such wonderful singers like Dana Buresova, Tomas Juhas and Jozef Benci.

From the famous overture’s irresistible opening, Smetana’s masterly melodic music sweeps the listener away for over two enjoyable hours.

Shannon, Arrington, Rudd, Asner in Grace (photo: Joan Marcus)

Hodge, Poesy in Cyrano (photo: Joan Marcus)

Hallie Foote, Tim Hopper in Daisy Foote's Him (photo: James Leynse)

Madeleine Martin, Mary McCann in Harper Regan (photo: Kevin Thomas Garcia)

Blu-rays of the Week

In the 13 episodes of the seventh season of this odd but compelling medical drama, the brilliant forensic analysts who led by Dr. Temperance Brennan pore over variously gruesome homicide cases.

The series’ accomplished cast is led by Emily Deschanel (Zooey’s older sister) as Brennan and David Boreanaz as FBI agent Booth. The Blu-ray’s image is excellent; extras include deleted scenes, a gag reel, featurettes and an audio commentary.

Dial M for Murder

Two 50s Hitchcock thrillers have finally been elevated to hi-def: 1951’s Strangers is an ultra-creepy adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, while 1955’s Dialfeatures the elegant Grace Kelly in a minor Hitch suspense flick based on Frederick Knott’s play.

Both films look absolutely splendid on Blu-ray, especially the B&W compositions of Strangers and the amusing 3-D effects of Dial, which looks less good in 2D. Strangers extras include the preview version with two extra minutes, a commentary, making-of and other featurettes; the lone Dial extra is a retrospective featurette.

Downton Abbey—
Complete Seasons 1 & 2

This masterly mini-series, written by Julian Fellowes, meticulously recreates the insular worlds of both masters and servants on a British estate before, during and after the carnage of World War I. This Upstairs, Downstairsfor a new generation has international stars like Dame Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville.

This special Blu-ray set contains the complete seasons 1 & 2, both featuring dramatically realized storylines and characterizations. Of course, the stunning physical production looks flawless on this stellar hi-def release. Extras include a full-length episode Christmas at Downton Abbey, and on-set featurettes Making of Downton Abbey, A House in History, Fashion & Uniforms, Romance in a Time of War and House to Hospital.

Iron Sky

This lunatic sci-fi fantasy imagines a Sarah Palin-alike in the Oval Office who starts a war with Nazis who have been living on the moon since WWII ended. (Don’t ask.) This demented but sometimes funny parody does have its share of easy jokes about Hitler and Palin.

There’s also a relatively restrained performance by blonde bombshell Julia Dietze as an idealistic Nazi who learns the error of her ways thanks to a black US astronaut turned white by the bad guys (again, don’t ask). The Blu-ray image looks quite good; extras include an audio commentary, making-of featurette and on-set footage.

The Lady

Luc Besson’s typically ham-handed directing dents but doesn’t ruin a gripping true account of Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of a Burmese patriot who led the democracy movement against the dictatorial regime.

Besson tries turning her poignant story into one of his typical action flicks, but Michelle Yeoh’s elegant presence and a touching supporting performance by David Thewlis as her suffering British husband (and his twin brother!), The Lady scores dramatic and political points. The Blu-ray image is stellar; the lone extra is a making-of featurette.

There’s no denying that the Beatles’ ill-fated 1967 TV film is an unmitigated disaster—with the exceptions of the “I Am the Walrus” and “Fool on the Hill” interludes—but even the group’s failures (few as there were) are interesting, and this manic, improvised, amateurish fantasy certainly is that.

Even though the original video elements have never been in good shape, the color movie looks sharp on Blu-ray; extras include a chatty McCartney commentary, new interviews with Paul and Ringo; and additional footage.

Peace, Love and Misunderstanding

This mild generation-gap comedy is as dated as the aging hippies that populate it, and director Bruce Beresford—long removed from his best films, from Breaker Morant to Black Robe—can do little more than skillfully direct his fine actresses, hampered as everyone is by Christina Mengert and Joseph Muszynski’s flaccid and melodramatic script.

Jane Fonda (hip grandma), Catherine Keener (square mom) and Elizabeth Olsen (precocious granddaughter) are good enough to help viewers make it through 90 minutes. The Hudson Valley looks gorgeous on Blu-ray; the lone extra is a brief making-of.

Prometheus

Although this Alienprequel wasn’t necessary, Ridley Scott’s stylish directing makes discovering what happened on the planet that the spaceship Nostromo landed on in the original film go down easy.

A nasty self-abortion sequence isn’t for the squeamish, but Prometheus shrewdly favors mythmaking over scares, and with a solid cast—led by Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Idris Elba—and big-budget effects, Scott has made a diverting and even intelligent Hollywood movie. The Blu-ray image looks superb; extras include commentaries by Scott and by the writers, 36 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes and featurettes.

Rock of Ages

This brainless adaptation of the ridiculously dopey Broadway musical is basically a karaoke jukebox of trashy ‘80s rock tunes: you haven’t lived until you’ve seen (especially in the extended version, which lasts an unconscionable 135 minutes) Tom Cruise and Malin Akerman almost have sex while warbling Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

It was shocking that the movie flopped at the box office: for once the American moviegoing public showed their wisdom. The Blu-ray image looks fine; extras include several featurettes.

DVDs of the Week

This wavering omnibus film skips around among several couples—from teenagers to long-time marrieds, with a lesbian pair thrown in—trying (or not) to conceive a baby.

Director Josh Stolberg writes snappy dialogue that takes the place of credible characterizations, but the acting (especially by Julie Bowen, sexier and funnier than on Modern Family) that makes this 85-minute trifle watchable. Extras include director/producer commentary, 37 minutes of deleted scenes and 25 minutes of outtakes.

Desperate Housewives—
Complete 8th and Final Season

In the final season of the ultimate television fantasy for women (these are empowered female characters) and men (these women are available cougars), the various relationship threads are finally untangled.

While Eva Longoria and Vanessa Williams are delectable, Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman appear to go through their well-worn paces. Extras include creator Mark Cherry’s final episode commentary, deleted scenes, gag reel and on-set interviews.

Detachment

In director Tony Kaye’s first feature since his flawed but haunting American History X,Adrien Brody plays a substitute teacher who keeps clear of relationships with students and everyone else—until two troubled teens enter his life.

Despite Brody’s intensity (and good work by Marcia Gay Harden, Christina Hendricks and—as a young prostitute—the remarkable Sami Gayle), Kaye’s film suffers from dramatic overkill, which is his stock-in-trade: the subject matter is already depressing, but Kaye rubs our noses in it until the movie becomes overbearing. Extras comprise brief Kaye and Brody interviews.

Give Up Tomorrow

In a must-see documentary where truth is stranger—and more enraging—than fiction, director Michael Collins tells the incredible story of Paco Larranaga, sentenced to death for a crime that evidence overwhelmingly shows he didn’t commit: the horrific murder of two young women in the Philippines.

Collins shows, in painstaking detail, how official corruption, media complicity and a bloodthirsty public teamed to destroy Paco’s (and six others’) lives. Extras include deleted scenes, interviews and an update on Paco’s fate.

Kidnap and Ransom

Trevor Eve’s craggy presence as a cynical hostage negotiator who tackles the most difficult and dangerous cases helps this somewhat formulaic drama score a direct bull’s-eye.

In addition, the gritty locations and on-target supporting cast keep the show going through several familiar run-ins with bad guys, politicians and supervisors. Extras include interviews with Eve and writer Michael Crompton.

The League—
Complete Season 3

This fitfully funny comedy about a group of fantasy football “players” too often basks in its crudity, but it shines when guest stars spar with the less-than-awesome foursome.

Jeff Goldblum and Sarah Silverman are hilariously profane in one episode, and Eliza Dushku is a kick-ass combatant in another: they are the highlights of the third season. Extras include a gag reel, deleted scenes and featurettes.

The Who—Live in Texas ’75

It’s not often that The Who didn’t give incendiary live performances, and this 1975 Houston show at the beginning of the band’s By Numberstour, doesn’t disappoint.

The intimate cameras let viewers concentrate on each musician in turn, and this quartet—singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon—is simply remarkable. Highlights are sparkling versions of “Drowned” and a Tommy medley. The only quibble is lack of surround sound, but if you crank it up, you won’t even notice.

CDs of the Week

At this late date, we probably don’t need a new Kiss album—especially for those of us who thought Ace Frehley was the best musician in the group—but this latest effort from Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and two guys with the same makeup as Ace and Peter is an acceptable facsimile.

The opener “Hell or Hallelujah” is a typically anthemic rocker, as is the following “Wall of Sound,” and “Freak,” and “Back to the Stone Age,” etc. It’s not bad for a bunch of aging rockers, but after awhile it sounds like one long song interrupted by a few seconds of silence between tracks. But you didn’t expect Destroyer, did you?

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 1-3

The first three Tchaikovsky symphonies might not have the staying power of his last three, which culminate with the sixth, Pathetique.

But energetic performances by the London Symphony Orchestra under sympathetic conductor Valery Gergiev (who certainly knows his way around Tchaikovsky’s colorful, melodic and rhythmic music) make the earlier symphonic trio—particularly, the second, Little Russian, and the third, Polish—come off superbly.