New on DVD: ‘Iron Man 2’

Iron Man 2

Paramount, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99

Though less fresh and surprising than the first movie featuring Marvel Comics’ armored good guy, “Iron Man 2” is no less entertaining. This time out, Robert Downey Jr.’s quick-witted, cocksure billionaire Tony Stark is having difficulty with his newfound superhero celebrity; he’s drinking too much and making rash decisions, which makes him a weakened target for a rival industrialist (played by Sam Rockwell) and the mad scientist (played by Mickey Rourke) that he hires to take Stark down. The long scenes of Stark bottoming-out get a little dreary, but otherwise this is zippy, action-packed fun. Marvel fans in particular will enjoy the DVD and Blu-ray, which contain all the usual commentaries and featurettes, plus advance looks at the upcoming “Captain America” and “Thor” movies.

Babies

Focus, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98

If you like babies — and who doesn’t like babies? — you should find at least something to like about director Thomas Balmes’ documentary, which follows children from the U.S., Japan, Mongolia and Namibia as they go through the first year of their lives. If the film leans toward the treacly, that’s only because the wee ones are so gosh-darn cute, though Balmes also explores some enlightening parallels between how kids are raised in different cultures. The methods are similar in a lot of ways — but not always. The DVD and Blu-ray also feature an epilogue/sequel to the movie, in which Balmes revisits the four families three years later.

Get Him to the Greek

Universal, $29.98/$34.98; Blu-ray, $39.98

Both Russell Brand and Jonah Hill have been bright spots in half a dozen or so raunchy Hollywood comedies over the past few years, and they’re fun to watch in “Get Him to the Greek,” though they sometimes prove that brilliant character actors are better served as seasoning, not the main dish. Brand reprises his “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” role as a drunken, out-of-control rock star, while Hill plays the poor schlub assigned to make sure he makes it to a concert on time. Frequently funny — and only occasionally too maudlin — “Get Him to the Greek” is like “My Favorite Year” but less madcap. On DVD and Blu-ray, the film adds a riotous commentary track with Brand and Hill, plus deleted/extended scenes and multiple featurettes.

The Killer Inside Me

MPI, $19.98; Blu-ray, $29.98

In director Michael Winterbottom and screenwriter John Curran’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s gamy pulp novel “The Killer Inside Me,” Casey Affleck plays a small-town Texas lawman whose polite exterior masks a raging misanthropy. Affleck’s terrific in this role — at once reserved, handsome and creepy —but Winterbottom doesn’t have enough of an individual style to make the movie any more than a serviceable noir homage. (Also, the graphic violence is ugly almost to the point of being gratuitous.) The DVD and Blu-ray add only a trio of featurettes.

Rich Man, Poor Man: The Complete Collection

A&E, $79.95

The era of the blockbuster television miniseries kicked off in 1976 with an adaptation of Irwin Shaw’s 1970 bestseller “Rich Man, Poor Man,” which ABC ran over 12 consecutive weeks— an hour a week — with a cast that included Nick Nolte as the scrappy poor man and Peter Strauss as the ambitious rich man. A study of post-WWII America through the prism of a new kind of class warfare, “Rich Man, Poor Man” captivated TV viewers and set the stage for epic miniseries such as “Roots” and “Shogun.” The complete “Rich Man, Poor Man” — including the 21-part sequel, which aired later the same year — is now available on DVD, supplemented by an interview with Strauss.

And...

“The Cleveland Show: The Complete Season One” (20th Century Fox, $39.98); “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” (Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $34.95); “Frozen” (Anchor Bay, $29.97; Blu-ray, $34.98); “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95); “The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts” (Time-Life, $39.99).

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