DVD corner

“The Aviator” HD DVD, Blu-ray: Martin Scorsese’s hugely entertaining biopic of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), now available on HD DVD and Blu-ray, spans 20 key years in Hughes’ life. It begins with a snapshot of Hughes in childhood, when he inherited his father’s fortune, and then moves through Hughes’ early years in Hollywood in the 1920s, follows his intense love affair with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) in the 1930s, and then soars through the 1940s, when Hughes’ infamous fear of germs began to sink him. Two men worked to do the same – Maine Sen. Owen Brewster (Alan Alda) and Pan Am’s Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), who was using Brewster’s Washington muscle to prevent Hughes’ Trans World Airlines from becoming a competitive powerhouse in the international airways. Several scenes in this Academy Award-winning film are masterful, such as the decadent recreation of the parties at the Coconut Grove; the harrowing scene in which Hughes takes to the skies to film an aviation battle from his movie, “Hell’s Angels”; the sly moment Hughes first meets Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale); the scene in which Hughes woos Hepburn in a dreamy flight over Los Angeles. Most movies are a diversion. Too many are trash. But others you give yourself to. “The Aviator” is that kind of movie. Rated PG-13. Grade: A

“Con Air” Blu-ray: A movie designed to detonate, which for some will be enough. Nicolas Cage is the recently paroled Cameron Poe, whose aggressive mullet and enthusiastic abuse of a Southern accent are the biggest laughs in a movie not without a sense of humor (Poe does, after all, favor the elusive art of origami, at which he excels). In this unapologetically dumb adventure-thriller about a flight hijacked by a group of deadly convicts, the characters names tell you everything you need to know about the movie – John Malkovich is Cyrus the Virus, Ving Rhames is Diamond Dog, Steve Buscemi is Garland Green and M.C. Gainey is Swamp Thing. Hoorah! As for John Cusack, who plays the U.S. marshal working to fix this mess with the help of Poe, let’s just say his name might as well be Paycheck, because that’s why he, and everyone else in this near-parody, showed up for the shoot. Rated R. Grade: C+

“Dragon Wars” DVD, Blu-ray: A South Korean import set in Los Angeles, where good dragons and bad dragons battle in ways that at least make for a lively final third. Getting there, however, is exhausting, with the writing curdled with such nonsense – and the story often so difficult to follow – that only the most patient will bother to wait for the payoff. The special effects are good and Amanda Brooks and Jason Behr star, though one has to wonder after seeing their dim performances in this movie, whether they’d freely admit it. Rated PG-13. Grade: D+

“Face/Off” HD DVD: This live-action cartoon stars John Travolta as FBI agent Sean Archer, who agrees to switch faces with his archenemy, Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), in an effort to diffuse a bomb Castor planted somewhere in Los Angeles. And they say art is dead? There is not a shred of good writing or a believable character in this film, which could have been a fine parody of the action genre if only it hadn’t taken itself so seriously. In director John Woo’s effort to be visually artistic by presenting a hive of sweeping camera angles and silly sound effects, “Face/Off” is a mess. A more accurate title would have been “HD DVD Player Off.” Rated PG-13. Grade: D

“Good Luck Chuck” DVD, Blu-ray: Comedian Dane Cook is Charlie Logan, a dentist who has a way with the ladies – and a reputation to match. When he sleeps with a woman, for instance, the lucky lass always happens to find the man of her dreams somewhere else. Wedding bells ring. Everybody is happy except for Charlie, who at this point in his life wouldn’t mind having a steady girlfriend of his own. Why? Because of hex placed on him as a boy by a disgruntled 11-year-old girl whose affection Charlie trampled. So now, when into his life comes the woman of his dreams in klutzy Cam (Jessica Alba), he finds himself at an impasse. If he sleeps with her, he knows that she’ll be out of his life forever when she finds love with another guy. What’s a cursed guy like Charlie to do? That’s up to him and his best friend Stu (Dan Fogler, awful) to figure out, which might have made for an agreeable comedy had the entire production not been so eager to slum for cheap laughs. This is a movie that doesn’t know when enough is enough. It wallows in raunch to the point of distraction, which ironically places a kind of hex on the movie itself. This isn’t a funny movie you want to curl up and spend some time with. Instead, it’s a poorly written, badly acted movie you wouldn’t mind leaving for another. Rated R. Grade: D

“Timecop” HD DVD: Set in 2004, a film from 1994, with Jean-Claude Van Damme going for broke in an effort to ensure that 10 years later, he’d still have a career. Of course, he didn’t, though this reasonably engaging sci-fi movie wasn’t the reason. Here, in a film that feels like “Terminator” lite, he’s Timecop Max Walker, a man charged to make certain nobody zips back to the past to change events in the present. But when his wife (Mia Sara) is murdered and when the evil Sen. Aaron McComb (Ron Silver) plans to become the President of the United States by less-than-honest means (timely!), circumstances evolve that change all that. The scenes of time travel, martial arts and watching Van Damme wrestle with the English language are just entertaining enough to trump the film’s strained logic. Rated R. Grade: C+

“Mr. Woodcock” DVD, Blu-ray: Billy Bob Thornton is the verbally and physically abusive physical education teacher of the title – and what a title! Nothing subliminal there. Now about that role. Embracing his inner “Bad Santa” is Thornton, who obviously takes delight in being one mean, uncompromising S.O.B. onscreen. That the actor is willing to go for it in “Woodcock” is good because what nobody wants in a movie about a cruel gym teacher who picks on his students is any trace of humanity. We want the real thing – a monster with no redeeming values. Thornton has the basketballs to give us just that, and God bless him for it. Too bad about the movie, though. The film stars Seann William Scott as John Farley, a best-selling author whose self-help book, “Letting Go,” is all about living in the now and leaving behind all of the negative crap that might have befallen you in the past. You know, like being pummeled in front of your peers by Mr. Woodcock. While John’s book suggests popular ways of letting go, what becomes increasingly clear is that John himself can’t do the same. The moment he learns that his widowed mother, Beverly (Susan Sarandon), is dating Woodcock, whose virility is a thing of legend, let’s just say that the past becomes present, though in ways that don’t make for a particularly funny movie. As John’s agent, Amy Poehler scores a few showy laughs – she has a penchant for the business end of a bottle that tends to lead to some drunken loose lips. A few scenes of John as a young boy (Kyle Baldridge) can be amusing, particularly if, like Woodcock, you don’t especially like children. But otherwise, the jokes in “Mr. Woodcock” fall flat. Rated PG-13. Grade: C-

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.