New on DVD: Sweaty Statham, haute couture and the swinging sixties

Jason Statham fights for his life in another cuckoo-bananas Crank adventure, while a look at a fashion master and the DVD debuts of some notable Vietnam-era Hollywood movies round out the week's new releases.

Read on for more!

This one falls very much into the love-it-or-hate-it category, but I'm a big fan of the ridiculously hyped-up thrills of the Crank movies.

While Neveldine/Taylor, the directors of those movies, missed the target with their latest, Gamer (currently in theaters), they brought a delicious sense of over-the-toppery with Crank 2: High Voltage, in which Jason Statham once again battles his way through a cartoony L.A. in an attempt to stay alive.

To call these movies racist, sexist or homophobic is to imply that they take place in anything resembling the real world. But then again, you might hate it. It's your call.

One of the most popular documentaries of the year is Valentino: The Last Emperor, an intimate and behind-the-scenes look at the legendary fashion designer. See the artist struggle with encroaching commercialism, meet his business partner and one-time lover, get to know his collection of pugs, and listen to notables like Giorgio Armani, Tom Ford and Karl Lagerfeld wax eloquently about Valentino's couture wizardry.

Sony has been raiding the vaults of Columbia Pictures and releasing lesser-known vintage titles under the name "Martini Movies." With the latest batch (or "Wave 3") coming from the late '60s and early '70s, "Brown Acid Movies" might have been more appropriate.

Still, if you're looking to fill in some blank spaces from some of the era's leading filmmakers, you'll be thrilled to see the DVD debuts of Jacques Demy's Model Shop (from the French director's brief "Hollywood period" that's recalled in his wife Agnès Varda's documentary The Beaches of Agnès, released earlier this year), Alan J. Pakula's Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing, Robert Ellis Miller's The Buttercup Chain, Robert Mulligan's The Pursuit of Happiness and Anthony Newley's Summertree. Groovy!

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As far away from the Crank films as possible is Bedknobs and Broomsticks, which gets a new DVD edition that features the complete theatrical cut. This is a movie that has generally suffered by comparison when held next to Mary Poppins, but for those of us who remember seeing it in its original theatrical run, it's still a film to be treasured.

Fans of Angela Lansbury (who plays a witch-in-training during World War II), the musicals of the Sherman Brothers or anything remotely Disney-related are advised to at least rent this one.

One of my favorite shows from last year that never managed to find an audience gets another shot at life via DVD, as Worst Week: The Complete Series debuts. Based on a British sitcom, this hilarious show follows the foibles of a groom-to-be (the charming Kyle Bornheimer) as he systematically destroys the possessions, property and limbs of his future in-laws. If you're a fan of "funcomfortable" and missed this last year on CBS, give it a shot.

Finally, the cool kids at Criterion bring forth what's probably my favorite of the distinguished cinematic output of playwright-turned-filmmaker David Mamet. Homicide stars Mamet regular Joe Mantegna as a cop who's forced to acknowledge his Jewish roots while investigating a murder in the Orthodox community. Cast and auteur are firing on all cylinders on this one, and it's been a hard title to track down in the years since its original release in 1991.