Even if you’re not one of those people who sits around watching Discovery HD (mostly because it’s still the best way to use your HD cable subscription), there’s no denying that there’s something wondrous about seeing the wild splendor of our home planet. And no one seems to capture it with the grace and intimacy of the BBC. Their work on Planet Earth and The Blue Planet (among others) has changed forever the scope by which we view our own world, and in turn brought us closer to the world around us. But what happens when they turn that lens inward, focusing on humanity’s journey through this wild world? We get Human Planet, their most ambitious series to date. Feature Presentation Narrated by the soothing, sage-like voice of John Hurt, Human Planet is an 8-episode series centered upon man’s interaction with nature; all the beauty and all the danger. It’s a high definition portrait of the human condition. It’s not an all-encompassing, encyclopedic series by any means, but a string of vignette-style stories that work as literal and metaphoric examples of humanity’s great struggles with nature. In eight hour-long episodes, the BBC crew traverses seemingly every inch of the Earth, creating a beautiful time capsule of life as it is today. A truly educational experience, Human Planet is one of those great tales of human survival told through the eyes of its people, one of those great documentary projects that feels part high drama, part engrossing curriculum. Each of its

This Week in Blu-ray we take a look at some new educational material from the BBC in the form of Human Planet, but it’s not without some high drama. We also take a walk with Terry Gilliam through the mind of Hunter S. Thompson. Again, not without some high drama. And there’s a quick sidestep into the world of South Park. High drama ensues. And finally there’s no high drama in the crime thriller Blood Out, not to be confused with the far better Brian De Palma film Blow Out, which also streets this week. It’s a lot of drama and a few laughs this week as we comb through the best and worst of this week’s Blu-ray releases. Human Planet There will be a much more in-depth review of this title coming soon, as I have so much to say about what the BBC has done with Human Planet. For now lets work with the short version. Narrated by John Hurt, Human Planet takes the idea of filming our big blue planet in all the glory of high definition and combines it with the study of man. How do we, the only animal to inhabit every terrain on terra firma, interact with the abundance of nature that surrounds us at every turn? From the wild rivers to the deep oceans to the sky-reaching concrete and steel cities we’ve erected from her upper crust, humanity has a unique relationship with our home planet. And this documentary series captures it brilliantly.

I’ve always felt that live-action musicals, with literally five exceptions*, are not for me. The idea that a group of strangers could suddenly burst into simultaneous song and dance with no prior opportunity to rehearse is simply ridiculous. And where’s the music coming from anyway? Preposterous. Armed with that kind of attitude it seems obvious that I would avoid any effort to watch a Bollywood film… at least until this week. In addition to my surprising Pick Of the Week other new titles hitting the street today include the BBC’s Human Planet series, the forty-year-old awesomely-titled softcore flick The Lickerish Quartet, the killer boar movie Chawz, and many more. (*The only great movie musicals are: Happiness Of the Katakuris, Meet the Feebles, The Muppet Movie, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and The Wizard Of Oz) If you see something you like, click on the image to buy it from Amazon. 3 Idiots Color me surprised, but my favorite release of the week, and one I never expected to enjoy, is this Bollywood blockbuster about three college friends reuniting a decade after graduation. The bulk of the film actually takes place during their four years of education at a prestigious engineering school and follows them through the laughs, struggles, suicide attempts, dance numbers, and bonding on their way into the real world. The first twenty minutes or so are pretty much what I expected from the genre… basically dancing and extremely broad comedy… but I soon found myself engaged in