DVD Corner

“Annapolis,” DVD and Blu-ray: Not exactly crapolis, though for a boxing movie set within the closed world of the U.S. Naval Academy, this one mostly swings and misses. James Franco is the underdog with something to prove; Tyrese Gibson is his hostile training officer with an ugly streak. When these two settle their differences in the ring, what do you suppose the chances are that respect blooms between them? Throughout, what everybody should have been swinging at is the script, which is punch drunk with cliches. Rated PG-13. Grade: C-

“Dukes of Hazzard: Complete Seventh Season”: As imaginative as a lug nut. This seventh season of “The Dukes of Hazzard” gives viewers more of the same wrapped in more of the same with good ol’ boys Bo and Luke Duke (John Schneider, Tom Wopat) up to no good while Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle) tends to the booze brewing in the back woods. Some might want to join him, particularly with Boss Hogg repetitively trying to foil the Dukes at every turn, with only the lure of Daisy Duke’s derriere available to throw him off balance. All of this hillbilly havoc is harmless, but one suspects its appeal is lifted considerably after knocking back a few 40s. Grade: C

“Fantastic Four,” Blu-ray: Fantastic bore. Instead of breaking free from expectations and raising the bar for superhero movies, as Christopher Nolan did in “Batman Begins,” director Tim Story never goes deeper than the ink on a comic book. His film about five people whose DNA are altered by a radioactive space cloud features no surprises. It’s never more than slight, uninteresting kitsch wrapped around some terrible special effects, all of which are highlighted in its new high-definition transfer. Rated PG-13. Grade: D

“Miami Vice,” DVD and HD DVD: Mullet mediocrity. This rough-and-tumble version of Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice” never finds a story that competes with Miami itself, which looks at once hot and cool, dangerous and seductive. Those same qualities should apply to the story, and while they occasionally do, it’s only when the characters connect. They don’t with vice cops Sonny Crockett (Farrell, in full mullet) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx, barely registering), who have zero chemistry. Instead, it’s Crockett and the mysterious Isabella (the terrific Gong Li) who give the movie the soul it otherwise would have lacked. Rated R. Grade: C

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”: Brings back much of the original cast with the highlight once again being Johnny Depp’s kitschy performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Even if his fun, unhinged performance is a repeat, the movie would collapse without him in it. Depp is exactly what “Chest” needs to keep it light, particularly since the plot is so unnecessarily dense. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom return as lovers Elizabeth and Will, respectively, but they fail to generate heat. The problem is that the script turns their relationship into a throwaway afterthought, when really, it’s as essential to the movie as any of its memorable action scenes. As the tentacled villain Davy Jones, Bill Nighy, however, is a slimy, menacing delight. Rated PG-13. Grade: B-

“Poseidon,” HD DVD: Wolfgang Petersen’s “Poseidon” is pure popcorn bombast with its script and its good-looking cast (Josh Lucas, Emmy Rossum, Kurt Russell) rolled in so much ham and cheese, their robust performances are unexpectedly enjoyable. The film doesn’t rise to the level of the 1972 original or 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

“Seinfeld: Season 7”: Timing is everything. This seventh season of “Seinfeld” arrives just days after Michael Richards went on his racist rant at a Los Angeles comedy club. Now the actor finds himself saddled with an unfortunate nickname: KKKramer. For Seinfeld and the rest of the cast, the blessing is that this season is filled with classic episodes from “The Soup Nazi” to “The Sponge” to the climactic episode “The Invitations,” in which George’s fiance Susan licks herself into an early grave. As for Richards? He’s done the same to his career. Watching him now is distracting. Grade: A-

“Sky High,” DVD and Blu-ray: In the wake of the “X-Men” franchise, a movie about a high school for superheroes doesn’t sound fresh – and it isn’t. But the good news for “Sky High” is that at least it has energy. Kurt Russell is the gruff superhero Commander, a man who expects big things from his son, Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano), though he doesn’t realize that Will didn’t inherit superpowers of his own. Naturally, this causes its share of problems. With Kelly Preston as Will’s high-flying mom, Jetstream, Lynda Carter recalling her Wonder Woman days as the school principal and Cloris Leachman as the school nurse (with X-ray vision, no less), “Sky High” is aimed squarely at those tweens who understand the cruelty of the high school pecking order and who realize that individuality, while undervalued in youth culture, can be key to cutting through all those insecure cliques. Rated PG. Grade: B-

“Windtalkers,” Blu-ray: At its core, this World War II melodrama from John Woo is about Navajo code talkers, Native American servicemen who used their language to confound the Japanese while transmitting sensitive information via radio. It’s an important, overlooked piece of history that deserves to be explored in a movie. Hopefully one day a film will, at the very least, explore the subject with a genuine interest. “Windtalkers” doesn’t. Nicolas Cage, with his waxwork ear, might as well be a reject from Madame Tussaud’s Museum. The film suggests Woo’s knowledge of World War II wasn’t mined from hard research, but from the movies, with rote rhythms driving the lot of it straight into the line of its own fire. Rated R. Grade: D+