DVD Corner

“Happy Endings”: From Don Roose, whose “The Opposite of Sex” was one of the freshest, funniest comedies of 1998, comes “Happy Endings,” a busy little drama with comedic undertones. The cast is a who’s who, a who’s not and a who might one day be; they’re the best part of the picture, particularly Tom Arnold, if you can swallow that, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Jude, a girl interrupted by a whole host of circumstances. Laura Dern and Lisa Kudrow also star. On the downside, the movie is unnecessarily complex, filled with characters who never are what they appear. Roose tries hard to keep us on our toes – and on some levels he succeeds – but with each revelation in the crisscrossing hive of contrivances the movie courts, comes an extended series of mild disappointments. Grade: C +

“King Kong: Collector’s Edition”: For the first time ever on DVD – and coincidentally (ahem) just in time to join the hype fueling Peter Jackson’s Dec. 14 release of “King Kong” – comes the excellent “King Kong: Collector’s Edition” from Warner Home Video. Along with a beautifully restored print of the original 1933 film are plenty of worthwhile extras, including commentary from Jackson, Ray Harryhausen, Ken Ralston and Fay Wray. A 20-page reproduction of the original souvenir program is a nice touch, as is the collectible tin, both of which get to the heart of the film’s first-class send-off. The second disc features “RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World.” It’s a seven-part documentary, with the best parts – “Creation Test Footage with Commentary by Harryhausen” and “The Origins of ‘King Kong” – allowing invaluable insight into how “Kong” came to be. A definitive, top-notch collection. Grade: A

“March of the Penguins”: A likely contender for this year’s Best Documentary, “March of the Penguins” delivers the highs and lows of the emperor penguins of the Antarctic, a beautiful yet awkward lot which must walk more than 70 miles through the most treacherous terrain and weather conditions in order to come to a place in which they feel safe to hatch their chicks. And then, to find food before they starve, they must walk those 70 miles again. And again. And again. Morgan Freeman narrates their harrowing journey without a trace of emotion – respect is what he achieves. “Like most love stories, it’s about an act of utter foolishness,” Freeman says of the lengths these birds go to ensure the survival of their young. Sadly, not all survive, but in the Antarctic, where the southern lights weave through the skies like hallucinogenic ribbons, this excellent movie nevertheless proves that the emperor penguins of the Antarctic endure. Rated G. Grade: A

“Mr. and Mrs. Smith”: The biggest screen orgasm of the year. Big, flashy, predictable and empty, with a trash plot driving it, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” finds that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have something that transcends performance and goes deeper than chemistry; they’re the real deal. As rote as their roles are in this comedic espionage thriller, it’s clear from the first moment we see them as John and Jane Smith – a bored, supernaturally sexy husband and wife in the bickering throes of marriage counseling – that they like each other plenty and have come to have fun. Now that the movie is available on DVD, audiences can enjoy it as its stars and its director obviously intended for it to be viewed – in the privacy of their bedrooms, with the shades shut. Rated: PG-13. Grade: B

“Point Pleasant: Complete Season”: A derivative series, cancelled by Fox, and perhaps too pleasant for its own good. It follows Christina Nickson (Elisabeth Harnois), spawn of the Devil (though she doesn’t know it), who gets so testy when she gets angry that nobody wants to be on the receiving end of her wrath. Trouble is, in the early episodes, she doesn’t get angry often enough to make much of this particularly compelling. Further felling the show are the substandard acting and the lackluster pacing. Toward the end, in the episodes Fox didn’t air, it does start to gel, with a fine payoff achieved. Still, getting there seems less like entertainment and more like a chore. Grade: C

“That ’70s Show: Complete Fourth Season”: The 2000-2001 season – or, as some like to call it, the pre-Demi season. Here, we’re back in Wisconsin, it’s 1976, and the kids (Topher Grace, Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Wilmer Valderamma, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson) are more restless than ever, as are the writers, who are working like hell to brew new complications. The highlights – or the lowlights, depending on whether you’re a fan of the series and the era – include some of the characters getting stoned in “Reefer Madness”; a lovely ode to that ’70s-era quirk, “Roller Disco”; and a nice send-up of Hitchcock in “Two Old to Trick or Treat, Too Young to Die.” The included extras are unusually good, filled with almost as much backbiting and infighting as the show itself. In the end, a simple parody of an era, but one that is more entertaining than some will expect. Grade: B

“Stargate Atlantis: The Complete First Season”: An offshoot of the popular “Stargate: SG-1,” with some work to be done before it matches the quality of its predecessor. The writing is good, but the development of the characters is weak; they don’t generate the tension the series needs in order to stand alone. Still, points go to the series’ creators for not re-creating a total rip-off of “SG-1.” Essentially a sci-fi Western, “Atlantis” features stargates, Pegasus galaxies, underwater cities, the cannibalism of the Wraith, and The Ancients, human ancestors who built their city 10 million years ago and who had to flee it for reasons I’ll leave for you. Too bad the goings get so serious. The series could learn from the ill-fated “Firefly” in not taking itself quite so seriously. Still, there is promise here, flashes of what the series might become if it finds itself in season two. Grade: B-