New releases on DVD, Blu-ray

(L-r) ZACH GALIFIANAKIS as Marty Huggins and WILL FERRELL as Cam Brady in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy “THE CAMPAIGN,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Updated: November 5, 2012 8:48AM

NEW THIS WEEK

THE CAMPAIGN EXTENDED CUT

★★★

Rated

Rated R for crude sexual content, language and brief nudity

Stars

Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis

Okay, so it’s not “The Candidate,” or “Primary Colors,” or “The Best Man,” or even “The Ides of March.” But this smart, fast-paced and occasionally quite funny (though outrageously rude and crude) comedy has something to say about the state of politics in America today, if only because it actually makes Will Ferrell look like a credible, even electable, candidate. Right up to the moment when he punches the baby. Ferrell plays corrupt, sleazy, idiotic-sex-maniac Southern Republican Congressman Cam Brady, who appears to be a shoo-in as the upcoming vice-presidential candidate until his latest scandal introduces a new candidate in the form of pudgy, effeminate, simple-minded, honest-and-decent family man Marty Huggins (Galifianakis). Much raucous comedy ensues after political power brokers donate a million dollars to Marty’s superpac and hire a ruthless campaign manager (Dylan McDermott) for a mean makeover — and lifelong loser Marty develops a taste for blood. Director Jay Roach (“Austin Powers,” “Meet the Parents”) puts “The Campaign” through its fairly predictable paces with his usual skill, until a contrived, moralistic finale in which goodness prevails, life lessons are learned all around and Brady reveals himself to be not such a bad guy after all.

RUBY SPARKS

★★★

Rated

Rated R for language including some sexual references and for some drug use

Stars

Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Chris Messina

A charming but by no means reassuring love story, this second feature by the directors of “Little Miss Sunshine” muses on the ephemeral nature of romantic relationships — particularly their tendency to go painfully awry. Even when literally made to order. Lonely, isolated, aging wunderkind author Calvin (Dano), breaks through a serious creative block by writing about dream girl Ruby (screenwriter Kazan), who magically comes to life and moves in. Calvin can make Ruby do whatever he wants, just by writing it, but swears not to — until Ruby starts to get tired of him. Then the honeymoon starts to turn to hell on Earth. Extras include featurettes such as “Real Life Couples: Co-Stars and Directors.”

ALSO NEW THIS WEEK

ALFRED HITCHCOCK: THE MASTERPIECE COLLECTION

This far-reaching collection includes 15 films by the Master of Suspense, 13 making Blu-ray debuts including “Psycho,” “The Birds,” “Vertigo,” “Rear Window,” “North by Northwest,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Marnie,” “Saboteur,” “Shadow of a Doubt,” “Rope,” “The Trouble with Harry,” “Torn Curtain,” “Topaz,” “Frenzy” and “Family Plot.” Extras include more than 15 hours of bonus features including a new documentary on “The Birds.”

ALL IN THE FAMILY: THE COMPLETE SERIES

This 28-disc set includes all 213 episodes of the groundbreaking ’70s sitcom, uncut and in their original broadcast form. Extras include the original series pilot, the second pilot and the spin-off pilots for “Gloria,” “Archie Bunker’s Place” and “704 Hauser,” plus a 40-page collectible book.

HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS

In this 1970 spin-off of the gothic soap opera “Dark Shadows,” vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) seeks a cure so he can marry the woman he believes to be the reincarnation of his long lost love. Dan Curtis (“The Night Stalker”) directed the thriller.

LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT

Ralph Richardson, Katherine Hepburn, Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell starred in this 1962 adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s classic play. Sidney Lumet (“Network”) directed the drama.

LOVE COMES SOFTLY

This 10-disc, 10th Anniversary Collection box set features all 10 films based on Janette Oke’s best-selling novel about a recently widowed woman (Katherine Heigl) trying to rebuild her life in the Old West.

OUTLAW BROTHERS

Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan choreographed the kung-fu fight scenes in this 1990 action adventure about two car thieves and the female police officer on their trail. Hong Kong action veteran Frankie Chan directed and co-starred.

ROSEMARY’S BABY

Roman Polanski’s 1968 Hollywood debut featuring Mia Farrow as pregnant wife who begins to suspect that her husband (John Cassavettes) and neighbors (including Oscar winner Ruth Gordon) are involved in a satanic cult, gets the Criterion treatment. In addition to a new high-def restoration, extras include new interviews with Polanski, Farrow and producer Robert Evans and a radio interview with author Ira Levin on his 1967 novel, its sequel and the film.

RECENT RELEASES

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

★½

Rated

R for violence throughout and brief sexuality

Stars

Benjamin Walker, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anthony Mackie

It certainly looked promising, but this ever-so-slightly revisionist history from producer Tim Burton and action maestro Timur Bekmambetov turns out to be a disaster. A sense of tongue-in-cheek fun is the first thing you need if you’re planning to make a movie about Abraham Lincoln’s lifelong crusade to rid the world of vampires, but it’s nowhere to be found in this over-the-top slaughter fest. Instead, the film makes a serious effort, and fails, to incorporate vampire slaying into Lincoln’s real-life concerns — the Civil War, slavery. Only one scene, a dazzling set piece in which Lincoln battles a vampire in the midst of a herd of stampeding horses, suggests how mind-blowing this film might have been. Extras include the graphic novel “The Great Calamity” and commentary by writer Seth Grahame-Smith.

MAGIC MIKE

★★★½

Rated

R for pervasive sexual content, brief graphic nudity, language and some drug use

Stars

Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Olivia Munn

Whatever other benefits Tatum might have enjoyed during his brief stint as a teenage male stripper, his g-string days have supplied him with his best role in Steven Soderbergh’s sexy and surprisingly substantial portrait of a cheerfully sleazy subculture. Mike (Tatum) wants to parlay stripping-cash into a custom-furniture business. He reluctantly takes a clueless protégé under his wing after falling for his big sister (Cody Horn). Beefcake abounds, but the real attraction is an assortment of convincingly, twilight-inhabiting characters. Special features include deleted dance scenes, Backstage On “Magic Mike,” and The Moves of “Magic Mike.” AVAILABLE NEXT WEEK

Marlon Brando sings Damon Runyon in the Blu-ray debut of “Guys and Dolls,” Steve Martin and John Candy hit the road again for a 25th anniversary reissue of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and Gloria Swanson finally gets her hi-def close-up in the Blu-ray debut of “Sunset Boulevard.”

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