“Charlotte’s Web” Some movie. Based on E.B. White’s novel, Gary Winick’s film doesn’t come close to achieving the magic of the book, but that likely will surprise only those who haven’t read the book. For those who have and who have great affection for it, the good news is that this telling of the Maine-based tale does an earnest job in capturing the book’s essence in spite of being bound to the limitations of a literal medium – film. With a book this fragile – it does, after all, feature a clutch of wise-cracking animals facing the deadly fate of a spring pig named Wilbur (Dominic Scott Kay) – the shift from one’s personal interpretations of the book to a live cast’s interpretation could have gone either way. For the most part, in this case, it goes the right way. With Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson, Essie Davis, Oprah Winfrey and, as Charlotte, Julia Roberts. Rated G. Grade: B+

“Entourage: Season Three, Part 1” All the thrills and all the trappings of fame. The third season of this HBO series brings the two previous seasons into sharp focus – it’s based on the long-awaited release of James Cameron’s “Aquaman,” its success and the fallout of that success. Meanwhile, the film’s star, Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier), continues to move through Hollywood’s glamorous rooms and backrooms with his entourage of friends and his high-strung agent, Ari (Jeremy Piven). The difference? Vince now is on the A list, with the pressure to stay on that list proving formidable. What the series gets right is that while these otherwise everyday guys are having the time of their lives in Hollywood, there always is the sense that this dream world in which they live could be taken away from them in an instant. “Entourage” builds a foundation of fear on that, and it uses it to its benefit. Grade: A-

“G.I. Jane” Blu-ray: From 1997, a movie that explores whether a woman has the grit, the strength and the nerve to survive Navy SEAL training, with a bald Demi Moore sweating, swearing, smoking cigars and fighting in head-to-head combat to prove that she can. Trouble is, in doing so, she loses her sexual identity and becomes not so much a man or a woman, but a driven beast. It’s a fascinating transformation that’s ultimately unfortunate, suggesting that a woman must become like a man in order to fight in a war. As an entertainment, however, the movie does dig in and, at the very least, it should be seen for Anne Bancroft’s sterling performance as an unscrupulous senator. Rated R. Grade: B

“The Judi Dench Collection” From the BBC, a fine collection of the Academy Award-winning actress’ earlier works. Ten productions are highlighted, from the 1962 version of “The Cherry Orchard” with John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ian Holm to the 1981 version with Bill Paterson and Anna Massey. Also included are three radio plays, the complete “Talking to a Stranger” series from 1966, 1981’s “Ghosts” with Kenneth Branagh, and 1991’s “Absolute Hell” with Bill Nighy. Among other offerings is a 20-page retrospective booklet. The collection is fit for a dame, but it’s also a swell choice for those who wish to know more about the path Dench took to become one. Grade: A-

“Me, Myself & Irene” Blu-ray: If the first rule in Hollywood is to give audiences what they want, then this movie believes they want shots of Jim Carrey defecating on a neighbor’s lawn, firing a round of bullets into an ailing cow’s head and suckling a nursing mother only to ride away on a motorcycle with a milk mustache. After his disastrous turn in the recent “The Number 23,” maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Still, this is far from Carrey’s best comedy. It’s a sketchy, raunchy film that offers big laughs and some even bigger moments of silence sandwiched between those laughs. Raunch can be fun when done well, but in “Irene,” it isn’t done well. The pacing is off, too many of the jokes fall flat, and the plot is disappointingly thin. With Renee Zellweger and Chris Cooper. Rated R. Grade: C+

“Miami Vice: Seasons Three and Four” Miami blight. Viewed now, the third and fourth seasons of Michael Mann’s popular television series underscore how it was a harbinger for the horrors of what was fashionable during the 1980s – it championed such things as the skinny neck tie, the geri curl, the white shoe and the pastel suit. It was a television show that was of and for the times, fetishizing the Ferrari Crockett and Tubbs drove, the expensive speedboats they raced, the stubble they sported, the bling that was part of their job. As such, the series now is something of a corroded time capsule. You fondly remember all that went into it, but now, years later, you might wonder why you cared in the first place. Grade: C

“Volver” DVD and Blu-ray: Cruz control. Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver” stars Penelope Cruz in an Academy Award-nominated comeback performance that’s so good, it recalls the film’s title itself. In Spanish, “volver” means “to return,” and that’s exactly what Cruz has done here. She’s fantastic, recalling a young Sophia Loren or Anna Magnani softened with the vulnerability of an Audrey Hepburn. Cruz is one of the key reasons to see “Volver,” a comic melodrama with broad echoes of “Mildred Pierce” that gathers together a tight network of strong women – a staple in Almodovar’s work – and becomes increasingly serious as the movie unfolds. The movie reveals the maturity of two artists – Almodovar and Cruz – working near the peak of their craft. As for Cruz, returning to Spain and to her native language has left her transformed. No longer does she seem uncomfortable onscreen. Instead, with these words, this story, that talent and that body, she’s unleashed. Rated R. Grade: A