Homicide

Like so many of the films and plays written and sometimes directed by David Mamet (House of Games, Glengarry Glen Ross), Homicide is an acquired taste. The artificial yet somehow riveting dialogue, the characters who seem to narrate their own actions like role-playing children, the vague sense that the audience is being conned just like one of those characters: These elements scream "Mamet!" and nothing else. That said, 1991's Homicide works surprisingly well as a taut, suspenseful police thriller. It bogs down a bit once the mind games begin, but little harm results.
For Homicide's debut on this DVD-only release, Criterion's treatment suits the subject well. Unlike so many studio-produced discs, this release retains some of the movie's film grain, as well as the appropriately muted colors of its urban setting. The original 2-channel sound is sparse but crisp. A new 20-minute documentary features Mamet's "guys from Chicago," the five or so actors (led here by Joe Mantegna) who seem to appear in each of his works. Amusingly, and despite all their best efforts, they fail to explain what makes the Mamet thing so compelling. A relaxed, unpredictable, and agenda-free commentary by Mamet and William H. Macy round out the package nicely. Download Homicide full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

Adventureland

It's pretty difficult to work up much interest in yet another summer-themed coming-of-age movie, especially one starring Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame. But Adventureland is a quiet stunner: understated and smart, emotional but unsentimental, and often very funny where most movies of its ilk aspire only to cheap laughs. Writer/director Greg Mottola based the movie on his own experiences working at a theme park in his youth, and the result may just be the first authentic period piece about the 1980s.
Holding it all together is the best soundtrack to come along in years. From the perfectly chosen Replacements numbers that bookend the movie to vintage songs from Lou Reed, Big Star, and countless others, it refurbishes the reputation of 70s and '80s rock. Plus it all sounds fantastic in Dolby Digital 5.1 on this DVD.
Picture quality is less successful, unfortunately, with color saturation that is pushed almost to the brink. And the extras pretty much fall flat, tossing off a lame documentary and a commentary track in which Mottola and actor Jesse Eisenberg deliver one groan-inducer after another. Adventureland deserved better. Download Adventureland full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

This Is Spinal Tap

This is the first movie I've seen in five formats: film, VHS video-cassette, laserdisc, DVD, and now Blu-ray Disc. To the producers' credit, they keep adding more extras to help justify each reissue. The Blu-ray edition comes with a bonus DVD featuring two new clips: a live performance of "Stonehenge" at the 2007 Live Earth concert plus an interview with Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) taken from a National Geographic special about... Stonehenge. Among the complete extras carried over from the DVD, the commentary by Guest and co-stars/ bandmates Michael McKean and Harry Shearer — all in character — is a must-hear. It's like watching the movie once again with a whole new set of gags. And the hour-plus of deleted scenes will thrill any Tap fan.
Neither the new extras nor the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack strikes me as sufficient reason to spend extra for the Blu-ray Disc, but the picture quality does. Despite the graininess, spotty lighting, and poor contrast of the original movie, it looks substantially sharper and more vibrant here than on DVD. At long last, we can watch This is Spinal Tap without having to turn the color and contrast up to 11. Download This Is Spinal Tap full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

Sugar

Sugar is an affecting drama about a young Dominican baseball prospect who gets his chance in the American minor-league system. There, he runs into challenges — the language barrier, cultural differences, injuries, homesickness — that threaten to derail him not only as a player but as a man. Accordingly, this film by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck is more immigrant story than baseball movie, leisurely in pace but rich in detail and atmosphere. The acting, from newcomer Algenis Perez Soto on down, is hard to tell from real life.
The cinematography sharply delineates the differences in the film's settings, from the Dominican Republic to Iowa to the Bronx. The Blu-ray Disc nails all of this with crystal clarity, and without distracting us from the story. About the same can be said for the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound, whose key virtues are atmosphere and clarity of dialogue. Extras are minimal: a making-of piece that barely scratches the surface, an interview short, a screen test, and a few deleted scenes. Download Sugar full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

State of play

Turning a 6-hour British miniseries into a 2-hour American political thriller is no mean trick, but director Kevin Macdonald and his able crew have pulled it off pretty well. Action gets attention right from the start: In separate scenes, two people are dispatched by a hit man and a young woman is the victim of a subway "accident." This eventually involves a Congressman (Ben Affleck) — as tracked by a reporter (rumpled, believable Russell Crowe) and a blogger (perky Rachel McAdams). Helen Mirren is on hand as the editor of their Washington newspaper, providing interesting commentary on the place of newsprint in today's electronic-information age.
The Blu-ray picture is very good when things are bright and sunny, less so when they're dark and images turn a little blotchy, without sufficient shadow detail. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound favors the dialogue — but for a talky movie, that's not so bad, and music and effects are resounding when they need to be. Extras include two justly jettisoned scenes, a not entirely trivial production featurette, and Universal's U-Control feature, which provides a choice between an entertaining PIP commentary and some cool pop-up info about Washington.
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Gladiator

Gladiator's high-def debut in Paramount's Sapphire Series is a different experience from the DVD, and not always a superior one. The famous opening shot of a hand in a wheat field somehow seems a little clearer in stan-dard-def. The Blu-ray image is sharp overall, and facial details are, well, in your face. Contrast, however, is overdone. In the end, this transfer is good but not the jaw-dropping improvement I was hoping for. I have no such reservations about the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, which has more focus and tighter bass than the sound of the DVD.
All of the DVD's extras are included on this two-disc set, and then some. First, you can choose between the theatrical release and the 171-minute extended cut. Then there's the jocular and sometimes informative commentary by director Ridley Scott and his star, Russell Crowe. Over on Disc 2, you'll find making-of material that totals 3 hours. (Worth a look by itself is the segment on how Oliver Reed's role was finessed when he died before all of his scenes were filmed.) You also get new historical and moviemaking factoids, many of which are fun. I just wish the menus accessing them were easier to navigate.
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Created from a scan of the original 1937 negative and given a digital restoration, the image of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-ray Disc is stunning. It juxtaposes intensely bright, vibrant colors, such as those of the wicked Queen’s outfi ts, with the more muted (though equally rich), autumnal tones of the dwarfs’ clothes and their surroundings. All the incredible detail in both the foreground and back is visible. A still pool is astonishingly realistic. And with the depth of the animation’s drawings revealed, it seems like Snow White is moving through the middle of a three-dimensional world. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound is excellent. It completely surrounds you in music and song, with clear separation among the 8 channels, while delivering great bass. Hear, for example, the overwhelmingly powerful score that accompanies Snow White as she flees through the forest. Extras are spread across all three discs in this Diamond Edition. One of the discs is a DVD, which — besides holding a standard-def version of the movie, whose picture and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound are more than fine themselves — offers a commentary (led by film historian John Canemaker) that incorporates a montage of interviews with Walt Disney and his collaborators, covering everything from the technical to the psychological. Back on the two Blu-ray Discs, one feature allows you to interactively wander into each department of Walt’s studio, where you’ll gradually find 3 hours’ worth of short documentaries that include classic cartoons — with everything in high-def. Clicking on framed pictures to get galleries and audio interviews may seem like a throwback to the days of DVD-ROM, but the rewards are rich. There are more featurettes (one on Disney’s storyboarding of a possible Snow White sequel), and you also get two roughly animated deleted scenes, some “Heigh-Ho” karaoke, four games, and a hip-hop video in which you can put your face on a dwarf.
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Monsters vs. Aliens

Not nearly as engaging as its recent theatrical mates Up or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, this is an innocuous little movie for the elementary-school set. Still, headlined by Reese With erspoon (as a gigantic young woman), Seth Rogen (as an indestructible gelatinous mass), and Hugh Laurie (as Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.), the voice cast is certainly game, and it moves the story along apace. Nothing suits HD better than lavishly produced digital animation, and here the colors are big and vibrant indeed. The grayscale goes on for miles, with deep blacks and lots of detail in a couple of darker scenes. In the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, effects get a full workout as the monsters and aliens slug it out on Earth and in space. The wide, nicely delineated soundstage features plenty of low-bass rumble and high-frequency sizzle. Among the extras, you get a filmmakers’ commentary, two featurettes, three deleted scenes, and some kitschy karaoke tracks, the best of which has Rogen’s blob romancing a Jello mold to the tune of the Bee Gees’ “More Than a Woman.” Download Monsters vs. Aliens full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

True, there are two slomo “Nooooooooo”s yelled up to the heavens — and countless other clichés are busy rolling in their graves. But ultimately, the combination of
humor with some exciting stunts and special effects keeps X-Men Origins: Wolverine an involving and fun home theater experience. That and the kick-ass picture and sound on HD. Images have a smooth, highly detailed, film-like quality. Colors are rich, skin tones natural, and blacks inky. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is exceedingly crisp and clear. In the dynamic mix, music is all around (with bassy drumbeats bouncing from channel to channel), bullets and booms are well placed, and the frequent flyovers and vehicular chases are accurately panned. Whereas director Gavin Hood’s commentary sleepwalks you through the story, Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter’s production discussion is enjoyable and informative. There are four other modes for watching the movie. One has Hood appearing in a PIP alone, and another has him alternating with Shuler Donner, their points illustrated nicely with clips. You can also screen the movie with previsualization animations or a trivia track. Featurettes on the characters and a deconstructed helicopter chase offer revealing behind-the-scenes footage. Download X-Men Origins: Wolverine full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

The Proposal

The Proposal was an unexpected summer success, a movie that finally gave Sandra Bullock some good material to work with as a boss who, to avoid deportation to Canada, forces her assistant to marry her. And her co-star, Ryan Reynolds, showed some great comedic ability. Alas, on second viewing, the movie doesn’t work as well, coming across merely as a typical romantic comedy with moments of excellent acting. Certainly, Touchstone hasn’t put much effort into preparing it for release on HD. The brightness of the picture seems notched up a little too high, which causes colors to lose their depth. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is a bit flat, too, with only occasional excursions to the rear. And the extras? Three justly deleted scenes, a gag reel, an alternate ending, and a backslapping, partytime commentary by director Anne Fletcher and writer Peter Chiarelli, which must have been a lot more fun for them to record than it is for us to listen to. Download The Proposal full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

Away We Go

The director here, Sam Mendes, has built a olid reputation on the strength of his Oscar-winning debut (namely, American Beauty). Stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph exude the kind of unaz ected charm that drives the best independent films. Screen writers (and acclaimed novelists) Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida bring a literary cachet seldom found in movies of any kind. So why is Away We Go so difficult to like? There’s a self-satisfied quality to this tale of a couple’s quest to find the perfect place to raise their baby-on-the-way, and it undermines all the participants’ best intentions — and keeps the movie from being fun or very funny. No complaints about the HD’s picture, though, which consistently does right by the film’s panoramic widescreen images. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is clean and solid, although the director’s use of indie pop songs evokes Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude perhaps a bit too specifi cally. The two brief documentaries are pretty standard for this kind of release. But in their commentary, Mendes, Eggers, and Vida manage to show all the humor and generosity of spirit not found in the film itself. Oh, well. If comedy were easy, everyone would do it. Download Away We Go full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)

Chinatown

Held together by a talk with director Steven Soderbergh, Chinatown: An Appreciation blends interviews with an array of eloquent filmmakers to get at the core of what makes this film unique. Even better is Water and Power, a fascinating 77-minute examination of the true story of how Los Angeles prospered by taking water from Northeastern California. For the set’s new commentary, David Fincher interviews Chinatown creenwriter Robert Towne to great ez ect. The picture’s sharpness and color rendition remain a rare treat, especially among widescreen DVDs, and you get both an ez ective Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and the original punchy mono. This two-disc set may not constitute an absolute must-have for those who already own the previous edition, but Chinatown surely deserves whatever enhancements it can get. Download Chinatown full movie (DVD,DivX,iPod,PDA)