DVD Corner

“ATL: HD DVD/DVD Combo”: As in “Atlanta.” This coming-of-age movie from Chris Robinson isn’t as imaginative as its characters’ names – Ant, Esquire, Brooklyn, New-New – but its plunge into the energetic subculture boiling between Atlanta’s north and south sides is reasonably entertaining and somewhat tense, particularly when the action unfolds at the roller rink, which is often. Romance, self-doubt, the lure of drugs and the uneasy push into adulthood all spike the mix, with hip-hop star Tip Harris especially good in the lead as Rashad. Not as memorable as its soundtrack, but Robinson’s first effort shouldn’t be dismissed. Rated PG-13. Grade: B-

“Curb Your Enthusiasm: Complete Fifth Season”: Don’t curb it – release it. This fifth season of “Enthusiasm” is another reason why HBO is so essential – it gives us what we can’t get anywhere else, such as the raw id behind Larry David’s appalling onscreen ego. It’s the appalling part that’s the fun part, with “Seinfeld” co-creator David allegedly playing himself and pulling off the impressive feat of self-parody without falling victim to it. Somehow, he generates affection in spite of his character’s total self-involvement. As his no-nonsense wife, Cheryl Hines is as amusingly disgusted with David as we are, but the key to her performance is that there never is any question that she’d take anything less than what she has in him. Neither would we. Grade: B+

“The Flying Nun: Complete Second Season”: As sister Bertrille, slight Sally Field takes to the skies thanks to her enormous cornette and some rather stiff winds in ways that suggests that if the drug culture weren’t already on the horizon, it should have been. The show is surreal and quirky, with Field’s Bertrille getting in and out of her share of manufactured fixes. With Madeleine Sherwood as Reverend Mother Plaseato, Marge Redmond as Sister Jacqueline and Shelley Morrison as Sister Sixto, this swell boxed lacks many extras, but the shows prove enough. Grade: B

“Full House: Complete Fourth Season”: The Olsen twins – before the tabloids, the rumors, the billions. This fourth season finds the sitcom grind chugging away, with the San Francisco Tanner family still keeping it together after the death of Danny Tanner’s wife, who was killed by a drunk driver. That’s a serious subject to explore and the series occasionally uses it to its benefit, particularly in scenes in which the Tanner girls long for their mother. But mostly, the series remains light, with Bob Saget, John Stamos and Dave Coulier balancing the mild mayhem that accompanies raising three growing girls. Grade: C+

“Hazel: Complete First Season”: She’s a housekeeper with a handful – but Brooklyn-born Hazel is up for the job. This first season of the 1961 television show finds Hazel (Academy and Emmy-Award winner, Shirley Booth) wasting no time in keeping the Baxter family (Don DeFore, Whitney Blake, Bobby Buntrock) in line. As played by an uncontainable Booth, you sense that if given the chance, her Hazel could handle the Middle East. Based on Ted Key’s Saturday Evening Post cartoons. Grade: B+

“Into the Blue: Blu-ray”: “You wanna keep trickin’? Or you wanna start pimpin’?” These words, spoken with unapologetic verve by the young actress Ashley Scott, get to the vibe of “Into the Blue,” which uses a wealth of pseudohip street slang to help it connect, in theory, with its intended audience of teens and twentysomethings. The thing is, whenever Scott and her fellow actors (Paul Walker, Jessica Alba, Scott Caan) start talking trash in an effort to keep it real, some might find it difficult to suppress a low bubble of laughter. This buried-treasure adventure thriller set in the Bahamas looks undeniably great in its high-definition, Blu-ray transfer, but its story has nothing on the movie it strains to evoke, the 1977 thriller “The Deep.” That film understood that the less you see, the more you fear. Since “Blue” assumes we have no imagination, it shows us everything and thus strips its story of any trace of suspense. Grade: PG-13. Grade: C-

“Memento: Blu-ray”: Features a shocking beginning, which comes at the end, and an equally gripping ending, which comes at the beginning. Much like Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” this neo-noir thriller, now available on Blu-ray, tells its story backward. Well – sort of backward. Guy Pearce is Leonard Shelby, a man whose short-term memory is destroyed after he witnesses the brutal rape and murder of his wife. Now literally living in the moment, Leonard is desperate to find the man who murdered his wife so he can avenge her death. The problem? The passing of only a few minutes can literally wipe Leonard’s short-term memory clean. A thriller of great energy and style whose success depends on maintaining its unique brand of confusion. Rated R. Grade: A-

“Ronald Reagan: Signature Collection”: Signature collection? In title only – Reagan was a better politician than he was an actor. Still, what comes through in these five films is what would become key to Reagan’s success – his undeniable charm. Included here are 1940’s “Knute Rockne All-American,” which introduced the world to “The Gipper”; 1942’s “Kings Row,” widely considered Reagan’s best film; 1949’s “The Hasty Heart,” with Patricia Neal; the 1951 KKK drama, “Storm Warning,” with Ginger Rogers and Doris Day; and 1952’s “The Winning Team,” also with Day. The absence of “Bedtime for Bonzo” suggests that Warner took their “Signature” seriously. Grade: B

“Scary Movie 4”: Splintered piffle that goes nowhere. It starts off on a bad foot – literally – and then hobbles toward an ending that suggests the series hasn’t just run its course, it’s exhausted it. Laughs are not entirely absent here, but old ideas and laziness plague it. What ensues isn’t the spoof you expect, but a movie that confuses reference for wit, as if our recognition of what is being lampooned is enough to send us over the edge. It isn’t. Rated PG-13. Grade: D+