This Week in DVD and Instant Watching

Iron Man 3: What the hell is this? Some kind of anime thing? Eh, I'm not into anime, sorry.

Room 237: Oh happy day! This cool-sounding documentary delves into the various elaborate interpretations fans have of Kubrick's "The Shining," and I wanted to see it as soon as I heard about it. Oh happier day--see below.

I Spit on Your Grave 2: All right, but at least you know what you're getting, unlike that weird "Iron Man 3" art flick.

Redemption:  I was really worried when I saw the cover for this one. Jason Statham is kind of dressed up, and what;s that look on his face? He doesn't look like he's about to kick ass. No, the guy looks almost...pensive. What, is he thinking? Or even worse...reflecting? Fortunately, I saw the words "avenging angel" in a plot synopsis. So he's still kicking butt, right? Whew!

South Park Season 16: I have lost track of what happened in what season, but the only thing that matters to me here is that, hey, this must mean a new season is airing!

Modern Family Season 4: Every time I think the show is slipping, it comes back with a solid enough effort to make me keep it on my must-see list each week. Plus as long as it continues, there's always the chance of seeing Sofia Vergara in a hot dress at the Emmys.

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Hey, Time Life comes through with another big megaset. There is a scaled-down version with some of the roasts, but Time Life has the massive complete collection. This means that if any of us have an, uh, "alternative" DVD set, we can retire that and upgrade to the official, high-quality version.Right on! And it's only...$250?

Hey, we can get by perfectly well with only one kidney, right?

The Big Combo: This awesome but underseen film noir from Anthony Mann with cinematography by the great John Alton is a real standout, and I hope Olive Films' DVD and Blu-Ray releases do it justice. Me, I'm pretty happy with the old Image DVD I have, but I'm willing to listen, and even if this isn't a big upgrade, I'm just glad that it's out there and available. See it.

In streaming....

Remember that Room 237 documentary I mentioned a while back? You know, a movie I've actually heard of and wanted to see, as opposed to that "Iron Man 3" curio? Well, not only is it on DVD, it's on Netflix Instant Watch! Whoo-hoo! We all like to complain about Netflix, but sometimes they come through for us.

On the other hand, where the heck is the eighth season of How I Met Your Mother? Not here! I thought it would be here in time for the new season. Netflix DID add a bunch of weird Discovery reality and "science" shows like My Dog Crapped What? and stuff like that. Yippee.

Last week I expressed disappointment with the initial offerings of Hulu-Plus' BBC deal. Well, this week the service added some more, and it's apparently staggering the titles as it rolls them out. Smart move. I still haven't seen anything really exciting, but there's more to it than it first appeared. And, hey, now that the fall season is here, we're getting a reminder of why we want Hulu in the first place, right?