The Hitman’s Bodyguard contains a plethora of two things I loathe in modern movies, low comedy and CGI (computer generated imagery), yet it somehow works.

Ryan Reynolds, who is once again employing the self-deprecating humor that has sustained his career from at least 2002’s Buying the Cow through last year’s Deadpool, is the bodyguard of the title, a former protection agency owner who lost his business after the loss of a high-profile client, and now must take jobs he doesn’t really want. Samuel L. Jackson, who is once again finding himself in the realm of his 1994 Oscar-nominated explosive character in Pulp Fiction, albeit with a lighter touch, is the hitman Reynolds has been coerced to protect.

Jackson is the only witness in the trial of a ruthless dictator in the International Crimes Court in The Hague. Oscar hopeful Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) is the dictator whose henchmen will stop at nothing to prevent Jackson from testifying. The Court has agreed to set Jackson’s criminally-held wife free in exchange for his testimony. Salma Hayek plays the hot-tempered wife, who is the opposite of her morose character in this year’s Beatriz at Dinner. She’s very funny, whether she’s scaring the daylights out of everyone around her or uttering more rapid fire four-letter curse words than even Jackson can fit into one sentence.

With the accent on action and comedy, none of the characters are well developed, although we do get an 11th hour backstory on Jackson that makes his past crimes seem not only forgivable, but even honorable.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

David O. Selznick tried with his four successive films, Rebecca, Since You Went Away, Duel in the Sun, and A Farewell to Arms, to replicate both the sweep and the success of his 1939 masterpiece Gone with the Wind. With two of them, 1940’s Rebecca and 1944’s Since You Went Away, he succeeded. With 1946’s trashy Duel in the Sun and 1947’s bloated A Farewell to Arms, he failed.

Rebecca was given a pristine Blu-ray upgrade by the Criterion Collection earlier this year, and both Duel in the Sun and A Farewell to Arms were given Blu-ray upgrades by Kino Lorber, which has now released a sparkling Bu-ray upgrade of Since You Went Away.

The three-hour World War II domestic drama was Selznick’s Americanized version of the home front, previously exemplified on screen by the British home fronts of Mrs. Miniver and The White Cliffs of Dover, with more than a little dash of the Civil War home front life of Little Women thrown in for good measure. Nominated for 9 Oscars, and winner of one for Max Steiner’s classic score, it earned acting nods for Claudette Colbert as the mother of two teenage daughters (Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple) who must keep the home fires burning for her husband who is away fighting the war, Jones as her eldest daughter, and Monty Woolley as a boarder, whose grandson becomes Jones’ love interest. He’s nicely played by Jones’ real-life husband Robert Walker. Their train station parting is the film’s most iconic moment.

There are strong turns as well by Joseph Cotten as a friend of Colbert and her husband; Hattie McDaniel as Colbert’s selfless maid; Agnes Moorehead as the town troublemaker; and Alla Nazimova in her last role as an immigrant who delivers a powerful recitation of Emma Lazarus’ poem engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Kino Lorber has also released a Blu-ray upgrade of Selznick’s lesser 1944 success I’ll Be Seeing You, a Christmas romance in the mode of Remember the Night, but not nearly as good, with Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotton, and Shirley Temple sharing star billing. Rogers as a convict on leave and Cotten as a shell-shocked soldier are fine, as are Spring Byington and Tom Tully as Rogers’ aunt and uncle. Temple is as bland as she usually was once she reached puberty.

Laird Cregar was only 30 when he died in December 1944, having achieved screen stardom after a series of memorable supporting roles as a would-be Jack the Ripper in The Lodger earlier in the year. His last film, the similarly themed, but even better Hangover Square, which was released posthumously in 1945, has been given a Blu-ray upgrade by Kino Lorber which earlier released a Blu-ray upgrade of The Lodger.

Cregar is heartbreakingly sympathetic as a stressed-out composer who has blackouts during which he may or may not have murdered someone. Linda Darnell is the singer who strings him along, George Sanders as the doctor connected to Scotland Yard who can’t find any evidence against him, and Faye Marlowe is his fiancé. The highly atmospheric film was directed by John Brahm, who also directed The Lodger. Marlowe can be heard on one of the two commentaries imported from the 2007 DVD release of the film. Extras also include an incisive biography on Cregar.

Warner Archive has released Dolores Claiborne on Blu-ray.

Taken from a novel by Stephen King (It), with a screenplay by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), direction by Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman), and a terrific lead performance by Kathy Bates, Dolores Claiborne should have done much better in the 1995 awards races than it did, picking up only sporadic nominations for Bates’ fine work.

Bates had five years earlier won an Oscar for Rob Reiner’s film of King’s Misery, from a script by William Goldman. For my money, Bates’ subtle, no-nonsense performance as a maid accused of murdering her employer in Dolores Claiborne was ten times as good as her over-the-top portrayal of the deranged fan she played in Misery, this one didn’t quite achieve the same level of success as the earlier film.

The usually annoying Jennifer Jason Leigh, for once has her mannerisms fully in check as Bates’ daughter, delivering as splendid a performance as her co-star. The film also provides fine supporting turns for Judy Pariftt, David Strathairn, John C. Reilly, and the ubiquitous Christopher Plummer.

This week’s new releases include Logan Lucky and Tulip Fever.