New on DVD: ‘The First Grader’

The First Grader

National Geographic, $19.97

Based on a true story, “The First Grader” follows octogenarian Kimani Maruge (Oliver Litondo) as he fights to be allowed to take advantage of the Kenyan government’s offer of free elementary education for all citizens. Director Justin Chadwick and screenwriter Ann Peacock squeeze all they can out of the story’s uplifting, “overcoming impossible odds” qualities, but they also use Maruge’s journey as a way to cover decades of Kenyan history and to document what’s changed in the country since the days of British colonialism. The DVD featurettes offer a closer look at the actual Maruge, but the movie itself does a fine job both of conveying one man’s experiences and of tying them to something grander.

Apollo 18

Starz/Anchor Bay, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99

“Apollo 18” — the latest in what’s become an increasingly tedious sub-genre of found-footage horror movies — purports to show what happened on a covert 1974 mission to the moon, where astronauts encountered violent extraterrestrials. The usual criticisms apply: The movie looks cheap, the acting is too unnatural for the docu-realist style and there’s far too much staring at nothing for what’s supposed to be a suspense film. The DVD and Blu-ray throw in a bunch of deleted and alternate scenes, along with a director commentary.

Brighton Rock

MPI, $24.98

Graham Greene’s 1938 novel “Brighton Rock” has been adapted multiple times — into stage plays, radio dramas and movies — largely because its story of a teenage gangster and his marriage of convenience has such memorable characters and so much to say about the ethics of the criminal world. Writer-director Rowan Joffe’s new movie version moves the action to the “mod” 1960s, and casts the formidable Sam Riley as the wiry antihero, with Andrea Riseborough as the woman he weds in order to keep her quiet about his crimes. Joffe’s film lacks some of the flavor — and the anti-Catholic philosophizing — of Greene’s book, but the plot’s still a gripper. The DVD and Blu-ray add a Joffe commentary track, deleted scenes and featurettes.

Final Destination 5

Warner Bros., $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99

Followers of the “Final Destination” series won’t find any radical changes in the fifth installment; just more young people cheating death momentarily and then spending the rest of the movie dying in creatively gruesome ways. Fans wouldn’t have it any other way, so long as the “done in by fate” scenes are reasonably clever — and the kills in the film are indeed quite nifty. The DVD and Blu-ray even come with featurettes that show how the filmmakers achieved their gore effects and the alternate fates they considered before settling on this particular set of accidental deaths.

And …

The Borgias: The Complete First Season

Paramount, $49.99; Blu-ray, $65.99

Pete Smalls Is Dead

Image, $27.97

Shameless: The Complete First Season

Showtime, $39.98; Blu-ray, $49.99