DVD releases include 'Baby Mama,' ' Forbidden Kingdom' and 'Grey's Anatomy: Season 4'

“The Forbidden Kingdom

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2008, PG-13 for sequences of martial arts action and some violence

Best extra: Six featurettes, all presented in hi-def, give a thorough account of the film's production in China.

Martial arts fans, your day has finally arrived: Jet Li and Jackie Chan have finally teamed up for a familiar but enjoyable fantasy film about a kid from Boston obsessed with Kung Fu movies (the talented Michael Angarano of "Snow Angels" acclaim), who finds himself transported back to ancient China on a magical quest. Dazzling fight choreography and vivid, colorful cinematography will keep your eyes glued to the screen.

"The Forbidden Kingdom" arrives on Blu-ray with a striking hi-def transfer and a reference quality DTS HD surround track that is one of the finest I've heard. The exclusive picture-in-picture track, though welcome, mostly recycles footage from the disc's six featurettes.

Better is the commentary with director Rob Minkoff and writer John Fusco, who discuss the origins of the story and the shoot in China. There are also six deleted scenes and a blooper reel; and like other recent Lion's Gate titles, "The Forbidden Kingdom" comes with a second disc featuring a digital copy of the film you can download onto your computer and iPod.

— Josh Boone

“Baby Mama”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2008, PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and a drug reference

Best extra: From Conception to Delivery: The Making of Baby Mama

Well, at least the title was funny. Former Saturday Night Live writer Tina Fey, whose talent on SNL and NBC’s “30 Rock” often approaches genius, unfortunately falls a bit short with “Baby Mama.” In it, she plays a businesswoman with a similar approach to a hiring a surrogate mother — played by the equally gifted Amy Poehler — and supposed laughs ensue.

Though well-intentioned, the movie is sort of a collegiate women’s studies thesis paper disguised as a comedy; it drags. Also, the alternate ending and deleted scenes are of little interest, because finishing it once is certainly enough.

The real joy here is watching Fey, Poehler and writer/director Michael McCullers discuss the movie’s conception, largely because Fey is enchanting. There’s also a short on “Saturday Night Live’s” “legacy of laughter,” which looks at the long cemented trend of SNL cast members making movies.

The Blu-ray features a solid hi-def picture and weaves in a pop-up video commentary, with dozens of behind the scenes video clips and interviews from the cast. The DVD and Blu-ray include a comical commentary from McCullers, Fey, Poehler and producer Lorne Michaels. For some reason, the deleted scenes and alternate ending are not on the Blu-ray.

— Malcolm Venable

“Cool Hand Luke”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 1967, PG

Best extra: The disc’s two extras, a commentary by Paul Newman biographer Eric Lax and a 30-minute making of doc are decent, but not as good as one would hope for a classic of this level.

One of the best anti-establishment films of the ‘60s arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this week. It features one of Paul Newman’s most memorable roles as Luke, a World War II hero sent to a labor camp for destroying public property who locks horns with the prison authorities. Similar in spirit to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Luke” is a cinematic classic.

The legendary Conrad Hall evokes the heat with his cinematography, restored beautifully on the new hi-def disc. Warner Bros. recently restored the film and it shows. This is probably as clean an image as has been seen since its release. Though it won’t knock your socks off, it is a huge improvement over the last DVD. Colors are brilliant and black levels are solid throughout.

The Lax commentary falls into the trap of describing what we’re seeing on-screen, instead of giving behind-the-scenes details. He does spend some time discussing the film’s Christian symbolism. The documentary, oddly not in hi-def, includes interviews with everyone except Newman, and could have been much better.

Regardless, “Cool Hand Luke” belongs in everyone’s Blu-ray collection.

— Josh Boone

“How the West Was Won”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 1962, unrated

Best extra: A 96-minute documentary “Cinerama Adventure,” which chronicles the complete three-panel super widescreen experience.

For decades Warner Bros. struggled on how best to present MGM’s Western epic for TV. A spectacular ensemble cast featured Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Carroll Baker, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Gregory Peck and 12,000 extras.

But the onscreen adventures, including a white water disaster, wagon train attack, the building of the railroad and “High Noon” style shoot out, could only be viewed as in a flat and uninspired experience on VHS tape, cable, and DVD.

What’s worse, video was marred by join lines from the three synchronized cameras. The initial theatrical run was shown using three projectors synchronized to encompass a 146-degree curved screen designed to place viewers in the middle of the movie, much like IMAX theaters of today. The story, presenting an obvious “white man” take on the settling of the West, won three Oscars, including best original screenplay.

George Feltenstein, senior VP classic marketing, and the mastermind of Hollywood’s greatest restoration projects including: “Casablanca” “Gone with the Wind” and “Citizen Kane,” demanded the nasty join lines be removed. 

Warner technicians developed software to eliminate the lines. Then they tackled the tedious frame-by-frame restoration which took 18 months.

The final mission was to recapture the curved screen aspect of yesteryear. A process called “Smilebox” was created using a 3D rendering software. Newly restored flat images were scanned onto a virtual Cinerama screen, duplicating the wraparound effect.

To be honest, unless you have a huge HDTV, the effect is only minimal. On my 104” super widescreen setup, its an amazing experience similar to what I remember from 45 years ago watching “How The West Was Won,” with my father and grandfather at the Capitol Theater in Charleston, W.Va.

Sorry DVD owners, the “Smilebox” version is only available on the two-disc Blu-ray collector’s edition. The imagery is super sharp, without a single blemish. The color is rich, with top notch contrast making it the finest hi-def picture in the growing HD market.

The DVD and the Blu-ray also includes the traditional flat widescreen version with the stunning Roadshow intro music, intermission and exit score from composer Alfred Newman, Hollywood’s most decorated musical talent with nine Oscars. 

The documentary breaks down the technology marvel of Cinerama developed by Fred Waller, Michael Todd and world traveller/broadcaster Lowell Thomas which also featured six or seven track stereo sound. The first movie “This is Cinerama” (1952) was the No. 1 box office movie of the year. “How the West Was Won” topped the box office list for 1963.

The collection also includes a commentary with documentary director David Strohmaier, film historian Rudy Behlmer, stuntman Loren James and director of Cinerama Inc. John Sittig, the most proficient theatre projectionist. All have plenty of insider stories, including that all three directors Henry Hathaway, John Ford and George Marshall struggled with the format. It was nearly impossible for them to film a close-up of the actors. The camera lens, which duplicates the optics of the human eye, would only be 18 inches away from the actor to show them from the waist up.

This American treasure shouldn’t be missed.

— Bill Kelley III

“Grey's Anatomy: Season Four Expanded”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2008, TV14

Best extra: Fans will like the commentaries by actors on the show, as well as extended shows.

Did you promise yourself that this year you wouldn’t get drawn in? You were tired of all the jumping from bed to bed, all that annoying self-centered talk, the will-they-or-won’t-they McDrama. And yet somehow it happened, didn’t it? It happened to the best of us.

This year there were new characters to get to know, along with the genetically impossibly beautiful faces we’ve seen for years. There’s Chyler Leigh, who plays Lexie Grey, Meredith’s half-sister and a new intern. Lauren Stamile plays Rose, a new love interest. Brooke Smith also joins the cast as Erika Hahn, the new cardio surgeon on the block. You’ll remember her face staring up from a pit in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

The five-disc set DVD or the four-disc Blu-ray, with its rich color and sharpness far surpassing the network broadcast, does a good job of introducing all these new characters in their own special feature as well as in audio commentaries. The features, all in hi-def, discuss characters but completely leave out Isaiah Washington, a star of the show until he was fired after a flap over a bad word. His character is conspicuously left out of the quick rundown of the show’s plot heretofore, as well as a little plot-diagram poster that comes with the set. It’s like he never existed.

In addition, there are unaired scenes, also in hi-def. And to accentuate the show’s extreme prettiness, the set also features a behind-the-scenes love fest for Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane, McDreamy and McSteamy. They’re shown palling around, while the women talk about how fun and charming they are. It’s entertaining, if pretty is your thing. And come on, if you watch this show, then you are.

— Judy Le

“The Fall”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2006, R for violence

Best extra: A commentary with director Tarsem Singh (“The Cell“), who details every scene, including how the back stories for the mythical characters were actually filmed two years after finishing the main storyline.
 
Either you'll love it or hate it. Critics were split right down the middle with the latest movie from the award-winning music video director. Originally from India, he spent four years in 18 countries, completing his latest visionary masterpiece.

It is a dazzling experience on Blu-ray. Every frame is perfect; designed without computerized special effects as Singh’s crew traveled the world unveiling the simple story of a silent movie stuntman Roy (Lee Pace), who’s paralyzed from a reckless stunt. From his Los Angeles hospital bed, he develops a friendship with a charming little girl Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), a patient with a broken arm.

Roy whips ups a tale for Alexandria about Alexandria the Great, which translates on screen through her imagination. Brilliant colors are shown as the camera captures every amazing vista. In contrast, when the story moves back to reality, scenes are desaturated and muted.

Roy continually introduces new characters including an escaped African slave, an Indian from India, Charles Darwin and his pet monkey, Wallace, an explosive expert from Italy and the Black Bandit, who’s also played by Pace. The gang has been banished to a butterfly-shaped desert island by Gov. Odious who has stolen the Black Bandit’s girlfriend. Eventually, we learn of an alternative motive to Roy’s endless saga.

The disc includes an additional commentary with the screenwriters and Pace, and 60-minutes of behind the scenes footage without interviews or narrations, which gets pretty boring after 15-minutes. Also, there’s a photo gallery presented in hi-def, where you can cherish stills from the film.

— Bill Kelley III

“The Promotion”

Enhanced widescreen, 2008, R for language including sexual references and some drug use

Best extra: A twenty-minute making-of featurette is a better than most and includes insightful interviews from the cast and crew.

Funnymen John C. Reilly and Sean William Scott butt heads over a job managing a supermarket in writer/director Stephen Conrad’s directorial debut after writing such films as “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “The Weather Man.” The idea for the film formed in Conrad’s mind after watching a grocery store employee in Chicago attempt to get a gang harassing customers to leave the parking lot of the store.

Though he failed and was humiliated by the gang, Conrad saw decency in him that he wanted to capture in a story. Jenna Fischer (“The Office”) and Lili Taylor co-star in this low-key comedy.

The DVD includes an audio commentary with Conrad and producers Jessika Borsiczky Goyer and Steven A. Jones, who discuss the difficulties of filming on location in Chicago; deleted scenes, outtakes, and a handful of funny promotional webisodes.

 — Josh Boone

“Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht: Seasons 1 + 2”

Full-screen, 2007, unrated

Best extra: The only extra is a special that was shot when the kids were younger, showing how Jon and Kate get through the chaos of 8 children.

It's something few of us can imagine: Having two 6-year-olds and six 3-year-olds. At the same time. All day, every day. But Jon and Kate do it. Though let’s be honest, mostly Kate does it. Viewers are, in turns, inspired and annoyed by Kate, who maintains incredibly high standards for herself and others. She insists on organic food, as well as keeping green as much as possible.

The question that faces viewers is: Are the kids cute enough to outweigh the parents’ bickering and condescending to each other? Cara and Mady are the older twins, and Mady’s jealousy about being born second makes her act out. The sextuplets, Aaden, Alexis, Collin, Hannah, Joel and Leah, each have their good moments and their meltdowns.

The show has spawned several blogs that support and criticize the show and Jon and Kate. Controversies center around how Kate acts, the children’s loss of childhood and whether Kate has cut off her family while benefitting from the television show. But viewers of this DVD will see none of that, just even helpings of chaos and cuteness.

— Judy Le

“Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2007/2008, not rated

Best extra: “Supergirl: The Last Daughter of Krypton” is a definitive documentary about the history of the character, from her origins in the DC Comics to the 1984 feature film to her debut on “Smallville.”

With no signs of slowing up, “Smallville” returns to home video with an entertaining seventh season that marks the arrival of Clark’s cousin, Supergirl, who proves to be a major problem for Clark. Lana, Lex, Chloe, and Bizarro Clark are all present as well.

In a continuing trend of bad hi-def decisions (no lossless audio on “Speed Racer”?), Warner has packed the entire season onto three 50 Gigabit discs (roughly seven episodes per disc, double what Universal allowed for “Heroes”), which results in visible compression, a soft image, and lossy audio. It’s time for Warner to start doing right by Blu-ray buyers and stop cutting corners to save pennies. The Blu-ray version is barely a notch above the DVD release.

Extras include the “Supergirl” documentary, a featurette where all the different actors who have portrayed Jimmy Olson over the years have a roundtable chat, several animated shorts, unaired scenes, and two commentaries with executive producers Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and actors John Glover and Justin Hartley.

 — Josh Boone

“The Big Lebowski: 10th Anniversary Edition”

Enhanced widescreen, 1998, R for pervasive strong language, drug content, sexuality and brief violence

Best extra: In a disc rife with extras, Jeff Bridges’ walkthrough of the book of panoramic black and white photographs he took during the film’s production is easily the best of the bunch.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s follow-up to the Academy Award winning and critical darling “Fargo” was largely overlooked upon its initial release but has, over the last ten years, become their most popular film on home video and has a devoted following. Jeff Bridges gives a career-best performance as the Dude and is supported by a wonderful cast that includes John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore and John Turturro.

Because of the money it’s made on DVD for the studio, it has seen several double dips over the years and I’m sure there will be more to come. The film made its way onto HD DVD last year, so it’s rather strange that this new double-disc edition isn’t complimented with a Blu-ray release. Regardless, all the original special features have been preserved.

New to the release is a handful of brief retrospective featurettes and everyone except the Coens are on hand to discuss the film. Though this is the same transfer from the previous special edition, the new special features are nice for fans. I’ll wait for the Blu-ray release.

— Josh Boone

“Fox Horror Classics Volume 2”

Full-screen, 1942, 1946, 1952, unrated

Best extra: The machine-gun fast commentary track by Bela Lugosi biographer Gregory William Mank on "Chandu the Magician.”

Is there order in the universe, or are we just victims of random chance, subject to dinosaur-destroying comets, busted flushes, the celebrity of Carrot Top? A case for a more orderly state of affairs is made with the release of "Fox Horror Classics Vol. 2." In volume 1, Laird Cregar was strongly featured with his performances in "The Lodger" and "Hangover Square."

In Constantine Nasr and Steve Haberman's commentary on "Dragonwyck" (1946) – the gem of the collection, we learn that Cregar's fatal weight loss and self improvement campaign was driven, in part, by his prospective casting as the master of "Dragonwyck," a role that went to his eulogist, Vincent Price. Though Gene Tierney and Walter Huston are billed over Price, it's his show to run away with. Murder, ghosts, drug addiction and insanity drive Anya Seton's Gothic romance helmed by first-time director Joseph Mankiewicz ("All About Eve"). For those who want to see one of the best of the Gothic romance/mystery/suspense stories, "Dragonwyck" is a first class ticket.

"Chandu the Magician" (1952) was a popular radio program in the ’20s and ’30s, brought to the screen with a built-in audience in 1932, with Edmund Lowe as the title character, a man trained by Indian yogis to hypnotize, befuddle, and otherwise confound his adversaries with the power of the mind (a la "The Shadow"). He gets a chance to use these amazing powers to thwart Bela Lugosi and that pesky death-ray he has acquired. Chases, kidnappings, dark castles, death cults, BELA LUGOSI AND A DEATH RAY! Can't go wrong there.

To me, the creepiest story on this three-disc set of "horror classics" was a scene he described that was straight out of "Day of the Locust." Chandu’s star Edmund Lowe had just married another major movie star prior to the release of "Chandu." They were the 1934 equivalent of Brangelina, so when she tragically died of cancer, a mob of 10,000 descended on the funeral, crushing members of the funeral procession (and themselves), while knocking over tombstones

"Dr. Renault's Secret" (1942) rounds out the collection. Here's a tip: Want a radio-controlled octopus? An animated corpse to do your bidding? Call George Zucco, he'll be more than happy to fix you up. "Dr. Renault's Secret" is not the Alliance or Le Car (although those two vehicles were very likely developed by an evil mad scientist), but an ape transformed into a rather odd handyman in the form of the prolific J. Carrol Naish (in rather subtle make-up). Naish succeeds admirably in conveying a portrait of a man uncomfortable in his own skin, for very good reasons. Look for veteran heavy Mike Mazurki doing what he does best, lurking and threatening.

"Dragonwyck"'s got the most goodies: Two separate radio shows, an isolated score track, "A House of Secrets: Exploring 'Dragonwyck'" featurette, theatrical trailers and still galleries.

"Chandu" has "Masters of Magic: Exploring the World of Chandu" featurette and a still gallery.

"Dr. Renault" has "Horror's Missing Link: Discovering 'Dr. Renault's Secret'" featurette, still galleries and a trailer.

If I were you, I'd get the "Fox Horror Classics Vol. 2", or George Zucco will operate on your brain.

— Mike Reynolds