DVD previews: 'Now You See Me,' 'The Iceman,' more

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 29: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) A general view of atmosphere at the after party for a special New York screening of 'The Iceman' hosted by GREY GOOSE Vodka and Millennium Entertainment at Soho House on April 29, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Grey Goose)

"Now You See Me" (PG-13, 116 minutes, Lionsgate): If there was an instruction manual for heist movies, the directions would include amusing the audience members with witty banter, delighting them with a clever crime and shocking them with one final never-saw-it-coming twist. The makers of the entertaining and confounding "Now You See Me" have all those components in place. The problem is that, in focusing on what makes a good caper, director Louis Leterrier forgot about character development, carefully constructed tension and believable plot points. The film opens with an "Ocean's Eleven"-like montage introduction to four magicians. There's the egotistical card-trick pro Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg, basically playing Mark Zuckerberg again), con man and lock picker extraordinaire Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), underwater escape artist Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and mentalist Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson). The four are brought together by an unknown person who offers a reward if the magicians team up and carry out some large-scale deception. Fast-forward a year, and the quartet, now known as the Four Horsemen, vamps on a Las Vegas stage preparing for the evening's piece de resistance. Without leaving the arena, the illusionists appear to rob a Parisian bank and rain the stolen euros on the excited audience. "Now You See Me" purports to offer visual splendor inside of a cinematic cryptogram. Now that would have been a neat trick. Contains strong language, action and sexual content. Extras: commentary with Leterrier and producer Bobby Cohen and a "Now You See Me Revealed" featurette. Also, on Blu-ray: extended director's cut featuring 16 minutes of restored footage, a history of magic featurette and deleted scenes.

"The Iceman" (R, 105 minutes, Millennium Films): It's somewhat difficult to judge Michael Shannon's performance in "The Iceman," a movie based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski, a serial killer and mob assassin. Kuklinski, who died in prison in 2006, murdered, by his own imperfect recollection, 100 to 200 people, without apparent compunction. That -- or possibly that he sometimes froze his victims' bodies before dumping them -- was the reason for his chilling nickname. The cold-bloodedness, at least, Shannon gets exactly right. Ariel Vromen's film (written by the director and Morgan Land) shows Kuklinski committing his first on-camera murder after he's been disrespected by a guy in a bar; he follows the jerk outside and casually slits the man's throat. A later scene shows him visiting his incarcerated little brother (Stephen Dorff), who alludes to at least one earlier childhood murder. It's harrowing stuff, as the corpses pile up. Eventually, numbness sets in as we watch Kuklinski's body count rise. All the while he maintains a semblance of suburban normalcy, marrying a mousey wife (Winona Ryder) and raising a couple of clueless daughters. Contains bloody violence, obscenity and some sexuality. Extras: making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

"Stories We Tell" (PG-13, 108 minutes, Lionsgate): Sarah Polley begins her documentary with an epigram from Canadian author Margaret Atwood. But this rich, sensitive, densely layered piece of poetic nonfiction also conjures a famous aphorism of William Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Polley, an actress who has pursued an accomplished directing career with the fictional features "Away From Her" and "Take This Waltz," brings the past to vivid, astonishing life in "Stories We Tell," an excavation of her own family that hinges on a long-buried secret, how it's reverberated with everyone it's touched and the contentious ways they explain it. Sitting her four funny, smart, attractive siblings down for talking-head interviews, Polley makes a simple request: Tell the story from beginning to right now, in your own words. They do, and thanks to their observant storytelling and Polley's judicious editing, what unfolds is a riveting drama. Held together by a memoir written and narrated by Polley's father, Michael, "Stories We Tell" begins in the 1960s, when he and her mother, Diane, met and fell in love while doing a play. Looking back, he says, he realizes that Diane -- an outgoing, charismatic actress who appeared frequently on Toronto television -- probably fell in love with his dashing, intrepid character. Using home movies and original material filmed on vintage-looking Super-8, Polley creates a vibrant tapestry of the facades and false assumptions that form the captivating subtext of "Stories We Tell," which is nominally about the mysteries left in the wake of Diane's death when Polley was 11. Contains thematic elements involving sexuality, brief strong profanity and smoking.

"From Up on Poppy Hill" (PG, 91 minutes, Studio Ghibli/Cinedigm): The Miyazaki in the director's seat isn't 72-year-old Hayao but his son, Goro, who proves superbly well-poised to carry on his father's legacy. The story of a girl grappling with first love, the absence of her parents and the anxieties of an on-rushing future in 1963 Yokohama has all the earmarks of a Miyazaki classic. Umi, who runs a household while her mother is studying in the United States, has the wide-eyed innocence of a little girl, even as she attains emotional and practical wisdom beyond her years. Mourning the loss of her father at sea some years earlier, Umi transfers her hope and longing to Shun, a student from a nearby boys school who is trying to preserve his gang's ramshackle clubhouse from demolition. The interplay between the romanticism of the past and the progress of the future is the tension that propels "From Up on Poppy Hill," in which the Japanese authorities are seeking to erase painful memories of World War II and the Korean War as they prepare for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The film's tender voice, captivating atmosphere and painterly visuals more than compensate for any narrative weaknesses. Somber, gentle, transporting and beautiful, "From Up on Poppy Hill" is the kind of family film Hollywood doesn't make anymore. Thank goodness Tokyo does. Contains mild thematic elements and some incidental smoking. Extras: Original Japanese and English versions with subtitles; feature-length storyboards; behind-the-scenes footage and interviews; an interview with Goro Miyazaki; original Japanese TV spots; music video for the theme song by Aoi Teshima; a featurette about Yokohama and the film's seaside setting. Also, on Blu-ray: a speech and news conference by Hayao Miyazaki days after the Fukushima earthquake; a 20-page booklet containing the original project proposal by Hayao Miyazaki and a letter from Goro Miyazaki.

Also: "Empire State," "Petunia," "Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie," "Slightly Single in L.A.," "The Stranger Within," "The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fourth Season," "The Best of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Thrillers" (from "The Public Enemy" to "Inception," box set celebrating Warner Bros.' 90th anniversary), "The Jesse Stone Collection," "Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest," "Song of the South: Duane Allman and the Rise of The Allman Brothers" and "DCI Banks: Aftermath" (BBC).

Television Series: "Criminal Minds -- The Eighth Season," "Parks and Recreation: Season Five," "Revolution: The Complete First Season," "Scandal: The Complete Second Season," "Mama's Family: The Complete Series," "Person of Interest: The Complete Second Season," "The Shield: The Complete Series Collection," "Sinbad: The Complete First Season" (SyFy), "Wild Kratts: Wildest Animal Adventures" (PBS), "Regular Show: Fright Pack" (Cartoon Network), "Ancient Aliens: Season 5 -- Volume 1," "Da Vinci's Demons -- The Complete First Season" (Starz) and "Blandings, Series 1" (two-disc set, U.S. debut of the BBC series adapted from P.G. Wodehouse's celebrated stories, Acorn Media).

Washington Post staff writer Kay Coyte contributed to this report.