New on DVD

In the Land of Blood and Honey

Sony Blu-ray, $40.99

Writer-director-producer Angelina Jolie’s earnest Bosnian war film received more attention than it otherwise might’ve because of the presence of her name above its title, but it was subject to undue skepticism as well. This is a well-crafted drama, following the tricky relationship between a Serbian soldier played by Goran Kostic and a Muslim prisoner of war played by Zana Marjanovic. Given the grimness of the subject matter, Jolie drains the film of nearly all lightness and thrills, but as with a lot of actors turned directors, she helps her cast find the emotional truth in every scene and builds a compelling story. “In the Land of Blood and Honey” may not be the kind of movie that people watch for pleasure, but it is worthy. The DVD and Blu-ray add deleted scenes, a brief featurette and an interview with Jolie.

Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel

Starz/Anchor Bay, $26.98; Blu-ray, $29.99

Fans of Roger Corman could spend years plowing through all the books, magazine articles, TV specials and DVD featurettes all about how the B-movie impresario made lively exploitation pictures on the cheap (and helped launch the careers of several major actors and directors). But Alex Stapleton’s documentary provides a compact explanation of how Corman has stayed in business since the 1950s by keeping costs down and staying attuned to what the public wants. The result is a touching tribute to an American businessman who seized his moment and enriched our cultural life. The love-fest continues on the DVD and Blu-ray, which include extended interviews with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard and Jack Nicholson.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Warner Bros., $28.98; Blu-ray, $29.98/$35.99

At once exploitative and effective, the film adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s bestseller is likely to annoy as many people as it moves. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth emphasize the pathos in Foer’s story about a socially awkward preteen (played by Thomas Horn), who embarks on a scavenger hunt across New York City after his father is killed on Sept. 11, 2001. The movie amounts to two solid hours of tear-jerking, as a hero who has a hard time relating to people encounters one broken person after another. It’s hard not to be touched at least some of the time, but the angst overkill starts to feel pretty pointless after a while. The DVD and Blu-ray include a handful of featurettes.

The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch

Music Box, $29.95

Already the subject of a comic book series (by Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme and artist Philippe Francq) and a TV show, the rakish young adventurer Largo Winch now gets his own movie, with Tomer Sisley playing the hero. This covers the beginning of Van Hamme and Francq’s story, in which Largo learns that the father he never knew is now dead, and has left him in charge of a massive multinational corporation beset by enemies inside and out. On screen, this plays as a fairly routine action picture, full of chases, fights, crashes and shootouts, but the business-world setting — and Sisley’s charm — elevates the material. In addition to a making-of featurette, the DVD contains a digital copy of one of the original comics.

And …

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

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