New on DVD: ‘The Road’

The Road

Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $34.95

There was little chance that director John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s bestselling novel “The Road” was going to be as powerful as the book, which turns the cliché of post-apocalyptic survival into a haunting, poetic tale about fathers and sons and letting go. And sure enough, literalizing McCarthy’s story on screen does rob it of some of its mystery. But Viggo Mortensen is effective as a dad trying to protect his son from ravagers in the scorched wasteland of the future, and Hillcoat skillfully conveys McCarthy’s profound sense of melancholy and impending doom. Most important, he’s made a movie that’s painful to watch but gets people to reflect on the meaning of their own lives and families — just as McCarthy intended. “The Road” DVD and Blu-ray add a Hillcoat commentary, deleted scenes and short making-of featurette.

Dear John

Sony, $28.95; Blu-ray, $34.95

Fans of Nicholas Sparks’ drippy, earnest romances get a hearty helping in director Lasse Hallström’s adaptation of Sparks’ “Dear John,” which stars Channing Tatum as a soldier who falls in love with a giving young soul played by Amanda Seyfried. The movie serves up all the tender kisses and tragic turns that are Sparks’ stock-in-trade, and Seyfried in particular is — as always — a real charmer. But the story this time is subtler and drier, which means there’s little here to grab those who don’t come pre-interested. That said, the “Dear John” DVD and Blu-ray does include a decent assortment of featurettes and deleted scenes, plus an alternate ending.

Mystery Team

Lionsgate, $27.98

The Derrick Comedy troupe jumps from YouTube to features with “Mystery Team,” a comedy about what happens to crime-solving kids when they grow up. The movie has a one-note premise — emotionally arrested high school boys interacting with a harsh adult world — and falls back on gross-out gags too often, but the story itself is surprisingly engaging, with a wistful farewell-to-innocence theme that lingers more than the jokes. The DVD adds deleted scenes and brief featurettes — all fine, but the Derrick gang should’ve included some of their Internet shorts as well.

True Blood: The Complete Second Season

HBO, $59.99; Blu-ray, $79.98

The second season of HBO’s Southern-fried vampire melodrama “True Blood” transformed the show from a guilty pleasure to a genuine one, as the creators embraced the campiness of the culture clash between blood-suckers and rednecks. The plot twists become loopier, the sex and violence ramps up considerably, and the romantic complications take a turn for the perverse. Just ahead of Season 3’s mid-June debut, HBO has Season 2 ready to watch on DVD and Blu-ray, with selected-episode commentary tracks and featurettes that expand on the world within the show.

And...

“All Creatures Great & Small: The Complete Collection” ( BBC Warner, $349.98); “All My Friends Are Funeral Singers” (IndiePix, $24.95); “By Brakhage: An Anthology, Vols. 1 & 2” (Criterion Blu-ray, $79.95); “David Cross: Bigger and Blackerer” (Sub Pop, $14.98); “Hoarders: The Complete Season One” (A&E, $19.95); “Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis” (New Video, $29.95); “Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press” (New Video, $29.95); “Royal Pains: Season One” (Universal, $59.98); “Spartacus” (Universal Blu-ray, $26.98); “Tell Tale” (Vivendi, $19.93; Blu-ray, $19.93); “Waiting for God: The Complete Series” (BBC Warner, $119.98); “The World of Buckminster Fuller” (Microcinema, $24.95).

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