Owls Head — Fright Night (Touchstone, Blu-ray or standard DVD, R, 106 min.). Tom Holland’s original script was made into a film in 1985 with Roddy McDowell as Peter Vincent, vampire hunter, and Chris Sarandon as vampire Jerry Dandridge. It was a cool movie, mixing fun and fright. Craig Gillespie’s remake ups the ante with a much sexier vampire and more explicit mayhem.

Anton Yelchin plays high schooler Charley Brewster, who sees his new neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Colin Farrell having the time of his life) munching down on another neighbor (Emily Montague as exotic dancer Doris) one night. Charley’s former best friend (Christopher Mint-Plasse as Ed Lee) tried to warn him, but he thought Ed was just making stuff up. It doesn’t help that Charley’s divorced mother (Toni Collette as Jane) is attracted to Jerry (well, who wouldn’t be). Charley, by the way, has a hot girlfriend in Amy Peterson (Imogen Poots), only when she finally wants to make out, he is too distracted with keeping track of Jerry’s actions.

The action starts fairly quickly as Ed has an encounter with Jerry. Jerry, knowing Charley is on to him, keeps trying to get invited into Charley’s house. He finally goes to an extreme, leading to one of the film’s highlights: a lonely highway chase. (The setting is a square housing development outside of Las Vegas.) Charley seeks help for Las Vegas magician Peter Vincent ( a hoot of a performance by David Tennant of “Doctor Who” fame), who basically is a seedy rocker, believes-in-it, but it-all-is-an-act kind of guy. There is one unforeseen shock and the ending is terrifically icky.

Blu-ray extras include a Vincent commercial/interview (2:09); a How to Make a Funny Vampire Movie guide (8:04); and five deleted and extended scenes (4:51). Both versions contain a music video; the uncut Squid Man video footage (2:56); and bloopers (3:23, with Tennant hilariously going on more about the rash). Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 2.5 stars

Rating guide: 5 stars = classic; 4 stars = excellent; 3 stars = good; 2 stars = fair; dog = skip it

The Hangover Part II (Warner, Blu-ray or standard DVD, R, 102 min.). Officially, this is not a remake, but really it is. It is basically the same plot as the first film, only moved to Thailand, where dentist Stu (Ed Helms) is about to marry Lauren (Jamie Chung). Stu brings pals Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha, who has very little to do in the film) and, very reluctantly, Alan (Zach Galifianakis), whose crudity reaches new levels. They, and Lauren’s 16-year-old, genius brother (future surgeon and a brilliant cello player) Teddy (Mason Lee, who the film could have used more of), have a beer and marshmallows on the beach. The next morning, Stu (with a tattoo on one side of his face), Alan (with his head shaved, but not his beard) and Phil wake up in a seedy apartment in Bangkok with no memory of the night before. However, there is a small monkey with them and they discover a severed finger with the absent Teddy’s Sanford ring on it. Doug, having left the beach gathering early, is safe back at the resort. Then, Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) shows up, says he will tell them everything that happened and then keels over dead from a drug overdose.

The rest of the film is trying to piece together the previous evening, which apparently included a firebombing and a riot against the police, and finding the missing Teddy. The logic trail is not too convincing, but the monkey is cute and does some amazing stuff, and there is a funny car chase including the monkey. Be warned that the film has its mind in the gutter fairly often and there are things you may not want to see.

Extras include Rob Benedict as an unauthorized documentary maker trying to uncover hidden footage of what really went on during the Bangkok filming (25:26; this actually is more clever than the feature film); brief bits of Crystal the monkey and Chow’s tour of Bangkok; a gag reel (4:53); and a brief action mash-up. Grade: film 2 stars; extras 2.5 stars

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox, Blu-ray or standard DVD, PG-13, 105 min.). This is both a reboot of the terrific series of five films (1968-1973; come on, at least the first is a classic, wining an honorary Academy Award and being nominated for two others) and a prequel. Telling the story of how the apes first became super-intelligent and learned to speak. Both are due to medical researcher Will Rodman (James Franco), who, driven by his father’s (John Lithgow as Charles) plight, has developed the drug ALZ-112 to combat Alzheimer’s. The idea is the drug stimulates the brain to produce new cells, in effect healing itself.

The first test subject is a chimpanzee that shows remarkable intelligence, but goes berserk one day, leading to its destruction. However, the chimp had a child and passed the drug along during birth. So, when Rodman reluctantly takes the baby home with him, he soon sees how smart it is and decides to treat his father with the drug as well. It works; it not only repairs damage in the brain but makes the user more intelligent. With these results, Rodman goes back to the firm and gets approval for the development of a second, more effective drug. However, this drug has a side effect that makes it fatal to humans.

Much like John Chambers received an honorary Academy Award for his make-up in the original film, Andy Serkis deserves a special Oscar for his work here. Heck, he should even be nominated for best actor. Through motion capture, which Serkis first did in a big way to bring Gollum to life in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, here he helps create the remarkable chimp Caesar who is both the center and the emotional core of the film. Serkis gives Caesar a whole range of facial expressions that express emotions that go from the happiness of being with Rodman (they sign together) to the wonder of being among the redwood trees for the first time, then to the fear and eventual resentment of being locked away (after he attacks a neighbor, played by David Hewlett of the “Stargate” TV series, he is put into a primate animal shelter run by Brian Cox’s John Landon and his cruel son Dodge, played by Tom Felton of the “Harry Potter” film series) and having to become top ape at that facility.

To top off this wonderful, wordless emotional journey, director Rupert Wyatt gives us a wham-bam of an action ending with the apes, banded together, raiding San Francisco after a terrific showdown on the Gold Gate Bridge. Of course, part of the film’s journey is also knowing where it all is leading.

Extras include 11 deleted scenes (12 min.), some that show Serkis in his motion-capture getup; a 7:11 look at the previous films; 7:48 on Serkis’ work alone; 9:41on making the film; a character concept art gallery; a look at Patrick Doyle’s wonderful music score; a scene breakdown of the various production stages; and two audio commentaries, one by the director and the other by writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 3.25 stars

The Change-Up (Universal, Blu-ray or standard DVD, NR/R, 118/113 min.). Usually these body-swapping comedies are PG-13 rated and thus mildly amusing. This time though, director David Dobkin (“The Wedding Crashers”) and writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (“The Hangover”) go for a hard R and it works in large part. Ryan Reynolds and Justin Bateman play buddies Mitch Planko and Dave Lockwood. Mitch is an under-employed actor who leads a life of indolence, weed, slobbery and women. Dave is a lawyer pushing to become a firm partner and a family man with a wife (Leslie Mann), a preteen daughter and infant twins (you will never be able to get one diaper-changing scene out of your mind). However, Dave also feels like he has missed out on a lot by being so career and family-driven. In fact, he lusts after his new associate (Olivia Wilde as Sabrina; see “Cowboys & Aliens” below).

One night after watching a football game at a bar and drinking, that is getting pissed together, they actually do piss together in an outdoor fountain, both saying at the same time they wish they had the other’s life. Lo and behold, the next morning they do, which leads to some very funny complications for Dave as Mitch, as he first film acting role turns out to be a light porno. There also is the case of Mitch’s regular Tuesday date that comes with some extra baggage. Meanwhile, Mitch as Dave has to close the big merger deal, which, of course, he screws up. There also is a hilarious scene of him trying to feed the two infants in the kitchen while on the phone with Dave.

Enjoy the comedy, because a closer look at the script does not hold up. In fact, Mitch as Dave’s timeline seems a lot longer than Dave as Mitch, especially when it comes to redoing the merger. And while Dave’s wife is told the truth -- of course, she does not believe them -- you would have to think she’d suss to something being wrong long before she does. Oh yeah, there’s also a little bit of unintended (?) humor at the end when, after the switch back, the question is asked, “Do you miss my penis?” and the closing credits song comes on with lyrics: “I just want to hold you in my hand.” What saves the film is the easy chemistry between Bateman and Reynolds.

Extras include a fight between Mitch and Dave when they find the statue minus the fountain (6:36; possibly an alternate ending); a 5:13 gag reel; a 6:53 look at making the film in Atlanta (there is some wonderful aquarium stuff is in the film); 4:37 on working with babies; and audio commentary by the director. Grade: film 2.75 stars; extras 2.25 stars

Cowboys & Aliens (Universal, Blu-ray or standard DVD, NR/PG-13, 135/119 min.). I don’t know if this concept actually ever was workable, but director Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”) certainly blows it here, with far too-deadly stretches of not much going on. It is a shame, because the film features two of my favorite actors: Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig,

Things open up with a man (Craig) coming to in the badlands with no memories and some kind of strange metal device on his left wrist. He cannot knock the thing off, but he can take care of the three men who try to rob and kill him. The pure Western bit continues for about 18 minutes. The stranger rides into town, where he faces down the son of the town’s economic support. The boy’s father is cattle baron Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford getting to play a bad guy for a change). After the boy is arrested for accidentally shooting a deputy, Sheriff John Taggert (Keith Carradine) realizes the stranger is wanted train robber Jake Lonergan (the delightful irony is that the gold he stole was Dolarhyde’s). Then an alien space ship shows up with flying fighters that hook and grab people (here, as in a later scene, the explosions just look like a line of planted pyrotechnics set off. The device on Lonergan’s wrist turns out to be a weapon capable of shooting down an alien fighter. Mysterious Ella (Olivia Wilde from “The Change-Up” and TV’s “House”) shows up -- in a dress that I swear looks like pajamas -- and eventually explains that the aliens need gold and they are using the captured people as test subjects so they can wipe out the bothersome humans.

Along the way to tracking a wounded alien to where the captured humans are being kept, the townsmen encounter Lonergan’s old gang and some American Indians, just because the film needs the closing fight scenes to be bigger. I had fun watching the film in the theater, but a second viewing at home showed how tired long stretches of it is. The unrated version is supposed to be 16 minutes longer, but I only noticed a few extra, more explicit deaths during the final shootout. Extras include conversations with Favreau; a five-part making-of feature; and audio commentary by Favreau. Grade: film 2 stars; extras 2.25 stars

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (Disney Blu-ray disc, , G, 71 min.). This is the Blu-ray debut of the holiday movie that reunited the original voice cast. Mrs. Potts recounts another “tale as old as time” about a Christmas past that almost wasn’t thanks to the scheming of former court composer Forte, who is determined to keep Belle and Beast apart forever. Extras include Disney’s Sing Me a Story with Belle’s “Stick To It”; a behind-the-scenes look; a music video of “As Long as There’s Christmas; and the ability to watch the film in sing-along mode.

Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World (Disney DVD, G, 92 min.). Belle, Beast, Cogsworth, Lumiere and some new friends discover how teamwork and friendship can turn the gloomy castle into a dazzling palace. As always, there are wonderful songs. Extras include Disney’s Sing Me a Story with Belle’s “What’s Inside Counts”; and a dinner game.

Prep & Landing (2009, Disney DVD, TV G, 22 min.). This is a Christmas tale about a high-tech team of stealth elves that ensure homes around the world are properly prepared for their visit from Santa. One elf, Wayne (voiced by Dave Foley), is upset he does not get an expected promotion after 227 years. Instead, he is partnered with an idealistic rookie elf named Lanny (voiced by Derek Richardson) to execute a special Christmas Eve mission. They have to contend with a raging snowstorm at the end. Extras include the shorts “Tiny’s Big Adventure” and “Operation Secret Santa” (with Betty White voicing Mrs. Claus), plus Prep & Landing Kringle Academy training videos.

Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas (The Play) (Lionsgate, Blu-ray or standard DVD, NR, 153 min.). Speaking of Christmas, Tyler Perry fans will want to check out this seasonal offering, which he wrote, directed and stars as Madea in. The play was performed three times in Atlanta before filming. The story follows the wealthy, dysfunctional Mansell family as they clash with Madea and her relatives during the holidays at their posh Cape Cod estate. The play features musical numbers written by Perry and the cast includes fan favorites Cheryl Pepsii Riley (“Madea’s Big Happy Family”), Chandra Currelley-Young (“Diary of a Mad Black Woman”) and Cassi Davis (TV’s “House of Payne”). Newcomer Patrice Lovely plays Hattie. Extras include bloopers, a making-of feature and cast interviews.

Dear Santa (Image DVD, NR, 92 min.). Jason Priestley (“Beverly Hills 90210”) directed this tale in which carefree, irresponsible shopaholic Crystal (Amy Acker) is given an ultimatum by her wealthy parents to change her ways by Christmas or they will cut her off without a cent. Crystal finds seven-year-old Olivia’s (Emma Duke) letter to Santa asking for a new wife for her widowed dad Derek (David Haydn-Jones). To win them over, Crystal volunteers at Derek’s struggling soup kitchen. However, Derek has a jealous and calculating girlfriend (Gina Holden).

The Perfect Gift (Image DVD, NR, 90 min.). This stage play by Alvin Moore Jr. stars Ruben Stoddard (winner of “American Idol Season 2”) as Michael and Golden Brooks as his wife Sandra, suffering hard times and high tensions. Then, both sets of parents stop by for an unannounced holiday visit, creating chaos. Included is a bonus CD soundtrack.

Mission Impossible: The ‘88 TV Season (CBS/Paramount, 5 DVDs, NR, 15 hours 23 min.). These 19 episodes was an attempt to bring back the long-running series (1966-1973), using updated scripts from the original series as there had been a writers’ strike. The strike was resolved and 15 of the 19 episodes were originals. It worked, as the show was brought back for one more season. The only returning regular was star Peter Graves, who again played Impossible Missions Force team leader Jim Phelps. (Graves entered the original series in season two.) This season was filmed in Queensland, Australia. Lynda Day George and Greg Morris as Barney Collier were among the regulars from the original series who made guest appearances. Morris’ son, Phil Morris, played Barney’s son, Grant, in the new series. The show began with Phelps coming out of retirement after his protégé is killed.

More boxed sets:

Eclipse Series 30: Sabu! (1937-1942, Criterion, 3 DVDs, NR, 286 min.). In the Thirties and Forties, one of the hot young stars of cinema was Indian actor Sabu (born Selar Shaik). He was a 13-year-old maharaja’s elephant driver when he was cast in the first of the three films in this collection, “The Elephant Boy,” an adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling story, “Toomai of the Elephants,” directed by documentary trailblazer Robert Flaherty and Zoltan Korda. The two shared best director honors at the Venice Film Festival. Sabu was discovered during location shooting; at the time he was 11 and had never seen a film. He had become a ward of the maharaja after the death of his parents. Sabu had to learn his lines phonetically, as he only spoke Urdu.

Sabu went on to headline a series of fantasies and adventures for the British film titans, the Korda brothers. Among these was the previously released classic, the Oscar-winning “The Thief of Bagdad.” The other two films here are “The Drum,” an action-packed Technicolor epic that stars Sabu as Azim, a young prince  of the northwestern city of Peshawar who goes into hiding with British colonial forces after his nefarious uncle (Raymond Massey) murders his maharaja father. Directed by Zoltan Korda, the film was shot on location in mountainous northern India. The third film here is another Kipling classic, “Jungle Book,” in which Sabu plays Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves, who can speak to animals. Again in Technicolor and directed by Korda, the film was nominated for four Oscars: best cinematography, art direction, special effects and music (the score by Miklos Rozsa).

Eclipse Series 29: Aki Kaurismaki’s Leningrad Cowboys (1989-1994, Criterion, 3 DVDs, NR, 230 min.). Finnish director Kaurismaki, a master of the deadpan, created “Leningrad Cowboys Go America” as a fish-out-of-water tale about a U.S. tour by the worst rock ‘n’ roll band in the world. Yet, the fictional band of fur-coated, outrageously pointy pompadour hipsters was such a success with audiences that the fictional band became the real deal, touring the world and releasing albums. Their music blends polka, punk, rock and Russian and American folk.

The band was born in a bar in 1986, when Sakke Jarvenpaa and Mato Valtonen, members of the anarchic Finnish pop-punk group Sleepy Sleepers, told their friend Kaurismaki about their idea for a new band, called the Leningrad Cowboys as a joke about the waning virility of the USSR, with which Finland had always had a fragile relationship. Their hope was that the director would help make their music video. They made three videos together, “Rocky VI,” “Thru the Wire” and “L.A. Woman,” which are among the five music videos included on the third disc here. The band also had released its first album, when the decision was made to go ahead with a feature film.

The second film, “Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses,” has the band living in Mexico, having had a top-ten hit but now fallen on hard times. They head north to rejoin their manager Vladimir (played by Matti Pellonpaa) for a gig in Coney Island, they learn he has turned into a self-proclaimed prophet who wishes to lead them back to the promised land of Siberia. This time the road movie takes place on the rocky terrain of the new Europe (the Berlin Wall was down and the Soviet Union had collapsed). The third film is “Total Balalaika Show,” a film of the Leningrad Cowboys’ massive concert in Helsinki’s Senate Square with the 150-member Alexandrov Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble. The audience reached 70,000 and the band played everything from Sibelius to Bob Dylan.

The Andy Hardy Collection, Volume 1 (Warner Archive, 6 DVDs, NR, 541min.). In this manufactured-on-demand set (see www.warnerarchive.com for ordering), you get six of the15 Hardy Family films made between 1937 and 1946 (a 16th was made in 1958). After the first film, “A Family Affair,” Lionel Barrymore was replaced as Judge James Hardy by Lewis Stone for the series of films that followed. Playing Andy Hardy throughout was young Mickey Rooney, while Fay Holden played Mother and Cecilia Parker played his older sister Marian. Sara Haden played Aunt Millie and Ann Rutherford was Polly, the girlfriend to whom Andy’s straying eyes would always return. In “You’re Only Young Once,” the family vacations in California and Andy falls for a sophisticated young beauty. In “Judge Hardy and Son,” Andy agrees to help his father find the daughter of an immigrant couple who are in danger of losing their home. It is to a ranch in Arizona that “Out West with the Hardys” goes, and some friends of the Judge who have gotten into trouble.

MGM used the films to springboard young starlets, such as Judy Garland (fresh off her role as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”) in “Andy Hardy Meets the Debutante.” Garland sings “Alone” and “I’m Nobody’s Baby.” In “Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary,” he is set to graduate high school, but flunks his English exam, even though Aunt Millie is his teacher. The film marked the screen debut of Kathryn Grayson. Finally, in “Life Begins for Andy Hardy,” Rooney is reunited with Garland for the third and last time in the series (the other, “Love Finds Andy Hardy,” has previously been released by Warner Bros.).

Tim Holt Western Classics Collection Vol. 3 (1949-1952, Warner Archive, 5 DVDs, NR, 605 min.). There are 10 60-minute Westerns in this third collection from Warner Archive (manufactured on demand and orderable at www.warnerarchive.com). Holt had a long-running comic book that called him “The Cowboy Star of the Movies.” He appeared in more than 40 Westerns in a span of 14 years, while also performing as a supporting player in A-list features with Humphrey Bogart (“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”), John Wayne (“Stagecoach”) and Jimmy Stewart. The films here, all co-starring Richard Martin, are “Storm Over Wyoming,” “Rider From Tucson,” “Border Treasure,” “Rio Grande Patrol,” “Law of the Badlands,” “Saddle Legion” (with Dorothy Malone), “Gunplay,” “Hot Lead,” “Road Agent” and “Target.”

Monogram Cowboy Collection, Volume 1 (1948-1951, Warner Archive, 3 DVDs, NR, 513 min.). This set collects nine Westerns, starring Johnny Mack Brown in “Outlaw Gold,” “Man from Sonora,” “Oklahoma Justice” and “Texas Lawmen”; Rod Cameron in “Cavalry Scout”; and Jimmy Wakely in “Oklahoma Blues,” “Partners of the Sunset” and “Gun Law Justice.” All three of the Wakely films co-star “Cannonball Taylor. Phyllis Coates co-stars in two of Brown’s films. She, of course, went on to play Lois Lane in the first 26 episodes of TV’s “The Adventures of Superman.” Again this is manufactured on demand and can be ordered at www.warnerarchive.com.

WWII in HD Collector’s Edition (History, 4 Blu-ray discs, NR, 605 min.) and Vietnam in HD (History, 2 Blu-ray discs, NR, 282 min.). The World War II set utilizes color footage from 3,000 hours of film few knew existed. It also uses the journals and accounts of those who served in the war’s biggest battles to create a personal, introspective and detailed look at life on and off the front lines. Twelve soldiers are followed. This edition also includes “The Battle for Iwo Jima,” again using restored, full-color footage, and “WWII in HD: The Air War,” the untold story of the American 8th Air Force’s bloody battle to defeat the German Luftwaffe in the months lading up to D-Day. The latter is told through first-person accounts of three American soldiers and Stars & Stripes reporter Andy Rooney. A similar, personal approach is used in the Vietnam miniseries through intimate interviews with 13 people who experienced the war first-hand. It is narrated by actor Michael C. Hall.

Pearl: The Miniseries (1978, Warner Archive, 2 DVDs, NR, 279 min.). Dec. 7, 1941 started as a gorgeous Sunday in Hawaii before turning into the day which will live in infamy, when the Japanese pulled a surprise attack, bombing Pearl Harbor. The miniseries stars Angie Dickinson, Robert Wagner, Lesley Ann Warren, Adam Arkin, Brian Dennehy and Dennis Weaver among its large cast. It tells the story of Honolulu residents caught up in romantic and career entanglements before the surprise attack. The screenplay is by Stirling Silliphant. This is manufactured on demand and orderable at www.warnerarchive.com.