New Blu-rays: Oscar nominated 'Doubt' and 'No Country For Old Men' with hours of new extras

“DOUBT”

“YES MAN”

“BEDTIME STORIES”

“THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL”

“THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX”

“NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: COLLECTOR’S EDITION”

“NOT EASILY BROKEN”

“FLY AWAY HOME”

“FAITH LIKE POTATOES”

“DONKEY PUNCH”

“SESAME STREET: FOLLOW THAT BIRD – DELUXE EDITION”

“CLEOPATRA – 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION”

“PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION”

Best extra: “From stage to screen,” an engaging hi-def feature with writer/first-time director John Patrick Shanley

HIS PULITZER-WINNING play is a four-character drama set mostly in a couple of rooms, but that just made steering it to the screen harder for John Patrick Shanley.

It helped that he had a gifted cast and was filming in the Bronx neighborhood were he grew up. “I had to let go and remember the people in the school, on the streets,” he says in the feature “From stage to screen.” “It became a much richer vein to mine.”

Indeed. The hi-def picture is gorgeous and the economy Shanley employs behind the camera suits the thoughtful narrative perfectly.

He’s also true to its theatrical roots. Starring Meryl Streep as the rigid principal of a Catholic church school and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the popular priest with whom she clashes, “Doubt” is an intimate drama that raises questions only its audiences can answer.

In fact, Shanley says, the only predisposition his experience in the theater has given him is that the last act of a play takes place after the final curtain.

Other extras include HD features about the order of the Sisters of Charity and the film’s score, a cast interview and a delightful commentary with Shanley that’s more akin to thumbing through an old photo album than a filmmaker’s how-to.

“YES MAN”

Blu-ray and DVD widescreen, 2008, PG-13 for crude sexual humor, language and brief nudity

Best extra: "Jim Carrey: Extreme Yes Man" about the physical stunts that Carrey performs, like bungee jumping.

"YES MAN" IS a great vehicle for Carrey’s antics, although the movie leaves a lot to be desired. The best parts of it are Zooey Deschanel as his fearless, lead-singing love interest and Rhys Darby ("Flight of the Conchords") as his bumbling boss.

In Blu-ray, the movie’s stunts are spectacular and seamless, even though Carrey isn’t doing all of them himself, i.e. flying around curves on a California mountain road on his belly with wheels all over his body. But, yes, like the extra shows, Carrey did bungee jump off a high bridge.

Some of the HD extras are exclusive to the Blu-ray, including a behind-the-scenes with Darby in character showing viewers his bachelor pad, Carrey hyped up on Red Bull for one scene, and a behind-scene with Danny Wallace, who wrote the book the movie is based on.

Other extras to Blu-ray include a gag reel, behind-scenes short with Carrey making funnies on the set, a look at Deschanel’s movie band, Munchausen by Proxy, and music videos lifted straight from the flick.

And, if you are Blu-ray Live enabled, you have a host of other features to access.

“BEDTIME STORIES”

Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2008, PG for some mild rude humor and mild language

Best extra: A short bonus on the special effects used to make the intergalactic fight scene

IN “BEDTIME STORIES,” Skeeter’s (Adam Sandler) niece and nephew hold the key to helping their uncle realize that not all stories have bad endings.

This hi-def fantasy with heart makes bedtime stories come alive, with gumballs raining from the sky and mermaids teaching school.

The computer-generated scenes are amazing. Viewers can view blue-screen footage in the bonus feature on the space scene where Skeeter battles a bad guy in zero-gravity.

The HD bonus features barely add up to 30-minutes viewing time – a commentary with Sandler and director Shankman would have added a lot to this three disc set, which also includes a DVD and digital copy.

Other bonuses include a chat with the film’s two young stars, deleted scenes, bloopers, a look at the guinea pigs that played Bugsy, the critter with the outrageously big eyes, and BD Live bonuses if your TV has an Internet connection.

"Bedtime Stories" may give any family movie night a happy ending.

“THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL”

Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2008, PG-13 for some sci-fi disaster images and violence

Best extras: "Re-imaging The Day Documentary," a decent look at taking the original film and turning it into a modern-day allegory and the commentary with screenwriter David Scarpa, although not as visual as "Re-imaging," is also worth a listen.

BLU-RAY AND DVDs can add new life to the box-office dud. This is true for "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

When you listen to the movie’s principals, from character designers to extraterrestrial consultants, the movie takes on more dimension than people thought it had in the theaters.

Take GORT for example. A bonus feature explains the intricacies that went into recreating this quintessential robot from the original into a 21st century bad guy. The more complex the designs became, the more movie makers realized GORT needed to be simple, yet still carry a sophisticated nano technology to help bring the story line into the future.

The HD bonuses on the Blu-ray tie the movie’s aspects together, from still galleries images to three deleted/extended scenes. Other bonus features include a talk with scientists who watch the skies for life in other galaxies, a look at how filmmakers made this a "green" film by recycling along with other environmentally friendly efforts, a game that allows you to build your own GORT, a digital copy and other U-Control extras.

Viewers also get a bonus, Robert Wise’s 1951 original on Blu-ray and DVD. Be warned, though, this disc contains none of the extras that came with the release of the original a few months ago.

For those who tried to compare the two films, it’s best not to. Take the 2008 version as an updated version with a theme that still persists today, years after the end of World War II and the Cold War era: human beings should beware when fear replaces reason. 

“THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX”

Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2008, G

Best extra: For Blu-ray viewers, U-Control picture-in-picture access to features such as interviews and behind-the-scenes footage while watching the film

DESPEREAUX’S SHINY, pink nose is quite amazing on Blu-ray, so real you feel like you can touch it.

Other details in this computer-animated, HD movie (based on the children’s book by Kate DiCamillo) are amazing as well, except a few eyebrows here and there. In addition, the storyline is a wonderful fairy tale for the entire family.

HD bonus features are not spectacular, but enhance aspects of the movie, including two deleted songs, a make-your-own-soup game and six scenes from start to finish – including drawings, lighting and script. These are exclusive to Blu-ray along with the U-Control feature and a BD Live feature that allows users to make their own Despereaux greeting card.

For others, the DVD includes a sneak peek at "Curious George 2," a making of "Despereaux" and the top-10 uses for oversized ears.

Top it off with a coupon for a free Pocket Photo Book at Kodak Gallery online, and "The Tale of Despereaux" should be a nice addition to any fairytale lover’s library.

“NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: COLLECTOR’S EDITION”

Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2007, R for strong graphic violence and some language

Best extra: A 16-part press tour with co-director’s Ethan and Joel Coen and actors Josh Brolin, Jarvier Bardem and Kelly Macdonald.

IT’S ONLY BEEN a year since this big Oscar-winner came out on Blu-ray and DVD, and Miramax is already double dipping. Sorry, no improvement with the picture or sound; it’s already spectacular. So, what’s new? EXTRAS!

This two-disc edition includes five hours of audio and video interviews broken into 16 sessions with the brothers from Minneapolis and most of their cast. They began in October 2007 and ended in February 2008, just before the Oscars.

First option is a 26-minute interview with Brolin and Bardem hosted by online film journalist David Poland. Next, a 24-minute Q&A at the Writers Guild of America/West forum. How about four audio NPR interviews from “All Thing’s Considered,” “Weekend Edition,” and “Day to Day”? My favorite is PBS host Charlie Rose talking with the Coen’s. A slight disappointment is that none of the video is in hi-def. Still not sure which one to watch or listen to? Let the “Call it, Friend-O” coin button make the pick.

The collection includes the previous bonus extras including the standard-def making-of documentary where Tommy Lee Jones (Sheriff Ed Tom Bell) who calls this thriller a horror flick – and then says it’s a comedy. Producer Robert Graf has a different take: It’s a Western with a film noir flair. Scottish actress Macdonald nails it. “It’s a Coen Brothers film. They’re their own genre,” she says.

The thrilling adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel follows life in the early ’80s as drugs are spilling over the Texas-Mexico border. Lleweyln Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles onto the bloody aftermath – and a bag of money – of a deal gone bad. Soon, he is hunted by Anton Chigurh (Oscar winner Javier Bardem), the most remorseless villain since Hannibal Lecter.

The rugged landscape, courtesy of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins, is breathtaking in hi-def. And, as expected the DTS-HD soundtrack amplifies environmental sounds to a fever pitch, making the mostly scoreless film even more suspenseful. Also included is a short featurette in which Lee recounts how Sheriff Bell is overmatched in this age of violence.

  — Bill Kelley III

“NOT EASILY BROKEN”

Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen 2009, rated PG-13 for sexual references and thematic material

Best extra: Making-of documentary, “Not Easily Broken”

MEGA PASTOR AND author T.D. Jakes brings another book to film with “Not Easily Broken.” Morris Chesnut and Taraji P. Henson star in the tale of a couple confronted with financial and emotional turmoil after a severe car accident.

Jakes hopes to push couples to talk about real issues. “We’ve gotta do something to sustain our relationships. Marriages are coming unglued,” Jakes says in the special features.

He explains that marriages should be made up of a three-strand chord – the husband, the wife and God. With God, that chord should be hard to break.

There’s little talk about the relationships between the cast and crew. Instead, Jakes and his wife, Serita Jakes, join producer Curtis Wallace and director Bill Duke to share their personal connections to the story. Mrs. Jakes reveals that she was in a car accident similar to the one in the movie very early on in her marriage. Married couples will bury their parents, endure financial hardships, illnesses and more, but Jakes says he wants couples to remember one thing: “Love hides a multitude of sins.”

Best extra: An audio commentary with film historian Jeanine Basinger detailing the film’s origins from Colette’s novel and various stage adaptations to social concerns about bringing the musical to film. It also includes interview excerpts with Leslie Caron (Gigi).

LERNER AND LOWE created some of the finest musicals brought to stage and screen. “Brigadoon,” “My Fair Lady,” “Camelot” – and “Gigi” would top the list. Based on the novella by the scandalous Colette about an independent young girl being tutored in the ways of the “companion,” the composers scored a stream of hits: “The Night They Invented Champagne,” “Gigi,” “I Remember It Well,” and “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” With a cast that included Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold and Eva Gabor, the film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Vicente Minnelli), Best Adapted Screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner), Best Cinematography, Scoring, Editing, Costumes and, naturally, Best Music (Lerner and Frederick Lowe).

There’s so much music, comedy, elegance and fashion that it’s disconcerting to realize the story is about a child in training to become a courtesan. Family members spend so much time on her education, one of the big comic moments comes about when Gigi rebels, saying she doesn’t want to “do it.”

Something to keep in mind when sharing classic musicals with the family.

Video on this remastered Blu-ray experience is excellent – not as technically stunning as the recently released “An American in Paris,” but bright and pleasing with vibrant color and strong blacks. Detail is especially good in costumes and sets. Blu-ray purists will note some excessive film grain and some wavering skin tones. Sound is terrific, however, inviting viewers to sing along.

There are plenty of extras including a vintage “Tom & Jerry” cartoon, a great new high-def retrospective documentary, “Thank Heaven,” and a black and white 1949 non-musical film adaptation.

“FLY AWAY HOME”

Blu-ray widescreen, 1996, PG for an opening accident scene and some mild language

Best extra: A commentary with director Carroll Ballard and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, providing wonderful stories and insights about their visual style of filmmaking.

DID YOU KNOW THIS heartwarming adventure has its roots right here in Virginia?

Inspired by a study to protect the wetlands through biological diversity, artist Bill Lishman wanted to find a safer migration route for a flock of Canada geese. In 1993, he became the surrogate mother for 18 of them, showing them the way via utralight from Ontario to a habitat at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, Va.

Hollywood’s tale introduces a fictional 13-year-old daughter (Anna Paquin) as the geese’s mother and her dad (Jeff Daniels) a nutty artist, making a special plane for her to lead the migration to North Carolina. What makes this movie so endearing is the collaboration between the Ballard and Deschanel. Their vision parallels their earlier child/animal classic, “The Black Stallion.”

The Blu-ray imagery is an oblivious step up from the DVD, with richer colors and more depth, especially during the airborne footage, but I wouldn’t call it a night and day difference. On the other hand, the soundtrack gets a real boost, using the Dolby TrueHD track highlighting Mark Isham’s melodic score.

The disc features a 60-minute documentary on the true story of Lishman and his dream of bird migration. It also details the imprinting process: how a bird trusts the first object it sees as its parent.

— Bill Kelley III

Best extra: “The Making of Winged Migration” documentary explains how the birds were imprinted on the filmmakers who lived with the birds and how footage was shot from ultralights. Fascinating.

DIRECTORS JACQUE PERRIN, Jacques Cluzaud, and Michel Debats take to the skies to show how birds migrate all over the world. This is amazing aerial footage, a genuinely stunning experience viewed in Blu-ray. Geese, swans, terns, cranes – the color and detail are breathtaking. A score by Bruno Coulais and narration by Philippe Labro are the only exception to environmental sound, which can sometimes shake the speakers.

Extra features are carried over from the standard-def edition, including an interview with Coulais on how he composed the music. The only new Blu-ray feature is a link to a web site where you can download a scene in standard or hi-def. But why not just watch the disc?

CEREBRAL AND FANTASTIC, the Discovery Channel’s Mars documentary explores the Phoenix lander. Designed through collaboration between NASA and Lockheed Martin, viewers see how scientists and engineers developed and designed a lander to explore the Red Planet for signs of life, such as water and oxygen. Material filmed in hi-def makes a great transition to Blu-ray. Other material – not so great. But it’s not possible to watch this documentary without dreaming of a successful mission.

Video for “The World’s Biggest and Baddest Bugs” fares better. Entomologist Rudd Kleinpaste of Animal Planet’s “Buggin’ With Ruud” examines all kinds of creepy-crawlers – spiders, scorpions, gigantic hissing cockroaches – and their environments in detail friendly hi-def. Here the detail is spot on and color is good, especially in those tropical climates. You know Animal Planet knows how to get up close and personal with nature. (And those bugs might just remind you of the fictional speculation H.G. Wells and other sci-fi folks imagined living on Mars.)

Sound is good for both documentaries. Face it; there are no special effects or sweeping scores to exploit. It’s science – and it’s interesting. You hear what you need to and you’ll learn stuff.

“FAITH LIKE POTATOES”

DVD widescreen, 2008, rated PG for some thematic material, an accident scene, mild language and brief smoking

Best extra: “God’s Farmer: The Angus Buchan Story”

ANGUS BUCHAN HAS an amazing story. When the farmer moved his family to South Africa, his life went sour after a string of losses. The film, based on Buchan’s life, is a moving and inspiring testament to God’s power.

The DVD is packed with extras that reiterate the movie’s theme. “God’s Farmer: The Angus Buchan Story” is a 54-minute documentary featuring interviews with Buchan about his experiences in South Africa.

In “Faith For ‘Faith Like Potatoes,’” Producer Frans Cronje talks about the faith that he needed to produce this film. During production, donations fell through causing economic strain, but he learned a major lesson. “Jesus is real and God does provide,” Cronje says in the extras.

During “The Cast,” Frank Rautenbach, who portrays Buchan, says when he started the film he thought like a boy, but now he thinks like man. He says the transformation occurred because of the work God did in his heart through this story.

The DVD also includes “Directing Faith Like Potatoes,” “The Music of Faith Like Potatoes” and more.

— DeAnne M. Bradley

“DONKEY PUNCH”

DVD widescreen, 2008, unrated (nudity, sex, language and drug use)

Best extra: The director's commentary is the only one longer than a few minutes.

BEING CAUGHT ON your vacation in Spain in the middle of the ocean with several strangers who have just accidentally killed your friend is a real drag. So goes "Donkey Punch," a Brit import which takes the idea from Peter Berg's "Very Bad Things" and does little to improve upon it.

The movie takes half its running time establishing how a quartet of young, attractive men in possession of a yacht are able to seduce a trio of attractive young women at a party into coming on board and taking drugs with them. The second half has the women and men turn on each other in a violent fight for survival. Besides its literal battle of the sexes, only one of the three men provides a voice of doubt regarding the fate of the remaining two girls, which is the film's best attempt at a moral center. Unfortunately, the center doesn't hold very well. "Donkey Punch" is slickly made, and holds a few good surprises. But as a work of art, with living, breathing characters, the director attaches much more significance to the film than you probably will.

Extras include a half dozen deleted and extended scenes, a making-of documentary, question-and-answer cast interviews, and a commentary with director and co-writer Olly Blackburn and his producer. It falls heavy on the technical side (shooting conditions, temperature of the water, how much it cost to rent the yacht, etc.) A bit more anecdotes involving the human element might have helped.

DVD widescreen, 2008, rated R for language, some violence and brief drug use

Best extra: None

HOLLYWOOD IS NOW officially in love with the idea of failed superheroes. After the overproduced "Hancock" fell on his face, a carbon copy of the graphic novel "Watchmen" stepped up to bat. Meanwhile, the creatively bankrupt TV show "Heroes" muddled its way through a third season.

But one superhero leaps over them all with a single bound in a low-fanfare DVD debut this week. His name is Les Franken – or, as he calls himself, "Special."

Deftly played by Michael Rapaport in one of his rare leading roles, Franken escapes his solitary, demeaning existence as a city parking enforcement worker by immersing himself in comic books. When he elects to be a part of a drug trial, he develops a bevy of super powers: telepathy, levitation, walking through walls, and a keen eye for crime before it happens. Unfortunately, as the script reveals early on, his new abilities – ones that he hopes will finally make him special in the public's eyes – may only exist in his head.

Although the smart script wrings many laughs from Franken's erratic behavior, this isn't light fare by any means. By refusing requests from friends and others to ditch the drugs that prey on his mind (he thinks it's a trap, you see), he descends into a fantasy prison of his own making. You may find yourself shifting uncomfortably in your seat at his fate more than once. More often, however, you'll find yourself rooting for him as he looks for a way out.

For extras, the DVD offers a few outtakes and a short skit from HDNet in which Rapaport, in character, trash talks other comic book superheroes.

“SESAME STREET: FOLLOW THAT BIRD – DELUXE EDITION”

DVD widescreen, 1985, rated G

Best extra: An interview with Caroll Spinney, who has provided Big Bird's voice and movements since the first episode of Sesame Street in 1969, is a revelatory treat for anyone who grew up with the classic series.

RELEASED JUST IN time for the 25th anniversary of its cinematic release, the big-screen debut of the Sesame Street gang finally receives widescreen treatment. It makes a huge difference. Although it may be cliched to say, this extravaganza – featuring cameos by everyone from Chevy Chase to Waylon Jennings to Jim Henson himself – will provide fun for children of all ages.

For a bonus treat, throw the disc into your DVD-ROM drive to print out one of several Big Bird coloring sheets. After all, who doesn't love to color?

“CLEOPATRA – 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION”

DVD full-screen, 1934, unrated, just a little risque

Best extra: The feature “Claudette Colbert: Queen of the Silver Screen”

“PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION”

DVD full-screen, 1931-34, unrated, themes, a few bare behinds and see-through tops

“KING KONG,” “FRANKENSTEIN,” “The Wizard of Oz” … There are loads of films in the vaults that make you want to whisk back to the first time they were unreeled in one of those grand movie palaces.

Even in black and white on the 42-incher, there’s no hiding that this is a spectacle – thanks to a crack job in the restoration lab but mostly to the luminescent Claudette Colbert as the queen of the Nile. A feature points out just how big and versatile a star she was in 1934. That same year she starred in the drama “Imitation of Life” and the Oscar-winning comedy “It Happened One Night.” In “Cleopatra,” says a talking head, you’re taken by her intelligence. It’s true. There’s no question who’s in charge.

There’s no question, either, who was in charge behind the camera. Made in the twilight of notorious, (almost) anything-goes, pre-Code Hollywood, it has all of DeMille’s button-pushing hallmarks: skimpy costumes, drinking and innuendo.

Sure, it’d be tame today, but that doesn’t detract from its entertainment value.

Same goes for the “Pre-Code Hollywood Collection,” a set of six films from those days starring such household names as Colbert, Tallulah Bankhead, Fredric March, Cary Grant and Ida Lupino. There’s a flash or two of skin, but the shocking stuff here has more to do with behavior – drinking, gambling, illegitimate babies.

The best of the bunch is “The Cheat,” a melodrama with Bankhead as a young wife with a gambling problem that lands her in a kinky fix, but the titles run the gamut from a murder set backstage at a risque review (“Murder at the Vanities”) to a scam that has Olympic athletes endorsing a racy magazine (“Search for Beauty”).

The lone feature (also included on “Cleopatra”) is “Forbidden Film: The Production Code Era,” a crash course that traces the rise of these films during the Great Depression. With pressure from the Catholic Church’s League of Decency, Hollywood soon sapped the fun out of itself, but, with the rise of television in the 1950s, found itself back at square one: What to do to get people back to the movies?

DVD widescreen, 2007, not rated, contains action violence, gore, graphic battle scenes

Best extra: The making-of shows how the Russian film was made.

IF YOU LONG for swashbuckling adventure, this may be your kind of film. Forget that it’s supposed to be based on historical fact. (The unicorns throw it off track.) Just gallop into “1612” as a historical fantasy with lots of battles, armor (a stunning design), a beautiful princess, a brave young hero, historical costuming and weaponry, and let yourself be entertained for 143 minutes.

The movie is set in Russia during the Time of Troubles, a period of civil unrest, assassination, invasion and famine. A young boy witnesses the death of the Tsar and his family. His eventual quest is to find the princess who escaped the massacre.

Released to celebrate a national holiday, “1612” is in Russian with subtitles.