New to DVD

"The Brave One" DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray

This movie about vigilante justice collapses in a run of bad decisions midway through, but when it comes to the quality of the acting, that’s where it delivers. Think of it as a weaker, modern-day version of “Death Wish." Jodie Foster is Erica Bain, a talk show host at a New York City-based radio station who is set to marry her fiance, David (Naveen Andrews), when they are attacked by a group of skinheads in Central Park. In the wake of David’s death, Erica begins a long recovery in which her body heals, though her heart and mind don't. Frightened now by a city she no longer feels she knows, she purchases a gun with the intent to protect herself, and here is where the movie stumbles. Increasingly, Erica becomes such a magnet for repeated acts of violence--either against her or somebody else--that she starts mowing people down at every turn. Is New York City really as violent as it's presented here? Maybe as a whole. But many rightfully will question whether one person can be the target of such violence in such a brief period of time. Quelling most of the unintended humor are the scenes Foster shares with co-star Terrence Howard, who plays the detective working the murders Erica is unleashing upon the city. They become friends, which at once allows the movie its most interesting relationship, and unfortunately, its greatest laugh just when the film is trying to mount its dramatic peak. Mary Steenburgen and Nicky Katt are pitch-perfect in supporting roles. Watching the movie, you wish for more of them.
Rated R. Grade: C

"Daddy Day Camp" DVD, Blu-ray

A risible film in which Cuba Gooding Jr. once again skewers any good will he once enjoyed. This time out, the Academy Award-winning actor slums through the manufactured muck as a frazzled father who comes to care for a group of unwieldy brats, with his nerves (and ours) becoming frayed as he endures everything from exploding toilets to enough vomit to choke a landfill. In spite of featuring five writers, the movie doesn't inspire one laugh--not one. If it weren't for Gooding's appearance in last year's "American Gangster," which recalls at least some of his initial promise, one would be hard-pressed to argue why this actor remains on the scene.
Rated PG-13. Grade: F

"Damages: First Season" DVD, Blu-ray

While it's true that this tense serial is yet another legal drama set in New York, don't dismiss it for that reason. Instead, embrace it because it's one of the smarter television series going, with Glenn Close obviously having the time of her life in a role to which she brings plenty. Her Patty Hewes is a ruthless, infamous litigator who, as she puts it, is "engaging in a battle with a man who will stop at nothing to preserve his fortune." That man is Ted Danson's Arthur Frobisher, a billionaire creep of the first order whose actions screwed 5,000 of his employees out of their life's savings. It's the sort of case that not only makes for big headlines, but also for big egos to take hold and lead one astray. That certainly is the case when cut-throat Patty hires Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) to be her new associate. Like so many scenes of apparent good intention in this series, those reasons aren't necessarily what they seem.
Grade: A-

"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" DVD, HD DVD

A movie fit for a drag queen. This canned follow-up to 1998’s "Elizabeth" lives and breathes more for the lavish treatment given to its noteworthy costume design, set design and makeup than it does for, say, such trivialities as history, which in this film is burned at the stake. This time out, director Shekhar Kapur only occasionally comes through with a compelling account of what occurred in late 16th century England, when Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett in an Academy Award-nominated performance) was faced with losing her country, her crown and likely her head to the Spanish armada. There are times in the movie when you swear that Harlequin had a hand in it--particularly in a romantic subplot involving Clive Owen as the dashing Sir Walter Raleigh and Abbie Cornish as Bess Throckmorton, Elizabeth's closest lady-in-waiting. Still, sitting through the credits unfortunately doesn't reveal that to be the case. This time out, at age 52 (yet oddly looking 20 years younger), Elizabeth is facing the deception of her cousin, Mary Stuart of Scotland (Samantha Morton), as well as the aforementioned armada, which Spain's mincing King Philip II (Jordi Molla) has organized to restore Catholicism to England. As you would imagine, those plot points, in the right hands, might have made for a rousing movie, and yet here, they're dashed to the sidelines as Kapur focuses instead on the Virgin Queen's lustful longings for Raleigh, which consume her. Is this historically correct? Depends on what history book you're reading, though mine suggests Elizabeth had a wee bit more on her mind than fretting over whether Raleigh fathered Bess' child and what it might mean to England should she indulge in a kiss with him. With its emphasis on costume changes, how to properly to light and photograph those costumes, and how best to showcase Blanchett in them, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" comes off more like "Elizabeth: The Cat Walk."
Rated PG-13. Grade: C

“Me, Myself & Irene” Blu-ray

If the first rule in Hollywood is to give audiences what they want, then this movie believes they want shots of Jim Carrey defecating on a neighbor’s lawn, firing a round of bullets into an ailing cow’s head, and suckling a nursing mother only to ride away on a motorcycle with a milk mustache. That’s precisely the type of comedy fans of Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s “Dumb and Dumber,” “Kingpin” and “There’s Something About Mary” can expect in “Me, Myself & Irene,” a raunchy film that offers big laughs--and some even bigger moments of silence sandwiched between those laughs. The Farrellys graduated from the “Animal House” and “Porky’s” school of film, which can be fun when done well. But in “Irene,” the pacing is off, too many of the jokes fall flat, and the plot is disappointingly thin. With Renee Zellweger and Chris Cooper.
Rated R. Grade: C+

“You’ve Got Mail: Deluxe Edition”

From Nora Ephron’s, this 1998 movie reworks Ernst Lubitsch’s “The Shop Around the Corner,” with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks falling in love in ways that seem stamped with Cupid’s approval. Following Ephron's “Sleepless in Seattle," which also starred Ryan and Hanks, the hook in this film’s deluxe edition is wondering whether they will fall in love again, this time via the chat rooms of America Online. On the surface, it all seems slight, but Ephron's sleight-of-hand is that she creates a film of unexpected psychological depth. Her movie works because she understands and respects the leap of faith it takes to jump into a cyber-romance. She knows that even in cyberspace, the emotions are real, and that for the romantically challenged, hearing America Online’s mechanical “you’ve got mail” greeting can offer a shot of hope. Ephron also knows that not hearing that message can be devastating to someone expecting to hear it, and that if a cyber-romance doesn’t work out, it can crush the person who has put themselves on the line for it. “You’ve Got Mail” is a good romantic comedy not just because of the chemistry between Hanks and Ryan, but because of Ephron’s instincts and sensitivity; she may have borrowed from Lubitsch’s film, but she also departs from it, offering a film that's very much her own. Includes two new featurettes--"Delivering You've Got Mail" and "You've Got Chemistry"--neither of which is remarkable.
Rated PG-13. Grade: B+