Blu-rays of the Week 

(Lionsgate)

In this efficient if undistinguished action flick, a group of American soldiers in Bosnia agrees to bring up from the surface of a nearby lake a cache of gold hidden by the Nazis—but have to fend off local criminal elements (and the men’s own superior officer) before they can succeed.

Director Steven Quale’s by-the-books narrative has a few tense underwater moments near the end, and J.K. Simmons gives his typically blustering performance as the commander. There’s an excellent hi-def transfer; extras comprise several on-set featurettes.

Humans 3.0 

(Acorn)

The third season of this daring (if at times desperate) sci-fi series begins a year after “day zero”—when a cataclysmic event killed hundreds of thousands of people and gave consciousness to many “synths,” which has caused consternation across the globe.

The lines that have been drawn between both camps in a tense and difficult-to-navigate world is interestingly if insufficiently explored, and a game cast does its best to keep this diverting and watchable. The eight episodes look great in hi-def; extras include cast and crew interviews.

Judgment Night 

Four clueless buds who get lost in a shady section of Chicago while driving to a boxing match in a Winnebago—don’t ask—witness a killing and find themselves chased within an inch of their lives by a tough hombre and his minions in Stephen Hopkins’ fast-paced but imbecile 1993 thriller.

The movie functions mainly as a look at the beginnings of a few careers—namely, Denis Leary, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff—as well as the continuation of Emilio Estevez’s, with a few fun scenes amid the dross. There’s a quite good hi-def transfer.

The Prize 

(Warner Archive)

In this sluggish 1963 mystery, Paul Newman plays a Nobel-winning author who feels something isn’t right about another honoree, and finds himself in trouble while investigating—including nearly being killed. This is Hitchcockian in theory, but in practice director Mark Robson’s 135-minute drama has little urgency to it.

And all that despite a top pedigree: Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer and Diane Baker are in fine form, Ernest Lehman (North by Northwest) wrote the script, and the Stockholm locations are undeniably photogenic. But it ends up being little more than a passable time-waster. The hi-def transfer is first-rate.

Speed Kills 

A puffy John Travolta at least looks like he’s having fun playing a gangster who loves fast boats and fast women in this based-on-a-true-story drama that has a couple of entertaining water sequences to go with inexplicable things like a goofy cameo by a miscast Matthew Modine as George Bush the elder.

In a movie like this, the women who play Travolta’s love interests have virtually nothing to do, but they do try: so my hat’s off to Jennifer Esposito and Katheryn Winnick. The film looks good in high-def.

Blu-rays of the Week 

(Universal)

In his first film since winning the Oscar for directing the wildly overpraised musical La La Land, Damien Chazelle proves his versatility, even though his straightforward biopic of astronaut Neil Armstrong—the first man to step on the surface of the moon—received mixed reviews upon its release. I’m not sure why: Chazelle handles the sweeping historical and dramatic canvas impressively, keeps the CGI from overpowering the human story, and even finds suspense and tenseness in the various space flights.

If Ryan Gosling seems too emotionless, he still evokes Armstrong’s steely resolve; even better is Claire Foy in the thankless role as Neil’s wife, turning her into the film’s most fascinating character. The film looks superb on Blu; extras include a Chazelle commentary, deleted scenes and featurettes. 

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 

(Criterion)

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s intense 2007 drama tells a simple story about an illegal abortion. The spellbinding acting—especially by Anamaria Marinca as a woman stuck between her friend and boyfriend (her minutely detailed expressions at a long meal with his family are priceless)—is partly derailed by Mungiu stacking the deck and letting his characters act too implausibly.

Would the abortionist—shown as a professional in every way—not notice a knife missing from his case and leave his identity papers at a hotel desk? Would our heroine leave her friend during a crucial time to visit her boyfriend even after telling him she’s busy and can’t come? Such weakly-rendered details nag mostly because Mungiu gets so much else right in this strong, tense film. Criterion’s hi-def transfer is immaculate; extras include a Mungiu interview, deleted scenes, Cannes Film Festival press conference and featurette on Romanian audiences’ reactions.

Spiral 

The horrible reality of contemporary bigotry is revealed in Laura Fairrie’s powerful documentary, which dives head-first into today’s burgeoning anti-Semitic movement in Europe.

We illuminatingly hear from Jews who have taken their own sort of refuge by deciding to return to Israel, along with others who are staying in place: after all, Europe is their original homeland, even if there remain many Holocaust deniers and other racists in their midst, often making their benighted opinions known in a very public manner. The hi-def transfer looks excellent; lone extra is an interview with Fairrie.

DVDs of the Week

The Lost Village 

(First Run)

The gentrification of many NYC neighborhoods has continued apace for decades, and Roger Paradiso’s documentary shows how New York University has done its part to help bring about the ruination of Greenwich Village. The problem is that his righteous bitterness and anger too often distract him from getting more in-depth about what’s going on.

Just saying “NYU bad” and repeating that rents and tuition are so high that some students have turned to the sex industry to get by (now that would make a fascinating documentary) isn’t enough. Too much interesting info is simply mentioned but left unexplored. There’s sleight of hand too: the McDonald’s on West 3rd and on Broadway are seen as recent interlopers, when both franchises have been there for decades.

Tea with the Dames 

This beguiling documentary about four grand dames of British acting—Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith—lets us watch as they engagingly, hilariously and touchingly discuss their careers, friendships and even mortality.

Director Roger Michell smartly allows the ladies to go back and forth, feeling free enough to let fly with a curse word here, an extra slug of champagne there; inserting vintage clips of the quartet in their prime—from 50s Shakespeare to 21st century films—is an extra added nice touch. One quibble is the film’s brevity: 83 minutes is not nearly long enough to do these women justice; at the very least there must be hours of deleted sequences, so let’s see those!