By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

Tom Cruise has had nearly a decade of lows and even his greatest film successes have been sullied with films that were just too much about Tom (Cocktail, Days of Thunder, Top Gun), but he was definitely at a high point in his career with Born on the Fourth of July. The film has just made its Blu-ray debut, the latest release from Universal’s 100th anniversary slate of 2012 releases to celebrate the occasion.

This is as much a patriotic film as James Cagney’s Yankee Doodle Dandy, but it certainly isn’t of the rah rah rah, “you’re a grand old flag” variety.

Based on the true story of Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic (he co-wrote the screenplay with director Oliver Stone), Kovic was most definitely of the “rah rah” variety when he went off to war to stop those communists at the beginning of the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When he returned several years later, he was paralyzed, left in a wheel chair and soon did a complete turn about on how he felt about that war.

There is a lot to like about in this film. Oliver Stone won best director, and there are many memorable scenes — the July 4 patriotic parade when Kovic was a kid, and a parade later on that showed how much the country had changed in just a few years.

The government gets lots of deserved blame for its  involvement in Vietnam (Born on the Fourth of July is one of a trilogy of films by Stone on the subject, including Platoon). Faring even worse is the Veteran’s Administration’s near inhumane treatment of the soldiers returning home with various disabilities.

Born on the Fourth of July has been released as a Blu-ray combo pack with DVD and digital copy.

Bonus features include feature commentary with Oliver Stone and From the NBC News Archives — Backstory: Born on the Fourth of July, the true story behind the film with Kovic, Stone and Cruise.

The set also includes two Universal Blu-ray bonus features 100 Years of Universal: The ‘80s and 100 Years of Universal Academy Award Winners.

Wanderlust

Where have all the hippies gone?

They are alive and well, well mostly, in Wanderlust  (Universal) , a comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston.

They play George and Linda, a mostly happy married couple trying to make it in the Big Apple. They finally take the plunge and buy their first place (something called a “microloft,” Realtor speak for a studio apartment).

The next day George gets laid off and Linda’s documentary on penguins with testicular cancer gets a “pass” from HBO.

So the two are forced to drive to Atlanta and live with George’s supremely obnoxious brother and his wife.

But they need to stop for the night in north Georgia and happen upon the Elysium Bed and Breakfast, which is actually a commune.

After a very stoned night at the Elysium, with all of the bizarre inhabitants, they decide to try commune living for a couple of weeks.

There aren’t many laugh out loud moments in Wanderlust, but it is a great premise and an entertaining 90-plus minutes.  It is also, at times, comedy of the coarse variety, deserving its R rating.

There are many good performances here including Rudd and Aniston as well as Justin Theroux as the  commune leader and Alan Alda as an old hippie.

Bonus features with the Blu-ray two-disc set include  a standard DVD disc as a Ultraviolet code for downloading/streaming the movie onto a portable device.

Alphas

There is nothing amazingly original about Alphas (Universal Studios Home Entertainment), but this clone of X-Men and close cousin to Heroes, SyFy drama is still entertaining TV.

About to enter season two (July 23), Alphas follows the adventures of a team of guys and gals with superhuman physical and mental abilities. called Alphas on the show.

Their enemy: criminal versions of people who share their traits.

David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck) heads up the team as Dr. Lee Rosen, a noted psychologist and the only non-Alpha on the team.

The team includes:

Gary (Ryan Cartwright), a young autistic man who can interact with all telecomunication signals. He also lives with his mother and has the most entertaining role on the show.

Cameron (Warren Hicks), a former Marine  with amazing athletic prowess because of his superhuman “hyperkinesis” abilities.

Nina (Laura Mennell) has Jedi Master abilities. She can “push” people into doing whatever she verbally asks.

Azita (Rachel Pirzad) can heighten her senses to extreme levels.

And Bill (Malik Yoba) a former FBI agent who has the ability to Hulk out at will for super human speed and strength.

The set includes all 11 episodes from season one and as the season develops, the battle  increases between the team a terrorist group of alphas called  

“Red Flag.”

Bonus features on the set include an extended premiere episode, deleted scenes and a fan question and answer session with series stars and producers and writers of the show.

Season two of Alphas comes to Syfy July 23.