One of the nicest surprises of the last TV season was the miniseries Fargo, based on, but different from the 1996 film of the same name, produced by, but not directed by, the Coen Brothers.

The protagonist here is Billy Bob Thornton as a malevolent killer, and he’s as good as you would expect, but Martin Freeman as a put-upon insurance salesman, Allison Tolman as a smarter than she looks deputy chief, and Colin Hanks as a low level cop who would rather be a mailman are every bit his equal. All four were nominated for Emmys. Freeman, perhaps the best of them all, was also nominated for Sherlock, for which he won for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the Season 3 episode, His Last Vow.

Newly released on both Blu-ray and standard DVD, the 10-episode miniseries is a gem from beginning to end. It has scenes that are reminiscent of Twin Peaks and Magnolia as well as its 1996 predecessor. Like lots of other TV series these days there are plenty of murders, but unlike most, the majority of victims in this one are not very nice people. Still, the dread is there along with continuous black comedy. It’s the fastest ten hours and change you’ll spend binge watching a TV series this year, you betcha.

One of the better of the many superhero movies keeping the multiplexes in business these days, X-Men: Days of Future Past marks the return of director Bryan Singer who helmed the first two films in the franchise over a decade ago.

Hugh Jackman as Logan AKA Wolverine is sent back to 1973 by the Professor (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) where he meets younger versions of the two (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) as well as Hank AKA Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Peter AKA Quicksilver (Evan Peters). Raven AKA Mystique doesn’t age so she’s played by Jennifer Lawrence in both the present and the past while Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page and James Marsden make appearances as their various franchise characters. Peter Dinklage plays the villain. Jackman’s task, as it is in all such stories, is to change events in the past so as to alter history and affect current events. Does he succeed? Do birds still sing in the morning?

I’d prefer to see actors of this caliber brought together in something a little more substantial, but at least this one uses its computer-generated imagery to support the actors instead of the other way around.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is available on Blu-ray 3D, 2D and standard DVD.

John Ford’s best western not starring John Wayne, 1946’s My Darling Clementine, has been given a sparkling update on Blu-ray by Criterion with loads of extras including a 1916 short starring Ford, directed by his brother Francis.

My Darling Clementine is the definitive version of the events leading up to the shootout between Sheriff Wyatt Earp and his dentist friend Doc Holliday on one side, and the Clanton gang on the other. Henry Fonda stars as Earp, with sterling support from Victor Mature as Holliday, Linda Darnell as Holliday’s Chihuahua, Cathy O’Donnell as Earp’s Clementine, Tim Holt and Ward Bond as his brothers, and Walter Brennan in a rare villainous role as Old Man Clanton.

One of the seminal films of the 1940s, Yankee Doodle Dandy, has been released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive. The life story of actor/composer George M. Cohan (1878-1942), the 1942 film was a TV staple, shown every year on the 4th of July from the late 1950s well into the 1970s. Director Michael Curtiz was at the peak of his powers, going from this to Casablanca and Mildred Pierce in less than four years. Cinematographer James Wong Howe was also at his peak and James Cagney as Cohan had the role of a lifetime, earning his only Oscar for his terrific performance.

The extensive extras are carry-overs form the deluxe DVD release.

Paramount has re-issued White Christmas on both Blu-ray and standard DVD. The 1954 classic has a score by Cohan’s friend and near contemporary, Irving Berlin (1888-1989), which was also directed by Curtiz. The film, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, has seen several DVD and Blu-ray releases with each one stepping up the extras. Added this time are performances of “Silent Night” and “White Christmas” by Crosby on his first and last TV Christmas specials in 1948 and 1976, respectively, a 2010 electronic duet between Crosby and Michael Bublé of “White Christmas,” and a documentary on UNICEF starring its long-time ambassador, Kaye. A 13-song sing-along is provided as an extra on the Blu-ray only.

A pair of 1979 films, The China Syndrome and Last Embrace, are making their belated Blu-ray debuts.

James Bridges’ The China Syndrome was a white-knuckle suspense thriller about the cover-up of an accident at a nuclear power plant that eerily predicted the events that led to the Three Mile Island meltdown near Harrisburg, Penn. that happened just twelve days after the film’s release.

Jack Lemmon had one of his best dramatic roles as a plant supervisor who warns of the impending disaster, but whose fears are played down by the company’s bosses. Jane Fonda is every bit as good as an airhead reporter who rises to the occasion when she sees a good story. Michael Douglas, who also produced the film, is her radical photographer. Lemmon and Fonda were nominated for Oscars for their performances as was the film’s screenplay and production design. The Blu-ray includes two insightful documentaries featuring interviews with Fonda and Douglas.

A dozen years before The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme cut his thriller chops withLast Embrace which provided Roy Scheider with one of his best roles as a CIA agent whose life remains in danger after his wife dies from a bullet meant for him in a Mexican restaurant. Janet Margolin, whose only major film role was as the fragile Lisa in David and Lisa made when she was 18, was, at 36, still young enough looking to play the college student who rents Scheider’s New York apartment.

The Hitchcock-style plot has more holes in it than a package of Swiss cheese, but it all works out with a thrilling climax in Niagara Falls.

One of the most fondly remembered comedic films of the 1980s, Susan Seidelman’s 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, unfortunately fails to stand the test of time. What was once innovative and charming seems commonplace almost thirty years later. Still, Rosanna Arquette as a bored housewife and Aidan Quinn as a single movie projectionist are quite good in the amnesia and mistaken identity plot, and Madonna, in her first major role, is surprisingly good as the title character, a not-too-intelligent drifter.

The alternative ending presented as an extra on the new Kino Blu-ray as well as the original DVD, is a downer. The buoyant ending of the film holds up much better.

This week’s new releases include Blu-ray upgrades of the Italian masterpiece La Dolce Vita and the film noir classic Possessed.