DVD Corner

“Cloverfield” Blu-ray – Monster madness, now available in high-def. Shot on a hand-held camera, this frenetic, jittery movie follows characters running for their lives from a towering monster destroying Manhattan as if it were a house of cards. For those who can stomach the jerky madness that ensues, they might find that the film’s first-person point-of-view actually amplifies the action. For those who can’t, motion sickness and headaches likely will take hold. The movie begins with a surprise going-away party for popular Rob (Michael Stahl-David). But when an explosion rocks Manhattan and the film’s towering, vicious version of Godzilla is unleashed, “Cloverfield” quickly amps up the heat with mounting tension. A scene that involves hundreds of people caught on the Brooklyn Bridge is the movie at its harrowing best. At its scripted worst, the film’s shaky premise can steal you out of the moment. Still, since the whole movie is a stretch, it’s best not to look for logic and just go with it. “Cloverfield” offers scenes of gripping terror – and a few nice moments of surprise. Rated PG-13. Grade: B

“The Recruit” Blu-ray – The duped. Al Pacino is Walter Burke, a senior instructor at the Central Intelligence Agency who finds in Colin Farrell’s young computer whiz, James Clayton, the perfect recruit for the CIA. What Clayton has going for him beyond his brains and his smoky espionage looks is his need for a father figure, which Burke recognizes as he takes Clayton under his wing and brings him to The Farm – the infamous CIA training facility in Virginia. There, he meets and falls hard for Layla, a hot-to-trot spy played by Bridget Moynahan, who may or may not be who she seems. With everybody here as shady as Farrell’s stubble, the film overcomes its plot holes and pat ending with a brisk style and strong performances from its cast, all of whom are given time to make us invest emotionally in their characters before the film lets loose with its formidable series of fireworks. Rated PG-13. Grade: B

“Semi-Pro” DVD, Blu-ray – Full-on awful. This dumb, unfunny comedy had the packed crowd at my screening last February lulled into the sort of restless coma in which all you could hear was breathing. And sighing. And if the guy in front of me was any indication, also deep moments of slumber. Once again, Will Ferrell trots out that same ol’ bumbling shtick he has been prostituting to the masses for years, this time in a movie about a middling semi-pro basketball team that has a shot at the NBA. Though elements are in place for a good comedy, none of it comes together. Ferrell’s flabby, middle-aged Jackie Moon sports the sort of tawny Afro Barbra Streisand donned during her Esther Hoffman days in 1976’s “A Star is Born,” but the wig isn’t funny and neither is his performance, which is sacked by a script that doesn’t allow him the sort of lines this otherwise talented comedian could sell. In subplots are Woody Harrelson, David Koechner and Maura Tierney, but they’re equally stranded along the sidelines of one hollow court. Rated PG-13. Grade: BOMB

“Signs” Blu-ray – Initially, M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 chiller is absorbing, but as the movie unfolds and Shyamalan’s intent becomes clear, the film gives way to a wealth of bad decisions and unrealized expectations, all of which conspire to keep “Signs” more in line with Shyamalan’s underwhelming “Unbreakable” than with his best film, “The Sixth Sense.” Mel Gibson is Graham Hess, a widowed former minister trying to forget the past when out of nowhere, mysterious crop circles appear in the cornfields surrounding his house. Worse, alien space ships soon are hovering over Earth. Before you can say “duck and cover,” Shyamalan is rolling in the paranoia of 1950s sci-fi cinema. It’s here, in the film’s involving first hour, that he generates his most compelling sense of dread before delivering a second half that features, among other disappointments, the director himself as a character on which a major subplot hinges. The moment Shyamalan’s face fills the screen, the effect is jarring (he’s no Hitchcock), the film is cheapened in what seems like a blatant push for celebrity and the spell he’s trying to cast is broken. “Signs” never recovers from it. Rated PG-13. Grade: C+

“There Will Be Blood” Blu-ray – Now available on Blu-ray disc, where it looks smashing in high-definition, this terrific film follows Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel Plainview, who at the turn of the last century came to the oil-rich town of Little Boston with enough greed and hate to ruin a country, never mind a town. He’s there to beat Standard Oil at its own game and buy up as much land as he can. Meanwhile, 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 – absolute 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 inspired performances in the process. For Day-Lewis, this of course meant winning the Academy Award. Rated R. Grade: A

“Weeds: Season Three” DVD, Blu-ray – What’s a suburban mother to do when her husband drops dead and leaves her and their two sons saddled with debt? For Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker), the answer is to pick herself up and to sell a little weed on the side. OK, a lot of weed on the side. This smart, darkly comic Showtime series echoes “Six Feet Under” in that its grim comedy is laced with just enough drama to give it depth. That’s particularly true in its third season, which might be the weakest of the lot, but which still features enough sharp writing and that very good cast, with Elizabeth Perkins especially noteworthy as Nancy’s friend Celia, who is so cynical, she makes for one of the best desperate housewives on television. Grade: B+

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.