On DVD

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” opened late last night in movie theaters. In it, Harrison Ford returns with a whip, a woman, a LaBeouf and a horse. And you thought “Sex and the City” opened next week? Guess again.

Trouble is, with so much hype fueling the movie, you can expect long lines and sold-out shows to last deep into next week. No time for that, you say? Prefer to catch the movie in the calm after the storm? Fine, because now is a good time to catch up on all that’s recently available on DVD.

First up is “The Frank Sinatra Collection: The Golden Years,” a varied mix of five movies Warner released to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sinatra’s death. The three other collections in the series are “The Frank Sinatra Collection: The Early Years,” “The Rat Pack Ultimate Collector’s Edition” and “The Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly Collection,” all of which are recommended.

With the exception of the set’s weakest entry – 1965’s slight romantic comedy “Marriage on the Rocks,” in which Sinatra acts opposite Deborah Kerr, Dean Martin and Sinatra’s daughter, Nancy – “The Golden Years” proves a fine way to celebrate Sinatra’s often underrated gifts as an actor, which he honed at the latter part of his career in the wake of a midcareer slump.

Not unlike his contemporaries Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, Sinatra was a natural on-screen, a performer driven by instinct, which is especially apparent in Otto Preminger’s excellent 1955 movie “The Man with the Golden Arm.” Here, as Frankie Machine, Sinatra is a freshly detoxed junkie whose raw, harrowing slide back into the arms of drug abuse is so memorable and true, it earned him the Academy Award nomination he deserved. This movie alone is reason enough to visit the set.

Deepening the collection is Sinatra’s boozy performance in Vincente Minnelli’s 1958 hard-luck movie “Some Came Running,” with Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine; the 1965 World War II drama “None But the Brave,” a so-so movie that marked Sinatra’s only effort as a director (he’s better in the film’s co-starring role); and the fun, 1955 romantic comedy “The Tender Trap,” which finds Debbie Reynolds trying to rope Sinatra’s determined bachelor into marriage. Who wants to bet against her?

Other notable collections on the market include the timely release of “The Indiana Jones Adventure Collection,” which features each of the previous three movies: 1981’s “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark,” 1984’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” and 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

Round out these with the recent release of “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Years of Change” – which isn’t just entertaining but almost numbing in the sheer amount of extras it offers – and you could be in for one adventuresome weekend, indeed.

Fox’s “Marvel Heroes Collection” is a mixed bag of swell bargains and bum movies. It features eight films: “X-Men,” “X2: X-Men United,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Elektra,” “Fantastic 4,” “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” “Fantastic Four: World Greatest Heroes, Vol. 1” and “Daredevil.”

Most of the films in the collection are subpar – “Daredevil,” for instance, deserves a D, and “Fantastic 4” should have been titled “Fantastic Bore” – but the X-Men franchise is choice and for the value alone, die-hard fans of Marvel’s movies might consider giving it a look.

From Universal comes the highly recommended “Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Vols. 1 & 2,” which features 10 movies: 1940’s “Dr. Cyclops,” 1955’s “Tarantula,” 1956’s “The Mole People” and four films from 1957 – “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” “The Monolith Monsters,” “The Land Unknown” and “The Deadly Mantis.”

Also included are 1958’s “Monster on the Campus,” 1955’s “Cult of the Cobra,” and 1960’s “The Leech Woman.” If the titles alone don’t sell the set, then perhaps “The Incredible Shrinking Man” will. It is, after all, one of the best examples of sci-fi from the 1950s.

Available, too, are several movies new to the Blu-ray format, the best of which is Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.” Set in 1805, this satisfying seafaring tale stars Russell Crowe as British Capt. “Lucky” Jack Aubrey, who finds himself and his crew of the HMS Surprise ambushed in the film’s riveting opening moments by the larger, better-armed French ship, the “Acheron.”

Surviving the battle with most of his crew intact, Aubrey repairs the ship and decides to cut a swath of revenge across the sea. For some of the men onboard, this staunch, impulsive act of defiance lifts Aubrey higher into the potentially dangerous realm of deity. However, to his good friend Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany of “A Beautiful Mind”), a naturalist who does double duty as the ship’s surgeon and Aubrey’s conscience, this rush to vengeance is considered naive and reckless – a smashing connection to the present and our own war abroad that can’t go ignored.

Two other Blu-ray releases get high marks: the Robin Williams comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which reveals Williams at his best; and George Roy Hill’s 1969 classic “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” in which Paul Newman and Robert Redford leaped deep into a screen classic.

Less successful on Blu-ray is “Bee Movie,” which is the work of drones. In spite of its crisp, high-definition transfer, Jerry Seinfeld’s pet project is so polished, its edges have been rubbed smooth.

Seinfeld is the voice of Barry B. Benson, a bee determined to get humans out of the honey business and thus allow some down time for the overworked bees. But at what cost are Barry’s pursuits? Bees already are in dangerously short supply. If they stop pollinating flowers and plants, wouldn’t a worldwide collapse ensue?

That’s a serious subject to explore, but in a cartoon that would rather squeeze the life out of every bee pun it can get its hands on, the big monster in this movie isn’t the human race, but those humans who failed to make a compelling film in the first place.

WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, video podcasts, iTunes portal and archive of hundreds of movie reviews. Smith’s reviews appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.