NEW ON DVD: 'Sherlock Holmes'

NEW ON DVD: ‘Sherlock Holmes’

By Noel Murray

March 28, 2010 12 AM PT

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Sherlock Holmes

Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99

Fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s master detective may want to skip director Guy Ritchie’s super-stylish, two-fisted “Sherlock Holmes,” which shrugs off traditionalism in the name of cheap thrills. Fans of Ritchie, on the other hand, will likely love his irreverent take on Victorian mystery-adventure, which has Robert Downey Jr. as a buff, marble-mouthed Holmes and Jude Law as his tough but dandyish assistant Watson. The stars make a crackerjack couple, even with the plot spinning madly and inconsequentially about them. The “Sherlock Holmes” DVD adds deleted scenes and a featurette, and the Blu-ray includes a Ritchie commentary via the now-common picture-in-picture “Maximum Movie Mode.”

An Education

Sony, $28.96; Blu-ray, $38.96

Performance and atmosphere carry the day in “An Education,” an adaptation of British journalist Lynn Barber’s short memoir about coming of age in the early ‘60s. Carey Mulligan was justly Oscar-nominated for playing Jenny, a bright, university-bound student who falls under the thrall of a sophisticated-but-shady older gentleman (played by Peter Sarsgaard) and his promise of illicit globe-hopping adventure. Director Lone Scherfig and screenwriter Nick Hornby work too hard to turn Barber’s story into a morality play, but Mulligan and company find the subtleties, playing the right combination of caution and exhilaration. “An Education” arrives on DVD and Blu-ray with deleted scenes, a pair of featurettes and a Scherfig-Mulligan-Sarsgaard commentary.

Alvin &

the Chipmunks:

the Squeakquel

20th Century Fox, $29.98/$34.98; Blu-ray, $39.99

The first “Alvin & The Chimpunks” movie was a bit of a bummer, awash in moronic slapstick and what the MPAA euphemistically calls “mild rude humor,” but “Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” is actually an improvement. Though still too frenetic by half, the addition of more musical numbers, a trio of cute girl chipmunks and a high school subplot makes “The Squeakquel” feel a lot more like the original TV cartoons. At the least, the second movie is far less soul-crushing. The DVD and Blu-ray are nicely assembled too, courtesy of some breezy featurettes and an option to skip straight to the songs.

The Baader Meinhof Complex

MPI, $27.98; Blu-ray, $34.98

The German historical thriller “The Baader Meinhof Complex” spans a tumultuous decade -- from the late ’60 to the ‘70s -- in which a group of young radicals fought against what they perceived as a return to fascism by the powers-that-be. Writer-director Uli Edel and screenwriter-producer Bernd Eichinger turn this true story into gripping drama, and though the action is a little hard to follow at times, the movie captures the confusion of a revolutionary era in a place rightly wary of bomb-throwing idealists. The DVD and Blu-ray come loaded with well over an hour of behind-the-scenes featurettes -- essential for those who need a primer.

And...

The Abbott & Costello Show

The Complete Series

E1, $59.98

Afghan Star

Zeitgeist, $29.99

Henri Cartier-Bresson

New Video, $49.95

Housebroken

Image, $27.98; Blu-ray, $35.98

I Sell the Dead

MPI, $19.98; Blu-ray, $29.98