DVD Corner

“Black Hawk Down: Extended Cut”: Ridley Scott’s unflinching war movie, now padded with an unnecessary eight additional minutes, features one of the best re-enactments of man-to-man land combat captured in a movie. The film is about the real-life Battle of the Black Sea, the Oct. 3, 1993 U.S. mission to remove Gen. Muhammad Farah Aidid’s militia from the ravaged city of Mogadishu, Somalia. Poor planning and a string of bad luck turned it into a botched, 15-hour nightmare that went horribly wrong. Audiences will recognize some of the actors – Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Jason Isaacs, Orlando Bloom and Jeremy Piven, among dozens of others – but because the cast is so large, it’s difficult to connect with them individually. The film is technically solid yet icily detached. It captures the madness of urban combat and the bravery of U.S. forces, but at the cost of creating a single memorable character. In the end, it lacks the human element that could have made it great. Rated R. Grade: B

“Boston Legal: Season One”: A marvelous show – a spinoff of “The Practice” – with one of the best casts working on television. Dialogue, characters and story come together seamlessly in this jaunty legal dramedy, with James Spader and William Shatner mining a chemistry no one could have expected. The ending of each show is the mint on the pillow, with these two cutting loose over brandy and a cigar in ways that nicely loosen up network TV. Add the acidity of Candice Bergen, who also is riding a high here, and you have one of the best series going. Grade: A

“Entourage: Complete Seasons 1 & 2”: All the thrills and all the trappings of fame. The first season of this sharp HBO series dealt mostly with the thrills as actor Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier), his entourage of friends, his agent, Ari (Jeremy Piven), and his manager, Eric (Kevin Connolly), moved through Hollywood’s glamorous rooms and backrooms. Let’s just say they had a good time. The second season is the key to the show’s success, deepening the series by underscoring how fleeting fame can be if just the right projects aren’t chosen, such as Vince’s indie film, “Queens Boulevard,” which does zip for his career. When Ari at last convinces him to star in James Cameron’s “Aquaman,” a turning point is achieved.Vince falls hard for his co-star, Mandy Moore, and the season builds toward a memorable finale. Grade: B+

“Fast and the Furious: Franchise Collection”: The first “Furious” runs hard on Vin Diesel. It’s just what you expect – big, amusing, fast, a cartoonish thrill ride that’s enjoyably over-the-top. The second movie, “2 Fast, 2 Furious,” runs on Paul Walker, which has all the punch of a hybrid. The problem with the latter film is that it wants to be about something, which is sweet, but a shame. The first film never wanted to be anything more than just a throwback to the hot rod films of the 1950s; its kitschy embrace of a forgotten subculture was part of its charm. Worse for “2 Furious,” there’s nothing about it that sets it apart from the pack. It’s just sort of there, revving its engines and racing around street corners with no place to go. For some, the upside will be that inside is a free ticket to the upcoming third film, “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.” Each rated PG-13. Grades: “The Fast the Furious”: B; “2 Fast, 2 Furious”: C-.

“John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection”: Eight films on 10 discs – “The Searchers Ultimate Edition,” “Stagecoach Two-Disc Special Edition,” “Fort Apache,” “The Long Voyage Home,” “The Wings of Eagles,” “3 Godfathers,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and “They Were Expendable.” Beyond the value (find it online for $55), the set offers the pairing of two icons – the indispensable John Wayne with his inimitable mosey, drawl and sly asides, and the visionary director, John Ford, who knew his way around a landscape. What they created in their Westerns – “Stagecoach,” “Apache” and “Searchers” being their best – went beyond entertainment. They captured the isolation of the cowboy, turned him into a kind of comic hero, all while offering a valentine to the masculine aesthetic. Grade: A-

“The Pink Panther”: Ooh-la-la-so-so. Steve Martin takes on Inspector Jacques Clouseau, which essentially means that Martin takes on Peter Sellers – a bold move, for sure, but not entirely successful. Initially, Martin’s exaggerated French accent, squinting eyes, double-takes and endless pratfalls are funny, but midway through, they grow as tiresome as the increasingly uninspired script. Where’s the joie de vivre in this movie? It isn’t always apparent. In the end, the movie lets Martin down. Rated PG-13. Grade: C+

“16 Blocks”: The first time we see Bruce Willis’ Jack Mosley, a boozy, washed-up New York detective, he’s hunched over the wheel of a city bus, a bouquet of blood roses blooming on his shirt, and the cops outside are eager to take him down in a hail of bullets. How did he get here? It’s complicated. Jack is charged to take small-time thug Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) downtown to court, where Eddie will give testimony that will implicate several dirty cops. Problem is, as this movie sees it, cops don’t turn on cops, which leaves Jack’s colleagues – including former partner, Frank (David Morse) – eager to kill Eddie so they can move on with their lives. When Jack sees things differently, “16 Blocks” becomes a nicely involving, well-acted, claustrophobic chase movie in which Jack and Eddie suddenly are on the run. Rated R. Grade: B

“Underworld: Evolution”: Lots of biting, plenty of bloodletting, enough backstory to fill a backlot. In this dense, overbearing sequel to 2003’s underwhelming “Underworld,” the war between the vampires, werewolves and hybrids is bigger than any harvest moon, but never as bright. Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman reprise their roles as vamp and wolf, but really, like everyone else here, including villain Marcus (Tony Curran), they’re just here to either bolster the special effects or become them. Evolution? Not quite. Rated R. Grade: C-