NEW ON THE SHELF:

“Boyhood,” Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke. Oscar buzz is strong for this universally acclaimed effort from ever-unpredictable director Richard Linklater, who presents the relatable, seemingly average life of young Mason (Coltrane), following his day-to-day ups and down from age 5 to age 18. What famously makes “Boyhood” so remarkable is that the movie was actually filmed piecemeal over a 12-year-period, and as a result the audience watches the characters age, transforming before their very eyes. The effect is as poignant as it is staggering, and we’re pulling for Linklater to net an overdue statue for this herculean cinematic undertaking. Rated R. Running time: 2:44. Suggested retail price: $29.99; Blu-ray $39.99

“Get on Up,” Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis. While no movie with a PG-13 rating could hope to truly encapsulate revolutionary soul singer James Brown (remarkably portrayed here by Boseman of “42”), “Get on Up” manages to effectively convey both the otherworldly talent and star quality as well as the drug-fueled episodes and tendency toward spousal abuse that marred his legacy late in the game. Though not without its flaws, it’s a fine biopic anchored by some truly astonishing work from Boseman in the lead. Rated PG-13. Running time: 2:19. Suggested retail price: $29.98; Blu-ray $34.98

VIDEOPORT PICKS:

“The Guest,” Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe. Having pulled off the neat trick of both subtly sending up and doing justice to the ’80s slasher genre with the sleeper hit “You’re Next,” director Adam Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett continue to put their love of genre flicks to good use with this enjoyably tense, knowingly slick and flat-out fun thriller, which finds clean-cut and seemingly well-mannered young soldier David (Stevens, “Downton Abbey”) returning from a recent tour of duty to stay with the troubled Peterson family under less than clear pretenses. Like in “Shadow of a Doubt” and “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle” before it, “The Guest” is of course not who he appears to be, and it’s up to the younger Petersons (well played by Monroe and Brendan Meyer) to get to the bottom of things. It’s entertaining as hell, and encouraging proof that Wingard and Barrett aren’t just a flash in the pan. Rated R. Running time: 1:41. Suggested retail price: $29.98; Blu-ray $34.98

“Horns,” Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple. Having built a reputation as a horror filmmaker with a knack for staging tense nastiness and shocking – yet often comedic – gore, director Alexandre Aja (“High Tension”) tones it down ever so slightly for “Horns,” teaming with the ever-eager-to-stretch Radcliffe to relay novelist Joe Hill’s (incidentally the pen name for Joe King, son of Stephen) macabre tale of one Ignatius Perrish, of late accused of raping and killing the love of his life (Temple). Perrish inexplicably wakes up one day to find a pair of horns jutting from his forehead, an eventuality that allows him to read into the darkest thoughts of others, a power he employs to hunt down the real killer. It’s out there, to be sure, but one would expect nothing less from a partnership between Aja and the heir to King’s throne. Radcliffe sells the outlandish situation well, bringing real pathos and horror to what could have been simply ridiculous. Rated R. Running time: 2:00. Suggested retail price: $24.98; Blu-ray $29.99

NEW TO DVD:

“Archer: The Complete Season Five,” animated, with the voices of H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler. Upon discovering that ISIS isn’t exactly a legal branch of the CIA, Archer and company find themselves out of the spy game and settling into “Miami Vice” territory in typically bizarre fashion, kicking off a hilarious season that keeps the laugh quotient high while essentially imploding the series and rebuilding from the ground up. Not rated. Running time: 5:08. Suggested retail price: $29.98; Blu-ray $39.99

“Girls: The Complete Season Three,” Lena Dunham, Allison Williams. Now that the hubbub surrounding Lena Dunham’s acclaimed, warts-and-all HBO comedy has died down a bit, it’s only fitting that Hannah and friends ratchet up the bad behavior several notches, resulting in arguably the most riotous “Girls” season to date, with the addition of the excellent Gaby Hoffman (“Crystal Fairy”) as Adam’s (Adam Driver) supremely unbalanced sister a particular highlight. Not rated. Running time: 6:30. Suggested retail price: $39.98; Blu-ray $49.99

NEW TO BLU-RAY:

“The Sword of Doom,” Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai. This brilliant, troubling 1966 film from director Kihachi Okamoto (“Kill!”) is an action-packed, artfully bloody study of pure evil, following a cruel, unstoppable samurai warrior (Nakadai, “Ran”) from one deadly duel to another, a remorseless life that catches up with him with devastating (albeit gorgeously stylized) consequences. Not rated. Running time: 2:00. Suggested retail price: $39.95

“Working Girl,” Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith. The 1988 favorite from late director Mike Nichols (“The Graduate”) provided Griffith with the breakout role she’d been waiting for as Tess McGill, a Wall Street secretary eager to rise into the big leagues who teams up with respected exec Jack Trainer (Ford) in an effort to close a potentially huge deal behind the back of her conniving boss (Sigourney Weaver). Nominated for six Academy Awards, “Working Girl” is a top-notch comedy that has nonetheless mostly failed to remain in the public consciousness, a sad situation this high-def release should help to remedy. Rated R. Running time: 1:54. Suggested retail price: $16.99

– Courtesy of Videoport