Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, newly released on Blu-ray and standard DVD, is at its best when it sticks to the interplay between the main characters in the original as played by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel (voice), Bradley Cooper (voice), Michael Rooker and Karen Gillan. They are rejoined here in brief by Sylvester Stallone from the original film and Kurt Russell, new to the saga as Pratt’s father, aptly named Ego.

Pratt, previously best known for TV’s Parks and Recreation first gained recognition on screen for his voicework on The LEGO Movie, after which he achieved full stardom with the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite high profile leads in Jurassic World and Passengers, his affable Peter Quill AKA Star-Lord in the Galaxy series remains his most interesting screen character. Zoe Saldana, who has a blue face on screen in the Avatar series, has a green face in this one. In-between we do get to see her looking more like her normal self in the reboot of the Star Trek series. Vin Diesel, with his long-time association with The Fast and the Furious series, and three-time Best Actor Oscar nominee, Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, American Sniper) have such distinct voices that we would know them anywhere, which makes their voicework here a pleasure to listen to. Of the lesser known actors, Dave Bautista, previously better-known as a wrestler, should be able to use the series as a springboard to greater fame.

Kurt Russell, who began his career as a child actor in TV’s Dennis the Menace, has maintained a strong presence throughout his career including recent roles in Bone Tomahawk and The Hateful Eight. He is very effective as Pratt’s long-lost father in the early scenes of the film, especially when explaining the meaning behind such songs as Looking Glass’s “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” and Sam Cooke’s immortal “Bring It on Home to Me,” but is less effective in the later scenes when his character goes off the deep end.

If you enjoyed the original Guardians of the Galaxy, you should enjoy Vol. 2.

Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb had breakthrough roles as Sid Vicious, the bassist for the British punk group The Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen in Alex Cox’s 1986 film, Sid & Nancy, given a 4K digital restoration for release by Criterion on Blu-ray,

Oldman, one of the screen’s great chameleons, went from playing Vicious to playing playwright Joe Orton in 1987’s Prick Up Your Ears. He would later play Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone’s JFK, Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, Jim Gordon in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for which he received his only Oscar nomination to date. Webb has had a less stellar career, although she did receive a Critics’ Choice nomination for TV’s Shameless the same year as Oldman received his Oscar nod. In 1986, however, she was thought to be the one with the brighter future, having won the National Society of Film Critics Award and several other awards for her heartbreaking portrayal of drug-addicted Nancy.

It’s hard to believe that Niki Caro’s Whale Rider is now 15 years old. The film is famous for 12-year-old Australian Keisha Castle-Hughes’ wonder of a performance as a New Zealand Maori girl who succeeds against the odds in a male-dominated society. Her performance was campaigned for Best Supporting Actress by the film’s producers, but ended up garnering her a nomination in the big girls’ category of Best Actress instead. Its new Blu-ray release from Shout Select is likely due to Castle-Hughes’ re-emergence in TV’s Game of Thrones after a series of disappointing big screen roles.

Twilight Time has released Martin Ritt’s 1958 film version of The Long, Hot Summer on Blu-ray. The first on-screen teaming of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, this film from William Faulkner’s novel The Hamlet was released five months before Richard Brooks’ film of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof but was unfavorably compared to it, all the same.

Newman also starred in Cat in which he was the husband of Elizabeth Taylor and under the thumb of his “Big Daddy,” played by Burl Ives. In Summer, it’s Woodward who is under the thumb of her “big daddy,” played by Orson Welles. Newman is the young drifter who comes along and is supported by Welles who wants Woodward to marry him so she can give him grandkids. Rounding out the top roles are Anthony Franciosa as Woodward’s brother, Lee Remick as Franciosa’s wife, and Angela Lansbury as Welles’ mistress.

Also new from Twilight Time on Blu-ray is another film with “summer” in the title, as well as one that really is based on a Tennessee Williams play.

Elizabeth Taylor as the witness to the sensational death of her cousin and Katharine Hepburn as her wealthy aunt go at it tooth and nail in Suddenly, Last Summer, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewiz from a screenplay by Gore Vidal.

Hepburn wants Taylor lobotomized to keep from spreading the truth about her son’s cannibalistic death. Montgomery Clift is the psychiatrist in the middle. Both Taylor and Hepburn were nominated for Oscars, but neither had a chance against New York Film Critics Award winner Audrey Hepburn in The Nun’s Story, whom Kate was then calling “the real Miss Hepburn,” or National Board of Review and Golden Globe winner Simone Signoret in Room at the Top. Signoret won.

Several notches below both The Long, Hot Summer and Suddenly, Last Summer, but fascinating in its own way is Phil Karlsen’s Kid Galahad, a 1962 reworking of Michael Curtiz’s 1937 film of the same title.

The emphasis in the 1937 film was on Edward G. Robinson’s character of the fight promotor, with Bette Davis as his girlfriend, Humphrey Bogart as a gangster, fourth-billed Wayne Morris in the title role of the gentlemanly boxer, and fifth-billed Jane Bryan as Robinson’s sister, who falls for Morris. Harry Carey played Morris’ trainer. The emphasis in the remake is on Elvis Presley in the title role with Gig Young, Lola Albright, Charles Bronson, and Joan Blackman substituting for Robinson, Davis, Carey, and Bryan. David Lewis has the old Bogart role, which is not as prominently featured in this one. This is one of Elvis’ better films, one in which he has more to do than just sing.

This week’s new releases include the recent remake of My Cousin Rachel and the long-awaited Bu-ray release of Prizzi’s Honor.