There’s something about hearing dir-ector Steven Soderbergh making a straightforward action film that immediately sent up a few red flags. First and foremost is the fact that Soderbergh has never made a straightforward film in his life.

No matter what genre he’s dabbling in, whether it be globe-hopping social drama (Traffic, Contagion), quiet morality tales (The Underneath, Out Of Sight), or his “Hollywood” flicks (the Ocean’s films), Soderbergh always seems to inject just a little twist in the narrative. Whether it’s a subtle character flaw or something as simple as holding a second or two longer than is comfortable on a reaction shot, there’s always an item that elevates his films just a little higher.

Unfortunately, introspection doesn’t work that well when bullets are flying and skulls are getting cracked.

The twist for Haywire is the gender reversal. Instead of the usual bad-ass male gun-for-hire out to right the wrongs and clear his name, we get former MMA fighter Gina Carano as the bad-ass gun-for-hire out to right the wrongs and clear her name.

Of course, it’s not really a twist at all, since there is a fairly decent roster of women in action flicks. But unlike, say, Angelina Jolie in Salt or Zoe Saldana in Columbiana, Carano is the first one who you actually have no trouble believing could kick someone’s ass without so much as getting a run in her tights.

Soderbergh hedges his bets by surrounding his first-time star with a cast of heavyweights. Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, and Michael Douglas all have a hand in the double (possibly triple) crossing. And while Carano isn’t going to be swiping any roles from Cate Blanchett anytime soon, she fares decently and holds her own. After all, she’s not getting paid to do Tennessee Williams, she’s getting paid to break bones.

Unfortunately, after about an hour the film hits a brick wall, and Soderbergh has no idea how to restart. Surprisingly, he’s not served well by writer Lem Dobbs, with whom he collaborated on the infinitely superior The Limey. Dobbs’ script becomes hazy and unfocused, allowing for long sections of downtime on the way to a jarringly hasty ending.

The Blu-ray features a smashing-looking film transfer, and little else. There are extended segments of Carano’s fight training, as well as brief interviews with the men of the cast (sans Douglas) and little else aside from a digital copy.

The Sun Came Out: The Making Of The Album 7 Worlds Collide
Cinema Libre

In 2001, Crowded House’s Neil Finn put together three charity concerts called 7 Worlds Collide, which included Eddie Vedder, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Radiohead’s Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien, and Lisa Germano.

In 2008, Finn assembled another lineup to raise money for the poverty relief organization Oxfam, this time with more guests, and also to record an album as well as the live gigs.

With the exception of Vedder, everyone from the 2001 gigs were back, plus Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, John Stirratt, and Pat Sansone, as well as KT Tunstall on board.

The Sun Came Out follows the group and their families in and out of the studio as they cull together 10 songs in three weeks.

The end result is, predictably, disjointed — as you would expect from a project with as many disparate voices working on their own songs. Yet it holds up as more than the sum of its parts.

If you live for fly-on-the-wall looks inside recording studios and into the creative process, Sun would be for you. If, like most people, you only hold a passing fancy for the tweaking and tuning of studio knobs, it probably goes on a bit too long.

However, the inclusion of the 2001 concert helps a lot.

– Timothy Hiatt

There are two things with which Hollywood has a spotty record. The first is making decent films out of popular fiction. Notice I didn’t say successful films from popular fiction, but decent. The left coast can churn out films based on novels that rake in cash hand over fist, but they’re rarely ever up to the version on the printed page.

The second example of stepping on the third rail is when studios feel the need to remake foreign films for the U.S. market. Most of the time, the results fare even worse than a novel adaptation.

So you can imagine the trepidation over The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which hits both patches of quicksand in one fell swoop: an American version of the Swedish adaptation of the first book in Stieg Larsson’s blockbuster “Millennium” trilogy. Tall order.

Full disclosure: I have not read any of Larsson’s books. However, almost everyone I have talked to who has says the films handle the transition successfully. The main concern lies in how this version stacks up against the original. Good news is it’s just as good, and occasionally surpasses it.

The story follows disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who’s hired by aging businessman Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to dig into a decades-old family mystery. Blomkvist enlists the help of anti-social computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander (Roony Mara). Salander has issues of her own, as a ward of the state whose guardian is sexually abusing her, until she gets her revenge, that is.

The chief concern about the American version of Dragon Tattoo was how much they would water down the darker and more graphic elements of the Swedish version. Luckily, the producers had the good sense to ask — and pay — David Fincher to direct. Fincher’s resume (Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac) reads like a virtual how-to when it comes to directing good old-fashioned gritty, disturbing darkness.

Also, unlike most Americanizations, Dragon Tattoo retains its Scandinavian setting, which leads to some curious accent decisions. To wit, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård uses his natural accent, Mara tries to adopt an accent — and pulls it off for the most part — while Craig doesn’t bother and uses his cumulative British. Granted, it doesn’t sink the film or anything like that, it just can be a little jarring.

The three-disc Blu-ray release comes packed with nearly four hours of immersive, behind-the-scenes footage including interviews and more. There’s commentary by Fincher, features on the casting of Craig and Mara, as well as on-set features that want you to believe they got it right — this time.

The Descendants
Fox Home Entertainment

With films like Election, Sideways, and About Schmidt, director Alexander Payne has shown a knack for presenting seriously flawed characters, then giving the audience reason after reason why we should sympathize with them instead of hate them: sure they were obnoxious, but that didn’t make them bad people.

With The Descendants, Payne sands down the edge and gives us George Clooney as disheveled Honolulu lawyer Matt King. It’s a study of bad things happening to good people in paradise. King’s wife is comatose after a boating accident; his daughters are in full-blown teen-angst mode; he has to decide a land deal that could have enormous impact on his entire extended family; and he also found out that his wife was having an affair before her accident. “Paradise can go fuck itself,” King states in a voiceover.

While the supporting cast, especially Shailene Woodley as his eldest daughter, is strong, The Descendents reinforces the fact that Clooney has become one of the most fearless “A-list” actors working. That’s the intriguing thing about star power: when most people achieve it, they seem to spend the rest of their careers protecting the brand. Clooney, on the other hand, uses his to make choices that go out on a limb and stretch his talents every time.

The Blu-ray set is loaded with deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes extras, and several featurettes, as well as a digital copy of the film.

– Timothy Hiatt

Is there a group of people more reviled these day than Wall Street brokers? The answer, of course, depends on whether the placard you have on your front lawn includes an elephant or a donkey. Oh sure, Congress is an easy target for the general public’s scorn, but let’s face it: there really isn’t a single member of that hallowed institution smart enough to make a believable film villain, right?

In the old days it was pretty cut and dried: good guys and bad guys. The bad guys were the ones trying to pull off the robbery, while the good guys were the ones trying to stop them.

My, how times change. In the current world we live in, things aren’t that simple. In a film like Tower Heist, we get bad guys trying to rob an even worse guy, with the good guys only making a token effort to stop them.

Ya following?

Ben Stiller plays Josh Kovacs, a building manager at a swanky New York condo development conveniently called The Tower. Kovacs is an amiable sort who honestly loves his job and wants the best for those who work around him. To that end, he entrusts the employee retirement account to the Tower’s most noted resident: top-notch financier Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). What Kovacs doesn’t know is that Shaw is on the cusp of being indicted for fraud, and there’s virtually no way any of the workers will ever see a dime of their pension.

After a coworker commits suicide because of Shaw’s actions, and upon learning that there may be $20 million hidden somewhere in Shaw’s penthouse suite, Kovacs hatches a plan to swipe it out from under the noses of both Shaw and the FBI.

Along for the ride of this little scheme is a group including fellow Tower workers Charlie and Odessa (Casey Affleck and Gabourey Sidibe), down-on-his-luck former Tower resident Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick) as well as petty criminal Slide (Eddie Murphy).

The bad news about Tower Heist is that while it tries to be Ocean’s 11 for the 99-percent, there are simply too many plot holes and coincidences in the heist itself for it to be anything more than an Occupy fantasy.

On the bright side, the performances are spot on. Stiller has the tendency to try to be the funniest guy on the planet, and therefore goes so far over the top that he’s just overbearingly annoying. (Think Zoolander or Dodgeball.) He’s at his best when he relaxes the shtick and lets the character do the work. Here, he’s the perfect mix of workaday schmo with a simmering pot of justifiable outrage. Alda is also brilliant as the obvious Bernie Madoff clone, and Murphy finally returns to a role that lets him stretch out and be the Eddie Murphy we remember.

The Blu-ray features two alternate endings, a blooper reel, and an exhaustive “making of” feature entitled “Plotting Tower Heist” that includes just about anyone and everyone involved in the film.

Film: Features:

Styx: The Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight Live
Eagle Vision

Paleontologists tell the tales of an era when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and were feared as gods. These creatures would invade your territory and trample everything in sight, all the while making the most terrifying noise one could possibly imagine.

The era was the late ’70’s, and the people loved it.

Believe it or not there was a time when Styx was that marauding brontosaurus — laying waste to arenas throughout the land. Now, like many of their fellow antiquated brethren, they realize that they can go on the road, play two of their most famous albums from A to Z, and reintroduce themselves to a new generation. Rush has done it, as well as Metallica and Slayer, to name a few.

Unfortunately, the concept kinda runs aground with Styx, simply because the guy responsible for half the original material isn’t there. Sure, original album players Tommy Shaw and James Young are on hand to make it happen, but love him or hate him, Dennis DeYoung is nowhere to be found, and without him to carry the load on the songs he wrote, it might as well be a cover band. Mind you, it’s a good cover band, but it really isn’t the same.

– Timothy Hiatt

Having a lot of buzz surrounding a film doesn’t always mean big box office. For all of the critical acclaim surrounding Drive, the returns didn’t match the hype. Unfortunate – as Drive is one of the best films of 2011.

The plot is B-movie simplicity at its best: a Hollywood stuntman (Ryan Gosling, credited only as “Driver”) moonlights as a getaway driver for anyone who will pay for his services, at least until he’s double-crossed.

After a phenomenal opening sequence that turns the standard chase sequence on its ear – a tense game of cat and mouse is substituted for screeching tires – Drive settles into a clean, minimalist aesthetic. Driver’s relationship with his new neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) is shown not with long conversations, but in sparse, eloquent glances and self-conscious gestures.

As good as Gosling and Mulligan are, the standout of the film is Albert Brooks, superbly cast against type as a former film producer turned wannabe crime boss.

If you get a sense of deja-vu while watching Drive, there’s a good reason. The film has drawn comparisons to everything and everyone from Clint Eastwood’s man-with-no-name to Robert DeNiro’s Travis Bickel.

However, the film owes its greatest debt to the ’80s. From its pastel-colored opening credits on, it draws the most inspiration from William Friedkin’s To Live And Die In L.A., and even more so from Michael Mann efforts such as Thief and Heat, with a little “Miami Vice” tossed in for good measure. There are also explosive bouts of Tarantino-esque violence from time to time.

This is not to say that Drive is simply a copy of what came before – it’s much more. Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn lovingly and brilliantly mixes all the elements to creates his own unique world – a beautifully layered universe where a genre flick can achieve arthouse respect. Not only that, but he can do it with a completely straight face, not with the winking, knowing irony that comes so easily these days when filmmakers want to pay homage.

The Blu-ray suffers from a weak list of special features; four of the five featurettes don’t go into enough detail to make them anything more than a passing curiosity, and only the 25-minute offering with Refn is worth more than a passing glance. Drive deserves a better release than this.

U2: From The Sky Down
IFC

Having reached the pinnacle of being the biggest band in the world after the release of The Joshua Tree, U2 nearly let it all come crashing down under the weight of a mammoth tour, and the resulting big-screen release, Rattle And Hum. To many, its portrayal of the band discovering American roots music and musicians came across as both pretentious and sanctimonious – as if they were saying “Hey look, we just found this really cool guy named B.B. King, and we’re gonna let you all in on the secret. You’re welcome!”

Licking their wounds, the foursome retreated to the warm confines of post-communism Berlin, where they immersed themselves in the club and experimental culture that had previously been inspiration for David Bowie and Iggy Pop.

For the 20th anniversary of Achtung Baby (the film had been included with the high-end edition of last year’s reissue), From The Sky Down takes a look at the band’s time at Berlin’s Hansa Studios, where the album was conceived and delivered. Not only had Hansa midwifed the Bowie and Pop projects, but it also inhabited space mere yards from where the Berlin Wall had fallen just months earlier.

Sure, U2 may have absorbed and recycled German musical styles for this outing, but this time their self-awareness had been previously unseen.

From The Sky Down suffers from having little archival footage of U2 actually recording the album at Hansa, so they make do by going back to the studio and doing the interviews and performances present-day. Despite this, director Davis Guggenheim does a nice job reminding us of what Germany was dealing with at the time, and the inspiration it provided to U2.

Special Features include extra performances of “So Cruel,” “Love Is Blindness,” and “The Fly,” as well as a Q&A with Bono, The Edge, and Guggenheim from the Toronto International Film Festival

– Timothy Hiatt

So if you believe those wacky Mayans (and really, when have they ever lied to us?), there’s less than a year left on the lease here on the big blue marble. The countdown to oblivion is coming to town, so get dressed.

Really, the only question is how the lights are gonna go off. Don’t worry, Hollywood is always at the ready to provide a scenario or two. More often than not, those scenarios include lots of boom and bang and buildings toppling to the ground. The infinitely more frightening plot line involves threats you can’t see.

Director Steven Soderbergh returns to the multiple A-list cast and global-reach terrain (that he’s mined in films like Traffic) for the worldwide pandemic thriller Contagion. Unlike Traffic, however, Contagion never quite hits home, due to the fact that too many characters are shoved into too little movie.

First off, there is the main cast, which features Matt Damon as a workaday Minneapolis guy whose wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns from Hong Kong with a nasty case of the coughs. Within days, both she and their son are riding slabs in the morgue, while Damon and their daughter remain strangely immune.

Then there’s Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet as doctors for the Center For Disease Control, and Marion Cotillard as a World Health Organization doctor who traces the source of the plague back to Paltrow.

Also along for the ride is Jude Law, as a blogger who doesn’t believe the government’s take on the matter, and ends up doing more harm than good by inciting his readers into panic. There are also appearances by Elliott Gould, Bryan Cranston, John Hawkes, and Demetri Martin to name but a few.

Soderbergh does a fine job establishing a palpable sense of dread. Lingering shots of hands on door handles, drinking glasses left on planes, and everyday handshakes are enough to make you never want to leave the house unless encased in a full hazmat suit. And to hammer the point home, each change of scenery comes complete with a census figure ripe for infection – Tokyo: Population 36.6 million, San Francisco: Population 3.5 million, and so on. To his credit, Soderbergh avoids the disaster-movie histrionics to which most other films of this nature would stoop. It’s a quiet, meditative look at a very realistic scenario.

The problem is that with so many characters, we never stay with any of them long enough to care very much. We never find out why certain people are immune, and some characters are introduced early on, only to reappear much later as major plot points.

The Blu-ray is a bit light on features, with only three segments on viruses and the nature of worldwide infections. The disc also contains an UltraViolet Digital Copy of the film, which allows folks to download and instantly stream the movie via WiFi to compatible computers.

Portlandia: Season One
IFC

Imagine, if you would, a “Saturday Night Live” spinoff for hipsters, and you have “Portlandia.” Running on IFC, the series is the brainchild of “SNL” regular Fred Armisen and indie-music goddess Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag), who shows that not only is she a force to be reckoned with as a guitarist, she can also be damn funny.

Like any sketch-comedy offering, the results are hit or miss. But “Portlandia”’s take on life among the City Of Roses’ hipper-than-thou denizens hits the mark more often than not.

Plus, there’s a non-stop parade of guests to solidify its indie cred, such as Steve Buscemi, Aubrey Plaza, Gus Van Sant, and Kyle MacLachlan, whose performance as the mayor of Portland is worth the price of admission alone.

The six-episode, Season One set features a speech by Armisen to the graduates of the Oregon Episcopal School, deleted scenes, extended scenes, and commentary on every episode by Armisen, Brownstein, and director Jonathan Krisel.

– Timothy Hiatt

As far as the crack staff here at “The Digital Divide” is concerned, there quite simply is no better time to be alive than this time of year. Not because of all the peace-on-Earth/goodwill-toward-men crap, but because of all the special-edition boxsets. Not gonna lie to ya – the thought of all the new mega-packages with their metric tons of extras and occasionally ludicrously overblown packaging makes us as giddy and light-headed as a 13-year-old at a Twilight convention. So let’s throw them all in the pool and dive in.

Screw the save-the-best-for-last bit, let’s put the winner right up front: Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon Immersion Box Set is everything and more that a Floyd fan could want. To start with, you get six discs of material to sift through. Disc One is the original album remastered, while Disc Two contains the album performed live in 1974. Three is an audio-only DVD of several multi-channel mixes, and Four tackles both audio and video material including a 2003 documentary.

Disc Five is admittedly a bit of a cop out, as it includes most of the features on Disc Four, but on Blu-ray. It does feature some extra mixes, so it’s not a complete rehash, but still . . .

Disc Six rounds out the set with demos and live tracks.

On top of all this are the tchochkis included in the box. There is a 40-page book designed by Dark Side cover artist Storm Thorgerson, a Thorgerson art print, five collectors’ cards, replicas of the DSOTM tour ticket and backstage pass, a scarf, some marbles, and more.

The Floyd camp also has released an immersion set of Wish You Were Here (with one for The Wall slated for release in 2012), but seriously, once we put on the DSOTM set and The Wizard Of Oz, we were too relaxed to notice.

As far as movie box sets, lets start with the one with the totally overblown and completely unnecessary packaging that we completely intend to take out a second mortgage to possess, the Scarface: Limited Edition Humidor (Universal). Yeah, you read it right. You not only get a Blu-ray version of the 1983 Al Pacino cult classic as well as a DVD version of the 1932 original, but both discs come in a humidor that, according to the press release, is “Made with untreated Spanish cedar, and it will properly condition and age approximately 100 cigars at optimal humidity levels.” The mortgage is necessary because the list price sets you back $1,000.

If your interests are a little more down to earth, literally, there’s the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth: Limited Edition. This set comes in a way-cool globe, and contains some art cards as well as new special features and commentary. For those concerned with all things green, get ready to recycle 100 bucks of it.

Staying on the tube, there’s the BBC/Warner Bros. release of Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant Years. Generally regarded as the Doctor in the illustrious history of the series, The Tennant Years includes all three seasons, and the specials released in 2009 that served as a substitute for his fourth season. The handsome boxset prices out at $199.

If you’re more of a God person, or if you just want to stand still and behold the power of Charlton Heston, there are two sets you might want to find under the tree. The Ten Commandments: Limited Edition (Paramount) is six-discs of Biblical fun, including two Blu-ray discs of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 version, as well as one Blu-ray of his 1923 silent take. The pair come housed in their own tablets, and thou shalt spend $90 to make it your own.

Then of course there’s the three-disc Ben-Hur: Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Warner Bros.), which includes a 64-page booklet and a reproduction of Heston’s on-set journal. Look to shed $65 bucks for this one.

Finally (’cause it’s all we have space for), there’s the Looney Tunes: Platinum Collection, Vol. 1, Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Warner Bros.) for the kids. With all of the characters on hand (Bugs, Daffy, Porky, et al), the set is a treasure for anyone who grew up with them, but there’s almost an entire disc dedicated to legendary director Chuck Jones that in and of itself would make the whole thing worthwhile. The 50 theatrical shorts that come with it aren’t that bad either.

– Timothy Hiatt

As anyone who has ever held a job for more than a week can tell you, the workplace sucks.

Oh, people may tell you that they love their work and love what they do and couldn’t see themselves doing anything else and blah blah blah . . . Yet these are the same people who plunk down $20 a week on lottery tickets. After all, if you’re not working for yourself, you’re only making money for someone else.

The only thing worse than working for someone else is working for someone who makes your life a living hell. Such is the premise of Horrible Bosses (Warner Bros.).

Three best friends and working stiffs (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis) are each cursed with loathsome supervisors and hostile work environments. Bateman is cursed with Mr. Harkin, played by the great Kevin Spacey. Here, Spacey basically trots out the same loutish character he played in Swimming With Sharks, but if the boss fits . . .

Sudeikis has to endure Bobby Pellitt, brilliantly played by a heavily made-up Colin Farrell. Pellitt assumes control of the family business, and has no interest in it other than as a means to fund his cocaine-and-hookers lifestyle.

Finally, Day works as a dental assistant to Dr. Julia Harris, which finds another nice bit of casting-against-type with a nice turn by Jennifer Aniston. Her problem is constant sexual harrassment, something the other two don’t really see as being a big problem at all.

When Bateman is passed over for promotion, the three decide it’s time to take action and get rid of the offending supervisors. Of course, since none of them actually know a thing one about how to go about it, much bumbling ensues.

Horrible Bosses drags a bit in the middle, and the result is a film that could have been trimmed by about 20 minutes without losing anything. But the performances by everyone involved make it worth the effort.

There is a single-disc version, and a three-disc set available, which includes an extended version of the film along with the original theatrical release. Also included are deleted scenes, interviews with the cast about their own bad work experiences, and a segment with the Spacey, Aniston, and Farrell.

If you want a look at things from the other side, there’s Bad Teacher (Columbia). This one finds Cameron Diaz as Elizabeth, a junior-high teacher who cares not a wit about teaching. Seems she’s only doing it because she’s been dumped by her sugardaddy fiancé, and needs to keep working in order to save enough money for a boob job, in order to snag “a man who will take care of me.”

Yes, it is as bad as it sounds.

Into the school comes Scott, an impossibly cheery, as well as quite wealthy, teacher played by Justin Timberlake. Of course, Elizabeth zeroes in on him from the start, but finds him not as easy to seduce as expected.

Bad Teacher will remind most of Bad Santa, as they both share the same sort of sociopathic characters. Yet Teacher falls woefully short of Santa, as it has none of the the latter’s subversive genius.

Although Diaz gamely commits to the premise, the film wastes the talents of Jason Segel as the school’s gym teacher who yearns for Elizabeth, and John Michael Higgins as the principal.

The Blu-ray release featuress the usual behind-the-scenes stuff, gag reels, outtakes, and deleted scenes, but there’s really nothing that can save the whole thing. Or anything.

Also Available: Captain America: The First Avenger puts the finishing touch on Marvel’s preparation for next summer’s superhero blowout The Avengers. Here, Captain America gets the origin treatment as we go back to WWII to find the shielded one kicking some Nazi tail and taking some Nazi names. Still, The First Avenger fares better than the other big superhero flicks of the past year (the average Thor, and the well below-average Green Lantern), thanks to good performances by Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones, as well as Chris Evans as Cap himself.

– Timothy Hiatt

There are certain touchstones in popular culture that demand attention whenever they become available in a new media form. Notably, back in the ’80s, the hype over The Beatles’ catalog being released on CD ensured that a few more millions would land in the pockets of the Fab Three (and estate of the Fab One). And progress being what it is, that scene was replayed when the catalog finally showed up on iTunes.

In the film world, the new-release hoopla always centers around Star Wars. Naturally, the Blu-ray adaptation garners above-the-fold headlines, and again, creator George Lucas can’t leave well-enough alone. Like the theatrical re-release and the original DVD offerings, he’s gone back to the original trilogy and “tweaked” it just a bit. We’ll get to that in a bit, but for now let’s talk about the good things.

First and foremost, all six films look and sound immaculate. The Blu-ray format simply blows away the previous DVD releases, and makes even the original (Episode IV: A New Hope) look like it just hit the theaters last week. Also, for those more concerned with audio, the 6.1 DTS sound is crisper and cleaner than ever.

Fox does the viewing public a big favor by offering up a trio of different box sets. There’s the three-disc pod of just the original trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi), a three-disc set of the second trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack Of The Clones, Revenge Of The Sith), and the super-duper nine-disc set of all the films, with three discs worth of special features.

If you have the means, the nine-disc set is the one to get. Even if you’re like me and have no desire to watch episodes I to III beyond a cursory viewing to see how they look, the set is worth it just for the special features.

Possibly the most interesting are the deleted scenes from A New Hope, specifically the ones involving Luke Skywalker’s time on his home planet of Tatooine.

In the original theatrical release, the character of Biggs was merely a fighter pilot whom Luke happened to mention as a friend. In the revamped special edition released on DVD, the two met up before the big Death Star battle. Here, the deleted Tatooine scenes show the two at the old homestead talking about joining the rebellion. Unlike most deleted scenes tacked on to releases, it actually enhances the story, and would not have been out of place had it made the final cut.

Other cuts included an extended argument between Han Solo and Princess Leia at the Hoth ice base in Empire, and a sequence of Luke building his new light saber in Jedi.

These, of course, are just the tip of the iceberg, as others feature commentary on all films by Lucas, as well as various crew members.

The third bonus disc contains hours of documentaries on all of the films, as well as a 90-minute feature dedicated solely to various Star Wars spoofs across the media landscape.

Now about the latest batch of changes Lucas implemented: there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is he hasn’t gone completely nuts with new stuff like he did for the initial re-release, so hardcore fans shouldn’t be digging out the pitchforks and torches this time around. (Yes people, we know Han shot first, get over it!) No new scenes have been added, and the tinkerings are relatively minor.

The bad news is they are all unneccessary, and one is just downright spooky. At the top of the unneccessary list is Darth Vader shouting “Nooo!!” as he tosses the Emperor over the railing in Jedi, while the decision to add CG eyelids to Jedi’s Ewoks so they can blink is the height of creepiness. The changes bring up a very relevant question: if you’re gonna go to all of the effort and expense to make unnecessary changes, why can’t you make changes that would actually help, like erasing all evidence of Jar-Jar from the prequels, or digitally inserting talent into Hayden Christenson? Something to think about for the next big format change.

This is usually the place in the column where the rating goes for both the film, and the Blu-ray features, but come on. At this point, everyone knows how the films line up, and it’s the big-time-boffo Blu-ray release. Do you really think the features are anything less than stellar?

– Timothy Hiatt

D’ja ever find yourself watching the Bill Murray classic Groundhog Day and think, “This is cute and all, but I wonder what the military applications of living the same day over and over again would be”?

Or perhaps the violence level in all of those “Quantum Leap” episodes wasn’t as high as you would have liked.

Well, take heart, campers. Source Code Summit Entertainment) addresses all of the above concerns.

Air Force helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up on the Metra train bound for Chicago, and from the get-go, he realizes things aren’t quite right. For one thing, he has no idea how he got there, and the gorgeous girl sitting across from him (Michelle Monaghan) keeps calling him “Sean.” Then there’s the strange circumstance of looking in the mirror to find the reflection to be that of a high school teacher named Sean Fentress, at least that’s who the ID in his wallet says he is. Then the train blows up. Disorienting, to say the least.

Immediately after the explosion, Stevens wakes up in some sort of cryogenic chamber, where a woman in uniform on a video screen (Vera Farmiga) talks him through the process of re-orientation.

Turns out Stevens is part of a government project that has figured a way for a person to inhabit the last eight minutes of the “source code,” or the lingering effects of a dying person’s being. He’s sent to occupy Fentress’ place on the exploding train in order to stop an even larger attack – a dirty bomb set to turn Chicago into nothing more than a pleasant memory.

Source Code could have easily been nothing more than a by-the-numbers techno thriller, and it does seem to revel in its “Quantum Leap” resemblance, so much so that “Leap” star Scott Bakula appears in a voice cameo as Stevens’ father. But director Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s kid), and writer Ben Ripley craft an intricate and rich storyline that takes the technical aspects and injects them with a wonderful human element that downplays some of the film’s more illogical shortcomings.

The Blu-ray special features aren’t really that special, as it only includes some cast interviews, commentary by Gyllenhaal, Jones, and Ripley, and an interactive menu called “Access: Source Code.”

Still, it’s well worth a look, if only for the fact that intelligent sci-fi is getting harder and harder to come by these days.

Limitless
20th Century Fox

While we’re in the mood for some head games and mind expansion, there’s Limitless.

Scientists say we only use 20 percent of our brains. Personally, I know a metric ton of people who use a lot less – yours truly included – but for the sake of argument we’ll go with what they say. Imagine there was a pill that unlocked the remaining 80 percent.

That’s Limitless.

Would you use your newfound Mensa status to cure disease, end global strife, try to explain the appeal of Dane Cook? Or would you just be a money-grubbing dick? For all the enticing possibilities, Limitless goes for the latter.

We find Bradley Cooper as Eddie, a hopelessly blocked writer and general burnout until his former brother-in-law hooks him up with the latest designer drug, known as NZT. Within weeks, Eddie is speaking any language he hears, finishes his book in days, and devises fool-proof ways of picking winners in the stock market.

The only drawback of NZT is that people have a tendency to die once they stop taking it.

On the surface, Limitless is a fairly standard action thriller, with elements we’ve seen in dozens of films before. Not far below the surface however, is an unmistakable parable about the dangers of meth. That’s the impression I got, at least, although I gotta say I hope I’m wrong, based on the film’s ending. If they really were going for the anti-drug sermon, the resolution betrays the message.

The Limitless Blu-ray features an extended version with an alternate ending, along with a “making of” segment.

– Timothy Hiatt

If there’s one thing that can be taken as gospel, it’s the belief that if something works once, it will most assuredly work again for someone else. Of course, that little pearl of wisdom rarely turns out to be true, but it sure doesn’t stop Hollywood from clicking its heels three times and wishing it were so. Case in point: In the wake of the surprise success of last year’s Inception, the race to produce the next oh-so-trippy mind-fuck of a film is on in earnest. And doggonit if Universal doesn’t almost pull it off. Almost.

Based on the Philip K. Dick short story “The Adjustment Team,” The Adjustment Bureau (Universal Pictures) tosses out the concept that there is no such thing as fate. Not only is everything pre-determined, but there’s actually a group of individuals in charge of making things happen exactly according to plan.

Matt Damon plays up-and-coming New York politician David Norris. As the youngest person ever to be elected to Congress, Norris is on the fast track to the White House. Yet a last minute scandal derails his campaign, and sets him on a different path. On this new path, he meets Elise, played by the always wonderful Emily Blunt. Thing is, the two really aren’t supposed to meet. Or are they? Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. That’s just the kind of movie it is. Of course, their lives will cross repeatedly over several years, and they will repeatedly be pulled apart.

It really does take too long to describe the settings and circumstances that provide the cause and effect of The Adjustment Bureau. Suffice to say, that Norris discovers what goes on behind the scenes, and proves quite the determined lad to go against the conspiracy to do things his own way in his quest to hook up with Elise.

I say The Adjustment Bureau almost works as well as Inception, and it does. However a plot hole so large you could fly an Airbus through gives it an insurmountable shortcoming. Not to give too much away (because it is well worth seeing for both the performances and the story), but the whole film would be over in about five minutes if Elise would actually learn how to use a phone.

The Blu-Ray release features deleted scenes, two features on the film’s preferred means of travel (going through one door and coming out the other side halfway across town), an interview with Blunt, and commentary from director George Nolfi.

Sucker Punch
Warner Bros.

If you subscribe to the school of thought that says the films of director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) have become mere exercises in style over substance, you can stop wasting your breath arguing the point – Sucker Punch pleads your case for you all by itself, thank you.

It’s alleged that this is the first film from Snyder that’s neither a remake or based on someone else’s material. Sure, he’s credited as the writer as well as the director, but I have a theory on that. I have a sneaking suspicion that he went to various comic and sci-fi conventions and handed out a questionnaire to the fanboys in attendance. On this questionnaire was written one poser: What do you think would make a cool action sequence? He then took five answers and went to work.

Hot chicks in naughty school-girl outfits fighting zombies in German army uniforms? Check. Hot chicks in naughty school-girl outfits fighting giant samurai robots? Check. Hot chicks in naughty school-girl outfits using the Hindenberg for aerial combat? Check.

The actual story is irrelevant, as it just serves as a bridge to one video-game sequence after another. And, as is often the case with big-things-go-boom movies, the Blu-Ray release comes loaded with special features and is available in several different versions. It’s a good way to try to dupe the viewer into forgetting the lack of substance in the film itself.

Also available . . . For the first time, AC/DC’s 1980 film Let There Be Rock (Warner Bros.) gets the DVD treatment. Filmed in Paris way back in 1979, Let There Be Rock showcases one of the last performances by original howler Bon Scott. Classics such as “Whole Lotta Rosie,” “High Voltage,” and of course “Highway To Hell” are included. Fittingly, the band would go on to have statues made of them for the rock ‘n’ roll pantheon after his death, but Let There Be Rock shows just how much work Scott put in building the pedestal.

– Timothy Hiatt

I Am Number Four Touchstone
No one ever said high school was easy. In fact, there are many who subscribe to the theory that “the greatest days of your life” are nothing but a constant series of kicks to the teeth. However, no matter how bad things get, you can rest easy knowing that, according to I Am Number Four, it’s just as rough a ride for alien visitors to our humble planet.

But I Am Number Four serves a much greater purpose than exposing the rough ride visitors among us have in those awkward moments between homeroom and chem class; it also points out how much more difficult it’s become to be a strange visitor from another planet in the age of cellphone cameras and YouTube.

The basic premise of Number Four is a group of nine aliens are here on Earth to protect if from a larger group of aliens bent on destroying us. It’s never really clear why those aliens are here or why they want to destroy us. (My personal guess is they’re not happy The Chicago Code got cancelled, either, and therefore we all must pay – but it might be something else.)

The bad news is the nine good aliens are getting bumped off. The good news: the aliens in the black hats seem to care more about knocking them off in numerical order than getting the job done by any means neccessary.

This is where our hero, John (Alex Pettyfer), comes in. See, he’s number four, which means he’s next on the hit list and is just starting to figure out his powers. After fleeing the sunny climes of Florida because he was outed online, John and his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) land in the bucolic community of Paradise, Ohio. Naturally, within five minutes of enrolling in a new school, he falls hard for the first girl he sees: Glee’s Dianna Agron.

The film crawls by for about an hour as John’s powers manifest. The high points are being able to levitate things and have glowing hands, the latter of which proving to be the most valuable: in the murky world of Paradise, Ohio, it’s good to have a ready source of light, and it’s much better for the environment to have glowing hands than burn through several D cells at a time.

Of course there’s a big final battle, and of course they set things up for sequels by leaving more loose ends than a pair of cutoffs.

As far as the Blu-Ray is concerned, its sound and picture quality are excellent, but there isn’t a wealth of special features lying around. Only a blooper reel and a few deleted scenes hold much interest.

Film: Features:

Heart: Night At Sky Church
Legacy

When you think about it, there really aren’t many more influential female rockers than Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson. Not only have they paved the way for throngs of women with guitars, but they’ve managed to stick around for decades. Sure, they are miles away from the fame they achieved in the late ’70s and early ’80s, but ya gotta love the fact that they keep chugging along.

Heart: Night At Sky Church finds the band in fine form and running through a mix of radio staples such as “Barracuda,” “Magic Man,” and “What About Love,” as well as newer material.

Also included is a cover of Alison Krauss‘ “Your Long Journey,” which happens to feature an appearance by Robert Plant’s new-bestest friend herself .

They may not have the stage moves they used to, but Nancy remains a formidable guitarist and Ann’s voice is still a force of nature. Night At Sky Church is a nice reminder that, while they may not have the chart success anymore, Heart aren’t going anywhere soon.

Film: Features:

Also available . . . If you’re anything like me (and if I were you, I’d pray to whatever deity it is I pray to that that’s not the case), you found it physically impossible to get enough royal-wedding coverage in your life. Well buck up, campers. The BBC rides to the rescue with The Royal Wedding: William & Catherine, while PBS weighs in with William & Catherine: Planning A Royal Wedding. It’s manna from heaven as you can toss on your favorite mumu, plant yourself on the couch, set the DVD machine to a constant loop, and experience wedded bliss from across the pond 24/7. But whatever you do, don’t get so hypnotized by funny hats and shiny things that you forget to feed the 20 cats you have wandering around the house. Take it from me, Mr. Muffins and crew don’t like it when they’re ignored for too long.

– Timothy Hiatt

The Green Hornet
Sony Pictures
The Green Hornet has always been sort of the red headed stepchild of the hero world. Beginning as a radio serial in 1936, the Hornet was created to capitalize on the popularity of The Lone Ranger. Then, in the 1940s, a pair of film serials hit the market. And, of course, the 1966 television series arrived as a way to grab some of the “Batman” ratings. Seems that anytime there has been a franchise that needed leaching off of, The Green Hornet has answered the bell.

So with its spotty history, it’s no wonder the inevitable big-screen adaptation was far from inevitable.

People have been trying to get a film version off the ground since the early ’90s. During this time, names such as George Clooney, Jet Li, and Kevin Smith have been attached. However, as these plans have fallen by the wayside, we were left with Seth Rogan. In the end, the Green Hornet that finally hit the screen plays as the film equivalent of a guy who has just spent five hours shopping with the wife, then throws his hands in the air in desperation and says, “I don’t care what it is or how it looks, just buy something for chrissakes!”

Rogan, who also co-wrote the script with Evan Goldberg, stars as Britt Reid — wealthy playboy turned crimefighter. In this version, he’s pulled from his spoiled-rich-boy duties by the murder of his father. He takes over as the publisher of the Daily Sentinel and assumes the Green Hornet guise.

And what would the Hornet be without trusty sidekick, Kato? As made famous by Bruce Lee in the television series, Kato has always been the muscle doing all the heavy lifting. Here, he’s obviously the brains of the duo, but seems more interested in being a barista than a badass.

That’s just one of the many problems with the film, the main one being it doesn’t know if it wants to play things for laughs or straight. The result is it goes for — and fails — at both. Cameron Diaz appears as some sort of love interest, I guess, but she isn’t given anything to do. Christoph Waltz, so brilliant in Inglorious Basterds, fairs much worse. His turn as the lead heavy finds him snarling ersatz tough-guy lines while trying to convince people he’s actually, you know, tough.

The 2D and 3D versions are available on separate Blu-ray versions, and both come loaded with special features such as interview, deleted scenes, and outtakes that almost make up for the film.

Tron: Legacy
Disney

Say what you will about it in hindsight, but on its 1982 release Tron really did seem like cutting-edge stuff. Its primary-color-saturated world of computer innards immediately became geek catnip, and turned into the forerunner of the cyberpunk genre. Of course, in 1982, the Commodore 64 was kinda mind-blowing as well. So there’s that.

Looking at how far we’ve come with the advancements of computer gee-whizery, the question wasn’t whether the world of Tron would get revisited, the question was when.

With the answer of “no time like the present,” Disney finally gets around to Tron: Legacy.

It’s 20 years after Kevin Flynn, creator of the world of Tron, has disappeared into the matrix. After looking for answers, his son Sam gets drawn in after him. Sam is then forced to take part in the program’s gladiatorial games to stay alive and find his father — a sort of Spartacus on a motherboard.

Jeff Bridges is back to reprise the Kevin role, and Legacy’s big pitch is the computer animation technique that lets him play Dad as both the real-age character and the younger version of himself (’cause computer programs don’t age, see).

However, like the other effects of the film, they’re quite disappointing, especially for such a touchstone title. Whereas the color scheme of the original was bright and vivid, the world of Tron: Legacy is muted, muddy, and indistinguishable. That may have been what they were going for thematically, but it just makes for a dull feature.

With much overkill, there are at least three Blu-ray versions available: two-disc, four-disc, and even a whopping five-disc set. If you can’t find a feature or two to watch out of all those choices, you really should give up trying.

– Timothy Hiatt

Just as spring hits the Midwest, perhaps the most talked about film of 2010 hits the Blu-ray shelves: Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (Fox Searchlight).

Sure, the film garnered massive critical acclaim and generated enough buzz to light up Cincinnati, but I found myself holding a distinctly minority opinion. While I did find it completely worthwhile, I didn’t think that it deserved nearly the accolades it was receiving.

A second look at it on Blu-ray really didn’t do anything to change that view.

The film’s success falls squarely on the shoulders of Aronofsky, as he took what could have been a standard soap about the New York City Ballet and sprinkled on a healthy dose of All About Eve, while piling on the existential dread to create a surreal take on the pressures of fame.

Natalie Portman (who won the Best Actress Oscar) plays Nina, a dancer tapped to play the roles of both the black and white swan in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. From the get-go, the pressure gets to her, as she perceives everyone to be in a plot against her, and descends into dreams of self-immolation. Granted, she doesn’t go off the rails as quickly as Nicholson in The Shining, but it’s a pretty close second.

Compounding the tension is Ballet Director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) and his do-almost-anything approach to getting the most out of Nina, and Lily (Mila Kunis), the dancer who may or may not have designs on Nina’s place in the company.

In general, the cast does a wonderful job, although Portman’s performance isn’t nearly as subtle or nuanced as an award-winning turn should be.

The Blu-ray features a three-part behind-the-scenes look at the filming, interviews with Portman and Aronofsky, as well as cast profiles and segments on the costume and production design.

For all the back-and-forth Black Swan generated, you would think it would be a love-it-or-hate-it situation. However I found it was easy to respect and enjoy the final product, though in the end it just left me a little indifferent.

Hereafter
Warner Bros.

After a stellar run of providing searing commentary on everything from the sports world (Million Dollar Baby), war (Flags Of Our Fathers), and race relations (Gran Torino), Clint Eastwood tries to take a peek at the afterlife in Hereafter.

Unfortunately, it looks like the streak is over, as Hereafter proves to be one of the most disjointed and least satisfying efforts of Eastwood’s directorial career.

Although the film’s publicity portrays it as a Matt Damon film, it is in actuality three separate storylines woven together. Of course, they all converge in the end, but by the time we get there, the ending seems thrown together, and it’s just resolution to roll the credits.

The first of the three storylines begins with an eye-popping and, in light of the recent events in Japan, absolutely chilling effects sequence centering on French journalist Marie (Cécile De France) getting caught in a tsunami and spending a few minutes clinically dead. Then it’s on to London, where young Marcus’ twin brother is killed and he sets off looking for answers. Then there’s Damon’s character, a psychic retired from the business due to the mental exhaustion caused by knowing everything about everyone he touches.

It’s all pretty heady stuff, but the script and performances aren’t really up to the task.

Blu-ray features include nine “focus points” that cover various aspects of the film, and an Eastwood retrospective.

Also Available . . . The Tourist (Columbia) proves that just because you have two top-tier big-screen draws, doesn’t mean you’re gonna get a great film out of them. Sure, it may have seemed like a good idea at the time to put Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie together for a tale of international intrigue, but at one point it also seemed like a good idea for the White Sox to sign Albert “Not Joey, Mutha Effa!” Belle. The two have absolutely no chemistry , and the plot twist at the end is visible miles ahead of time. Skip it.

–Timothy Hiatt

Due Date
Warner Home Video
Funny thing about career revivals — one gets the impression that they can do no wrong. As a result, the actor in question will take roles that perhaps they should have been warned against.

Such is the situation with Robert Downey Jr. Having pulled off one of the most impressive comebacks in recent memory, he seems to have forgotten that he doesn’t have to sign on to a film like Due Date just for the paycheck.

Granted, the project looked good on paper, with Downey and comic flavor-of-the-moment Zach Galifianakis in a Planes, Trains And Automobiles (ripoff? homage?) Add to the mix Old School and The Hangover director Todd Phillips, and it’s money in the bank.

Unfortunately, things have a way of not working out as planned.

If you’ve seen one buddy picture involving misunderstandings, wacky mishaps, and unrealistic twists, you’ve seen Due Date. The talent on hand here can’t save it from contrived plot points and lazy writing.

The special features on the Blu-ray release don’t give you any incentive to pick it up, with only deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the complete “Two And A Half Men” scene featuring Galifianakis’ character holding any interest.

Unstoppable
20th Century Fox

Sometimes, you just need a simple action flick to get you through the dark times. A simple action flick is not a mindless action flick, however. Mindless actioners exist merely to blow stuff up real good, titillate 14-year-old boys, and generally bring everyone’s IQ down a dozen points or so.

Simple actioners just put a basic scenario on the screen, then let intelligent people deal with it in a way that doesn’t talk down to the audience — all the while getting in a few edge-of-the-seat moments.

Director Tony Scott knows a thing or two about simple action films, having helmed Top Gun and The Taking Of Pelham 123 remake. With Unstoppable, Scott again teams with Pelham’s Denzel Washington and adds Chris Pine, taking some shore leave from the Starship Enterprise, to give us a good old-fashioned runaway train yarn.

Sure, there’s nothing new here: the out-of-control train contains deadly toxins that will destroy whatever it crashes into. And of course there’s a carload of school children in its path and a bureaucratic douchebag who thinks he knows how to control things from the corporate office. But Washington, Pine, and Scott know they aren’t doing Shakespeare, and thus don’t try to bring anything to their roles that isn’t necessary.

Blu-ray extras such as features on the making of, stunt work, and scene breakdowns, as well as BD Live extras make Unstoppable a worthwhile, if none too challenging evening at home.

The Walking Dead
Anchor Bay

For those who thought they could escape the impending zombie apocalypse, here are a few words of advice: get used to it. It’s coming, so stock up on canned goods and learn how to use that rifle that’s mounted over the fireplace.

But seriously, folks, the zombie movie isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it’s now so ingrained in the public consciousness that the ratings for AMC’s “The Walking Dead” far eclipsed the viewership of their other weekly juggernaut, “Mad Men.” Granted, the wardrobe at “Mad Men’”s weekly viewing parties is considerably better, but still . . .

“TWD’”s first season wasn’t long, but the tale of a motley group of survivors fending off the undead contained more interesting characters and situations in a mere six episodes than most shows have in a full-season run.

Anchor Bay’s two-disc Blu-ray set comes loaded with special features, including insight into every episode, a behind-the-scenes overview, as well as segments on the makeup and extra footage.

– Timothy Hiatt

Sometimes, you will see a documentary on this performer or that performer and just scratch your head in wonder. “Why,” you might muse, “is time and effort being wasted on this person. He/she has achieved nothing, but for some reason someone thinks we should know everything about them.” Unfortunately, this happens way too often.

Then there’s Lemmy (Red General). As in Kilmister. As in Motorhead’s Lemmy. If ever there was someone who exemplifies the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and could command our interest for a couple of hours of soul searching, it’s him.

After dabbling with several bands during the ’60s British invasion, Kilmister signed on as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix. Once that gig was up, he joined the early-’70s space-rock outfit Hawkwind. Eventually, he was ushered out the door because of drug use. Not simply because he was using, mind you, but because he wasn’t using the same ones as the rest of the band. See, Kilmister ’s drug of choice was amphetamines, while the rest of the band would indulge in acid. Apparently, speed and hallucinagins don’t make for being on the same page. Who knew?

The next step was to form Motorhead, and the legend begins.

The brilliance of Motorhead is that it transcends genres. It wasn’t just another meathead metal band, it created something new – thrash. It’s because of this that it survived, and even thrived when punk came along and obliterated almost everything metal and prog-rock act in its path. The sheer speed, volume, and don’t-give-a-shit-attitude that was Motorhead’s M.O. made it not only acceptable to punk nation, but revered.

So you can see how Kilmister ’s tale is ripe for the telling. Unfortunately, directors Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver aren’t the guys to tell it. Despite trailing Kilmister for three years, all they can come up with is standard documentary fare: Lemmy on stage, Lemmy backstage, Lemmy talking about Lemmy. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been seen in countless features just like it, and that’s truly sad. Mind you, if all you care about is simply two hours of watching Lemmy be Lemmy, this will be fine. But you come out of the experience knowing exactly what you knew about him before.

The special features are numerous, but nothing really stands out. It’s mainly more rehearsal footage, and more interviews that didn’t make it into the main feature.

Red
Summit Entertainment

What a drag it is getting old. Father Time is never going to be your friend, no matter how hard you try to butter him up or offer sacrifices to him to get on his good side. There is always going to be someone coming up behind you to take your job after you’ve decided to call it quits or worse, get forced out altogether. And that’s just in your menial, work-a-day life. Imagine how much it would suck if your job happened to be working for the CIA.

Well you don’t have to imagine, because Red does it for you.

As retired spook Frank Moses, Red finds Bruce Willis passing retirement by waiting for his pension check and conducting a sight-unseen relationship with the pension worker on the other end of the phone, played by Mary-Louise Parker.

Of course, being ex-CIA has its drawbacks, as Frank finds out when he is targeted in a failed assassination attempt. In the aftermath, he enlists some old allies (Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren) to help him break into CIA headquarters and find out just what the heck is going on.

While Red is billed as an ensemble piece, it’s actually Willis’ film. Freeman’s role is limited to a few scenes at the beginning and midway point of the film, and Mirren doesn’t even show up until the last third. Still, the talent on hand makes up for the film’s shortcomings, including a middle section that drags to a point it almost grinds the film to a halt.

Although the extras aren’t that numerous, the audio commentary by retired CIA field officer Robert Baer is a nice change from the standard actor/director gabfest.

– Timothy Hiatt

According to the literary and Tinsel-town adage, there are only seven plot lines with which to work. If you take this logic as absolute, then once you’ve seen a film with one of these individual stories, you’ve seen them all.

Of course, thinking like that hasn’t stopped anyone from putting their own spin on an old tale and, when you consider the sheer number of titles produced in Hollywood’s 100-year history, it’s safe to say that more often than not, the results are less than impressive.

Yet every once in awhile a true visionary shows up to make you remember why you love film in the first place.

Writer/director Christopher Nolan seems physically incapable of producing works that are anything less than stellar. Whether trying his hand at the man-with-amnesia tale (Memento), exploring two rival magicians (The Prestige), or most famously revitalizing the Batman franchise, you always come away from a Nolan film feeling like you’ve just seen something you haven’t seen before. So it’s really no surprise that when he takes all the plot elements of a simple heist film and tosses them in a blender, he comes up with his masterpiece.

Inception finds Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a corporate raider who conducts his business by getting into the dreams of his targets and plucking the information he needs from their subconscious. Now, he must do the opposite and implant information into the mark’s thoughts. Yes, it is as heady and complex as it seems. But the beauty of Inception isn’t in its complexity, but in the way Nolan, Dicaprio, and the rest of the brilliant cast navigate those complex waters. Although it seems we as viewers know where we are, the curtain will be suddenly ripped away to reveal that things are not what they seem. This isn’t to say the film is incomprehensible – quite the contrary. Instead, Inception reveals what is necessary when it’s necessary; each twist peels back another layer to show a rich texture that is enhanced with subsequent viewings. And you will want to view it several times.

The Blu-Ray’s special features, however, aren’t really anything to write home about. Aside from a segment on dreams, a gallery of some of the conceptual art, and a digital copy of the film, there’s not much there. Still, this isn’t really a bad thing either, as you will be too busy unlocking the film’s mysteries to be concerned with extras

Film: **** Features: ** 1/2

The American
Lionsgate

Despite being one of the busiest actors around, having George Clooney’s name above the title doesn’t guarantee box office success. Such is the case with The American, a feature that did relatively little at the gate, yet could go down as one of the most underrated gems of his career.

Part of the problem, and quite possibly the reason for its lackluster returns, is the way it was presented to the public. Released in the summer and shown in previews to be yet another big summer shoot-em-up, The American couldn’t be more opposite. Instead, the film is a quiet, contemplative view of an assassin wanting to get out of the business.

Generally, the lack of action in an action movie is the kiss of death, especially when one goes in expecting a lot of brainless noise. Yet when you realize The American could just as easily have starred Vin Diesel, you can see the beauty of it a lot more clearly.

Despite one of Clooney’s best performances – all gaunt and world-weary – the reason the film works lies in Anton Corbijn’s wonderful direction. The film may not be fast-paced, but it’s far from tedious. Corbijn made his bones early on by being one of the most in-demand photographers, and then video directors, in the music business. As such, he knows his way around creating stunning visuals. Here, he alternates between extreme longshots and tight closeups. He also takes great pains to create a soundscape that is just as important as the cinematography. Whether it be the crunching of footsteps in the snow or the simple stirring of coffee, every sound is meant to enhance the story.

Again, as with Inception, the Blu-Ray’s extras aren’t that impressive, with commentary by Corbijn, behind-the-scenes footage, and deleted scenes.

Film: *** 1/2 Features: ***

– Timothy Hiatt

In the literary world of the ’40s and ’50s, there are writers of mystery and crime novels with standard whodunit plots that involve characters and situations to be neatly resolved at the end of act three.

Then there are the pulp writers. Pulp writers weren’t hampered by large publishing houses that demanded stories suitable for mass consumption. Their works were released by small independent houses that gave them the freedom to be as messy as they wanted to be. Among the pulp writers, no name looms larger than Jim Thompson.

Thompson’s works featured the whole gamut of unsavory characters: Cops on the take, two-timin’ dames, and oftentimes just plain psychopaths. As is usually the case with most brilliant writers, Thompson never achieved the fortune and notoriety he should have when he was alive.

His works, however, have dotted the Hollywood landscape for years in such films as The Grifters, After Dark, My Sweet, two versions of The Getaway, and now the second go ’round for his most famous work, The Killer Inside Me.

Director Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, A Mighty Heart) takes Thompson’s dark tale of Lou Ford (Casey Affleck), a small-town sheriff prone to bouts of violent masochism, and gives it deft touch – not to understated, yet not over the top.

As Ford, Affleck at first seems too young for the role, but he quickly dispels that fear as he delivers a performance that goes from hypnotically soft-spoken to explosions of brutal violence that are truly tough to watch.

Also on board are Jessica Alba, always easy on the eyes but seemingly marginal in talent. Yet here, she steps up her game in the challenging role of the prostitute who ignites Ford’s inner demons. Even Kate Hudson takes a break from her demanding schedule of churning out dismal romantic comedies to remind folks that she can, in fact, be quite good.

The violence is indeed disturbing, making The Killer Inside Me miles away from an easy film to take, but unlike a lot of films, it isn’t mere violence for violence’s sake.

The Blu-Ray is light on extra features, with just bits on Affleck, Alba, and Hudson.

Ladies And Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones
Eagle Vision

After a very brief theatrical run in 1974, Ladies & Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones disappeared from public view. Despite an under-the-radar release on Australian VHS in the mid-’80s, the film gathered dust for three decades.

Surprising for two reasons: First, the Stones have never been shy about releasing live material to the film or video world, even when it should have been left on the shelf. Secondly, and most importantly, Ladies & Gentlemen ranks as one of their best efforts.

Filmed at four shows in Texas in 1972, L&G captures them at the height of their power. Touring in support of Exile On Main Street, the Stones’ stage show finds them at their bluesiest, sweaty and grungiest best. These are the Stones that on any given night just might have been able to live up to their claim of being the Greatest Rock ‘N’ Roll Band In The World.

Sure, other live releases have been shot better, or had truer sound quality, but few have been able to retain the true intensity of their live sets when everything was clicking.

Features on the DVD include rehearsal footage and a present-day interview with Mick Jagger.

Also available . . . It’s tough enough for a band to record one album that has lasting impact, let alone two. But love ‘em or hate ‘em, Rush managed to do just that. Eagle Vision’s “Classic Album” series turns the camera northward to delve into the Canadian trio’s recording process for the pseudo-rock opera 2112, and their mass-appeal breakthrough, Moving Pictures. All three band members take you through both albums song-by-song and, as is always the case with the “Classic Album” series, there’s enough here to keep both studio geeks and laymen interested.

– Timothy Hiatt

Tis the end of the year, and all through the biz, labels and production houses are releasing music DVDs des-igned to grab your nostalgia dollars. What, you really didn’t expect a rhyme there, did ya?

This month, we’re gonna focus on a few discs that, with the exception of one, aren’t really in the gift-box category, but are of interest nonetheless – most of which feature artists who have shuffled off this mortal coil.

First up, and the only one that qualifies as a deluxe release suitable for a place under the tree, is Michael Jackson’s Vision (Epic/Legacy). Just over a year since his death, the cashing in on his legacy continues as this three-disc set contains every video and short film produced in the King Of Pop’s career, including 10 that have never been available on DVD. From the early efforts, which truly look like every other video of the time (“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Rock With You”), to the ones that have become cultural touchstones and have become part of the Library Of Congress’ National Film Registry, all vids Michael are here.

Say what you want about Jacko and his, um . . . eccentricities . . . but dude knew how to put the people in place to create some impressive imagery. The list of big-time Hollywood directors he recruited to helm some of the clips alone puts him at the top of the class.

There’s John Landis (“Thriller,” “Black Or White”), Martin Scorsese (“Bad” and yes, I had forgotten Wesley Snipes is in that one), John Singleton (“Remember The Time”), and David Fincher (“Who Is It?”) for starters. Not to mention legendary photographer Herb Ritts (“In The Closet”) and special-effects guru Stan Winston (“Ghosts”). Most bands of the time were lucky to get their buddy in film school to shoot theirs.

The set also features a 64-page booklet with stills from all the video shoots, as well as info and production dates for every clip.

For those who prefer their “Collectors Edition” with a bit more of a down-under flavor, there’s INXS: Mystify (Eagle Vision).

The bulk of this set was recorded in 1997 for Germany’s “Rockpalast” television series. Of course, lead singer Michael Hutchence would only see five more Earth months after its recording.

As a record of the band in action, Mystify falls a bit short. Hutchence and crew give game efforts at points, but appear to be simply going through the motions at others. A much better look at the band comes on the disc’s section dedicated to their first short appearance on the show – in 1984. The six tracks from that era finds the band just before worldwide fame landed, and they still were hungry and eager to please.

As it was originally a TV broadcast, the sound and visual look leaves a bit to be desired – no 5.1 or letterboxing is happening, but it’s still an interesting look at two different moments in the group’s career.

Folks looking for some virtuosity in their music DVDs should be directed to The Torture Never Stops (Eagle Vision), Frank Zappa’s 1981 Halloween concert at the Palladium in New York City.

Despite a rabid cult following, Zappa never got the mainstream success he deserved – not only for his brilliantly left-field songwriting, but for his guitar wizardry as well.

The Torture Never Stops finds Zappa and crew, including guitar sidekick Steve Vai, at their latter-day best. Latter day, that is, because very little of the disc includes Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention material. Those looking for the early works, this isn’t the place to be.

There aren’t any special features on Torture, but the performance is enough to make you see why present-day artists like Les Claypool have been trying to recreate the Zappa magic for years.

And finally, an artist who’s still earthbound (although you couldn’t tell from his career trajectory.) Phil Collins Going Back: Live At The Roseland Ballroom NYC (Eagle Vision) finds the former Genesis frontman and ’80s hit machine back on stage belting out the Motown hitbook. Instead of rehashing his hits, Collins opts for versions of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” “Tears Of A Clown,” “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” and the likes.

– Timothy Hiatt

Iron Man may possibly be one of the best comic-book movies ever made, and its critical and financial success meant that the sequel was as inevitable as the sun rising in the east or Lindsay Lohan doing something stupid.

Of course, sequels rarely live up to the original, and Iron Man 2 is no exception.

Back again are Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow as his doting assistant, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. This time out, we also get Don Cheadell stepping into the “Rhodey” Rhodes role in place of Terrance Howard.

New film means new bad guys, so here we have Mickey Rourke, fresh off his career renaisance, as Whiplash, a Russian ne’er-do-well out to extract a little revenge. Topping it all off is Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, who may or may not be one of the good guys.

For the second helping, the world finds Stark living it up with the whole playboy superhero thing. However the battery pack in his chest that keeps him alive is not only running out of juice, but is slowly poisoning him. Plus, he’s got a neo-con senator played by Garry Shandling (Hey! Where have you been?) on his case wanting to nationalize the suit. So clearly, dude’s got a lot on his mind.

None of this gets in the way of a lot of explosions, chases, and general mayhem, which is why Iron Man 2 fails to live up to the original. Despite good turns again by Downey Jr. and Paltrow, the film fails by substituting noise and flashiness for a good story. Rourke gets lost in all the clutter, and Johansson has still not shown any hint of acting chops, despite being an “it” girl for the past decade.

Like the Blu-Ray release of the original, Iron Man 2 comes loaded with special features. There are eight deleted scenes, segments on the suit, introductions to the new characters from concept to screen, commentary by director Jon Favreau, expanded looks at the digital-effects process, and that just scratches the surface. Unlike other big-budget blockbusters that treat special features like they had to pay royalties for them, Iron Man 2 delivers the goods in spades.

If only the film itself was so generous.

Tommy
Sony Pictures

The catalog of director Ken Russell truly runs the gamut. There’s the good (Altered States), the bad (Gothic), and the holy-crap-how-did-this-get-funded-and-why-the-hell-am-I-watching-it (Lisztomania). While his adaptation of The Who’s Tommy doesn’t fall into the last catagory, it’s miles away from the first.

Tommy does have a strong cult following, however, and now all of the tripiness has hit Blu-Ray.

Love it or hate it, ya gotta admit there’s a lot going on here, and truth be told, your assesment of the film will depend heavily on your state (or altered state) of mind upon viewing. Russell’s fever-dream reading of of the classic-rock opera doesn’t diminish the source material too much – let’s face it, the story was pretty absurd to begin with – but it doesn’t add anything either.

Still, the trainwreck cast does prove to be an amusing watch. There’s Who frontman Roger Daltry as the deaf, dumb, and blind kid turned messiah, also Ann Margaret and Oliver Reed as his mother and stepfather. All well and good, but from there it gets dicey. You get Tina Turner as the Acid Queen, Jack Nicholson as the Doctor, and Elton John as the Pinball Wizard.

Russell’s Tommy is definitely a frustrating affair. For all of the good moments, there are an equal number cringe-inducing ones. And, if you’re a Who fan, you’ve seen it many times before.

So the question is: Is it worth ponying up the cash for the Blu-Ray? If you’re looking for a plethora of special features, no. Inexplicably, features that were on the original DVD release aren’t even included here. Yet if all you’re looking for is a major upgrade in picture and sound quality, then why not?

– Timothy Hiatt

So this is how marriage is: You’re together for awhile, squeeze out a few kids, and settle into a routine. You go to work, you come home from work, feed and clean up after said kids, and do it all over again the next day. It goes without saying that your best married friends will be splitting up, and they will let you know in no uncertain terms that it’s the best thing that ever happened to them, and you’re idiots for not doing it as well.

But if we’ve learned nothing else from Hollywood, it’s that a single night of wackiness and danger is all it takes to get the matrimonial bliss back in focus.

Such is the premise of Date Night, director Shawn Levy’s attempt to ape Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. Problem is, despite the able cast, it has none of the quirkiness and cleverness of Scorsese’s overlooked gem.

Steve Carell and Tina Fey play the aforementioned, woebegone couple, and instead of going to their usually weekly date-night retreat of suburban generic restaurant glory, they decide to venture into the big bad city. Of course, nothing good ever happens when you leave the cozy confines of the suburbs, but nobody ever seems to learn.

After snagging another couple’s reservation, the pair are accosted by two ne’er-do-well cops on the take. Seems the two who didn’t show up have stolen some incriminating stuff, and the bad guys want it back in the worst way. Naturally, they assume Carell and Fey are the culprits, and the hijinks ensue.

Along the way, they receive help from a shirtless Mark Wahlberg and encounter the real culprits, James Franco and Mila Kunis, in perhaps the film’s best turn.

Date Night continues the trend of two of TV’s most creative stars’ hit-and-miss relationship with the big screen. Carell, in particular, has shown he has the chops to make it work, but so far the misses have outweighed the hits.

The Blu-Ray doesn’t knock itself out with special features, although it does have an extended version of the flick. Not really sure that’s a good thing, but it’s there if you want it. You also get commentary from Levy, deleted scenes, and an outtake real.

Film: **1/2 Features: **

Kick-Ass
Lionsgate

Has the comic-book movie really come to this? Now they’re not even waiting for them to be created and released before making the film version. Not surprising, really, since even the worst versions of what my grandmother used to call the “funny books” seems like a license to print money.

So here’s Kick-Ass, a fable that wonders what would happen if a normal comic-book geek (Aaron Johnson) decided to follow in the footsteps of his idols and become a hero called Kick-Ass.

Along the way, he inspires others to do the same, including Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Hey, it’s McLovin!), Chloe Grace Moretz, and Nicolas Cage (as perhaps the worst father in history). Of course, despite routinely getting the livin’ crap beat out of him, Kick-Ass does manage to do the impossible.

The main knock on the film was not only the over-the-top violence – it’s definitely not for the kiddies – but Moretz’s foul-mouthed 12-year-old character. To hear the naysayers tell it, it would single-handedly destroy the film business. But seriously, they said the same thing about Jodie Foster in The Bad News Bears, and she seems to have done all right. Granted, Foster never hacked off anyone’s limbs, but still . . .

The Blu-Ray comes with commentary by director Matthew Vaughn, behind-the-scenes features, and is loaded with BD Live and BD Touch bits.

Film: ** Features: ***

Also Available . . . Don’t be fooled by the title, but The Best Of Soul Train really isn’t. Sure, you get hits by artists such as Marvin Gaye, Barry White, and Sly & The Family Stone, but it’s really nothing you haven’t seen before. You would think that with the long history of “Soul Train,” they’d be able to go a bit deeper, but apparently not.

– Timothy Hiatt

As James Brown famously shouted, “This is a man’s world!” As far as the music business was concerned, he was right — until 1975, that is. That was the year Joan Jett and Sandy West teamed up to form the first successful all-girl rock band, The Runaways. Along with guitarist Lita Ford, bassist Michael Steel (the first of many involved with the group and eventual member of The Bangles), as well as lead singer Cherie Currie, The Runaways took the testosterone-fueled rock world head on; and while they might not have come out on top, they certainly held their own.

The Runaways chronicles the formation and early success of the band, as seen through the eyes of Jett and Currie. After approaching producer Kim Fowley with their idea for an all-girl band, the three recruit the rest of the members based in large part on their look and type, rather than playing ability. Thus, Currie is brought in to be the Brigitte Bardot-meets-David Bowie member.

From there, the film falls into the standard biopic formula: kids form band, band becomes successful, band members become drug-addled, band breaks up. The film pulls it off a little better than most, simply because of the performances of the three leads.

As Fowley, Michael Shannon hits the manic/obsessive/control freak vibe just right. Yeah, he’s a dick, but not enough to make you wonder why anyone would pay attention to a word the guy says. Dakota Fannning does well in the challenging role of Currie — a daring leap for a 16-year-old.

But it’s Kristen Stewart who’s perfectly cast as Jett. Her stoner demeanor and slow deliveries make her the ideal choice to portray the legend, and she pulls it off masterfully.

However, the rest of the band gets short-shrift. After forming the group, drummer West basically disappears from the film, while Lita Ford is reduced to popping up every now and then to bitch at Currie for being the most visible member.

Then there’s Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development, Whip It) completely wasted as the bassist named Robin. Since no one named Robin ever played in The Runaways, one can only assume that the character is an amalgamation of all bassists. Not surprising, though, as the film is based on Currie’s book Neon Angel: A Memoir Of A Runaway and co-produced by Jett.

The Blu-Ray special features are nice, with commentary by Jett, Stewart, and Fanning that gives perspective as to what actually happened (a surprisingly large amount of the film did, according to Jett) and what didn’t. You can also watch the film with “movieIQ” turned on, which gives details about everything happening in every scene — from who’s who to what music is playing.

Film: *** Features: ***1/2

Chicago Blackwawks: 2010 Stanley Cup Champions
Warner Bros.

While the majority of the world has moved on, we here at IE are still pretty geeked about the whole Blackhawks-winning-that-big-cup thing. In fact, our editor is still driving around town with a full-sized Blackhawks flag out the window honking at everyone he passes. A 49-year drought will do that to a person.

So it’s no surprise that whenever a new commemorative magazine, DVD, poster, or chotchky is released, we’re on it like fur on a weasel.

Chicago Blackwawks: 2010 Stanley Cup Champions might be your standard-issue season wrap-up video, but it’s extremely well made and features everything you could possibly want to relive about a championship season. It takes you from the opening game, to the most confusing winning goal in Stanley Cup history.

The DVD also includes behind-the-scenes features on the locker room celebration, the victory parade in downtown Chicago, and the drafting of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

Yeah, we’re homers, and this kind of thing is chum to the sharks, sue us. We’re just enjoying it while we can. Remember, this is Chicago — it might be another 49 years before it happens again.

Film: *** Features: ***

– Tim Hiatt

For a good part of film history, the western genre always seemed curiously out of place. Not because it wasn’t worthy subject matter, but because the execution never seemed right. The settings, old-timey enough to be sure, but too clean, too pristine to be believable. The heroes and villains were clearly defined, creating the cliché of the bad guy in the black hat, and the good guy in white (and with a surprisingly large collection of neckerchiefs).

Yet in the early to mid-’60s, the “Spaghetti Westerns” changed all that. Financed by Italian producers, shot mostly in Spain on modest budgets, and sporting a cast of either fading Hollywood stars or young up-and-comers, the western suddenly looked real. The good guys were nowhere near virtuous, and the bad guys were just downright nasty. Not to mention, the old west was suddenly dirty, and I mean grit under the nails, sand in the shorts dirty. Exactly what you’d expect in a world without indoor plumbing.

Of all the Spaghettiers, it was director Sergio Leone that rose to the top, thanks in no small part to his casting of a young sprout by the name of Eastwood for his “Man With No Name” trilogy. A Fistful Of Dollars, the first film in the series and itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, finds Clint playing two rival gangs against themselves for control of a tiny town, all because there’s money to be made. The second, For A Few Dollars More, pits Eastwood against a rival bounty hunter played by Lee Van Cleefe as they pursue the most wanted man in the land. And finally, The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly again features Eastwood and Van Cleefe (a different character this time, though) with Eli Wallach thrown in as the comic relief, on the trail of some stolen gold.

Now, all three films are available on Blu-Ray in box-set form. While the actual film transfers aren’t quite stunning, they’re awfully close, considering the quality of the original ’60s film stock. Best of all, each film comes jam-packed with special features; so much so that to list them all in detail would make this a two-page treatise. Suffice to say, phone in and get some time off work before diving into them.

Fistful: ***1/2 Features: ****
Few Dollars: *** Features: ****
Good,Bad,Ugly: *** Features: ****

Stones In Exile
Eagle Vision
Funny how things now regarded as classics were not well-received on arrival. Van Gogh was regarded as a hack who never sold a painting in his lifetime, Dustin Hoffman was called “dull & uninteresting” in The Graduate, and Exile On Main Street recieved mixed reviews, with the general consensus being it was too overblown and disjointed.

Now, of course, it’s not only regarded as the Rolling Stones‘ best album (go ahead, argue all you want), but as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Upon its 40th anniversary, the set has not only been remastered and rereleased, but Eaglevision drops Stones In Exile, an exhaustive account of the the album from concept to release. With interviews and musings from all five Stones, as well as thoughts from others such as Martin Scorsese, Exile engineer Andy Johns and more, every aspect of the album is exposed. From the drinking and drug use, the the un-air conditioned environment of Keith’s French estate rented just to set up a studio so they could record whenever the mood struck — it’s all here.

At two and a half hours, it’s a bit much, but if you’re the person who needs to know all things Stones, it doesn’t get more complete than this.

Film: *** Features: **1/2

Also available . . . There’s a pattern emerging with U2: Do a tour, release a DVD. U2: 360 At The Rose Bowl continues the trend by presenting the band’s most recent tour stop at Pasadena’s most famous New Year’s Day destination. For the 360 tour, the band again indulged their grandiose impulses by playing massive stadiums under a giant, claw-like thing. The claw seemed to serve three purposes — hang the circular video screen, dwarf four Irishmen, and generally be a B.F.T. (Big Fuckin’ Thing). The concert footage itself is acceptable, albeit a bit dark and muddy at times, but the special features are many, including two segments on the tour’s opener here in Chicago.

– Timothy Hiatt

Like most Americans, I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about most sports out there. Yet if asked about rugby, I’ll cop to being the guy whose eyes glaze over before lamely replying that “it’s football without pads” before desperately trying to steer the conversation back to baseball.

Yet after watching Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, I can proudly say that my insight into that rough-and-tumble world has increased twofold: I can now let people know that you can pass the ball sideways or backwards, but not forward. Take that, highly paid ESPN analysts!

But of course, Invictus is as much a movie about rugby as Million Dollar Baby is a movie about boxing. Eastwood’s films are never simply about the subject matter.

Teaming for the third time with Morgan Freeman, Eastwood takes a hard look at post-apartheid South Africa. It’s a society coming to grips with decades of discrimination and injustice that finds itself under the leadership of the most famous recipient of said injustice, Nelson Mandela.

In the eyes of the people, one of the symbols of the old guard ways is the national rugby team, the Springboks. It’s believed that everything about the team, from their name to their colors, be changed to erase the memory of the old ways. Mandela intervenes. He knows that to try to bring unity to a deeply divided nation, the old ways have to be recognized and forgiven instead of abolished with malice.

To that end, he enlists the aid of Springboks captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) to rally the team to win the 1995 World Cup.

Eastwood’s directorial accomplishments have long-since eclipsed his work as a mere actor, and he should rightfully be regarded as one of the best directors this country has produced. Yet Invictus, while being a very powerful and insightful look at the world we live in, doesn’t quite place on the list of his finest work. It’s close, but just misses. The pacing drags a bit too much at times, and, since rugby hasn’t been explained in much detail, the climactic game between the Springboks and the dreaded New Zealand All-Blacks doesn’t have the big-game impact that it should.

Still, those are just a couple of minor quibbles, and saying a film doesn’t rank with Eastwood’s best is in no way a damnation. He’s just set the bar so high.

Blu-Ray features include picture-in-picture insets featuring the real-life people involved, a segment on Freeman meeting Mandela, and Eastwood looking back over his directorial career.

Film:*** Features: ***

Free Forever
Eagle Vision

It’s inevitable: at some point in their set the cover band playing the local club/wedding/bar mitzvah is gonna break out Free’s “All Right Now.” It’s a law, strictly enforced by several government agencies and civic oversight committees. Well, maybe it just seems that way.

Yet Free were more than just their signature hit. Paul Rodgers, Paul Kossoff, Andy Fraser, and Simon Kirke concocted a down-and-dirty blues-based unit that on any given day could out-Stones the Stones.

Free Forever takes highlights of Free during their early-’70s height to argue the case. Television appearances from Germany and Granada highlight the first disc of a two-disc set, while the second focuses on their often overlooked performance at the 1970 Isle Of Wight festival.

With interviews and audio-only portions, it’s a great reminder of an influential band who, while not around long, left an impressive mark.

Film: ***1/2 Features: ***

Also available . . . Sammy Hagar is still pissed about that whole Van Halen thing. So what does he do? Swipe former VH’er Michael Anthony, nab a hotshot drummer (Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith), and enlist a dazzling guitar virtuoso (Joe Satriani) to form Chickenfoot. That’ll learn ‘em! Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On Live finds the four not being Van Halen on and off stage over the course of three concerts. Hagar’s always been a lovable meathead who doesn’t take himself too seriously, and when members of Spinal Tap show up, you know that nothing’s changed a bit.

– Timothy Hiatt

Avatar
Fox Home Entertainment
I’ll admit it: I’m probably one of only 20 people in America who didn’t see Avatar in the theaters. Yet I felt no sense of shame or desperation about not taking part in the group collective, because I knew that the eventual home-video release would be stellar. I’d be able to put the big screen and Blu-Ray player through their paces, getting the most out of the technology and allowing me to rationalize ponying up hard-earned coin for gee-whiz gadgetry instead of, you know, paying bills and stuff. You’d think if ever there was a film tailormade to serve at the altar of techno-geek fetishism, it’s a no-brainer that it would be Avatar.

How wrong I was. Turns out, the rapid Blu-Ray release just made me angry. More on that in a moment.
The film itself is a marvel, no disputing that. From the technical and visual standpoint, you’d be hard-pressed to find a film more impressive to look at. But since director James Cameron has always been an innovator, with each film surpassing the last in terms of technical achievement, this should come as no surprise. The motion-capture technique used for Avatar alone could indeed revolutionize the way films are made.

Unlike a lot of films with monster production costs, Cameron’s films always look like they cost beaucoup bucks to make. The story may not live up to the cost, but every penny of it can be seen on the screen.

As far as the story is concerned, I think I actually liked Avatar better when it was called Dances With Wolves — it’s essentially the same story.

On Pandora, a moon orbiting a gas giant light years from Earth (which seemingly sprung from a Roger Dean Yes album cover), a military grunt named Jake Sully assimilates to the local culture while the powers-that-be plot to take over the land and resources. Of course, Sully is converted to the ways and means of the locals, and soon realizes that land grabs and genocide are, indeed, a bad thing.

But the story truly is secondary to the brilliant look of the film, which brings us to the Blu-Ray release. In a word: Horrible.

It’s a cash grab, nothing more.

During Avatar’s theatrical run, you couldn’t turn the TV on without running into some network doing a feature on how it was made, who was in it, how much it cost, and so forth. So you would think that the home-video release would be so rich with special features, and possibly the 3D version included, that it might come out as a box set. There’s no doubt that version is coming, but for now all we get is a release with the film only. Special features? None. Zero. Zip. Nada. It’s simply a way to get a version to the masses and get their money before offering up a loaded version and getting everyone’s money yet again.

Maybe I’m wrong, however. Maybe people want to buy as many versions as they can. With almost 7 million units moved the week of its release, that looks to be the case.

Film: *** Features: zero

Crazy Heart
Fox Home Entertainment
Ever notice how some actors who are perennially nominated for Academy Awards and the likes never seem to actually win for the role they deserve to win for?

Well the Academy finally got it right with Crazy Heart, as Jeff Bridges submits the best performance of his career as Bad Blake, a washed-up country singer looking to find a way back.

Bridges has constantly turned in quality work over the course of his decades-long career, yet none have been as powerful and riveting as Bad Blake. Writer/Director Scott Cooper coaxes every last ounce of passion from him, and surrounds him with an equally strong supporting cast. There’s Maggie Gyllenhaal as Blake’s music journalist love interest with scars of her own and a son in tow, Robert Duvall showing up and being Robert Duvall (always a treat,) and even Colin Farrell as Blake’s protégé gone big-time turns in a surprisingly strong performance.

The Blu-Ray features 10 deleted scenes, as well as short bits with Bridges, Gyllenhaal, and Duvall, and a digital copy of the film. It’s a bit overpriced for the relative lack of features, but at least it has features.

Film: ***1/2 Features: **1/2

– Timothy Hiatt

To paraphrase Dennis Miller: I was watching home movies the other night and damned if George Clooney wasn’t in ‘em.

In his eternal battle to appear in every piece of filmed entertainment released in the northern hemisphere, Clooney’s ground forces staged a major offensive that reached the gates of the home-video market with three films releasedon Blu-Ray.

First off, there’s Up In The Air (Paramount), director Jason Reitman’s follow-up to his surprise hit Juno. Air fares better, and is actually a stronger film for the most part, simply by not having to work around Juno scribe Diablo Cody’s oh-so-hip, look-at-me dialog.

The film centers on Clooney’s Ryan Bingham, a corporate hatchet man whose job it is to fly around the country telling people they’ve been sacked when their Fortune 500 bosses don’t have the cajones.

Bingham has no attachments per se — his life being airports and hotels — and he likes it that way. Of course, the cost of this kind of lifestyle begins to weigh on the parent company, so when earnest college grad Natalie comes into the fold with a plan to conduct the firings by video conference, Bingham’s world is in danger of being turned upside down.

Since Natalie has no experience in the firing game and the effect it has on the people involved, Bingham persuades his boss (the always entertaining Jason Bateman) to take her on the road with him to get a taste of what the real world is like.

Solid performances all around, which included Oscar nominations for Anna Kendrick as Natalie and Vera Farmiga as Bingham’s frequent on-the-road hook up, as well as nominations for best picture and director.

The special features available on the Blu-Ray include a few deleted scenes and commentary, but not much more worthwhile.

The next wave of the George invasion is The Men Who Stare At Goats (Anchor Bay), a film based on a true story that desperately wants to be a Coen Brothers film, yet lacks the advantage of having any . . . you know . . . Coens.

Here, Clooney plays second fiddle to Ewan McGregor’s Bob Wilton, a reporter who uncovers a government program designed to explore psychic techniques on the battlefield. These techniques include mind-reading, passing through walls, and killing goats by stopping their hearts by staring at them.

As Lyn Cassady, Clooney is a former member of the “Warrior Monks,” as they referred to themselves, who shepherds Wilton through the desert during the Iraq war. The running joke of the picture is that not only did they refer to themselves as warrior monks, but Jedi warriors. (Get it? ‘Cause McGregor played Obi-Wan in the Star Wars pics? Nudge, nudge…)

Alas, like most of the jokes in the film, that one falls flat after the first couple of times. The film’s main problem is it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. You can tell it wants to be a full-blown satire, yet it takes turns into seriousness that weigh the whole thing down.

Blu-Ray features include a look at the actual figures involved, deleted scenes, and commentary.

Then there’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox Home Entertainment), from a story by the great Roald Dahl. In this stop-motion animated flick, Clooney voices Mr. Fox, a canine living the domestic life with his wife and son, voiced by Meryl Streep and Jason Schwartzman, who, despite promises to the contrary, can’t keep the urge to steal chickens in check.

After raiding the local farms, Fox’s actions bring down wrath on the entire animal community, which causes them to go on the run from said farmers.

Director Wes Anderson, no stranger to oh-so-hip himself, has never been one to play it safe, and here it pays off big. With great voice work by Anderson regulars Schwartzman, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson, Fantastic Mr. Fox ranks as one of his best.

The Blu-Ray set comes with a DVD and digital copy, as well as features on the animation, the cast, and Roald Dahl.

Up In The Air: ***1/2 Features: ***

Goats: ** Features: **1/2

Fantastic Mr Fox: ***1/2 Features: ***

Also Available . . . I was all primed and ready to give a probing, in-depth analysis of Twilight: New Moon (Summit Entertainment) and its place in the pantheon of film history. However, the plans were scuttled when I remembered I wasn’t a 13 year-old girl.

– Timothy Hiatt