“Hidalgo” Blu-ray – A bloated oater, long in the tooth. Set in the 1890s, this epic horse drama is about Frank T. Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen), the real-life Pony Express rider whose real life isn’t explored here. The truth is stretched so far, it snaps. That wouldn’t matter much if the movie had been consistently entertaining, which it isn’t. Named after Frank’s heroic mustang, “Hidalgo” finds Hopkins taking on a hive of unseemly types led by Omar Sharif’s Sheikh Riyadh and racing them on one massive, 3,000-mile journey across the Saudi Arabian desert. In spite of the sandstorms, locusts, wildcats, kidnappings and a host of other dangers, “Hidalgo” isn’t content to just offer robust entertainment. It also wants to strike serious undertones and form elements of a drama. That’s where it tries to have it all – and that’s where it fails to do so. Rated PG-13. Grade: C

“Lions for Lambs” – Robert Redford’s chit-chatty war movie is frustrated by a lot of things – our national complacency on troubling domestic and foreign issues, the dark alleys into which our war efforts have taken us, the corruption of good journalism due to corporate influence, the ridiculous importance the media place on celebrity culture over real news – and it’s not going to take it anymore. In fact, it’s going to sit down in comfortable chairs and have a good discussion about it. This dialogue-driven film cuts among three connected story lines that bind together the themes. Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise star, with the film generating the most interest between Streep and Cruise. And not necessarily because of anything they’re saying. Since the script is strangled with the refrigerated, academic air of rhetoric, it puts us on the outside, where we watch the real show unfolding here – who is upstaging whom? Streep or Cruise? Since that’s the only surprise the movie offers, we’ll leave it for you. Rated R. Grade: C

“That ’70s Show: Season Eight” – In the final and weakest season, we’re back in Wisconsin and the kids, now young adults (Laura Prepon, Wilmer Valderamma, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson), are more restless than ever. So restless, in fact, that they struggle to compensate for the loss of Topher Grace’s Eric and Ashton Kutcher’s Kelso (each actor left to pursue film careers at the end of the seventh season, though they do appear fleetingly at the end of this season). The highlights – or the lowlights, depending on whether you’re a fan of the series and the era – include Hyde and Jackie splitting, Jackie and Fez coming together, and a guest appearance by Bruce Willis that’s memorable for a whole host of twisted reasons. In the end – and it was time for this series to end – “That ’70s Show” always was a crude, simple parody of an era, but one that for much of its run was more entertaining than some might expect. Too bad that isn’t the case here. Grade: C-

“There Will Be Blood” – The best movie of Daniel Day-Lewis’ career turns out to be the best movie of Paul Thomas Anderson’s career, a nice slice of symmetry that results in one of 2007’s best films. Armed with enough greed and hate to ruin a country, let alone a town, Day-Lewis’ thick-mustached Daniel Plainview comes to oil-rich Little Boston with his son H.W. (Dillon Freasier) at his side. He’s there to beat Standard Oil at its own game and buy up as much land as he can. He finds in Little Boston an unexpected adversary in Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a Bible-thumping evangelist who sees in the good book what Plainview sees in oil -power over the people. Together, these two are pitted against each other in ways that make for stirring, dangerous entertainment with each actor railing off the other and giving terrific performances in the process. This is especially true for Day-Lewis, whose unshakable performance won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. His Plainview can be devastatingly cruel and kind in one brushstroke. We watch him with a sense of trepidation and fascination. In this way, he literally is the face of the emerging West. In all the dirt and suffering that surround Plainview, a groundswell of promise nevertheless bubbles beneath his feet. Blood will be spilled to realize that promise – an element that gives the film its sharp connection to the present – but in this do-or-die culture of creating a secure new culture, the pull of that promise is enough to tip those who seek it into madness. Just as it is now. Rated R. Grade: A

“Unbreakable” Blu-ray – What’s unshakable are the similarities between M. Night Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable” and his critically acclaimed blockbuster “The Sixth Sense.” Each film features Bruce Willis in the lead, each features a young boy (in this case, Spencer Treat Clark) whose life is changed by the otherworldly, each is set in Philadelphia, each builds to a surprise ending. So, what’s the problem? Upon its 2000 release, “Unbreakable” proved the beginning of Shyamalan’s long slide into disappointment with the director casting his lens not into new territory, but within the safer realm of what made him successful. While the film’s opening moments of a runaway train are exceptional and Shyamalan’s minimalistic approach is to be admired in this overblown era of movies, it’s also true that movies are more than just a personal style. If you’re going to lose the flash, you’d better beef up the substance. In this gimmicky movie, Shyamalan doesn’t. Rated PG-13. Grade: C+

“Walk the Line: Extended Cut” – This extended cut of James Mangold’s Academy Award-winning film offers viewers 17 additional minutes of footage. Good luck finding them. Still, considering the wealth of bonus features and commentaries this new edition offers, it’s highly recommended for those who still haven’t seen the film. The movie follows the defining years of Johnny Cash’s life with Mangold taking us from Cash’s difficult childhood in Arkansas to his rise to fame, his struggle with drug addiction, his marriages to first wife, Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin), and great love June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), and his knockout 1968 show at Folsom State Prison. As with so many biopics focused on musicians, Mangold’s movie is essentially a film about overcoming addiction in order to further one’s path to legend. That familiarity would have done the movie no favors had Mangold not had the strength of subtlety, which shows throughout, and especially the performances from his cast, who transcend formula by allowing audiences to fully invest themselves in what matters – the budding, turbulent relationship between Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) and June. Rated PG-13. Grade: A-

WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, video podcasts, iTunes portal and archive of hundreds of movie reviews. Smith’s reviews appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.