The week’s DVDs begin in Japan:

DVDs and streaming for July 67by Boo Allen

This week, we begin in Japan:

Hiroshima, Mon Amour (***1/2)

French director Alain Resnais died in 2014 at 91, still making movies up until the end. Of his nearly fifty feature films and documentaries, none has proved more lasting and has been more influential than this enigmatic 1959 drama. The Criterion Collection now releases on Blu-ray this restored version from a digital transfer in 4k resolution scanned from the original camera negative. The spare black and white film is set in Hiroshima, Japan, as a married man, Lui (Eiji Okada), and woman, Elle (French for “him and her”), become lovers while ruminating on the state of the city some 14 years after its atomic bomb destruction. Emmanuelle Riva plays Elle. Riva, now 88, earned a Best Actress nomination in 2012 for Amour. Resnais, from Marguerite Duras’ Faulkner-esque script, goes back and forth in time, jumping around to show Hiroshima and its inhabitants before and after the bombing. Elle is an actress now in Hiroshima making a movie. While mostly ignoring the man, Resnais retreats to develop some of the woman’s early life in Nevers, France, thereby providing some substance behind her identity. In the accompanying essay, Jacques Rivette notes that the woman is trying to reconstruct her reality in the same way that Hiroshima is being reconstructed. Resnais creates and maintains a dreamlike moodiness to his film, one that challenges viewers to understand the personal difficulties faced by the couple as well as the city.

Not rated, 90 minutes.

Extras: two interviews of six and eleven minutes with Resnais from 1961 and 1980 respectively, two interviews with Riva of six and 19 minutes from 1959 and 2003 respectively, a recent interview of 26 minutes with film scholar Francois Thomas, a ten minute featurette on the film’s haunting music score, and an 11 minute featurette on the various technical complications connected to restoring the film. Plus, a booklet with essay from Kent Jones, along with an excerpt from a 1959 conversation originally in “Cahiers du Cinema” about the film with bold-face names Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer and others.

The Pact 2 (**)

Finally, the world’s pleas for a sequel have been answered with this cheesy horror follow-up to the cheesy 2012 original. This latest go-around finds more similar yet frightful silliness. Although the Judas Killer vanished in the original, he seems to be somehow haunting the dreams of June Abbott (Camilla Luddington). June has recurrent nightmares about a certain female victim of a new killer with similar methods to the previous killer. Is it the old one come back to life, or simply an imitator? Ubiquitous character actor Patrick Fischler plays officious F.B.I. agent Terrence Ballard, a pushy man who can’t seem to understand June’s torment. Written and directed by Dallas Hallam and Patrick Horvath.

Not rated, 96 minutes.

Extras: an 18 “making of” featurette.

Teen Beach 2

With even more singing and dancing to distract the young ones in the sand and water, the teen beach movie returns in this Disney sequel to their original hit. Ross Lynch and Mala Mitchell again star as, respectively, Brady and Mack. They might be encountering relationship problems, but that all seems to go away when their “Wet Side Story” singing and dancing friends show up. Directed by Jeffrey Hornaday from Matt and Billy Eddy’s script.

Rated TV-G, 104 minutes.

Extras: cast dance rehearsals.

And, finally, from this week’s TV arrivals:

House of Cards—season three

Things grow even darker in the White House for President Frank and First Lady Claire Underwood (Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright) in this latest season of political intrigue. Frank’s surprise ascent into office has left him politically weak as members of his own party gather to ask him not to run again in 18 months. So, the season gains momentum towards a possible, nay certain, Underwood run for president on his own. In the interim, he meets resistance when he nominates Claire to be U.N. Ambassador, Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) continues to rehab from his accident while still searching for Rachel but pausing long enough to sign on with another campaign, and Russian president Petrov (Lars Mikkelsen) visits the White House (along with Pussy Riot). Petrov causes enough problems to force Frank and Claire into journeying to Moscow for a summit meeting. Thirteen episodes arrive on four discs. Plus, various other delicious dramas play out involving Washington’s political and media elite.

Not rated, 691 minutes.

Extras: the DVD set includes the 25 minute “behind-the-scenes” featurette “Backstage Politics: On the Set of ‘House of Cards.’” In addition, the Blu-ray set offers the featurette “A Death in New Mexico,” a look at a specific episode.

Bitten—second season

Laura Vandervoort returns as the troubled Elena Michaels in the ten episodes, on three discs, of this horror hit from the Syfy channel based on Kelly Armstrong’s novels. To refresh, Michaels is troubled because she may be the world’s only female werewolf. This season, among various plot twists, the Pack faces a new threat, Jeremy (Greg Bryk) continues to search for Rachel Sutton (Genelle Williams), the Pack makes peace with a coven of witches, and Aleister (Sean Rogerson) returns to Stonehaven. But it’s Elena who faces the most challenges, whether it’s resorting to dark magic, thwarting Aleister, or helping Dr. Bauer (Carly Street). With Greyston Holt, Tammy Isbell, Michael Xavier, Steve Lund.

Rated TV-MA, 485 minutes.

Extras: a gag reel, a featurette on a New York Comic Con panel, a featurette on the stunts, deleted and extended scenes, a “behind-the-scenes” featurette, and more.

Also on DVD and streaming: Dark Summer, Deli Man,

Five Flights Up, Maggie, Slow West, Tiger Orange.