New on DVD: Soak up ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

A long-awaited sequel from James Cameron tops the DVD releases for the week of June 20.

“Avatar: The Way of Water”: In this follow-up to 2009’s “Avatar,” Jake Sully and his Na’vi family seek sanctuary in the tropical island paradise of Pandora, and fight against Col. Quaritch, who has come back as an avatar seeking revenge.

“Cameron has always made movies like he’s running out of time, throwing everything he’s got at the screen, breaking ground on new technology and techniques to get it just right,” writes Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh in her review. “Using technology in order to encourage audiences to appreciate the healing beauty of the natural world seems a bit counterintuitive, but the earnestness with which Cameron approaches the themes of ‘The Way of Water’ is indeed inspiring, and the 13-year wait for the aquatic escape to Pandora is well worth it.”

Also new on DVD

“Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant”: From director Guy Ritchie, Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this war film that explores the bond between an Army sergeant and Afghan interpreter forged during a journey.

“Criminal Minds: Evolution — The Sixteenth Season”: Paramount+ gets the BAU back together in this reboot of the 2005–20 procedural. Joe Mantegna stars.

“Skinamarink”: Canadian nano-budget horror movie in which two young siblings wake up in the middle of the night to find their father gone, the doors and windows missing and a malevolent entity in the shadows.

“Survive”: Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins star in this story of wilderness survival in which a plane crashes in remote mountainous area.

“The Servant” and “Medicine for Melancholy”: Joseph Losey’s 1963 London-set drama and Barry Jenkins’ 2008 debut film join the Criterion Collection with Blu-ray releases.