DVD Releases

We’re still a few years away from the trilogy reissue we’re really waiting to see for “Back to the Future’’ (1985-90) — the one that inevitably will hit (via hologram?) in 2015, when we get to see whether any of the second installment’s prognostications have come to pass. (Flying skateboards? A World Series title for the Cubs?) Until then, fans will find plenty to keep them busy on the franchise’s 25th anniversary Blu-ray debut, a worthier showcase than the slightly lackluster DVD reissue we got several years back. Michael J. Fox is more prominently featured in new interview material here, and director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale give more detail about the original movie’s beginnings. Zemeckis credits his for-hire gig directing “Romancing the Stone’’ for helping to get “BTTF’’ into production after studios initially failed to bite, and Disney, the alternatively recommended likely bet, blanched at the scenes between Marty McFly and his mom. We’ve previously seen production stills of Eric Stoltz playing Marty before the part was recast five weeks into shooting, but now we get filmed snippets of Stoltz kicking around Hill Valley, hanging with Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown, and gaping at Crispin Glover. We also get enough background on Doc’s time machine to practically build one ourselves — along with a trivia reminder that the contraption wasn’t originally scripted as a DeLorean, but a fridge. Meanwhile, in this week’s other big Blu-ray bow, Fox releases its four-film “Alien Anthology,’’ complete with Sigourney Weaver’s original screen tests and copious other new extras. (Universal, $79.98; standard DVD, $49.98)

The Swedish-language follow-up to Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’’ arrives on disc, but without some print elements and cinematic fundamentals necessary to make this installment feel as fully realized as the first. Noomi Rapace again glowers magnificently — and strengthens her building Oscar campaign — as damaged-hacker heroine Lisbeth Salander, back from abroad and drawn into a mystery with deeply personal implications. But a sex slave story line is never developed, and the movie only magnifies the novel’s confounding resistance to putting Lisbeth and booster-lover Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) in the same scenes. (Music Box Films, $29.95; Blu-ray, $34.95)

Debra Granik, director of the Vera Farmiga calling card “Down to the Bone,’’ crafts a similarly brooding story about an Ozarks teen (Jennifer Lawrence) trying to track down her meth-cooking father before his vanishing act finishes the struggling family for good. The conventionality of the film’s mystery and drama got a pass from critics, clearly thanks to the starkly authentic atmosphere. Still, Lawrence (“The Bill Engvall Show’’) is believably tough, and raggedly menacing John Hawkes makes his roughneck turn in “The Perfect Storm’’ look glossy by comparison. Extras: An unplugged featurette gives a somewhat brighter look at the production. (Lionsgate, $27.98; Blu-ray, $29.99)

Stanley Kubrick delivers some early antiwar commentary in the story of a WWI French Army colonel (Kirk Douglas) clashing with superiors over the fate of soldiers condemned to die for failing to complete an impossible mission. You can see the seeds of “Full Metal Jacket’’ battlefield action in Kubrick’s trench warfare scenes, while backroom conversations are a precursor to “Dr. Strangelove’’ absurdity. “Troops crave discipline,’’ Adolphe Menjou’s aloof general asserts. “And one way to maintain discipline is to [execute] a man now and then.’’ Extras: Liner notes discuss the productive friction between Kubrick and his future “Spartacus’’ star. (Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95)

SEX AND THE CITY 2 (2010)

Carrie and the girls tour the Arabian desert — a metaphor, some will tell you, for how dry the idea well is running. (New Line, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99)

AGAINST THE CURRENT (2009)

Joseph Fiennes is quietly moving in Peter Callahan’s indie about a man swimming the length of the Hudson River to mark the anniversary of his wife and baby’s death, with two friends (Justin Kirk and Elizabeth Reaser) trailing by boat. Sometimes oppressively gray, emotionally and visually, but intriguingly specific. (IFC Films, $24.98)

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK (2010)

Al Pacino stashes his star persona for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Extras: Interviews with the cast and their real-life counterparts. (HBO, $26.98)

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS — THE COMPLETE SEASON TWO (2009-10)

The saga’s Western-in-space aspect grows even more unmistakable as Cad Bane, a bounty hunter in the Lee Van Cleef mold, grabs the spotlight. Extras: Production featurettes; concept art sketchbook. (Warner, $44.98; Blu-ray, $59.98)

WALLANDER (2010)

Kenneth Branagh returns as Henning Mankell’s detective in three new mysteries: “Faceless Killers,’’ “The Man Who Smiled,’’ and “The Fifth Woman.’’ (BBC Video, $34.98; Blu-ray, $39.98; available now)

HOUSE (1977)

Japanese director Nobuhiko Obayashi puts a psychedelic stamp on a familiar tale of nubile schoolgirls in peril, jumbling everything from a carnivorous piano to a girl whose bisected lower half keeps right on kung-fu fightin’. Extras: Experimental film. (Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95)

Titles are in stores Tuesday unless specified.

Tom Russo can be reached at trusso2222@gmail.com.