NEW ON THE SHELF:

“Cake,” Jennifer Aniston, Sam Worthington. A reliable comic performer too often relegated to thankless supporting roles, Aniston works wonders with a rare dramatic turn, delivering a blistering, heartbreaking performance as Claire, a woman left mentally and physically destroyed following a horrific car accident that claimed the life of her young son. The crash left her in chronic pain, finding relief only through heavy medication and by making as many people around her as miserable as possible, including her long-suffering housekeeper, Silvana (Adriana Barraza, “Thor”). When a fixation on the recent suicide of an acquaintance (Anna Kendrick) leads her to seek out her husband (Worthington), a relationship of sorts begins to bloom, but to what end and at what cost? Rated R. Running time: 1:42. Suggested retail price: $22.98; Blu-ray $29.99

“Taken 3,” Liam Neeson, Dougray Scott. Unbelievably, very bad men have made the unwise decision to once again meddle in ex-goverment operative Bryan Mills’ (Neeson) affairs, pinning the murder of a loved one on him and forcing him to put his famous “particular set of skills” to use, while Agent Dotzler (Forest Whitaker) ineffectually attempts to bring him to what he supposes is justice. It’s always fun to watch Neeson growl and pistol whip his way through a roster of grievously outmatched baddies. Rated PG-13. Running time: 1:45. Suggested retail price: $29.98; Blu-ray $39.99

VIDEOPORT PICKS:

“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi. For every tired “Twilight” retread in the vampire genre, there’s a stylish reimagining like “Let the Right One In” or witty sendup such as “What We Do in the Shadows.” And here we have “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” director Ana Lily Amirpour’s (“The Bad Batch”) effortlessly cool horror-romance-deadpan comedy, which foists a hijab-clad vampiress (Vand, “Argo”) on a desolate, future-set Iranian locale known here as Bad City, where she stalks the streets preying on the unsuspecting townsfolk, choosing to attack only those who seem to deserve it. But upon meeting young Arash (Marandi), an unambitious young gardener, strange sparks fly, and the question of whether or not this is true love or just another bloody massacre waiting to happen fuels this cult flick in the making nicely. Not rated. Running time: 1:40. Suggested retail price: $24.95; Blu-ray $34.95

“Like Sunday Like Rain,” Leighton Meester, Debra Messing. Character actor Frank Whaley (“Pulp Fiction”) has quietly fashioned a very interesting resume as a writer-director, with such under-the-radar gems as “Joe the King” and “The Jimmy Show” impressing with their attention to detail and sensitive characterization. “Like Sunday Like Rain” proves to be arguably his best yet, pairing Meester (“Gossip Girl”) and young newcomer Julian Shatkin as, respectively, an inexperienced nanny and a neglected child prodigy, then standing back to watch the gently funny and hugely touching friendship unfold. Terrific support from Debra Messing and Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong rounds out a lovely picture deserving of a wider audience. Rated R. Running time: 1:45. Suggested retail price: $26.95

NEW TO DVD:

“Everly,” Salma Hayek, Togo Igawa. Effectively staged bit of exploitation from director Joe Lynch (“Knights of Badassdom”) pits sex slave “Everly” (Hayek, a bit out of her element but ever the memorable presence all the same) against a seemingly unending lineup of would-be deadly assassins, all of whom are intent on collecting the considerable bounty that a Yakuza boss (Hiroyuki Watanabe, “Chain”) has placed on her head. Taking place entirely within the apartment our heroine has holed up in, “Everly” is most impressive from a technical standpoint, while all but the most hardened B-movie viewers will find themselves turned off by the gleeful brutality on display. Not rated. Running time: 1:32. Suggested retail price: $22.98; Blu-ray $26.99

“Fortitude,” Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon. Suitably bleak and gritty, this UK series from “Low Winter Sun” creator Simon Donald takes place in the titular settlement, located in the Arctic and famed for being the safest, quietest place on Earth to live, so of course what transpires next are some of the grisliest murders TV has to offer, with Tucci playing the Inspector assigned to the case. Reminiscent of “Broadchurch” and “Fargo” with its small-town crime conceit, “Fortitude” makes excellent use of its snowy landscapes, creating a memorably odd mixture of serenity and dread. Not rated. Running time: 9:30. Suggested retail price: $39.99; Blu-ray $44.99

NEW TO BLU-RAY:

“Escape from New York,” Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef. While its prophecy of Manhattan being converted into an enormous maximum security prison by 1997 didn’t quite pan out, this 1981 cult fave remains riotously entertaining, beginning a B-movie partnership for the ages in Kurt “Call me Snake” Russell and writer-director John Carpenter. Rated R. Running time: 1:38. Suggested retail price: $29.93

“The River,” Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight. Acclaimed 1951 Jean Renoir classic wherein three adolescent girls coming of age in Bengal are privy to a hard lesson in life and love when all of them fall for an American soldier. Not rated. Running time: 1:39. Suggested retail price: $39.95

– Courtesy of Videoport