The week's DVDs begin in space:

DVDs for Feb. 25 by Boo Allen

This week, we begin lost in space:

Gravity (****)

Director and co-writer Alfonso Cuaron delivers a magnificent work with plenty of twists and striking images while also paying homage to past classics of the outer-space genre. Gravity conveys to viewers the feeling of what it feels like to actually be in space, and, worse, to be lost in space. Outside a space station, Ryan Stone (Sandra Bulloch) and Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) find themselves stranded when debris from a missile strike knocks them loose. Cuaron uses this void to establish an eerie sense of emptiness as the trip turns into one of survival. Stone remains the focal point of the movie, but the star is director Cuaron, with help from cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and the army of special effects technicians.

Rated PG-13, 90 minutes. The DVD arrives in all expected formats and combo packs as the Blu-ray accentuates the clear, beautiful images. Supplements include the Ed Harris-narrated, 23 minute documentary “Collision Point: The Race to Clean Up Space,” Jonas Cuaron’s seven minute short film “Aningaaq,” the five part, 37 minute thorough analysis “making of” segment “Shot Breakdowns,” and more.

You Will Be My Son (****1/2)

Because of a canceled booking, this powerful French language film never played theatrically in North Texas, but it arrives now for home entertainment. Director Gilles Legrand offers a penetrating examination of the relationship between an authoritarian father, Paul de Marseul (Niels Arstrup), and his weak-willed son, Martin (Lorant Deutsch). Father Paul owns and runs a large, successful vineyard, but when the time approaches for the father to pass it on, he anoints his foreman’s son, disregarding his own bullied son. Fascinating portrayal of father-son dynamics with excellent performances from all.

Not rated, 102 minutes. The DVD includes a 15 minute interview with director Legrand and Lorant Deutsch and nine minutes of deleted scenes.

Thor: The Dark World (***)

Marvel’s hammer-wielding super-hero Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns and spends as much time fighting the evil forces from beyond as he does with his earthly amour, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). When the evil Malekith threatens earth, Thor releases his disgraced brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from captivity to join him. The conflict enables director Alan Taylor (who helmed the criminally overlooked 2001 jewel The Emperor’s New Clothes) to unleash his technicians to render an effects-spectacular, with Thor facing off against a sequence of equally colorful villains. Fast, engaging, and just as entertaining as the first Thor.

Rated PG-13, 112 minutes. The DVD, in all formats and combo packs, offers commentary, a four minute gag reel, eight minutes of deleted and extended scenes, a 32 minute, two part, look at Thor and Loki’s relationship, a six minute segment on the film’s music, the 14 minute featurette “All Hail the King,” and much more.

King of the Hill (***1/2)

In 1993, when Steven Soderbergh took A.E. Hotchner’s Depression Era memoir for his third feature, it further signaled that the writer-director was an unpredictable free spirit. Soderbergh surprisingly followed his provocative debut Sex, Lies, and Videotapes with the murky, virtually incomprehensible Kafka. But even more surprising, he then turned to this hazy, elegiac period piece. In 1933 St. Louis, Aaron (Jesse Bradford), an A-student eighth grader, and an outrageous fabulist, lives in a shabby hotel with his erratically employed father (Jeroen Krabbé) and his soon-to-be hospitalized mother (Lisa Eichorn). Through circumstances, Aaron finds himself alone in the hotel, surrounded by an odd assortment of tenants. He scrambles to pay rent, attend school, and all while waiting for his family’s return. Soderbergh mixes some heart-breaking scenes with childish pranks and sly humor. He also carefully depicts the era, with an attention to the surface elements like fashions and autos, aided by Elliot Davis’s warm, saturated photography. The supporting cast features future stars, such as singer Lauryn Hill, Oscar winner Adrien Brody, and look for 15 year-old Katherine Heigel as one of Aaron’s classmates.

Rated PG-13, 103 minutes. The Criterion Collection has included three discs for the Blu-ray release along with a 23 minute interview with then 93 year-old Hotchner, an eleven minute featurette on Soderbergh, six deleted scenes, a 20 minute interview with Soderbergh, and, as a special bonus, Soderbergh’s next feature after King/Hill, The Underneath (1995, rated R, 99 minutes), filmed mostly in Austin. Plus, a 40 page booklet with an essay from scholar Peter Tonguette, an interview with Soderbergh, and an excerpt from Hotchner’s source memoir.

The 300 Spartans (**1/2)

Before 300: Rise of An Empire hits theaters, Twentieth Century Fox gives a Blu-ray release to this 1962 mini-epic that also chronicles one of history’s most famous battles–the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae. Director Rudolph Maté spends more time with the political maneuvering that forced the Spartans, led by King Leonidas (Richard Egan), into battle short-handed against Persian King Xerxes (David Farrar) and his mighty army. But once the battle begins, the sides clearly form with Leonidas executing the brilliant tactics which have become legendary. Cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth makes an early, advantageous use of Cinemascope to capture the battles filmed on the actual Greek plains.

Not rated, 114 minutes.

Twice Born (**1/2)

Based on Margaret Mazzantini’s international best-seller of the same name, this treacly melodrama crumbles under the weight of too much plot. Director Sergio Castellitto, who also plays Penelope Cruz’ husband, tells the story of Gemma (Cruz) and her long love affair with an American photographer, Diego (Emile Hirsch). In early1980s Sarajevo, they meet-cute and fall in love. They seem to be a perfect match, moving in together with talk of raising a family. When she proves unable to conceive, they enlist a local woman to help. The ensuing boy grows to his teen years, the period in which Castellito begins his story, flipping back and forth to fill in the many gaps that necessitate plots and subplots. Keeping track of the time changes and of the character detours becomes unwieldy, marring the overall effectiveness of the film’s potential.

Rated R, 127 minutes. The disc includes four cast and crew interviews.

And, finally, from this week’s TV arrivals:

Mama’s Family—Season three

Vicki Lawrence starred as feisty alpha-senior Mama Harper in this popular series spun off from “The Carol Burnett Show.” In this season’s 25 episodes, on four discs, Bubba Higgins (Allan Kayser) arrives fresh from juvenile jail. Naomi (Dorothy Lyman) suffers Mama’s wry abuse, as does Ellen (Betty White). Neighbor Iola (Beverly Archer) sticks around long enough to make googly-eyes at Vint (Ken Berry).

Not rated, 655 minutes. The collection also includes an interview with Allan Kayser, a featurette on “Mama’s Family Tree,” a “Mama’s Family” cast reunion, and a 1975 sketch from “The Carol Burnett Show” featuring Maggie Smith, now better known as the Grandmother Dowager on Downton Abbey.

Also on DVD: Mr. Nobody, Muscle Shoals, Narco Cultura, Pulling Strings, Salinger.