2013 was supposed to be the year Berlin based actor Daniel Bruhl broke through to international stardom. He had the co-lead in two major films, Ron Howard’s Rush and Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate. Unfortunately for him both films flopped at the box office. Despite its box office failure, Bruhl was still expected to land a Best Supporting Oscar nomination for Rush, but even that failed to materialize. He is along with Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips) and Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks), one of three actors nominated for Golden Globe, SAG and BAFTA awards this year to fail to receive an Oscar nomination.

Bruhl, born in 1978, has been an actor since the age of 4 when he scared his mother by pretending to be dead. He was on German TV from 1992 and on screen from 1999. He burst onto the international scene with the 2003 comedy Goodbye Lenin! in which he played a young man who must protect his mother’s fragility by hiding the fact East Germany is no more. The following year he co-starred with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith as the mysterious stranger who washes up on their beachfront in Ladies in Lavender. He later stood out in the ensembles of The Bourne Ultimatum and Inglourious Basterds.

In Rush, Bruhl plays 1970s Formula One racer Niki Lauda. The film chronicles the Austrian Lauda’s rivalry with British racer James Hunt. Heavy on auto racing scenes, the film can be a bit monotonous if you are not an especial fan of the sport. The dramatic scenes, which should appeal to everyone, seem to me to be placed on the back burner, although it is those scenes that give the film its heart.

Lauda and Hunt are neck and neck in the 1976 Grand Prix races around the world when Lauda suffers an on-track accident which results in lung damage and burns over a large percentage of his body. He wills himself to health in just six weeks while watching Hunt rack up point after point until he is able to return to the sport. Who wins and what happens next doesn’t leave much suspense for the sports’ followers but is not terribly surprising to the casual viewer either. Both Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth as Hunt acquit themselves well as does Olivia Wilde as Hunt’s wife Suzy who leaves him for Richard Burton allegedly because of his deeper pockets.

Rush is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Bruhl plays Daniel Berg , the Wikileaks volunteer at the center of the Julian Assange controversy in The Fifth Estate based on books by Berg and one other author. The film moves like one of the great conspiracy films of the 1970s – think The Conversation or The Parallax View. Both Bruhl and Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange deliver strong performances that keep you riveted to the screen. The downside is that there is nothing in the film that either you didn’t know or didn’t surmise about a situation that has been in the headlines for the last few years. It should have lasting value, however, for future generations who are not as exposed to the events as we have been.

The Fifth Estate is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

If you are looking for British TV series on DVD, there are three major new releases available.

The fourth season of Downton Abbey has been available as a British import since last November sans the last episode which didn’t air in Great Britain until Christmas Day. The U.S. release of the season, which has only partially aired on PBS in the U.S., has been released including the last episode. My take on the season is that it does not live up to the first three but the final episode does wrap it up nicely. Even the great Maggie Smith, who has been largely subdued throughout the season, is at her best here, delivering her best trademark witticisms in some time as the Dowager Countess of Grantham.

Hugh Bonneville as the Earl of Grnatham; Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary; Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith; Allen Leach as Tom Branson; Jim Carter as Mr. Carson; Brendan Coyle as Bates; Joanne Froggatt as Anna Rob-James Collier as Thomas; Phyllis Logan as Mrs, Hughes and Penelope Wilton as Isobel Crawley are all back. Joining the cast this season are Tom Cullen and Julian Ovenden as potentital suitors for the widowed Lady Mary. Shirley MacLaine returns in the season finale as Elizabeth McGovern’s mother and Paul Giamatti puts in an appearance as her McGovern’s brother. The background for the season is the beginning of the Jazz Age with references to the American Teapot Dome scandal and the beginnings of the Nazi Party in Germany.

The venerable Midsomer Murders has now reached its 23rd set released in the U.S. comprising four films from 2013 of the delightful mystery series which now stars Neil Dudgeon as the Chief Inspector cousin of the retired John Nettles. Jason Hughes who plays the Inspector’s Detective Sergeant still has another three episodes, already released in Great Britain, but not yet in the U.S. Episodes featuring his replacement have not yet been released in Great Britain either.

The series still gives you more bang for your buck, or more precisely more murders per episode, than any other mystery series anywhere, all in good fun, of course.

One of the newer kids on the block, Vera starring two-time Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn has now released its third set of dark, brooding mysteries set in and around Newcastle. It’s another one worth catching.

Downton Abbey – Season 4 and Midsomer Murders – Set 23 are available on Blu-ray and standard DVD. Vera is available on standard DVD only.

Warner Archive has released the Dr. Kildare Movie Collection comprised of all nine of the films made between 1938 and 1942 starring Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore as well as the first two seasons of the even more successful 1960s TV series, Dr. Kildare starring Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey. Both iterations of Max Brand’s famous creation were icons of their day and both hold up extremely well. The film series was more sentimental, albeit not without tragedy, while the TV series often explored harsher realties. Both were exemplars of the genre and remain fascinating to watch.

This week’s new releases include Dallas Buyers Club and The Blu-ray upgrade of The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.