Blu Notes:

With a fourth installment in the works, it’s a great time to revisit Steven Spielberg’s revolutionary special effects blockbuster franchise the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy, now on Blu-ray. The dinosaur epic comes loaded with extras, including two hours of new features.

If anyone could pull off remaking a classic thriller it’s Martin Scorsese. That’s just what he did with Cape Fear. Robert De Niro steps into the shoes of creepy psychopath Max Cady on a revenge quest against the attorney he blames for sending him to prison. Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis round out the excellent cast in this stylish update.

Gene Hackman gives one of his best performances in The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola’s take-off on Blow-Up. No filmmaker has ever been better than Coppola was in the mid-’70s, and this is one of his best, a paranoid tale of conspiracy and surveillance that is as timely as ever.

The Idiotbox:

A landmark of the ’70s television renaissance, “Barney Miller” followed the multiracial detectives of a Greenwich Village precinct for eight hilarious, trailblazing seasons. The Complete Series is a massive 25-disc set loaded with extras including new interviews, writers’ commentaries and the entire first season of Abe Vigoda’s spin-off, “Fish.”

Before the remake hits theaters, check out the masterful miniseries adaptation of John le Carré’s Cold War espionage classic Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Alec Guinness plays retired spy George Smiley tasked with ferreting out a Soviet mole in MI6.

Two classic episodes from the Mike era of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” are now available individually, The Atomic Brain and The Touch of Satan.

Funny Business:

Kevin Spacey stars as a disgraced inventor/infomercial salesman who moves in with his estranged daughter (Camilla Belle) in an attempt to rebuild his life in Father of Invention. Heather Graham and Johnny Knoxville co-star.

Also available: Jenna Fischer in A Little Help, Colin Hanks in Lucky, Carmen Electra in Mardi Gras: Spring Break

The Horror! The Horror!

A group of college kids becomes stranded in a snowstorm and takes refuge in a condemned sanatorium only to fall prey to a family of murderous cannibals in Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings.

Made in Japan:

One of the main series responsible for the anime explosion in the United States, Robotech: The Complete Original Series comes to DVD in a 17-disc box set containing 85 episodes and over 10 hours of extras, many of which are making their DVD debuts. The series takes place after an alien craft crashes into Earth, giving birth to new “mecha” technology, which humanity harnesses to defend itself from alien invaders.

Another landmark anime series, Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box Six collects 40 uncut and remastered episodes.

Foreign Fare:

A group of peaceful monks must take up arms to defend their temple from marauding warlords in the martial arts epic Shaolin. Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers), Nicholas Tse (The Stool Pigeon) and Jackie Chan star.

From the Vault:

Tom & Jerry: The Golden Collection, Vol. 1 brings together 37 remastered theatrical shorts from everyone’s favorite cat and mouse duo with a new retrospective featurette, commentaries and more.

Available online through the Warner Archives: Special effects pioneer George Pal directed The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, a bizarre and highly entertaining morality fable starring Tony Randall as a shape-shifting ancient magician who comes to a corrupt western town with his circus.

Horror master Clive Barker wrote and directed Nightbreed, a dark fantasy about an underworld of persecuted monsters that have existed alongside humanity for eons. David Cronenberg co-stars.