New on DVD and Blu-ray

Attack the Block

(Sony, $31)

Troublemaking kids defend their British housing project from an alien invasion in this smart debut from writer/director Joe Cornish, said the New York Daily News. Cornish nicely mixes “dry British humor and social satire” in this low-budget thriller, and “the cast is splendid.”

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

(Acorn, $50)

Produced in 1979, this six-hour BBC adaptation of the John le Carré novel features a “brilliant” star turn by Alec Guinness, said the Salt Lake City Deseret News. Guinness plays ex-spy George Smiley, who’s been coaxed out of retirement to find a mole. The set includes an interview with Le Carré.

The Conversation

(Lionsgate, $25)

“The Conversation is a stone-cold classic,” said the Bergen County, N.J., Record. Gene Hackman stars as a surveillance expert who gets in over his head in this “masterful” thriller, which Francis Ford Coppola wrote and directed in between Godfather films. Available on Blu-ray for the first time.