DVD Corner

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the new archive of Christopher Smith’s movie reviews, which appear each week in the DVD Corner.

“Batman Anthology”: A bevy of Batmen, with 18 hours of new features, a good deal of which go beyond padding for profit and actually are worth a Batman enthusiast’s time. This swell companion piece to Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” reviewed below, is a lark. Included here are the major Batman films – Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman” and 1992’s “Batman Returns,” which starred Michael Keaton in the lead and are among the best of this anthology. They are dark and grim in ways that Joel Schumacher doesn’t understand in his two weaker versions, 1995’s “Batman Forever,” with Val Kilmer sporting the bat suit and Jim Carrey as the Riddler, and 1997’s cartoon overkill, “Batman & Robin,” in which George Clooney’s Batman duked it out with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze. The good news is that beyond the movies, each disc is crammed with extras, from music videos by Prince, Jewel and Seal to commentaries by each director to additional scenes. Rated PG-13. Grade: A-

“Batman Begins”: It doesn’t cave. From a script he co-wrote with David S. Goyer, director Christopher Nolan delivers an intense, beautifully crafted movie with “Batman Begins”; it deepens the franchise with a fully realized vision that gets to the heart of how Batman began. The film follows Nolan’s previous movies, “Memento” and “Insomnia,” with a story that focuses on a tormented soul facing a troubled past. True, this soul wears a mask, but then so do all of the characters in Nolan’s works, even if those masks aren’t as readily apparent as the one worn by this new Batman, nicely played by Christian Bale. A quick glance at Nolan’s films suggests an emerging theme – the idea that all of us wear masks. Whether it’s at work or in our relationships, at the grocery story or at the gas pump, what haunts us, what angers us, what worries us and consumes us is carefully concealed behind a protective veneer of benign expression. For Nolan, it’s the peeling away of that mask that excites him, the search for truth that intrigues him. And so, not surprisingly, this story of what lurks behind a legendary superhero’s mask proves the perfect match for his talents and interests. “Batman Begins” is Nolan at his best. It’s his movie all the way – and so far, it’s one of the best films of 2005. Rated: PG-13.

Grade: A

“Cinderella – Platinum Edition”: Forget Snow White. After a digital restoration of Disney’s “Cinderella,” now available for the first time on DVD, it’s Cinderella who is the fairest of them all. This tale of the beautiful, floor-scrubbing lass who loses her glass slipper only to find a prince in the process, never has looked better. Even the little meddling rodents who look out for Cinderella’s best interests seem cuter, though the same can’t be said for the ugly stepsisters – with this crisp, new print, their ugliness has been enhanced. Included here is an excellent featurette, “From Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella,” as well as a preview of the upcoming “Cinderella III,” which looks as if Disney has some way to go to best what fans will find here. Rated G. Grade: A

“George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead”: A satisfying wasteland. “George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead” continues the “Dead” series without feeling as if Romero only came to cash in. The movie moves the story forward with ease, giving new purpose to the zombies Romero conceived in his 1968 classic, “Night of the Living Dead,” while offering fans plenty of gore in the process. The film eschews the blistering, apocalyptic action so popular in today’s horror films for measured chaos that lingers. What the movie proves is that there still are fresh ideas to be found in the familiar rot of Romero’s world. Shrewdly, the director remains firm in his belief that it takes more than just ropes of dripping entrails and severed heads to make a horror movie satisfying. While those elements certainly are welcome and they do flourish here – some might never wear a belly-button ring again – the film has other targets to explore, beginning with America’s current obsession with amassing land and real estate. Across the board, the acting is good, particularly from John Leguizamo and Robert Joy, but even from lead zombie Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), a hulking beast who brings a formidable appetite that leaves everyone spent in the end. Rated R. Grade: B

“Martha Stewart’s Holiday Collection 2005”: Fresh from the clink and eager to deliver her uberlifestyle tips to the masses, Martha Stewart, never in better form, offers this new three-disc box set of “Martha Stewart’s Holiday Collection 2005,” which will teach viewers, over the course of what seems like minutes, how to tie a turkey, roll a turkey, stuff a turkey, bone a turkey. Included are step-by-step instructions to appease even the clumsiest of cooks. Here, viewers get the low-down on how to knock out a compelling centerpiece, which will be enhanced thanks to Martha’s centerpiece prowess. Some will discover that gift wrapping can be a good thing, in spite of nagging suspicions to the contrary. And others will learn the proper way to chill Dom Perignon with the helpful advice of Geoffroy White. With her typical laid-back style and dry sense of humor, Martha is a wiz here. She wins you over, just as she does in her two current television shows, which are testaments to how one can overcome diversity and win. Still, just how important and necessary it is to know how to make a corn husk doll, for instance, or how to embellish a wreath, will be entirely up to the consumer. Grade: B+