By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

If you have never seen Singin’ in the Rain (1952), there has never been a better time than now.

The film, rated the best American musical ever made by the American Film Institute, as well as one of the greatest American films ever, has finally made its Blu-ray debut (Warner Home Video).

While the plot is fun (talkin’ pictures have taken over the movie business and Monumental Pictures is stuck with a star who never should open her mouth), it is the combined talents of Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen (and script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green) that really make this film sing.

Kelly and Hagen play the studio’s leading acting couple, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, with Hagen stealing every scene just by opening her mouth. Sixty years later, the scenes are still a scream.

And the dancing by Kelly, O’Connor and Reynolds (who was not considered a dancer at the time) are among the best ever on film, highlighted most memorably by Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain.”

The 60th anniversary Blu-ray edition includes

•Commentary by Stanley Donen, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Cyd Charisse, Kathleen Freeman, screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green, filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, and film historian Rudy Behlmer

•Great Performances: Musicals Great Musicals: The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM, a 1996 PBS documentary about the career of producer/songwriter Arthur Freed

•The Making of Singin’ in the Rain

•You are My Lucky Star: Outtake musical number

A 3-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition also is available with a Blu-ray/DVD combo.

Being Flynn

Robert DeNiro has gone from one of the greatest actors of his generation to one who has made some of the most embarrassing film choices of the decade.

DeNiro makes a comeback of sorts in Being Flynn (Focus Features), a story of a homeless man who decides to reconnect with his son (Paul Dano).

You probably missed this film during its brief theatrical run this spring, but with so much predictable stuff filling up the big screens during the summer, Being Flynn is nice alternative on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Paul Weitz (About a Boy) is not the standard feel good, sentimental story you will find on Lifetime Movies.

This is a film with a delicate balance. DeNiro’s character Jonathan Flynn is not particularly likeable. He abandoned his son Nick, years earlier. His life is spiraling ever downward, and Nick, who is drifting aimlessly in his own life (he is working at a homeless shelter) finds his father to be both an embarrassment and a liability.

There are comic scenes, but to be sure, Being Flynn is a mostly dark journey.

Rated R, Being Flynn is available in Blu-ray and DVD.

Warehouse 13

There probably never has been more science fiction programming on TV then there is now, with cult favorites such as Fringe, as well as many newcomers including Alphas and this week’s DVD review Warehouse 13.

Now in its fourth season on the SyFy, season three is now available on DVD.

Unlike some complex series, even if  you are a newcomer to the show, if you like science fiction, Warehouse 13 should be immediately addictive.

The basic premise makes it immediately watchable: Somewhere in South Dakota is Warehouse 13, a storehouse of artifacts that wield all kinds of powers (think Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Ark of the Covenant).

Past episodes have included a pen owned by Edger Allen Poe which makes whatever the user writes a reality; a compact mirror owned by Lizzie Borden that causes the user to kill loved ones with an axe etc.

The series has the usual team of agents in shows such as this, assigned to protect the warehouse and also go out on the field looking for artifacts that have “gone bad.”

The characters here are definitely above average in this comedy drama.

Eddie McClintock plays Pete Lattimer, a Secret Service Agent able to pick up on people’s vibes, good and bad, while Joanne Kelly is Myka Bering, is his by-the-book partner. She also has a photographic memory.

Saul Rubinek is Artie Nielsen the special agent in charge.

Some cool background that makes the show compelling: This is Warehouse 13 because there have been 12 similar warehouses that have preceded it.Warehouse 1 was built under Alexander the Great and Warehouse 12 (which has been featured in the series) was in the United Kingdom from 1830-1914. The current warehouse was designed by Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and M.C. Escher.

The series also has crossover episodes with other Universal Syfy series Eureka and Alphas.

Season three includes 13 episodes and bonus features.

Eureka

Speaking of Eureka, that series just ended its run on Syfy, but you can catch up on all the stuff that happened during its final season (season 5) with the DVD just released from Universal.

Similar in feel to Alphas and Warehouse 13, the show follows the small town of Eureka, Ore. and the secrets hidden within.

Eureka is a high-tech town, populated by geniuses who all work for the same scientific company, a company responsible for many scientific breakthroughs. Both the own and its location, are a secret.

Main characters on the show are Sheriff Carter (Colin Ferguson), one of the few non-scientists, who stumbled upon the town during season one, and became sheriff and his daughter Zoe (Jordan Hinson).

This is a quirky show for sure, full of quirky, colorful characters. The comparisons to similarly located shows such as Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure are inevitable.

Fans of the show really should get season 5 even if they have seen all the episodes.

Season 5 includes a gag reel, deleted scenes and and extended scenes, but more importantly for fans, it featuers A Fond Farewell, the cast and crew talk about their appreciation for the show and their fans.

Other bonuses in the three-disc set include the holiday episode “Do You See What I See?,”  an anatomy of an episode, episode commentary, and Ode to Carl the Jeep, a tribue to all the ways Sheriff Carter’s vehicle has been destroyed.