Commentary: Swimming down the video stream

Last summer I wrote that, despite the advent of more digital download options, I thought DVD/Blu-ray represented the best format for home video. I still generally feel this way, but to borrow the title of a wonderful 1988 movie, "Things Change."

The biggest shift came in November, when Netflix -- which represents three-fifths of all on-demand movies sold -- announced a new online-only membership plan, and increased the number of titles available for instant viewing.

Plus, many more options for downloading or streaming movies have ramped up: Amazon Instant Video, Apple iTunes, Hulu Plus, Wal-Mart's VUDU, to name a few.

I still hold that a physical disc is the best option for watching movies. The picture and sound quality is unbeatable, and you don't have to worry about filling up your memory drive or getting your entire film collection zapped by a thunderstorm.

But for casual viewing, whether on the big-screen TV in your living room or on the go with your mobile device, streaming/downloading has many advantages. If you're just renting, it's a lot cheaper than shelling out to buy a disc. And the ability to choose your movie and start watching it within seconds (via streaming) is a consumer's dream.

Until recently I was working at home with our son, and when I needed to distract him for a few minutes there was nothing easier than using Netflix to call up a Barney or Care Bears video. (Hey, he's 6 months old, so no accounting for taste.)

The analogy I make for discs vs. downloads is your friends vs. your Facebook friends. Your friends are solid, real and valuable to you. Your Facebook friends are folks you want to stay loosely connected with -- the ease and convenience of doing so online means you don't have to lose sight of them completely.

In the same way, streaming video is for movies you want to watch right now, and convenience is paramount. With more choices available online, it becomes a more attractive option.

Still, the vast majority of titles are only available as a disc. For instance, if you want to watch "Things Change," you'll have to have Netflix mail you a disc -- it's not available for streaming.

Video review: "Clash of the Titans"

Despite arriving in April, in many ways "Clash of the Titans" was the first big summer movie of 2010.

The remake of the kitschy 1981 fantasy adventure is fast-paced and slick, with Ray Harryhausen's clunky stop-motion animation critters replaced by sleek computer-generated ones.

Perseus has undergone his own transformation, from Harry Hamlin's feathered-hairdo favorite son of Zeus to a snarling Sam Worthington, buzz-cut and seriously P.O.'d at the gods for using humans as their playthings.

Directed by Louis Leterrier, "Titans" is a mash-up of Greek/Roman mythology so addled, Edith Hamilton must be crying somewhere in Olympus. But the story doesn't have an ounce of fat, and captures the over-the-top fun of the original while dumping most of the schlockier elements.

The story: Zeus (Liam Neeson) and the other gods are furious that humans aren't praying to them like they used to, sapping their strength. He taps the original underworld boss, Hades (Ralph Fiennes), to strike terror into their hearts by threatening to unleash the Kraken, a powerful sea titan.

Perseus, the half-human son of Zeus, must find a way to defeat the Kraken by visiting the Stygian Witches, but not before fighting off some oversized scorpions and running afoul of Calibos, cursed into demon form by the gods.

And Medusa is still out there, in need of a close shave.

Video extras -- at least with the Blu-ray version -- are truly top-notch, providing hours worth of entertaining and insightful peeks behind the camera.

The DVD comes only with deleted scenes, but they're pretty hefty: Totaling about 18 minutes, they include much more intrigue between the gods, which I for one loved about the first film.

The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack comes with a host of other features, including an alternate ending that is much angrier in tone than the theatrical one -- not to mention Perseus ends up with a different lady love.

There's also a featurette on Worthington's growing reputation as the go-to action hero of his generation. "He's better than a stuntman," Leterrier says.

The centerpiece is a "Maximum Movie Mode" that combines 11 featurettes about nearly every aspect of production, plus 40 minutes of picture-in-picture commentary.

One takeaway nugget: Originally, the planned to have Hades as a female character!

A digital copy is included.

Movie: 3 stars out of four
Extras: 3.5 stars

DVD review: "Drag Me To Hell"

Your average popcorn-munching movie-goer probably only knows Sam Raimi as the director of the "Spider-Man" blockbusters. Hardcore horror fans realize that Raimi honed his filmmaking skills doing "wet work" with cheapie gross-out flicks like the "Evil Dead" series.

For this neglected latter group, his newest movie, "Drag Me to Hell," is like love letter and a bouquet of roses -- dripping in blood, that is.

Alison Lohman (who's 30 but looks 16) plays Christine Brown, a bank loan officer who gets hit with a nasty gypsy curse when she refuses to grant an extension on the foreclosure of a one-eyed old crone's (Lorna Raver) house.

Soon Christine is being haunted by shadowy tormenters who bust up her home and smack her around. In one nasty bit, a fly forces its way down her throat while she's asleep, only to reemerge at an inopportune time (still buzzing around) while she's lunching with her beau's (Justin Long) snooty parents.

Raimi (who also co-wrote the script with brother Ivan) blends the humorous and the horrendous to generally enjoyable effect, although there are times -- such as a big séance scene -- when the movie takes itself so seriously, you keep expecting hysterics to break out that never arrive.

Video extras are pretty skimpy. The DVD and Blu-ray both come with the theatrical and unrated version (which amps up the goo in several key scenes) and a 30-minute series of video diaries that touch on various elements of production. The most entertaining is learning how stunt coordinators rigged Lohman with a special nose tube for the scene where she spews blood all over her boss. (Who among us hasn't had that dream?)

The Blu-ray version also comes with a digital copy of the film for uploading to a portable video device.

I'll say this for "Drag Me to Hell": It has one of the coolest endings of any movie I've seen this year.

Movie: 2.5 stars
Extras: 1.5 stars

Time to go hi-def

This is my syndicated DVD column for this week. (I feel comfortable calling it "syndicated," since more than one newspaper now runs it.) It's not a review of a new video release like usual, but a meditation suggesting it's a good time to adopt Blu-ray.

Regular readers of this blog will note its similarity to a post I made about three weeks ago, which inspired this column.

No DVD review today, folks. It's a slow week for video releases -- "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" is about it, and here's my three-word review: Rent, don't buy.

Instead, I thought I'd use this week's column to talk about high-definition video. I recently took the step of upgrading to a Blu-ray player, and that will be reflected in the video reviews from here on. I also want to suggest that if you've been holding off on making the jump to the next generation of home video, recent developments suggest it's safe to come out now.

I don't blame anyone for hesitating to adopt new video technology, after the death of such formats as Betamax, laser disc, Divx and now HD DVD -- the competitor to Blu-ray that folded in early 2008 after nearly a two-year war for hi-def dominance.

The first thing you need to know is that your old DVDs aren't headed to the junkpile: Blu-ray is backward compatible. So you can upgrade your favorite titles to hi-def if you want, and keep the rest of your DVD library intact on your shelf.

Lately, the price and availability of Blu-ray players and movies has improved significantly. Brand-name players that cost $500 and up in 2006 can now be found in the $200-$250 range, with some basic machines as low as $150. Blockbuster, Netflix and other major video rental outlets are stocking more and more Blu-ray selections (1,000+ at Netflix).

If you want to buy, Blu-ray discs cost a little more than regular DVDs, but you can find plenty for under $20. Recently, Amazon ran a sale on popular titles for around $11.

The biggest factor in whether to upgrade is your television. If you don't have a hi-def set capable of 1080p resolution, you're not going to see much of an on-screen difference between Blu-ray and DVD (which has a resolution of 480).

If you're adventurous, you can opt for a Sony PlayStation 3 game console, which includes a Blu-ray player. My new PS3 Slim cost $300, so for a small premium over regular Blu-ray, I got gaming, too.

DVD review: "Fast and Furious'

The "Fast and Furious" franchise comes full circle with the fourth film, which reunites original cast members Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez as gearheads driving tricked-out cars through an improbable and seemingly endless series of chases.

Justin Lin, who also directed the third movie, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," delivers an aggressively stupid action film in which all the women are hoochies with ample cleavage and booty shorts, and all the men are so overpumped with machismo that every exchange of dialogue becomes a duel of glares and snorts.

The cars are the real stars of the movie. Both Diesel, as criminal Dom Toretto, and Walker, as undercover fed agent Brian O'Conner, drive a variety of cool vehicles during the course of the movie, nearly all of which end up in a pile of twisted debris. Toretto's black Charger makes a return from the first film, along with a number of American muscle cars and tuner imports.

The plot involves Dom and Brian infiltrating a Mexican heroin-smuggling ring. There's a big race to determine who will get to join the faceless drug lord's crew of drivers. Dom wins, but then Brian inexplicably is allowed to come along too, which kind of renders the race pointless. It's undoubtedly galling to the drivers who crashed during that race, at speeds that must have left them in the hospital, or mortuary.

"Fast and Furious" comes in single- and two-disc versions. Both include a gag reel and director's commentary by Lin, which tends to stick to pedantic shot-by-shot descriptions.

The two-disc version also includes a digital copy of the film, a short movie called "Los Bandoleros" about Central American crime, and a variety of making-of featurettes. One shows Vin Diesel attending stunt driving school in preparation for the shoot, will another is a breakdown of how they shot the opening heist of a big rig towing five fuel tankers.

Movie: 1.5 stars
Extras: 3 stars

New on DVD for 6/30

Here's my weekly roundup of new video releases, with links to buy:

DVD review: "Waltz with Bashir"

“Waltz with Bashir” was not only one of the best films of 2008 – it was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar – it also represented a cinematic watershed, blending and transcending the genres of animation, documentary and fiction.

Centering on the Israeli war in Lebanon during the early 1980s, “Bashir” is more than writer/director Ari Folman’s diary of his experiences as a young soldier caught in insanity of war. Unable to remember key sections of his time in battle, he sets out to interview comrades and strangers alike in an attempt to recover his own memories.

Folman accomplishes this through hypnotic animation that is somehow both hyperrealistic and dreamlike. The slow-moving images, which resemble cut-out photographs being slowly manipulated, are crude by Pixar standards. But this simplicity lends an evocative note to the horrible events they portray.

The DVD comes with a robust set of extras, which shed light on the process by which a combination of real people and actors were videotaped, and that footage was then animated using a combination of traditional animation, Flash animation and 3-D techniques. In the short but information-dense making-of documentary, we learn among other things that chief animator Yoni Goodman switched from drawing with his right hand to his left because he felt the results were “too pretty.”

For those who want more detail on the animation process, another feature shows the step-by-step transformation of four pivotal scenes from video to finished film. There's also a Q&A with Folman at the Cannes Film Festival.

And Folman supplies an engaging commentary track that adds new layers to the search for his lost memories. In one of the more amazing sections, he talks about how Israeli soldiers on leave would travel by helicopter from the frontlines of battle to quiet Jewish towns in 20 minutes, only to encounter residents who were barely aware of the war.

Movie: 3.5 stars
Extras: 3 stars

New on DVD for 5/26

Here's this weekly's roundup of new video releases, with handy links to purchase if you so desire.

DVD review: "Valkyrie"

Even with an eye patch, a stump where his right hand used to be and two missing fingers on his left, Tom Cruise still looks every bit the dashing movie star in "Valkyrie," the tale of the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and stage a coup against the Nazi regime.

It's an apt metaphor for the movie itself, which is skillfully made and great to look at, but ultimately registers as a glammed-up retread of history.

The best portions deal with the tactics of the assassination attempt itself -- Cruise, as a wounded war hero, sneaks a bomb into Hitler's Wolf's Lair bunker, hides it under the conference table, and must make his escape amidst the ensuing confusion. But the story reaches this pinnacle fairly early, and what follows is a dizzying and droning sequence of phone calls and running soldiers as the conspirators attempt to seal the coup.

This is one of the few instances where a movie could have been improved by running longer. The personal and family life of Cruise's character, Lt. Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, is given such short shrift that when he calls his wife to let her know the plot has failed and he is doomed, we can barely remember who she is.

The DVD comes with an excellent set of additional features. Kevin Burns directs an in-depth, 40-minute historical documentary of the actual events surrounding the coup, including mesmerizing footage of a judge insulting the surviving conspirators at the show trials that followed. A 16-minute making-of doc follows the usual patterns.

There are two top-notch commentary tracks. The first is by Cruise, director Bryan Singer and co-screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie -- an all-too rare collaboration of a film's principal talents. Among their many insights is an acknowledgement that they consciously recruited actors from other World War II movies, including "Downfall" and "Black Book." McQuarrie pulls double duty by contributing another separate commentary track with his writing partner, Nathan Alexander.

Movie: 2.5 stars
Extras: 3.5 stars

New on DVD for 5/19

Here's a quick list of what's new on home video this week, with quick links to buy:

Bonus DVD review: "Cargo 200"

"Cargo 200" is a bleak and disturbing Russian drama about decay. Set in 1984, during a time when the old Soviet Union seemed to be replacing one expiring octogenarian leader after another, the country appears to be literally falling apart. Even a powerful colonel in the Army lives in a shabby apartment with cracked plaster.

Based on actual events, "Cargo 200" has an elliptical storyline that at first feels confusing, but slowly narrows to a single razor-sharp point, a rotting bedroom where a young girl is being repeatedly tormented and violated. Her captor is an icy police colonel, who kidnapped her and handcuffs her to the bed in his mother's apartment, convinced that she is his unfeeling wife. In one of his attempts to gain her ardor, the captain brings a violent convict he has shot in the arm to the apartment and has the prisoner rape her. When that doesn't work, he really gets nasty.

The captain is a symbol for the entirety of crumbling Communism: corrupt, irreligious, completely amoral, yet in some deep recess of his shadowy consciousness he recognizes that he's dying, and sees the girl as his last chance at rebirth. His elderly mother, who sits drinking vodka all day, watching television while indifferent to the horde of flies attracted to the increasing number of bodies in the next room, represents the complacent older generation. The girl and her erstwhile paramour, a hustler with a leather jacket and his own car, are the new wave emerging, content to enjoy the new freedoms allowed by the rifts in the old Soviet order, but in their own way equally corrupt and damned.

Writer/director Alexey Balabanov arrives at these themes methodically, building his vision in a way that requires a patient audience. The first half of the film offers few clues to the horrors that will follow, following a different set of characters that intersect, and slowly cede the stage to darker creatures. A flighty professor, the brother of the army colonel, suffers a car breakdown while traveling to see his mother, and begs help from a moonshiner, with whom he argues about the role of religion in society.

The title of "Cargo 200" refers to the codename given to Soviet soldiers who are killed in Afghanistan, and brought home in cheap boxes to await burial by an indifferent bureaucracy. The sadistic police captain at one point is ordered to take charge of such cargo -- a none too subtle example of the dead burying the dead.

As for extras -- there aren't any, not even a theatrical trailer.

Movie: 3 stars
Extras: 1 star

New on DVD for 5/12

Here's some quick links to Tuesday's new video releases:

DVD review: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

I am not trying to be flip when I say that the impressive set of extras that come with the two-disc DVD edition of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" are more enjoyable to watch than the movie itself.

Despite a Best Picture Oscar nomination, "Benjamin Button" curiously lacked emotional punch. The tale of a man who is born old and ages backward (based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald) was an unmitigated technological triumph, as director David Fincher and an army of computer animators believably changed Brad Pitt from a handsome middle-aged movie star into a decrepit old man and eventually a teen, and every age in between.

But even though the nearly three-hour running time skips along crisply, the film fails to resonate on a human level. Pitt comes across as a Zelig-like figure, trotting through history without his journey ever coalescing into a coherent theme or purpose. Even an affecting performance by Cate Blanchett as Benjamin's lifelong love doesn't overpower the fascinating physical transformation they both go through.

Every minute detail of how this change was achieved is explored in the special edition DVD (from the unmatched Criterion Collection). We see how a succession of body doubles wearing blue masks performed the early scenes, and Pitt -- wearing green kabuki face paint -- is recorded, his features aged and transposed onto the body.

The extensive featurettes can be watched individually, or as a single hefty making-of documentary that touches on every aspect of the production. Producers are unusually forthright in describing the two-decade-long process to bring "Benjamin Button" to the screen, with a succession of directors dropping out.

There is also a lavish set of still galleries including the entire film storyboard, and feature-length commentary by Fincher. In digesting all this material, one senses how seriously the entire cast and crew approached making this movie. Unwittingly, the extras provide an arresting portrait of a filmmaking effort gone awry.

Movie: 2 stars
Extras: 4 stars

Some dap to Warner Bros.

I wrote quite a bit about the hi-def battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, which ended decisively when Warner Bros. decided to stop putting out titles in HD DVD. They are the largest studio, and were the only one to release video titles in both formats. When they announced they were choosing sides, it essentially ended the format war overnight.

Now Warners is doing something that I think is pretty cool: They're offering to let owners of their HD DVDs to trade them in for the same title on Blu-ray, at a pretty nominal cost. This way they don't have to get stuck with some discs that will be totally useless when all the new hi-def players are in the other format.

Here's the official word from the studio:

Warner Home Video has announced a new program, “Red2Blu,” for those who want to upgrade titles they currently own on HD-DVD to Blu-ray. By visiting Red2Blu.com, consumers can trade up virtually any of their WHV HD-DVD titles (up to 25) for the same title on Blu-ray for a small fee plus shipping and handling. For details and restrictions, visit Red2Blu.com. “Red2Blu” is available to residents of the United States only.

Financially, there was no reason for Warners to do this, other than customer loyalty. I'm not normally in the habit of giving publicity to individual studios, but I have to say I think this move is worthy of some props. Way to go, guys!

DVD review: "The Reader"

Judging by box office receipts, "The Reader" was the Best Picture Oscar nominee that most people missed.

They'll get a chance to make amends when one of the best films of 2008 hits video this week. The erotic drama, which won Kate Winslet her first golden statue, is the tale of a 15-year-old German boy, Michael, who has an affair with Hanna, a woman two decades older during the late 1950s. Years later, he learns a terrible secret about her past that he chooses not to reveal, an act of omission that has a devastating impact on both their lives.

Directed by Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by David Hare (the same team behind "The Hours"), "The Reader" isn't a typical Holocaust movie. Rather, it explores how people live in the shadow of tragedy, and how guilt can be passed down from generation to generation.

There's no commentary track with the DVD, although the views of Daldry, Hare, Winslet and co-stars Ralph Fiennes and David Kross are well-represented in a healthy set of extra features.

There's a making-of documentary in which all of them speak at length, and an interview between Daldry and Kross (in which the 18-year-old actor expresses worry about his grandparents seeing him appear fully nude in the film). A look at how Winslet was aged 30 years via makeup is unexpectedly entertaining, including a bit where she goofs around with a fake breast. Also included are short looks at composer Nico Mulhy and production designer Brigitte Broch.

Finally, there's a substantial collection of 11 deleted scenes. Unlike most such excised material, which tends to be short and inconsequential, the extras include both longer versions of existing scenes and entirely new ones. All told, it represents more than 42 minutes worth of material never seen before. These include a clandestine visit by Hanna to Michael's house, an encounter with a truck driver with a past, and a much longer sequence of young Michael reading books to her, where their roles of tutor and pupil are reversed.

Movie: 4 stars
Extras: 3 stars

DVD review: "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

When it comes to remakes of science-fiction classics, Steven Spielberg proved with "The War of the Worlds" that you can revisit a cherished film and update it with cutting-edge special effects, big movie stars and contemporary themes. But "The Day the Earth Stood Still" showed how hard it is to pull off successfully.

This murky, muddled remake manages to broadcast a timorous environmental message while laying on the upscale pyrotechnics. (I think the mantra for blockbusters is "When in doubt, blow something up.") Keanu Reeves stars as Klaatu, a hitman from outer space who's come to pull the plug on the human race because of how badly we've messed up the Earth. Jennifer Connelly plays a scientist trying to convince him to spare us, and arrives with an extraneous foster child (Jaden Smith) in tow. (I think the second blockbuster mantra is, "If you've blown stuff up and are still in doubt, throw in a cute kid for no good reason.")

The DVD comes with a nice mix of extras, which help explain how this movie went awry. In the making-of doc, director Scott Derrickson seems more a chaperone of an expensive brand than a visionary. Screenwriter David Scarpa introduced a few nice twists, like turning the original's flying saucers into mysterious balls of swirling energy based on a concept by physicist Freeman Dyson. Both men are fairly upfront about the fact that the project changed dramatically when the studio decided to bring in Reeves as the main character.

Scarpa also provides a solo commentary track which is interesting, but he often falls silent for several minutes at a time, demonstrating that it's best to have two or more people to bounce off each other.

There's also a separate doc on how the filmmakers went far afield in their concept of Klaatu's robot protector, Gort, before going with a more conservative design that matched the iconic figure of the original film. There's also an interesting look at how real scientists search for signs of alien life, three deleted scenes, still galleries and theatrical trailer.

Movie: 1.5 stars
Extras: 3 stars

Bonus DVD review: "Let the Right One In"

This Swedish vampire film came out a little bit before "Twilight," and received glowing reviews in many circles. I finally caught up with it, and although I enjoyed seeing it I didn't think it was any great shakes.

In fact, what struck me about it is that its problems mirror those of "Twilight." Both deal with a troubled youngster who encounters a vampire their own age (or apparently so), and becomes emotionally attached to it. OK, they fall in love with the vampire.

In both cases, though, the vampire is the interesting character and the bedazzled human is kind of a drag. In "Twilight," Kristen Stewart's glum Bella doesn't really have much to do, other than sit around and mope and wait for Edward to show up and do something cool.

It's much the same with Oskar, a 12-year-old loner who is the target of some bullies. It's only after he meets Eli, the new girl who moved in next door but never goes to school, that he becomes remotely interesting -- and then only in relation to her.

Eli walks around barefoot in the snow and often wears tattered clothing and forgets to bathe. Despite this, she and Oskar become friends, and then the boy wants something more. There's a disturbing nature to their relationship; although it doesn't become overtly sexual, Oskar wants a girlfriend because of the improvement in status in would buy him. Just because she drinks blood and smells bad doesn't seem to bother him.

Eli arrives with a man who takes care of her, finding victims to kill and drain their blood for her to sustain herself. He's getting old, though, and has a couple of close calls where he's nearly caught and fails to bring back the food. So Eli starts hunting among the crew of alcoholic stiffs occupying the dreary apartment complex where she and Oskar both live.

The extras are pretty sparse, the notable component being a making-of documentary that focuses more on the filmmaking process than the inspiration behind it.

"Let the Right One In" is a decent entree addition to the cinematic vampire menu, what with its international pedigree and focus on children. But like "Twilight," it struggles to find a way to make the unlikely romance between human and nosferatu a compelling one.

Movie: B-minus
Extras: C-minus

DVD review: "Slumdog Millionaire"

"Slumdog Millionaire" was such a fresh and welcome assault on the Hollywood hegemony, with its international story featuring unknown actors rising to sweep the Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It's only fitting that the film buck prevailing trends to deliver a first-class DVD package at first bat.

Too often, high-profile movies are released with a sparse set of extras, only to see a "special" or "collector's" edition arrive a few months later with all the missing goodies. It's a cynical and shameful attempt to wring more money out of devoted cinephiles.

Not "Slumdog." Nearly everything a movie lover could want is available right out of the box.

There's not one but two audio commentary tracks. The one by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy and producer Christian Colson is interesting enough, with some insights on how they translated Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A" into a magical, mesmerizing tale about Jamal, a poor Muslim boy who goes on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," while reliving his harsh yet amazing childhood.

The real pleasure is in the commentary by director Danny Boyle and star Dev Patel, who share all sorts of amusing byplay and interesting tidbits. For example, the boy who plays Jamal at age seven had to wear wax put behind his ears to make them stick out like Patel's. In the original version of the screenplay, Jamal's gangster brother Salim commits suicide. And it turns out that this was the first English performance by Anil Kapoor, the huge Bollywood star who plays the smarmy game show host with sharp verbal acuity.

To the relief of many, we learn that the icky pool of human waste that Jamal jumps into was, in fact, a mix of peanut butter and chocolate that smelled heavenly.

There is also a well-explored documentary, "Slumdog Dreams," about the making of the film, a cutdown version of the film set to A.R. Rahman's lively score, and 14 deleted scenes -- including an additional question-and-answer sequence.

Movie: A
Extras: A-minus

DVD review: "Quantum of Solace"

It’s one of the better Bond flicks, but after the game-changing debut of Daniel Craig as Agent 007 in “Casino Royale,” “Quantum of Solace” was bound to seem something of a letdown.

Craig’s menacing, decidedly shtick-free take on James Bond still provides plenty of feral energy to the 22nd film in the franchise. And there are some nice character scenes between Craig and Judi Dench as M, where the boss shows some motherly feelings toward her rogue agent. But they seem more like interruptions between the giant action set-pieces.

The plot picks up right where “Casino” ended, with the capture of a member of the nefarious Quantum syndicate responsible for the murder of Bond’s lady love, Vesper. Bond digs further into the shadowy international cabal, even defying his British and U.S. spymasters to continue the hunt. It leads him to the seemingly benevolent Dominic Greene, an environmentalist businessman with plans to take over a South American country’s energy reserves.

Olga Kurylenko makes a memorable impression as Bond girl Camille, with her scars and sultry smile. But French actor Mathieu Amalric just isn’t very intimidating as Greene. In their final showdown, the burly Craig and pipsqueaky Amalric are so mismatched it looks a hobbit taking on an NFL lineman.

The two-disc DVD has a moderate amount of extra features, although it can be a bit repetitive as they use the same material in more than one of the seven featurettes, which total about an hour.

Craig and director Marc Forster are full participants in the extras, with Craig offering that his second Bond shoot was much more physically demanding than the first. One extra provides short clips from literally dozens of crew members, from the cinematographer to the set nurse.

Also included are two trailers and the theme song video with Alicia Keys and Jack White. Sorely missing, though, is a commentary track.

Movie: B
Extras: B-minus

DVD review: "Twilight"

“Twilight” is one of those movies that lives better on the page than the screen. Stephanie Meyer’s novel about a teenager who falls in love with a vampire was not exactly literature, but it was a fast-paced, fun read that got tween girls’ hearts going pitter-patter.

Despite a solid performance by Robert Pattinson as immortal Edward Cullen, the tortured heartthrob who’s forever 17, the movie is a mostly bloodless affair. It’s great-looking as directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and Melissa Rosenberg’s screenplay was extremely faithful to the novel (perhaps too much). But Bella, the protagonist who returns to her childhood home in the perpetually rainy town of Forks, is simply too passive a character to anchor a movie. She has little to do except wait for Edward to turn up again and do something amazing, like leap through trees at bullet speed or stop a careening van with one hand. Kristen Stewart’s glum, vacant performance doesn’t help.

Luckily for the movie’s teeming legions of female fans, the two-disc DVD comes packed with enough extras to keep them entertained for hours. It will be released Friday at midnight.
There’s the usual theatrical trailers and other promotional material, like a Q&A between the cast and fans at Comic-Con, plus three music videos by bands whose songs appear in the movie.

There’s a decent hour-long making-of documentary that shows how Hardwicke eschewed computerized imagery to film as much live action as possible, plus quite a raft of deleted and extended scenes.

Hardwicke, Pattinson and Stewart also team up to do a feature-length commentary track. It’s a pretty giggly affair, as Hardwicke coos warmly over her young stars, and Pattinson repeatedly remarks on vital topics like how much they had to pluck his eyebrows. A few interesting tidbits emerge, such as the fact that a then-17 Stewart attended classes in the same high school where they shot the film.

Disappointingly, there’s no mention of Hardwicke’s very public split from the sequel, which was announced shortly after “Twilight” came out. DVD extras isn’t the place to air dirty laundry, apparently.

Movie: C-minus
Extras: B-plus