By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

There is more than just a casual “wink” to Walt Disney in this latest version of Snow White with its own version of the dwarves and the magic mirror.

Indeed, Snow White & the Huntsman is a visual feast, even if the story doesn’t fully capture the mind.

Sleepy-eyed Kristen Stewart pretty much sleepwalks through another role as Snow White, but it is evil stepmother Revenna (Charlize Theron), the assortment of dwarves (Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Brian Gleeson) and others in the cast that steal the show.

But even without a good supporting staff, this Snow White more than holds its own as a visual wonder.

While this is nearly a complete reinvention of the classic tale, this darker Snow White remains fairly faithful to the Snow White we loved as kids, but this isn’t a kids movie either. (It is rated PG-13).

This new Universal Blu-ray release is available in one of those really worth buying (it was only $19.99 at Amazon this week) combo packs. The combo pack features both a Blu-ray and DVD version of the film and also an Ultraviolet version that you can stream onto your portable device whenever you have an Internet connection.

The combo pack also includes an extended version of the film in addition to the theatrical release.

The combo pack includes a slew of bonus features, including commentaries with director Rupert Sanders and others from the production side as well as several featurettes that go behind the scenes of the film in various ways.

Shark Week and

Bigfoot

Going completely in the other direction, if you don’t want to take your fantasy/sci-fi too seriously, you can always count on the movies from The Asylum and the Syfy Channel and those folks really outdid themselves, particularly with Bigfoot.

Bigfoot is just one movie but it is so big its fits not only a giant bigfoot monster, but Danny Bonaduce and Barry Williams as well as Alice Cooper.

Story? You want a story? Okay, if you insist — Danny Bonaduce plays a DJ in Deadwood, South Dakota, and Williams is a has-been music star from the 1980s. Danny is promoting a new Woodstock for the Dakotas with promises of Sting and many more big name performers. But only Alice Cooper shows up and the disgruntled Cooper is quickly eaten by Bigfoot.

There are lots of battling Bigfoot scenes, who prefers to eat his humans whole in just one bite or two.

Shark Week is more of a formula film of its kind. A group of strangers are at the mercy of a revenge-minded madman (Patrick Bergin) who subjects a group of strangers stranded on his island to an increasingly more menacing barrage of sharks.

Both films are available in Blu-ray and standard DVD formats.

Fringe

It is almost time to say goodbye to one of the best sci-fi shows ever to hit the small screen, but you can relive all of season four with the new release of Fringe: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner Home Video).

Fringe season five premieres on Fox Sept. 28, so that should give you plenty of time to watch all 22 episodes from season four.

Episode one has an overview of past episodes before it starts but it still is kind of hard to watch Fringe season four without some background watching from the previous seasons.

The basic structure of the show involves the existence of two parallel universes which frequently collide and that usually means a bad outcome for everyone involved.

Still, many of the episodes are watchable on their own as special agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), delightfully eccentric fringe scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble) and Walter’s son Peter (Joshua Jackson) battle the forces from that alternate universe.

Season four focuses on Peter returns to a universe in which he  never existed, a strange to his own fringe team. Plus, both universes also face peril and destruction.

The Fringe season four collection also includes two hours of never-before-seen features and the Blu-ray version has a coded copy that lets you watch all 22 episodes on your portable device via Ultraviolet.

Among the special features: A World Without Peter, The Observers, Beyond the Fringe (Comic Book, Peter Bishop Audition Tapes, plus Blu-ray exclusives The Scientist Roundtable and Fringe Decoded.

Big Bang Theory

Can it be possible that one of TV’s most popular shows has just entered its sixth season?

Big Bang Theory was not an overnight success, but this crazy and well-written sitcom has been one of the major bright spots in all of TV comedy since its inception.

I still marvel at all the research that goes into this show as our techno nerd heroes astound us with their intellectual babble.

It was a busy season — Penny and Leonard are back together, sort of; Sheldon continues his strange relationship with Amy Farrah and Howard is preparing for marriage to Bernadette and a NASA launch.

Even if you have seen every episode from season five (the aptly named titles include “The Pulled Groin Extrapolation,” “The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition,” “The Hawking Excitation” etc.) there are bonuses here that fans will find hard to resist including The Big Bang Theory @100, where the cast and producers celebrate the 100th episode.

Other bonuses include The Big Bang Theory’s Laws of Reflection with the cast reflecting on their favorite moments from the past season and Professors of Production, a behind-the-scenes look at the various departments that put the show together.

Available in both DVD and Blu-ray combo (Warner Home Video), the combo includes 2 Blu-ray discs, 3 DVD discs (Blu-ray and standard DVD versions of the episodes) plus an Ultraviolet code to watch all of the episodes via digital download and instant streaming.