Month: April 2009

JCVD (R, 2008, Peace Arch)
Really, this should be a disaster, or at least a mess. “JCVD” stands for Jean-Claude Van Damme, who stars as a brutally honest interpretation of himself — washed up as an action star, ladies man and father — and the unlucky bystander in a Belgian bank heist. The robbers, hostages, police and crowd of wildly enthusiastic onlookers all know who he is, and that allows “JCVD” to alternate between dark comedy, dry comedy, drama and a tense heist film that continually teases a turn into action hero territory. The film operates in four pieces, each of which operates on a unique chronological track, and two of those parts are separated, without warning, by a six-minute, single-take soliloquy in which Van Damme waxes, with biting honesty, about the lifelong mess in which he finds himself. All that and more in 90 minutes’ time should spell certain doom, but “JCVD” doesn’t just make it work — it dances through the whole thing, gracefully and intelligently balancing all these elements and moods with a magnificent mix of spirit and restraint. Peering so deeply inward while also dismantling the fourth wall (and managing to actually entertain audiences all the while) is a crazy proposition, but Van Damme and the film that bears his name completely knock it out of the park.
Extras: Deleted scenes, digital copy.

Hotel for Dogs (PG, 2009, Dreamworks)
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what adults think of “Hotel for Dogs,” which tells the story of two perennial foster children (Emma Roberts as Andi and Jake T. Austin as Bruce) who turn a condemned building with stray dogs into the canine wonderland referenced in the title. It is, after all, not a movie for adults. But here’s a review anyway: It’s kind a mess, albeit a well-meaning one with some very redeeming pieces. Like too many other movies aimed at kids, “Dogs” views the human adult like the Road Runner views Wile E. Coyote: They look stupid, say stupid things, act with one-track minds and spend their days scowling at children while those same children repeatedly dupe them. Fortunately, “Dogs” makes one exception — for the completely miscast but incredibly welcome Don Cheadle, who stars as the kids’ case worker — and it’s just sufficient enough to make things tolerable on the human side. That’s good enough. The dogs are the real main attraction here, and they absolutely deliver in all sorts of adorable, emotive, unbelievably well-trained ways. So adults get that, kids get that and a silly movie that ostensibly speaks to their mistrust of adults, and everybody wins with the contrived but entirely well-meaning message that rounds the whole thing out. Johnny Simmons, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon also star.
Extras: Cast/crew commentary, deleted scenes, four behind-the-scenes features.

What Doesn’t Kill You (R, 2008, Sony Pictures)
The easiest, perhaps only way to describe “What Doesn’t Kill You” is as a movie about two lifelong friends — Brian (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie (Ethan Hawke) — who delved into petty criminal activity as kids and never quite grew out of it. Any other approach, and things get a little wobbly. “WDKY” starts out about as promisingly as possible, with Brian and Paulie in the throes of an armored truck robbery gone horribly wrong, before flashing back and returning us there roughly 75 percent of the way through. But it takes a shaky road back to that moment, erratically hopping past years and events in both lives in rushed, sometimes careless fashion. Though “WDKY” always makes sense, there are times when it feels like a scene, or at least a buffer between two completely different scenes of equal importance, has gone missing. But the film wants to cover a lot of ground in 100 minutes’ time, so that’s the price it decides to pay for doing so. Fortunately, if you can accept the jerky pacing, there’s still plenty to like. “WDKY” succeeds in its attempt to create two interesting characters, and employing Ruffalo and Hawke to bring those characters to full life certainly doesn’t hurt matters. Amanda Peet,
Will Lyman, Brian Goodman and Donnie Wahlberg (who co-writes) also star.
Extras: Writer/director commentary, deleted/alternate scenes, behind-the-scenes feature.

Pulling: The Complete First Season (NR, 2006, MPI Home Video)
“Pulling’s” themes could fit comfortably in any number of American sitcoms. It’s a half-hour comedy about three women (Sharon Horgan, Tanya Franks, Rebekah Staton) in different stages of their late 20s and early 30s, and it touches on the usual topics — love, singlehood, fears of commitment and the consequences of growing old and losing those good looks. Whether “Pulling” could ever play on these shores, however, is another matter entirely. Never mind the fact that half of any given episode’s material would have to be cut or altered to pass muster with network censors. “Pulling’s” comedic tone poses a whole separate concern: It’s sharply and cleverly funny, but also prone to bouts of unabashed darkness that might prove too dry for bashful programming managers. Thank goodness for the DVD format, then, which not only doesn’t concern itself with these problems, but allows us to experience a level of sitcom greatness we otherwise would likely never experience. Here, “Pulling’s” biggest problem is a familiar one: Like many British shows, it produces only six episodes per season, and like most good shows that wrap a season after what amounts to fewer than three hours’ worth of content, it leaves you wanting much more than it actually gives you. The DVD set obviously isn’t at fault for the failings of convention, but an annoyance by any cause is an annoyance all the same.
Contents: Six episodes, plus commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes feature and separate interviews for people who did and did not like the show.

While She Was Out (R, 2008, Anchor Bay)
Somewhere, perhaps in the presence of a cocktail napkin (and a cocktail), somebody got an idea for a story in which an outmanned, outgunned woman (Kim Basinger) escapes her would-be attackers (Lukas Haas, Craig Sheffer, Jamie Starr, Leonard Wu) with nothing but her life and a toolbox of heretofore-mysterious contents. Around that coherent idea exists “While She Was Out,” an 86-minute reverse thriller that sacrifices everything from logic to reason to the art of the believable mood shift to give that gimmick every chance it needs to hammer the whole thing home. This, also, is to say nothing of the film’s weird beginnings, Christmastime setting and almost comically unbelievable ending, which brings one seriously incredible character arc to completion. But “WSWO’s” problems are real problems only if you make the mistake of taking it seriously. Whether it’s intended as legitimate horror or not simply doesn’t matter: It’s farcically bad, but so much so as to be kind of good, and the greater your gift of irony, the more fun you’ll have watching the whole thing repeatedly fall apart and reassemble itself.
Extras: Writer/director/producer commentary, making-of feature.

Nothing But the Truth (R, 2008, Sony Pictures)
Like the prominent warning at the beginning states, this is a work of fiction. But let’s be serious: Were it not for the Judith Miller/Valerie Plame/ Dick Cheney/Scooter Libbey saga, we almost certainly would not have “Nothing But the Truth,” which tells the story of a journalist (Kate Beckinsale as Rachel Armstrong) who outs a fellow soccer mom (Vera Farmiga) as an undercover CIA agent and faces jail time for protecting the source who originally spilled the beans. Some Hollywoodian creative liberty aside, “Truth” shares some pretty transparent ties to the story that inspired it, and it also struggles to stifle its opinion on the matter of national security versus press freedoms. But it also provides ample opportunity for viewers to disagree with and even vilify the characters the film positions as the protagonists, so cries of propaganda don’t carry much weight. Ultimately, “Truth” positions itself neither as a covert dissection of the real story or a top-shelf thriller that stands on its own, but as something in between — a smart, accessible exploration of important themes that, alas, sometimes can’t resist a twist you can see coming a good distance away. Unfortunately, the most obvious surprise is the one it saves for last. Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, Alan Alda, Noah Wyle and David Schwimmer also star.
Extras: Filmmakers commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes feature.

Worth a Mention
— “Johnny Got His Gun” (PG, 1971, Shout Factory): The 1971 anti-war classic, starring Donald Sutherland and Timothy Bottoms, makes its North American DVD debut. Extras include an hour-long making-of documentary, the 1940 James Cagney radio adaption (of the 1939 novel that started it all), Metallica’s “One” video (which “Gun” very clearly inspired), a new Bottoms interview and behind-the-scenes footage (with commentary).
— “Spin City: The Complete Second Season” (NR, 1997, Shout Factory): Includes 24 episodes. No extras, but no Charlie Sheen, either.
— “American Dad! Volume 4” (NR, 2007, Fox): Includes 14 episodes (all with commentary), plus deleted scenes and two behind-the-scenes features.

Frost/Nixon (R, 2008, Universal)
David Frost’s (Michael Sheen) 1977 interviews of Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) were more than simply once-in-a-lifetime sit-downs with the only man ever to resign the American presidency. They also formed the basis of an extraordinary upset — a softballing entertainer pinning an experienced, airtight subject into spilling candidly on the scandal that pushed him out of office. Obviously, nothing compares to being there when it aired, and if you want to witness the full might of the interview, the source material is arriving in full on DVD next week. But none that is here or there when it comes to “Frost/Nixon” holding its own as an enthralling verbal duel between two completely polar personalities. If you’ve seen the interviews or already know the story, you also know how it ends, and if you haven’t but have seen enough movies in your time, you likely can venture a guess. But it doesn’t really matter, just as many of “Frost/Nixon’s” best scenes aren’t recreations of what made it to air. They’re the exchanges that happen right before the cameras roll — or, in one case, during a telephone exchange that singlehandedly takes the film to another level. The interview scenes are faithful to the source material, but in context with the scenes that precede and succeed them, they achieve a new and entirely unique level of effect. Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfadyen, Oliver Platt and Rebecca Hall also star.
Extras: Director commentary, comparison footage from the real interview, deleted scenes, making-of feature, Nixon Library materials.
— For further study: “Frost/Nixon: The Complete Interviews” (NR, Liberation Entertainment): The original program … all 400 minutes of it. Available next week. A single-disc edition, containing only the footage pertaining to Watergate, released previously from the same studio.

The Wrestler (R, 2008, Fox)
“The Wrestler” plays right into the hands of award season cynics who argue that the recipe for any potential Best Picture nominee calls for at least three cups of downer juice. But it’s not a fair criticism, because “The Wrestler” — which sometimes literally follows washed-up pro wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) as he very literally limps through hard times, growing obscurity and the fallout of a career gone south — isn’t telling a fairy tale. Numerous accounts of the hardships surrounding the pursuit of professional wrestling glory are out there for all to see, be they in a screening of the “Beyond the Mat” documentary or in one of the numerous Web sites or publications devoted to dissecting wrestling’s brutal backstage demands. It’s a hard, painful life, but it’s a life almost always chosen, and even though The Ram is a fictional creation, the sum total of Rourke’s performance and the decades of anecdotal evidence that paved its way feel entirely real. It doesn’t hurt, either, that “The Wrestler” fills its in-ring action with real federations and real independent wrestlers — and, as consequence, some really squirm-worthy illustrations of where all that long-term damage comes from. Soft stomachs, you’ve been warned: “The Wrestler” absolutely fulfills every corner of its promise, but it trudges through some ghastly waters to do so. Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood also star.
Extras: 42-minute making-of feature, music video.

Notorious: Unrated Director’s Cut (NR, 2009, Fox)
If you had your pop culture ear anywhere in the vicinity of the ground during the mid-1990s, you likely possess a skeletal or better understanding of the events that led to the separate murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace. “Notorious” doesn’t strive to recap, confuse or flesh out those events so much as provide dimension to the men who lost their lives as result, and at that, it capably does its job. Wallace (Jamal Woolard), in particular, is the focus of the film, and “Notorious” serviceably follows him from his roots as a dorky chubby kid with no backbone to the multiplatinum superstar who found himself in the throes of a tumultuous marriage and a meritless feud that turned one of his best friends (Anthony Mackie as Shakur) into his biggest enemy. Structurally speaking, the film is as elementary in practice as it sounds on paper, telling a straight story and keeping stylistic interference to a refreshing minimum. Given “Notorious'” real trick — separating the men from their images and exposing Wallace as the overgrown mama’s boy his mother (who participated in the film’s production) knew him as — anything more would’ve simply gotten in the way. Angela Bassett, Derek Luke, Naturi Naughton, Antonique Smith and Christopher Jordan Wallace (playing his late father during his childhood years) also star.
Extras: Theatrical and extended cuts, deleted scenes, seven behind-the-scenes features.

Caprica (NR, 2009, Universal)
Telling “Caprica’s” target audience to check it out is like a asking a roomful of kindergarteners to give candy a chance. “Battlestar Galactica” just ended its run on a high note, and the “Caprica” series — which takes place 50 years before “Galactica” and purports to illustrate the happenings that formed that show’s basis — doesn’t air until next year. So until then, we have this, which pulls triple duty as a feature-length film, a pilot episode and a tease. Happily, it succeeds on all three fronts and fulfills its mission of leaving you wanting more. “Caprica” makes an imposing entrance by trotting out an entirely new cast of characters (Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Alessandra Toreson) and taking its time establishing any intriguing connections between them and the “Galactica” universe. Centering the narrative beginnings around an angst-ridden teenager and the implications of virtual-reality dimensions doesn’t bridge the gap. But “Caprica” uses the extended runtime to its advantage, and by film’s end, the ties between the two series are established and effectively compelling, capping it off with an excellent endgame twist that brings the whole thing around. It’s hard not to want to know what happens next. Shame we have to wait so long to find out.
Extras: Director/writer/producer commentary, deleted scenes, video blogs.

A Galaxy Far Far Away: 10th Anniversary Special Edition (NR, 2000, Cinevolve Studios)
Sometimes all that propels a documentary from also-ran status into full-blown greatness is timing. And of all the films, books and other media that have attempted to understand the phenomenon that is “Stars Wars,” perhaps none benefits from timing better than “A Galaxy Far Far Away,” which sets its table exactly six weeks prior to “Episode I’s” theatrical debut. “Away” probably would be great fun either way: Its subject matter has no shortage of character and material to chew on, and filmmaker Tariq Jalil — who states upfront that he admires “Star Wars” but doesn’t quite understand the obsession — uses his own bewildered perspective as a funny and balanced starting point. But “Away’s” touches down in the eye of a perfect storm of renewed “Star Wars” hysteria, where fans climb over each other for new toys and camp in line a full 42 days before the movie even starts playing. It’s also there for the culmination of that hysteria … as well as the fallout when people actually see “Episode I” for themselves. If you know anything about that film’s critical reception, the few minutes “Away” spends in its aftermath may be the most fascinating part of all. “Away’s” biggest knock is that it’s so short — barely 60 minutes, and far short of the 80 minutes the box promises. Fortunately, some excellent extras provide the necessary value compensation.
Extras: 10th Anniversary video commentary (shot “Mystery Science Theater 3000”-style), new and original producer/director audio commentaries, interviews, deleted scenes, old and new trailers.

Fight Night (R, 2007, Peace Arch)
“Fight Night” is two movies in one reel, but don’t mistake that for a value proposition so much as an identity crisis. For a good half of its runtime, “Night” plays like a collection of clichés blown to pieces by an attitude bomb: There’s the slick-talking underground fight promoter (Chad Ortis), the scrappy female fighter (Rebecca Neuenswander) he finds living in squalor, and a series of events that has him hustling male fighters in shady backroom rings while people from his past (Kurt Hanover, Adrian Bartholomew) return with trouble on their minds. Everyone, in fact, appears to have trouble on the brain, and the first half of “Night” absolutely reels with unintentionally funny exchanges of bad dialogue as one character tries to out-attitude the other. Perhaps if that’s all the film did, we could enjoy it as a relentless piece of cornball entertainment with a few good fight scenes to boot. But “Night” takes a stiff right turn halfway through, transforming its toxically (and seemingly intentionally) unlikable main characters into attempted objects of sympathy. A goofy twist sets the table for what should have been an enjoyably cheesy climax, but “Night” suddenly seems so concerned with making us like everyone that it misfires wildly, culminating in a final scene so hokey, you almost feel guilty for laughing it off. Unfortunately, the film offers little alternative.
Extras: Director commentary, deleted scenes.

The Reader (R, 2008, Weinstein Company)
If one could assemble an Oscar-nominated film using a paint-by-numbers construction kit, the result probably would look a little bit like “The Reader.” Things begin promisingly and simply enough with the unlikely relationship between a sick teenager (David Kross and young Michael Berg) and the older woman (Kate Winslet) who finds him vomiting in a rain-soaked alley and cleans him up before sending him home. As that relationship grows, the meaning of the film’s title is revealed, and with it comes an unspoken but patently obvious twist-in-waiting that would appear to dictate where things go next. But then, the other colors and numbers start to pile up, and “The Reader” becomes a period piece, a slice of historical context, a multi-decade epic and perhaps an allegory or two as well. Nothing about the film stands out in any negative way: Kross, Ralph Fiennes (as Michael’s older self) and especially Winslet’s performances are the stuff of Academy voter dreams, and “The Reader” has that sweeping epic quality to complement a handful of equally favorable sweeping emotional crescendos. But the whims of the Academy do not matter when it comes to your entertainment, and the increasingly, oppressively heavy nature of the film — to say nothing of its somewhat remarkable inability to mine a historical tragedy for deeper meaning in its own world — doesn’t necessarily play as favorably on a lazy evening as it does on an awards mantle. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
Extras: Deleted scenes, five behind-the-scenes features.

Splinter (R, 2008, Magnet/Magnolia)
Familiar devices? Yes, “Splinter” has familiar devices. There’s the random character whose only purpose is to die at the hands of the film’s chief threat before the opening credits even arrive. There are the two not-necessarily-likeable protagonists (Paulo Costanzo, Jill Wagner) who picked this weekend of all weekends to solidify their inability to go camping in the middle of nowhere, as well as the unsavory couple (Shea Whigham, Rachel Kerbs) that antagonizes couple A but then must reconsider once that thing from the first scene comes along to turn everything upside down. There’s also more where that came from, as “Splinter” lifts trick upon trick out of the horror movie playbook, right up to and including the traditional big finish and tease at the end. What “Splinter” also has, though, is one of the more ridiculous (in a completely complimentary way) monsters to enter the horror movie ring in some time. The title provides a clue, but it’s best not to spoil any further, because discovering just what a visual mess our heroes have on their hands is the easily the film’s biggest treat. The gradual reveal also does much to mollify whatever grievance one might have with the derivative nature of the rest of the story, which at least benefits from a low-budget sensibility and some partially (if not completely) inventive solutions to the problem at hand. How many films can use the phrase, “It’s OK, we’re cutting your arm off” as a form of straight-faced reassurance? Only this one.
Extras: Director/cast commentary, director/crew commentary, seven behind-the-scenes features, art gallery.

Road to the Big Leagues (NR, 2008, Indiepix)
Here’s a story that won’t surprise anybody: As baseball’s global appeal expands its reach, major league dreams inevitably follow close behind. This is acutely apparent in the Dominican Republic, where the likes of David Ortiz and Vladimir Guerrero, among a growing list of others, have traded impoverished childhoods for million-dollar careers in the big leagues and uncomfortably high levels of hero worship in their homeland. “Road to the Big Leagues” checks in on both Ortiz and Guerrero during their respective offseason existences while also tracking the progress of one major league hopeful and touching on everything from the alternatives to baseball success and the fatal damage a faulty birth certificate can wreak on one’s aspirations. It’s all fascinating stuff, and it’s a shame “Leagues” feels a need, for whatever reason, to cram it all into a mere 53 minutes of space. That’s the main (and, really, only) knock against the film, which would only benefit from more time to spread around. To its credit, it at least takes full advantage of the time it has. It’s not necessarily a good tactic to leave people wanting more to the degree this one does, but it beats overstaying your welcome any day.
Extras: Director interview, extended and new footage.

Shuttle (R, 2008, Magnet/Magnolia)
How much is $15 worth to you? For Mel (Peyton List) and Jules (Cameron Goodman), it’s the difference between taking one airport shuttle over the other. For us, it’s the difference between “Shuttle” being a pointless movie about a routine ride home and what it actually is, which is anything but. Yes, there’s trouble on that airport shuttle, and for a while, “Shuttle” appears to be just another horror movie about a maniac bent on tormenting and destroying people for reasons that never go explained. But even when “Shuttle” is at its most banal and unpromising, it’s just creepy and curious enough to merit engagement. And once it turns a corner and heads into its second half, that engagement pays off. “Shuttle” doesn’t merely wish to explain its madness; it expounds wildly on it, and even the twist you see coming pays off thanks to the amount of energy the film and its creepy characters invest into it. The complete disclosure of “Shuttle’s” madness makes for one of the more unsettling gotchas to grace the horror genre this year, and even the most hardened fans of the genre will be pressed not to feel just a little bit creeped out by the sequence that brings it home.
Extras: Deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes feature, casting footage.

Exosquad: Season 1 (NR, 1993, Universal)
Your typical action-oriented Saturday morning cartoon goes a little something like this: Bad guys hatch scheme to destroy good guys and/or whatever they stand for, good guys find out just in time, bad guys imperil good guys, good guys pull off a comeback victory, bad guys escape, and everything starts over again the next week. Not so with “Exosquad,” which not only hatches a rather sophisticated plot about a race created by humans taking over the human race, but uses a serial format to stretch the multithreaded story over the entire season. The best part? It does all this high-concept stuff on the strength of the same hokey dialogue and B-level voice acting that so explicitly exemplifies the Saturday Morning cartoon. The sides can’t help but clash, but that’s part of the entertainment. Additionally, the overarching storyline and serial format are sufficiently satisfying enough that rolling your eyes and anticipating what happens next need not be mutually exclusive.
Contents: 13 episodes, no extras. Hopefully Universal will follow up with the comparatively monstrous second season, which concludes the saga over a whopping 39 additional episodes.

Doubt (PG-13, 2008, Miramax)
Perhaps the best thing about “Doubt” is its ability to play you maybe once, possibly twice, and still leave you feeling smarter for your cooperation. There’s the initial ruse — that this, because of the setting and initial imagery, is a film that will resonate only to those with strong connections to or feelings about the Catholic Church. “Doubt” builds its deck slowly, carefully introducing us to Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep), Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Sister James (Amy Adams) and oh so slowly alluding to the rift that prompts one to damn another without anything more than anecdotal proof. Once beneath the surface, though, those early perceptions fall away, surrendering to a metaphorical illustration of gossip’s damaging hand that is unforgettable and instantly, universally resonant to just about anyone. All the while, though, “Doubt” is pulling us back around, picking at viewers’ own pre-conceived notions about the church, the nun and priest archetypes, and whether those characters embody or rebel against those notions. Who do you believe? Is it the same person you want to believe? Or is it the person your intuition compels you to believe even as his or her own words give you reasons not to? “Doubt’s” ability to keep your head continually spinning, while using nothing more than images, themes and tricks we’ve all seen before, cements its claim as one of the best films of last year. Viola Davis and Joseph Foster also star.
Extras: Writer/director commentary, four behind-the-scenes features.

Bedtime Stories (PG, 2008, Disney)
The logistics of Skeeter Bronson’s (Adam Sandler) life aren’t worth delving into here; “Bedtime Stories” does a better job of laying it out anyway. The important points are that his life is kind of a disappointment, he’s an overgrown child in a cynical man’s body, and he’s tasked, along with a neighbor (Keri Russell) who doesn’t find him nearly as charming as he thinks he is, with watching his sister’s kids (Laura Ann Kesling, Jonathan Morgan Heit) for a few days. Yes, “Stories” really is a movie for kids, who probably will tolerate all the grownup stuff to get to the parts where portions of the bedtime stories Skeeter makes up come true in real life the next day. But more than anything, “Stories” is a parents’ movie — a clever idea with some very creative twists, but also a story full of genuinely funny adult humor that shouldn’t bother kids too much. Sandler is the rare comic actor who can legitimately deliver a line written for adults with a face or voice made for kids, and “Stories” is one of the better displays of that gift in action. The premise occasionally paints the story into predictable corners, and some of the usual Disney movie clichés apply, but it’s never too long before something sweet, funny or joyously weird happens. Guy Pearce, Courtney Cox, Richard Griffiths, Lucy Lawless and Teresa Palmer, among others, also star.
Extras: Deleted scenes, feature about Bugsy (you’ll understand after you see it), behind-the-scenes feature, digital copy.

Donkey Punch (NR, 2008, Magnet/Magnolia)
Would you venture onto a soon-to-be-undocked boat and imbibe with four strangers you met practically minutes before? Seems safe, right? Apparently Tammi (Nichola Burley), Kim (Jaime Winstone) and Lisa (Sian Breckin) think so when they set sail, inhale some drugs and pair off with four overtly eager male hosts (Robert Boulter, Tom Burke, Julian Morris and Jay Taylor). Again, model behavior. What happens next isn’t to be spoiled, but if you know the not-safe-for-work origins of the term that inspired “Donkey Punch’s” title, you probably can guess what simple mistake turns the whole thing sour. Once it does, “Punch” takes a turn for the absurdly fantastic — a mercurial, temperamental mess that isn’t afraid to drag you, slowly, through some very ugly consequences of one very stupid mistake. Thrillers built on human stupidity are rife with far greater possibilities than those built around plain old evil, and “Punch” — be it during the anticipatory dread that embodies the pre-storm calm or the complete derailment of rationality that succeeds it — gloriously demonstrates why.
Extras: Director commentary, deleted scenes, interviews, behind-the-scenes feature.

The IT Crowd: The Complete First Season (NR, 2006, MPI)
Creating a television show is an impressive endeavor in its own right, but the creators of “The IT Crowd” deserve special recognition for the way they essentially bent space and time to make this one happen. Taken on its premise, “Crowd” — a workplace comedy about a trio of underappreciated tech support professionals (Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade and Katherine Parkinson) slumming it in the basement of a large corporation — is straight out of today. The ubiquitous IT guy is the 21st century equivalent of the washer/dryer repairman, and “Crowd” farms the bulk of its material from a well of geek humor and cynical observations about corporate culture. And yet, all of this happens in the bounds of a format straight out of the 1980s — shot in video, before a boisterous live studio audience, and chock full of shamelessly broad humor and sight gags. Even weirder, the dated look and feel proves to be an asset. Had sitcoms never evolved, “Crowd” would fit right in and do little else. Buy they have, and so this show completely stands out, buried to its neck in modern and antiquated sensibilities that clash in a brutal but strangely delightful bang of weirdness. You need a special sense of humor to truly appreciate it, but if the concept on paper makes you smile, you’ll probably do just fine.
Contents: Six episodes, plus deleted scenes, two behind-the-scenes features, nerd-friendly subtitles and a DVD menu system that, if you grew up playing computer games in the 1980s, will entertain you as much as the show does.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (PG-13, 2008, Fox)
Grumble grumble, right? Fair enough. But here’s the thing: As unnecessary CGI-ified remakes go, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is pretty harmless, especially if you just consider it an alternate interpretation instead an unwelcome replacement, which it isn’t. In the original film, a highly personable alien named Klaatu brought Earth’s electricity to a halt and threatened humanity with extinction if it continued to harm one of the galaxy’s few inhabitable destinations. This time, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), while thoughtful, isn’t nearly as charming. That goes double for the obnoxious kid who crosses his path (Jaden Smith). In the original, the kid was polite and almost dangerously naive; this time, you want Klaatu to wipe out humanity just to shut him up. “Still’s” other point of contention is the message behind the fiction. The original waxed about nuclear proliferation, but this one stays vague — almost as if to nod at environmentalism without being held culpable by those who accuse it of preaching. It doesn’t really matter. The original remains the better film, but “Still,” for all its comparative faults, leaves enough of the important bits intact to tell a good story. As it should, it also ups the visual ante: The dinky robot from the original is impressively imposing here, and the illustration of Klaatu’s threat is, even if it doesn’t make much sense, a pretty amazing sight. Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates and John Cleese also star.
Extras: Writer commentary deleted scenes, four behind-the-scenes features.