DVD Corner

“The Departed: DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray”: Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Martin Scorsese’s outstanding return to form spiders through the darkest corners of South Boston, where it digs into that city’s underworld in ways that make Boston’s Big Dig look shallow in comparison. The film’s monster of a plot conspires to protect and to bring down one man – crime boss Frank Costello (a perfectly sleazy Jack Nicholson), who never could remain a free man on his own. Thus, he has a formidable army at his disposal, with the key element being one Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a rising star at the police department who works the inside angles for Frank, alerting him to each investigation that threatens to bring him down. He’s Costello’s mole. For Frank, what’s becoming increasingly clear is that the department has its own mole. He doesn’t know who it is – in part, the movie’s narrative drive comes from Frank and Colin trying to find out – but we know. It’s Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), who was hired by an elite undercover unit led by Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg to get enough dirt on Costello to lock him away forever. What stems from this is a movie that steams with excellence. Scorsese hasn’t just returned to his roots in “The Departed.” Instead, he has brashly pulled them out of his beloved New York and punched them down deeply in Boston, a new city and a new muse with its own mysteries and rhythms whose unfamiliarity has allowed the director the freedom to do some of his best work. He isn’t alone. Throughout, the casting and the performances are flawless – there’s the sense that everybody came to have a good time, and not at the cost of cheating their characters of nuance or depth. The dialogue is particularly good, so in-your-face raunchy and real, it joins Scorsese and company in making this excellent, bloody, 21/2-hour movie feel among the leanest and most compelling of 2006. Rated R. Grade: A

“Phone Booth: Blu-ray”: A slick thriller peppered with plot holes and lapses in logic, but at only 81 minutes, it’s a brisk ride. The film overcomes its dated feel (phone booths?) with a strong performance by Colin Farrell as Stu Shepard, a self-involved, Manhattan-based media publicist hustling his third-rate clients to any gossip columnist who will listen. Dressed in the sort of cheap, flashy fare that suggests Madame Butterfly by way of Vinnie Barbarino, Stu is one slick, shallow hood whose life is changed when he answers a phone at one of New York City’s last telephone booths. On the other end is a madman (voice of Keifer Sutherland) who threatens to frame Stu for murder and bring him down in a hail of bullets should he leave the booth. Now, with the police pressing down around him, it’s up to Stu to figure out where this madman is hiding and what he’s trying to tell him about his own life before it’s too late. With Forest Whitaker as the cop joining Stu in learning what that game is, “Phone Booth,” now on Blu-ray disc, remains worth a look. Rated R. Grade: B-

“Planet of the Apes: Blu-ray”: So clunky, one wonders whether its screenwriters have opposable thumbs. This Tim Burton remake isn’t a total bust – the first 45 minutes are rousing, the pop culture references can be fun, some performances are good, and Rick Baker’s monkey makeup is a marvel. But the film has little of the distinctive style that made Burton’s best movies so inventive and alive. The film mirrors Franklin Schaffner’s 1968 original in that it tries to offer a dark social commentary on the state of race relations, but its focus is so broad, that comment, however relevant it remains, is lost amid the confusion. As the war between the humans and the apes escalates into a showdown that can only be described as “Braveheart” meets “Mad Max” on all fours, the movie struggles to contain its ideas and themes. With Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth and Michael Clarke Duncan. Rated PG-13. Grade: C

“Reign of Fire: Blu-ray”: According to the movie, the world soon will be toast, humans will be an endangered species and fire-breathing dragons will rule what’s left of the Earth. And there you have it – more proof of global warming. The film follows Earth’s remaining few inhabitants as they fight for survival in an atmosphere that promises death at every turn. They are of two camps, the first some dusty, castle-dwelling Brits led by Quinn (Christian Bale), the second a gaggle of Kentucky hillbillies led by the cigar-chomping Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey). After some initial chest thumping between Quinn and Van Zan, both groups make nice and become one, joining forces in an all-out effort to contain the burgeoning dragon population, which is being fueled by the seed of one very busy male. As exhausting as it sounds. Rated PG-13. Grade: C+

“The Waltons: The Complete Fourth Season”: An antiseptic balm of family highs and woes. Set in Depression-era Virginia, this genial drama follows John Boy and the rest of the Waltons through another year of hardship, with this season focusing on a devastating fire, a car accident and the idea that Grandma believes that Mary Ellen is now ready to date (it’s a hardship). This also is the season in which John Boy gets to preach at church. So, the show remains an acquired taste. Grade: C