Each week BDN film critic Christopher Smith reviews the latest DVD releases

“Aeon Flux: HD DVD”: From the inventive, MTV “Liquid Television” shorts, this high-definition movie version of “Aeon Flux” looks good, but it fails to translate that series’ ingenious animation to a full-length, live-action film. Charlize Theron is Flux, the hard-bodied hottie fighting crime in a future bearing clones due to human sterility. The movie never gels and its quick-cut editing is overbearing. A glimmering stunt. Rated PG-13. Grade: C-

“Blue Collar TV-Season 2: Volume 1”: In spite of what its title promises, the show really isn’t about blue collar workers, a group to which it condescends, but about southern stereotypes, which it celebrates. Its stars, few of whom could now comprehend the minimum wage – Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy – guzzle beer, talk about babes and their wives and deliver their share of back-talk, sometimes with a gun at the ready. Strictly for the enthusiast. Grade: C-

“The Comeback”: Forget about the comeback – it’s the desperation that generates interest. In this uneven yet likeably bitter comedy, Lisa Kudrow is Valerie Cherish, a once-famous television star now starring in a reality television show chronicling her comeback on the new sitcom, “Room and Bored.” HBO canceled “Comeback” due to poor ratings, but with time, there’s the sense that Kudrow, who is very good here, could have scored a nice comeback of her own. Grade: B

“Dallas: The Complete Fifth Season”: Jock Ewing is dead (helicopter crash got him), Southfork is in turmoil (no surprise there), Sue Ellen and J.R. divorce (ugly), the Ewing fortune is at stake (well, not really). As Miss Ellie, Barbara Bel Geddes, who lived for years in Northeast Harbor before she died there last August, is the glue that keeps the series together; amid all the fireworks, the alcoholic benders, the backstabbings, the kidnappings, the suicide attempts and the adulteries, she’s the backbone that sustains the ongoing melodrama. Grade: B-

“Good Times: Complete Sixth Season”: Not the best of “Times,” not the worst of “Times,” though certainly the end of “Times.” This final season of the show resists sentiment (until the end), with Florida, Thelma, J.J, Willona, Bookman, Michael and Penny surviving daily life in the Chicago projects. Jimmy Walker may have had the catch phrase “Dyn-O-Mite,” but it’s the late Esther Rolle, who returned to the show after being written out of the fifth season, who is the reason these times were as good as they were. Grade: B+

“Inside Man”: Spike Lee, working from the inside – literally – to produce an enjoyably convoluted heist movie underscored with deliberate racial tension. His mind, steeped fully in post 9-11 New York City, wraps around a handful of characters who never are quite who they appear to be. For that matter, you sometimes have no idea who they are at all. For instance, to discover exactly what it is that Jodie Foster’s chilly Madeline White does would indeed take somebody from the inside (her role is never fully explained), but my, how she bristles with evil. With Denzel Washington as a New York detective and Clive Owen as a thief, “Inside Man” has charisma, wit and more than a few plot holes. Rated R. Grade: B+

“The Italian Job: HD DVD”: Another heist movie, this one from 2003, with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton headlining a film in which $35 million worth of gold isn’t just the prize but the problem. The movie, just out on HD DVD, doesn’t feature the unusual casting of the original, which found Noel Coward and Benny Hill pressing hard against type, but it does retain the shenanigans of its other crowd-pleasing stars – three Mini Coopers. Energetic and smart, this caper’s considerable style gets a significant boost from the looseness of its cast. A remake of Peter Collinson’s 1969 film of the same name. Rated PG-13. Grade: B+

“Mr. Moto Collection: Volume One”: Peter Lorre channeling Charlie Chan. Lorre’s Mr. Moto is a top Japanese secret agent with nice manners and a vicious kick; you could have him for dinner or a murder. Four films comprise this lively set of B-movies – “Think Fast, Mr. Moto” (1937), “Thank You, Mr. Moto” (1938), “Mr. Moto’s Gamble” (1938) and “Mr. Moto Takes a Chance” (1938). The films were cheap to produce, but Lorre, in spite of the health problems that plagued him during the era, is nevertheless magnetic. Grade: B+

“Ray: HD DVD”: Here is a movie made for high definition, with the quality of its digital sound as critical as its crisp print. Neither disappoints. This rich, satisfying biography of Ray Charles stars Jamie Foxx, who deservedly won the Academy Award for his performance as the legendary musician. Foxx is so convincing in the role, he makes you believe you’re watching Charles play himself, an uncanny, dark feat of showmanship that’s a joy to behold. Rated PG-13. Grade: A

“The Shaggy Dog”: This dim remake of the 1959 Disney classic stars Tim Allen in the Fred MacMurray role as Dave Douglas, an assistant district attorney who is bitten by a 300-year-old Tibetan Sheepdog and thus magically turns into a dog himself. Sort of like this movie. The dog is cute; it can act. Allen’s performance demands that you watch it through parted fingers; it’s as if he allowed his inner child to wander blindly into a busy street, where it didn’t fare well. No one saves him. Robert Downey Jr. and Danny Glover undermine themselves in co-starring roles. Rated PG-13. Grade C-