DVD CORNER

“Millions”: From director Danny Boyle, whose “Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later” and “Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise” weren’t exactly fodder for tots, comes “Millions,” a fable for children in which the director successfully branches into new directions. In the film, two motherless brothers – 7-year-old Damian (Alex Etel), 9-year-old Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) – find their lives forever changed by a stack of cash that literally falls from the sky. For Damian, a solemn little boy who has the unique gift to speak with the saints – a good deal of whom smoke and have halos twinkling above their heads – it’s obvious that the money is a gift from God and that it should be used for charity. For crafty Anthony, who is forever on the make, charity begins at home. For the crooks who lost the money, getting it back is what gives the movie its delightful narrative pull. As usual, Boyle is a whirling dervish behind the camera, but really, in this sweetly gripping movie, he could have toned down the technical hoo-ha and still come away with a winner. His “Millions” is touching and fearless. Rated: PG. Grade: A-

“Melinda and Melinda”: One story, two versions, each from Woody Allen, so you know you’re in for it. “Melinda and Melinda” follows two tinkering playwrights – woeful Max (Larry Pine), punchy Sy (Wallace Shawn) – as they toy with elements of a story to see what might come of it after each has had their way with it. Turns out plenty. Their muse is Melinda (Radha Mitchell), who storms into the sort of Manhattan dinner party only Allen could throw; it’s devoid of real people, but filled with amusing types. As the story has its way with Melinda and the characters she infects, the film becomes a fusion of comedy and tragedy, with Allen worrying over the fine line that separates them. Nothing new in that, so it’s how the director approaches the subject that makes it worthwhile. With Will Ferrell, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofar, Brooke Smith, Chloe Sevigny and Jonny Lee Miller. Rated PG-13: Grade: B

“Office Space: Special Edition with Flair”: A solid satire from Mike Judge, with the focus on white-collar slavery. Throughout, the comic possibilities are charged, with much of the film playing like a live-action version of the “Dilbert” comic strip. Here is a movie in which Jennifer Aniston is criticized for not wearing enough “flair” at her restaurant job, where one character has to bear the humiliation of being named Michael Bolton, and where three corporate computer grunts exact revenge on a system that loves to deliver pink slips but no respect. As one character puts it, “Since I started working here, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.” When he and his officemates beat a fax machine senseless midway through, the vindication and the glory is theirs – and ours. Rated R. Grade: B

“Polar Express”: A refrigerated sleeper car so devoid of life, it chills the screen. Using performance capture technology, the film uses real actors – Tom Hanks chief among them – to achieve photo-realism through computer animation. That’s an inevitable progression of the CGI movement, but is photo-realism really what audiences want from an animated movie? Is it so bad to look like a cartoon? What we’re left with here is a computer chip that can render stunning landscapes, but which fails to faithfully capture the human form. The children in this movie don’t look like real tots struggling to believe in Santa. They look like waxen, undead extras from a Romero film. A creepy movie with Nazi undertones that should have been released on Halloween. Grade: G. Grade: C-

“Warner Holiday Collection”: From Warner Home Video, three classics – 1945’s “Christmas in Connecticut,” 1938’s “A Christmas Carol” and 1938’s Academy Award-winning “Boys Town.” It’s a wonderful collection, all hailing from an era in which the world either was moving into the second World War or coming out of it, still stunned by what it faced and more than eager for entertainment. The times are apparent here, with Hollywood allowed to be earnest without fearing a cynical backlash – quite different from today’s climate, in which the unification felt only four years ago has been shattered. It’s no wonder these movies endure – none of them overdo it. In “Boys Town,” Spencer Tracy won the Oscar as Father Flanagan, a priest who starts a home for delinquent boys. Joining him with his own Oscar win is Mickey Rooney as a young tough in need of discipline. He gets it. In “A Christmas Carol,” director Edwin L. Marin takes Dickens’ tale and gives it the old MGM gloss in spite of the soot. A far lighter, screwball mood ignites “Christmas in Connecticut,” which stars Barbara Stanwyck as a food-writer who can’t cook. She’s every bit as famous as our Martha, but she’s a poseur, a fraud, lacking the goods to back up even a simple bouillabaisse. It’s a situation that allows director Peter Godfrey to set a delicious table of romantic deceit with the introduction of Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), a healing sailor fresh from the war who sure could use a good meal. Maybe even a wife. Grade: A

“War of the Worlds”: A blistering homage to the postwar, apocalyptic, sci-fi B-movies of Steven Spielberg’s youth. Tom Cruise is Ray Ferrier, a disappointing hothead and divorced father of two (Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin) whose life is interrupted by aliens. The film transforms the architecture of H.G. Wells’ 1898 book, taps into the hysteria Orson Welles generated in his infamous 1938 radio adaptation, and offers a broad nod to Byron Haskins’ classic 1953 movie version in the process. Until its final act, which is rotten, sidestepping a definitive statement on war for the sort of release that wants to be a comforting balm, the film is lean and alive, a visceral thrill ride fueled by a surprisingly dark streak of violence. Rated: PG-13. Grade: B+

“Leave it to Beaver: The Complete First Season”: “Gee, Wally! We’re on DVD now!” One of television’s most beloved sitcoms makes its debut on disc, with Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow as the Cleaver brothers, and Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley as their 1950s ideal parents. Added fun comes from supporting characters such as Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond) and Lumpy Rutherford (Frank Bank). DVD extra: original pilot episode. * * * (Not rated)