New on DVD

The Runaways

Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $34.95

First time writer-director Floria Sigismondi turns the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle of the all-girl teen-rock act the Runaways into an impressionistic, wildly erratic art film, more about ‘70s decadence than biopic coherence. Any scene where the gals storm the stage and rock out is thrilling, and Michael Shannon gives another in his recent string of knockout performances as the band’s guru-manager-leech, Kim Fowley. But the movie provides scant details about the band’s brief rise to fame, and it shortchanges any character who’s not Cherie Currie or Joan Jett. The DVD and Blu-ray do fill in some detail, though, via a featurette and a commentary by Jett and the film’s two stars, Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart.

Being Human: Season One

BBC Warner, $34.98; Blu-ray, $39.98

A ghost, a vampire and a werewolf live together in a flat in Bristol in “Being Human,” a BBC comedy- drama about three supernatural beings who work together to check their worst impulses. Creator Toby Whithouse follows the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” model here more than the “True Blood”/ “Twilight” one, and the result is an alternately funny and poignant series about tortured souls trying to hold on to what’s left of their humanity. The first-season DVD and Blu-ray set contains six hour-long episodes plus deleted scenes and featurettes.

Cop Out

Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99

The best that can be said about the retro buddy-cop homage/parody “Cop Out” is that director Kevin Smith (working for the first time from a script he didn’t write) is so inept as an action filmmaker and Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan are so indifferent as the leads that the movie develops its own uniquely shaggy, non-generic style. Of course, it’s also the kind of cynical paycheck-cashing move that the Kevin Smith of 10 years ago would’ve mocked mercilessly. Give Smith credit though — he’s not running from this turkey. The DVD/Blu-ray combo pack includes featurettes and a Smith commentary track in “Maximum Movie Mode.”

The Losers

Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99

“The Losers” stars geek-flick favorites Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans (among others) as members of a betrayed special forces unit out to exact revenge on the brass who burned them. The story, based on the recent Vertigo comics revamp about rogue secret agents, not on the ‘60s DC Comics original about hard-luck soldiers, feels warmed over, and the movie has a quippy weightlessness more suited to cable TV than the big screen. Given that, it should play reasonably well at home, on a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack that includes a few deleted scenes and featurettes.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

First Run, $27.95; Blu-ray, $34.95

Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith’s documentary about Daniel Ellsberg — a noted traitor or patriot, depending on your political persuasion — covers in rich detail his journey from being a Marine and a war planner to risking prison for stealing classified documents. It’s a story about the arrogance of brilliant men, the days when newspapers had means and relevance and the ways secrets can become self-protecting, binding world leaders in an exclusive club of silence. The DVD and Blu-ray add bonus interviews and relevant excerpts from Richard Nixon’s secret White House tapes.

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