The Oscar-nominated animated film The Boxtrolls is another stop-motion masterwork from the creators of Coraline and ParaNorman. It’s a thoroughly engaging children’s film that provides strong entertainment for adults as well.

The film, which takes place in fictional Cheesebridge in 1805, is about a boy raised by underground trash collectors who live in boxes and are thus called boxtrolls. Deemed a nuisance by the town’s mayor, a local exterminator makes a deal with the mayor to rid the town of the endearing pests. The boy, called Eggs because his box is an egg carton, is joined by the mayor’s daughter, Winnie, in his crusade to convince the mayor and the townspeople of the goodness of the lowly creatures as the exterminator’s gluttony eventually does him in.

Excellent voice work is provided by Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Eggs, Elle Fanning as Winnie, Ben Kingsley as the exterminator and Jared Harris as the mayor.

The Boxtrolls is available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray 2D and standard DVD. It is also available as part of a three-film Blu-ray pack that also includes Coraline and ParaNorman, the first time to my knowledge that a new film has been released on Blu-ray as part of a package that includes two formerly released films.

Belgian director Michael R. Roskam’s under-the-radar The Drop seemingly came out of nowhere to be heralded as one of last year’s best American films. With a screenplay by Dennis Lahane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island) and career best work by Tom Hardy and the late James Gandolfini, the film should be much better known than it is.

Hardy was expected to emerge as a big star after 2010’s Inception, then it was 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Warrior and 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises which were supposed to do it for him. It still hasn’t happened, but in the meantime he keeps on turning out strong performances, nothing stronger than his slow-burning bartender in Roskam’s film.

The Drop is Gandolfini’s Chicago bar where local Chechen gangsters bring the money from their various gambling points to be picked up by the mob. Gandolfini had once owned the bar, but it was taken over by the mob some eight years ago and he is now just a front. Hardy is his cousin who attends daily Mass at his local church, rescues an injured dog from the trash, and lets little old ladies run up bar bills they won’t have to make good on. In other words, he’s an all-around good guy, or is he?

Noomi Rapace and Matthias Sshoenaerts have major supporting roles.

The Drop is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Criterion has released The Palm Beach Story, the first Preston Sturges comedy to be upgraded to Blu-ray in the U.S. Sullivan’s Travels, which was the first to be upgraded in the U.K., will be released by Criterion in the U.S. in April.

About as screwball as it can get, the inspired cast of The Palm Beach Story includes Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee and Robert Dudley as the Weenie King.

Shout Factory has released a Blu-ray upgrade of On Golden Pond, a one-of-a-kind film in which two great actors meet for the first time in what would be the last hurrah for each of them, one dying shortly thereafter, the other living for two more decades but never starring in another major film.

Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn both won Oscars for their seamless performances. It was his first and her fourth. The legendary stars compliment one another so well as long-time marrieds that it’s hard to believe the two met for the first time on set. Jane Fonda as their daughter, Dabney Coleman as her intended husband, and Doug McKeon as Coleman’s teenage son lend strong support.

Needless to say, the picture and sound quality are clearer than they have ever been.

Disney has released two of its live-action classics as Disney Movie Club exclusives, but you can still find them through third party sellers at Amazon.

I know Old Yeller is beloved by many, but it has always struck me as a poor cousin to MGM’s superior The Yearling. Instead of a fawn, you get a dog. Instead of one boy (Claude Jarman, Jr.), you get two (Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran). Instead of Jane Wyman and Gregory Peck as the parents, you get Dorothy McGuire and Fess Parker.

More substantial is Pollyanna, a genuine blockbuster that fifty-five years ago earned Hayley Mills the last special juvenile Oscar given out by the Academy.

Mills shot to international stardom as the turn-of-the-last-century orphan who found the good in everything, cheering up a town full of curmudgeons. She was supported by a gallery of Hollywood stalwarts including Jane Wyman, Richard Egan, Karl Malden, Nancy Olson, Adolphe Menjou, Donald Crisp, Agnes Moorehead, Kevin Corcoran, James Drury, Reta Shaw, Edward Platt, Anne Seymour and Mary Grace Canfield.

Twilight Time’s initial Blu-ray release of Tom Holland’s Fright Night sold out its limited 3,000 copies in minutes. Its new 30th Anniversary edition sold out its limited 5,000 copies almost as quickly.

The comedy/horror classic was the last vampire movie before Interview With a Vampire and its successors turned the once fearsome vampires into semi-heroic figures.

The film’s early comedy scenes still draw a chuckle while the later scenes contain some truly horrific images. Chris Sarandon makes a dashing if frightening vampire while William Ragsdale, Amanda Beasre and Stephen Geoffreys are fine as the impressionable youngsters. The standout, however, is Roddy McDowall as the movie and TV vampire killer called upon to practice his craft in real life

Among Twlight Time’s new releases is the Blu-ray upgrade of Breaking Away, an Oscar winner for Best Screenplay that remains as delightful thirty-five years later.

Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley are still a delight as the four townies seeking to win a bicycle race against the odds, and Barbara Barrie and Paul Dooley are more than that as Christopher’s perplexed parents.

This week’s new releases include Fury and The Judge.