NEW ON DVD AND BLU-RAY

“THE COMPANY MEN,” starring Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones. A harsh economy forces a Boston shipping conglomerate to let go of a number of workers, including young hotshot Affleck and longtime employees Jones and Chris Cooper. How each man responds and adapts to this unfortunate situation makes for compelling and surprisingly never depressing viewing, thanks to sure-handed direction from “ER” creator John Wells and a fine cast. Rated R. Running time: 1:45.

Additional Photos

Tommy Lee Jones, left, as Gene McClary and Ben Affleck as Bobbie Walker star in John Wells film "The Company Men," a look at job layoffs and the aftermath. The Weinstein Company

Suggested retail price: DVD $29.98; Blu-ray $39.99.

“JUST GO WITH IT,” starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. Sweet-natured romantic comedy finds Sandler closer to “The Wedding Singer” than “Billy Madison” in tone, providing a loosey-goosey retooling of “Cactus Flower” wherein commitment-phobic surgeon Danny convinces his assistant Katherine (Aniston) to pose as his soon-to-be ex-wife as part of an ill-conceived ruse to woo a swimsuit model (real-life model Brooklyn Decker). Enjoyable fluff that works better than expected due to a consistently funny if none too believable script, and an effectively easygoing chemistry between the leads. Rated PG-13. Running time: 1:57.

Suggested retail price: DVD $28.95; Blu-ray $38.96.

“TRUE GRIT,” starring Jeff Bridges and Heilee Steinfeld. Fans of the classic 1969 John Wayne Western no doubt raised a skeptical eyebrow or two upon learning that the brilliant but notoriously chilly and irreverent Coen brothers were about to put their brand on the tale. But the award-winning filmmakers behind “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men” stuck closer to the source material that Wayne and company did, adapting the Charles Portis novel replete with archaic dialect and giving a less heroic Rooster Cogburn in Bridges, who slurs and spits with joyful abandon. Almost matching him are Matt Damon as cocky ranger LaBoeuf and Oscar-nominated newcomer Steinfeld as the little girl who enlists Cogburn to help avenge her fallen father. Rated PG-13. Running time: 1:50.

Suggested retail price: DVD $29.99; Blu-ray $39.99.

NEW ON DVD

“THE BIG C,” starring Laura Linney and Oliver Platt. Darkly funny offering from Showtime finds normally level-headed schoolteacher Linney devoting her life to spontaneity upon learning that she has only a short while to live due to the titular condition. Linney attacks the dramatic possibilities with her usual gusto, but it’s Platt who makes the biggest impression as her put-upon husband who’s forced to put on a game face for his terminal wife despite her newfound disregard for consequences and other people’s feelings. Not rated, contains language, sexual content, drug content and thematic material. Running time: 6:00.

Suggested retail price: $34.95.

“BREAKING BAD: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON,” starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. One of the best shows on the air right now, “Bad” continues the less than uplifting but brilliantly portrayed tale of a terminally ill chemistry teacher (Emmy winner Cranston) who teams with a streetwise former student (fellow Emmy winner Paul) to concoct and peddle the ultimate batch of crystal meth. Unbearably tense, but impossible to look away once you get started. Not rated, contains language, drug content and violence. Running time: 10:13.

Suggested retail price: DVD $39.95; Blu-ray $49.95.

“GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD KNIGHTS,” animated with the voices of Nathan Fillion and Jason Isaacs. In anticipation of the upcoming, sure-to-be blockbuster live-action adaptation of the popular DC Comics title, this anthology presents six animated Green Lantern stories based on classic issues. An entertaining precursor that provides nostalgia for longtime readers and a fair amount of back story for viewers looking forward to the movie but unfamiliar with the comic book. Rated PG. Running time: 1:24.

Suggested retail price: DVD $19.98; Blu-ray $24.98.

NEW ON BLU-RAY

“MADAGASCAR,” documentary. Not to be confused with the popular CGI talking-animal franchise, this typically gorgeous BBC series focuses on the storied island of the title. It’s an area so insular and striking that it may as well be another planet altogether, and 80 percent of the animal population exists nowhere else on Earth. Expect lemurs and lizards aplenty, and all of it breathtakingly photographed in the “Planet Earth” style, with David Attenborough again lending his dulcet tones as narrator. Running time: 2:30.

Suggested retail price: $34.89.

“THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING,” starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Heck, they didn’t make ’em like this in 1975. But that’s when veteran director John Huston rolled out this rollicking adventure yarn in which a pair of sly, cocksure British soldiers (Connery and Caine) seek to amass fame and fortune by tricking the priests of Kafiristan into crowning them kings. Rated PG. Running time: 2:09.

Suggested retail price: $34.99. 

VIDEOPORT PICKS

“ANOTHER YEAR,” starring Jim Broadbent and Lesley Manville. A favorite of critics and famously divisive among audiences, writer-director Mike Leigh (“Happy Go Lucky”) tends to delight or disturb, with very little in between. This meandering account focuses mainly on Tom (Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen), an extremely content older couple, compatible to the point where it’s almost dumbfounding to all who encounter them. Enter Mary (Manville), a co-worker of Gerri’s and as maladjusted and depressed as Tom and Gerri are sane and upbeat. The all-too-relatable awkward exchanges and situations that this clash of mindsets creates makes for some fascinating sad viewing, and the cast hits nary a false note. Running time: 2:09.

Suggested retail price: DVD $38.96; Blu-ray $38.96.

“THE STUNT MAN,” starring Peter O’Toole and Barbara Hershey. They’re called cult movies for a reason, due to an appeal that extends to a limited but ferociously devoted audience. This crazy, acclaimed, genre-defying 1980 classic from director Richard Rush practically defines the term, with its wonderfully outlandish plot of a fugitive (Steve Railsback) hiding out on a film set and unexpectedly landing a job as — you guessed it — a stunt man. In the meantime, he butts heads with the lunatic director (O’Toole) and falls for the leading lady (Hershey). Visually arresting and ingeniously constructed, “The Stunt Man” has long been one of our personal favorites and one that we’re happy to have in this newly remastered format. Rated R for violence, language and sexual content. Running time: 2:11.

Suggested retail price: DVD $24.98; Blu-ray $29.98.

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