We’ve been eagerly losing ourselves in Danny Boyle’s cinema-with-style raves for years now, and across a range of genres, from “Trainspotting” to “Slumdog Millionaire,” and from “28 Days Later” to “127 Hours.” It’s vexing, though, to see how often the British director’s resume is summed up with just those first two credits. What about Boyle’s breakout first feature, the cool-as-acid-house “Shallow Grave” (1994)? Watching the thriller’s well-appointed new reissue, the film plays like the anti-“Friends”: When three smug Edinburgh flatmates (Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, and newbie Ewan McGregor) stumble onto their dead new boarder’s suitcase full of cash, they’re all there for each other. But when it comes to the grisly coverup involved in keeping the money? Not so much. A half-hour collection of interviews with the three leads gives a sense of how important the film was to them, their careers, and the UK production scene. Boyle’s acclaimed London stage adaptation of “Frankenstein” — which he has said helped him ramp up for overseeing this summer’s Olympics opening ceremony — gets an encore broadcast presentation later this month at the Coolidge Corner. (Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95)
COMEDY
THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
The cineastes at Criterion continue their recent, overdue feting of Charlie Chaplin, following up their releases of “Modern Times” and “The Great Dictator” with the comedy icon’s classic Yukon romp. You remember the highlights: the Little Tramp’s dinner roll dance, the boiled-shoe repast (complete with shoelace spaghetti), and that precariously perched prospector cabin. What you might not remember is that Chaplin saw fit to revisit the film in 1942, adding energetic narration for what he deemed a definitive version. (Both cuts are included here.) Justification for George Lucas, maybe? Extras: film-historian commentary and featurettes; special effects segment. (Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95)
Related
ACTION
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)
Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and director Guy Ritchie venture into “The Final Problem” territory, as Holmes and archnemesis Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) tangle over a diabolical munitions plot. This sequel reprises everything that was right (lighten up, Sherlockians) and wrong with the first film: Downey and Law’s crackling Holmes-and-Watson chemistry, nifty visuals, and a script that’s inexcusably bereft of real sleuthing. Harris’s swell turn as Moriarty should help “Mad Men” fans with their Lane Pryce melancholy; the heroes’ gypsy sidekick, Noomi Rapace (“Prometheus,” Sweden’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”), deserves better. Extras: branching Blu-ray featurettes. (Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99)
TELEVISION
EPISODES: THE FIRST SEASON (2011)
And speaking of “Friends” (not to mention crass Americanizations of British erudition), you might have heard about Matt LeBlanc’s return to sitcom territory — as an attitudinal version of, yep, himself. The Showtime series sets up Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig as husband-and-wife TV writers hired to adapt their hit UK series for the US, only to have LeBlanc foisted on them by double-talking Hollywood execs. It’s probably completely refuting the show’s satirical argument to say so, but it’s striking how the proceedings turn from diverting to genuinely funny as soon as LeBlanc enters. Extras: Showtime lineup sampler. (Paramount, $29.99)