DVD Corner

“James Stewart Signature Collection”: If you’re going to call your collection of films a signature collection, it’s probably best to give consumers a signature collection. Otherwise, just call it what it is – a collection – which is what Warner really has on their hands with their “James Stewart Signature Collection.” While the six movies collected here are fine – 1953’s “The Naked Spur,” 1957’s “The Spirit of St. Louis,” 1959’s “The FBI Story,” 1970’s “The Cheyenne Social Club,” 1949’s “The Stratton Story” and 1968’s “Firecreek” all are featured – any Stewart fan is going to be curious as to how “Vertigo,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Rear Window,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Rope” and especially “It’s a Wonderful Life” got left off the list. Short answer? With the exception of “Philadelphia,” other studios own the rights to those films, which, if collected, would have given us the significant signature this collection lacks. Grade: B-

“Poseidon”: The film answers one of the more recent, trickier questions to be lobbed out of Hollywood: How do you replace the heroic sight of Shelley Winters – panties showing, legs kicking, weight on the rise – skimming through a watery deep in an effort to save the remaining passengers of 1972’s “The Poseidon Adventure?” For director Wolfgang Petersen, the shrewd answer is that you don’t even try. His “Poseidon” is pure popcorn bombast, with its script and its good-looking cast (Josh Lucas, Emmy Rossum, Kurt Russell, Mike Vogel, Mia Maestro) rolled in so much ham and cheese, their robust performances are unexpectedly enjoyable. The film doesn’t rise to the level of the best movies made by disaster king Irwin Allen, but it is lean and it is tight, with Petersen offering audiences a no-nonsense version that’s as heavy on all the special effects a $160 million budget can buy. Rated PG-13. Grade: B

“Rome: The Complete First Season”: Bloody show – and bloody boring. This expensive, jointly produced series from “HBO” and the “BBC” looks undeniably good, particularly in its detailed sets, costumes and, well, lack of costumes. Another plus is that it employs a nicely cast group of actors in Ray Stevenson, Kevin McKidd, Kerry Condon, Kenneth Cranham, Polly Walker and Mark Pirkis. Yet the levels of depth we’ve come to expect from HBO and the BBC have curiously gone missing. Set in 52 B.C., the series’ natural undercurrent is the eventual assassination of Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds). That’s a familiar story to tell, though you’d be hard pressed to know it here. The trouble with “Rome” is that its story is so plodding, it feels as if its script was inspired less by history and more by “Rome for Dummies.” Insight and excitement are what were called for here, but reams of exposition too often are what we get. Grade: C

“Silent Hill”: Shrieking rubble. This incessantly chatty movie, based on the popular video game, stars Radha Mitchell as Rose, Sean Bean as her husband, Chris, and Jodelle Ferland as their adopted daughter Sharon, who as the movie begins is about to jump off the edge of a cliff. Since there wouldn’t be much of a movie if she did, Rose sandbags her just in time to hear her whisper the words “Silent Hill,” which apparently is enough to set the gears of the plot in motion. Rose becomes consumed with the idea of finding out what Silent Hill is and why Sharon suddenly is scribbling in ways that children tend to scribble in horror movies when something isn’t quite right with their plumbing. Initially, what unfolds is creepy and atmospheric, with Rose taking off with Sharon to Silent Hill, W.Va., where a parallel universe absorbs them and the lady cop, Cybil Bennett (Laurie Holden). It’s the monsters and the sets that “Silent Hill” gets right; they are imaginative and well drawn in ways that the plot isn’t. After a promising first hour, the film slides into a muddy, clumsy affair in which the many subplots tear away at the center, shredding any trace of sense along the way. Rated R. Grade: C-

“Take the Lead”: All the good intentions in the world can’t make a poorly conceived movie good, though a good central performance can at least make it bearable. “Lead” is loosely based on the life of Pierre Dulaine, the founder of the American Ballroom Theater Company who in 1994 had the vision to bring ballroom dancing to inner-city kids in New York. With Antonio Banderas as Dulaine, this formula-driven film at least is backed by conviction. The actor comes to the role with such charisma and skill, he almost is reason enough to see the movie. The same can’t be said for the uncontainable Alfre Woodard, who apparently showed up to play to the balcony and beyond. Straight off the Hollywood backlot are Dulaine’s students, who are the same tough bunch of racial stereotypes we’ve seen dozens of times before in better and worse movies. As the film moves toward its weakly conceived crescendo – a major dance competition the students enter – first-time director Liz Friedlander weaves in an out of a blizzard of tiny crises that don’t connect. Banderas, however, does. Rated PG-13. Grade: C-

“The Weird Al Show”: Certifiable. This fleeting show, which lasted only a season, finds Weird Al Yankovic living in a subterranean dwelling with Harvey the Wonder Hamster. (You know, sort of like Osama.) The weirdness ignites with appearances by Fabio, John Tesh, Dr. Demento and with the karaoke version of the “Weird Al Show Theme.” Yankovic is refreshing and likable even if his skits are often neither. Includes no fewer than 13 commentaries by Yankovic, which suggests the man is available for work. Grade: C-