FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS (Fox) Will Futurama ever get its due as the funniest ’toon of its day? Probably not. But rather than numb your feelings of disappointment with a bender worthy of Bender, you can enjoy the second of the series’ straight-to-DVD features. In the latest adventure for the gang at Planet Express, a rip in the space-time continuum leads to multi-dimensional chicanery involving a giant, many-tentacled alien (voiced by David Cross) and Fry being declared Pope (it’s about time they got someone qualified for the gig). In any case, the premise yields some sublime sight gags and a dirtier strain of humour than the show’s old masters at Fox TV would’ve allowed — no one should be denied the chance to see Hedonismbot apply an industrial sander to his nipples. The many, many extras include several commentaries, deleted scenes, animatics and a bonus episode created for the Futurama videogame.  

GLITTERBOX: 4 BY DEREK
JARMAN (Zeitgeist) Filmmaker, poet, activist and all-round provocateur Derek Jarman has rarely been cooler. Unfortunately, the British maverick is not around to enjoy the surge of interest, having died in 1994. Zeitgeist’s handsome though hardly complete box set includes the last film he completed, Blue (1993), which infamously consisted of a single colour. (Having gone blind due to his AIDS-related illnesses, Jarman did his best to convey the experience to viewers.) Also inside are Caravaggio (1986) and Wittgenstein (1993), two examples of Jarman’s stylistically cavalier approach to the biopic. Long-time muse Tilda Swinton appears in the former while Dame Judi Dench recites Shakespearean sonnets on the soundtrack of The Angelic Conversation (1985). The package is decked out with a deluxe booklet, new interviews, sketch galleries, and Glitterbug (1994), a posthumous tribute scored by Brian Eno. No aesthete’s DVD collection is complete without this Glitter-ing prize.

Also out this week
PERSEPOLIS (Sony) Marjane Satrapi’s superb animated memoir of life after the Islamic Revolution comes in both the original French version and an English dub, now specially enhanced with Iggy Pop! Extras: Cannes press conference, scene commentaries and comparisons, making-of featurette.

10,000 B.C. (Warner) From what I could gather from the trailers, it’s about male models being threatened by a mastodon. Extras: alternate ending, extra scenes.

IN BRUGES (Alliance) This formulaic but well-played tale of hit men stuck in Belgium is one of this year’s few indie hits so far. Extras: deleted and extra scenes, gag reel, making-of featurettes.

DEFINITELY, MAYBE (Universal) When not starring in lame romantic comedies, Ryan Reynolds celebrates the attainment of a pop-culture milestone: getting Alanis Morissette to write an album about you. Extras: commentary by Reynolds and director Adam Brooks, deleted scenes, making-of featurettes.

Out July 1
Vantage Point, Drillbit Taylor, season one of Mad Men and the complete Walker, Texas Ranger — did you know that Chuck Norris was the producers’ second choice for the title role? Their first: Mayim Bialik.

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