STUDIO: Universal | DIRECTOR: George Gallo | CAST: Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Jason Lee, Giovanni Ribisi, Beau Bridges, Kevin Pollak
BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 3/6/2012 | PRICE: DVD $19.98, Blu-ray $26.98
BONUSES: none
SPECS: PG-13 | 86 min. | Thriller | DTS-HD audio | English, French subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Selma Blair (r.) and Amy Smart don't like what they see in Columbus Circle.

Director George Gallo (Middle Men) turns the tables on his audience with Columbus Circle, a fun little thriller filled with name actors.

The movie centers around Selma Blair (The Family Tree), an abused heiress who disappeared from society years ago and has been holed up in a penthouse apartment in New York’s Columbus Circle. Her only contact with the outside world is with the building’s manager (Kevin Pollak, The Big Year) and her doctor (Beau Bridges, The Descendants).

But when the old lady across the hall dies, Blair’s agoraphobia is challenged when she must deal with the police (Giovanni Ribisi, Contraband) and her new, very loud neighbors (Amy Smart of Dead Awake and Jason Lee of Almost Famous), as her neighbors’ problems bleed into her own life.

Although a little over the top in places, the acting is fine, with Pollak doing a nice little Columbo routine.

There’s some good humor in the film, including a phone ringing in the pocket of a buried body, and the Gallo keeps the pace well.

The story is a bit predictable, but some nice twists can be found in the third act. And it’s always nice to see the bad guys beaten at their own game.

The Blu-ray doesn’t have any special features.

Buy or Rent Columbus Circle
DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray

Courtney Patterson (l.) and Zoe Cooper star in The Little Death.

The sexually charged 2010 independent drama-thriller The Little Death takes on the rather unique subject of early 20^th Century brothels and that era’s psychology and philosophy on the “immorality” of prostitution.

The Little Death tells the story of a strong-willed reformer (Courtney Patterson) who ventures into a turn-of-the-century brothel to confront its owner (Daniel May) and liberate a young woman (Christie Vozniak) whom she believes is being held there in sexual captivity. While the brothel’s owner attempts mesmerize and seduce the lovely would-be rescuer, a meek student (Clifton Guterman) becomes  a pawn in the increasingly risque game of sexual cat-and-mouse that is unfolding.

Based on the 1905 play Death and Devil by German playwright Frank Wedekind (Spring Awakening), which is integrated with Anton Chekhov’s 1888 short story A Nervous Breakdown, The Little Death is written and directed by Bret Wood, whose previous credits include the well-regarded 2006 drama Psychopathia Sexualis.

Both The Little Death and Psychopathia Sexualis are available from Kino Lorber as a two-pack DVD.

Making its premiere on DVD, the film is presented in its unrated director’s cut.

Bonus materials include a behind-the-scenes featurette, a collection of deleted scenes and Wood’s 2008 short film The Other Half.

Here’s the trailer, a pretty provocative one:

Buy or Rent The Little Death
DVD	DVD	DVD

Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) gets pulled back into a criminal life in thriller movie Contraband.

Rated R, the film follows Chris Farraday (Wahlberg), a former smuggler who was the best at his job before he gave it up to be with his wife (Kate Beckinsale, Underworld). But when drug kingpin Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi, Columbus Circle) threatens his family, Farraday agrees to do one last run.

Ben Foster (The Messenger) and Lukas Haas (Red Riding Hood) also star in the R-rated movie.

Contraband grossed a decent $65 million in theaters, but got mixed reviews from critics.

New Yorker‘s Den Denby called the film, “perfectly absorbing once it gets going.” But Rolling Stones‘ Peter Travers says, “Wahlberg could sleepwalk through this role, and does. See this movie and you’ll surely follow his lead.”

Both the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the film have special features:

• deleted scenes
• making-of featurette “Under the Radar”
• stunt and SFX featurette “Reality Factor: The Stunts and Action of Contraband“
• commentary with director/producer Baltasar Kormakur and producer Evan Hayes.

Exclusive to Blu-ray are:

• downloadable or streamable digital copy via UltraViolet
• picture-in-picture pre-visualization and storyboard comparisons
• Pocket Blu app that helps tablets and computers interact with their Blu-ray players
• BD-Live

Buy or Rent Contraband
DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo		DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo

The fourth movie in the action franchise, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, Collateral) and his team out on their own, while still trying to save the world.

The first live-action film directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles), Ghost Protocol follows Hunt on the run after being framed for a terrorist bombing at the Kremlin. His next mission is to stop another attack while also clearing his agency’s name.

Jeremy Renner (The Town), Simon Pegg (Paul), Michael Nyqvist (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) and Paula Patton (Jumping the Broom) also star in the PG-13 movie.

With a whopping 93% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol grossed a great $207 million in theaters, better than the als0-good $134 million take of 2006′s� Mission: Impossible III.

TV Guide‘s Jeremy Wheeler said, “Ghost Protocol could very well be the series’ best installment.”

All three disc versions have special features. On the single DVD:

• deleted scnes with optional commentary by Bird
• Impossible Missions
  • The Sandstorm
  • Props

The Blu-ray/DVD Combo includes them plus:

• alternate opening
• Mission Accepted
  • Heating Up In Dubai
  • Vancouver Fisticuffs

And the three-disc Blu-ray/DVD set contains all those extras as well as these:

• Mission Accepted
  • Suiting Up In Prague
• Impossible Missions
  • The Russian Prison
  • Shooting in Imax
  • Art Department
  • A Roll of Film
  • Life Masks
  • Stepping Into the Storm
  • Dubai Car Crash
  • Lens On the Burj
  • Composer

And all three versions have a downloadable digital copy of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol via UltraViolet.

Buy or Rent Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo

Steven Spielberg’s (Jurassic Park) adaptation of Michael Morpurgo‘s novel, War Horse is a heart-strings tugger that earned six Academy Award nominations.

Rated PG-13, the film tells the story of an amazing horse and his young trainer Albert (newcomer Jeremy Irvine, TV’s Life Bites) throughout World War I. After his horse is bought to serve in the British Army, Albert enlists and both must face the horrors of war while touching the lives of others.

The drama movie also stars Emily Watson (Red Dragon), David Thewlis (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2), Benedict Cumberbatch (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Toby Kebbell (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) and Eddie Marsan (The Disappearance of Alice Creed).

War Horse was nominated for Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and the biggie, Best Picture.

The film grossed a tidy $78 million, with much approval from critics and audiences.

The four-disc Blu-ray offers a bunch of special features, including:

• 60-minute documentary A Filmmaking Journey by Spielberg
• behind-the-scenes look at Spielberg’s award-winning “Dream Team:” the film’s scoring seession with music editor Michael Kahn, the sound room with seven-time Oscar-winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom, a look through producer Kathleen Kennedy’s lens as she shares photos taken during filming and recounts her discovery of War Horse.
• downloadable digital copy of the movie.

Buy or Rent War Horse
DVD | Two-DVD | Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo		DVD | Two-DVD | Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo

Juliette Binoche has an ear for romance in Certified Copy.

The great Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami (Close-up) sets his 2010 drama-romance film Certified Copy (Copie conforme) in Italy, a land where, quite frequently (particularly in romantic movies), nothing is as it appears.

In Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged British writer (opera singer William Shimell) meets a French woman (Juliette Binoche, Summer Hours). As the woman leads the man into the village on Lucignano and the two get to know each other over the course of a long afternoon, their new but undeniably strong relationship reveals itself as something richer, stranger, and trickier than either of them could have imagined.

Described by the good people of Criterion as “a mind-bending reflection on authenticity, in art as well as in relationships, that reminds us that love itself is an enigma,” Certified Copy was a critics’ darling that rang up $1.4 million at the box office when it played in theaters on a limited basis in March, 2011.

Presented in English, French, and Italian with English subtitles, Criterion’s Blu-ray and DVD editions of the film contain the following features:

• New high-definition digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• New interview with director Abbas Kiarostami
• Let’s See “Copia conforme,” an Italian documentary on the making of Certified Copy, featuring interviews with Kiarostami and actors Juliette Binoche and William Shimell
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Godfrey Cheshire

Buy or Rent Certified Copy
DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray

STUDIO: Warner | DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood | CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Donovan, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Lucas, Lea Thompson
BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 2/21/2012 | PRICE: DVD $28.98 , Blu-ray $35.99
BONUSES: featurette
SPECS: R | 137 min. | Biographical drama | 2.40:1 widescreen | Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 | English, French and Spanish subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie� | Audio� | Video� | Overall

J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood’s (Hereafter) biopic on decades-long FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, tries to cram an awful lot into a film that runs a little over two hours.

Historically speaking, Hoover’s reign as top cop runs from the days of Woodrow Wilson through Richard Nixon. So, we get pit stops from anarchistic threats against the government, Communism, John Dillinger, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King and lots more.

Leonardo DiCaprio is J. Edgar.

In the center of all the power and the fury is Hoover, the man, played throughout much of the film with quiet power by Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception), and by his obvious makeup throughout the rest of it. And in Eastwood and screenwriter Dustin Miller Black’s version of his story, Hoover’s sex life –or lack of it–is an important part of what makes him tick. Everyone has heard the stories about Hoover’s peccadilloes, and Eastwood and Black (sounds like a law firm) make sure they suggest every one of them. Cross-dressing? Check! Mother (Judi Dench, Jane Eyre) obsession? Check! Ongoing homosexual relationship with longtime aide Clyde Tolson (a very good Armie Hammer of The Social Network, as well as his caked on old age makeup). Check! Ongoing non-sexual relationship with longtime secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts, Fair Game)? Check!

But the filmmakers don’t seem sure on how to handle this, suggesting salaciousness but remaining non-committal throughout. It seems that there are two ways to go with the material. While much attention is paid to period details and color schemes and camera technique used in the different eras the film is set in, dropping in on the seismic historical events is unsatisfying, warranting a broader canvas, perhaps better realized in a formidable cable miniseries. Meanwhile, the sex stuff is still there, so perhaps an all-out over-the-top campfest would have been the right call.

The problem is that one can’t see Eastwood or Black taking either route. What we have here, then, is a film that, ironically, doesn’t do history or Hoover justice. It’s a project that cries out for the unlikely collaboration of Martin Scorsese (Hugo) and John Waters (Hairspray).

The DVD offers only one supplemental piece, a featurette entitled“J. Edgar: A Complicated Man,” which offers the obligatory look at the real-life background of the man himself.

Buy or Rent J. Edgar
DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo	DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo	DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo

The man hard at work in Corman's World.

The 2011 documentary film Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel presents a truly star-studded tribute to Roger Corman, Hollywood’s most prolific writer-director-producer and seminal influencing force in modern moviemaking over the past 60 years.

One of the most influential and prolific Hollywood filmmakers in the history of the medium (he’s made more than 300 films!), Corman’s imprint on American cinema not only spans over six decades, but has resulted in creating an indelible cinematic body of work (from 1962’s I Hate Your Guts! to 2010’s Sharktopus) as well as a legacy of training the next generation of actors, writer, directors and producers – many of whom have created cinema masterpieces of their own.

Directed by Alex Stapleton, Corman’s World‘s interview roster boasts such Hollywood icons and cinematic luminaries as filmmakers Martin Scorsese (Hugo), Brett Ratner (Tower Heist), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), Jonathan Demme (Something Wild), Ron Howard (The Dilemma), John Sayles (The Secret of Roan Inish) and Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) and actors Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver), Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), David Carradine (The Long Riders), Peter Fonda (Dirty Mary Crazy Larry), William Shatner (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), Pam Grier (The Arena), Bruce Dern (The King of Marvin Gardens), Sally Kirkland (JFK) and many others.

The R-rated film received enthusiastic notices from the critics when it opened in a limited run in theaters in December, 2011.

Bonus features include extended interview and video messages to Corman from select interviewees.

Filled with a slew of clips and testimonials, it’s definitely gonna be a fun one to check out on disc.

Here’s a trailer to whet your appetite:

Buy or Rent Corman’s World
DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray

Image Entertainment

Rated R, the independent film tells the story of Ely (Quaid), the well-respected mortician of rustic Smithville, Texas, where he was once a high school football star. Among the town’s youngsters, however, Ely is famous because of rumors that his house is haunted. But Ely’s secret is much more sinister: He’s a sociopathic killer who buries his victims alive, all while befriending adults and police and flaunting his murderous intentions to the youths, including Aimee Teegarden (Scream 4) and Tony Oller (TV’s Gigantic).

On DVD and Blu-ray, Beneath the Darkness comes with a behind-the-scenes featurette.

The movie is priced at $27.97 on DVD and $29.97 on high-definition Blu-ray, but you can enter here to win a copy of the Blu-ray for free. Here’s how:

1. If you don’t already, Like Disc Dish on Facebook, Follow Disc Dish on Twitter or subscribe to Disc Dish by email (see the box on the right), then leave a comment on this page saying whether you’re a Facebook or Twitter fan or email subscriber. That gives you one entry. If you only do this step, you’re entered, but keep reading for more chances to win.

2. Link to this page from your Facebook profile, Twitter account, Digg, Reddit.com, blog or wherever you hang out online and put a link to it in the comments on this page. You’ll get an extra entry for each link. (Sorry, but links added to the Disc Dish Facebook page don’t count.) You can use the icons below to share easily.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 every day for even more chances to win.

Only open to U.S. residents (and no post office boxes), this giveaway runs through midnight, Monday, Feb. 27, and the winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced here on Tuesday Feb. 28. So, make sure you check back to see if you won.

Check out the spooky trailer for Beneath the Darkness:

There's more than enough Malkovich to go around in the the 1999 surreal comedy Being John Malkovich.

From director Spike Jonze (Adaptation) and writer Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) comes this one-of-a-kind 1999 comedy wherein a mystical portal hidden in an anonymous office building leads all entrants into the cerebral cortex of actor John Malkovich for fifteen minutes, before spitting them out onto the side of the New Jersey Turnpike.

Melancholy marionettes, office drudgery, surreal comedy and a cast that includes Cameron Diaz (Bad Teacher), John Cusack (Hot Tub Time Machine), Catherine Keener (Trust) and Malkovich (Red) himself take center stage in this film, which was both a critical and commercial success upon its theatrical release.

Presented with a new high-definition digital restoration and a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition, the discs contains the following features:

• New selected-scene audio commentary featuring filmmaker Michel Gondry
• New behind-the-scenes documentary by filmmaker Lance Bangs
• Conversation between John Malkovich and humorist John Hodgman
• Director Spike Jonze discusses Being John Malkovich via photos from its production
• Two films within the film: 7½ Floor Orientation and “American Arts & Culture” Presents John Horatio Malkovich, “Dance of Despair and Disillusionment”
• An Intimate Portrait of the Art of Puppeteering, a documentary by Bangs
• Trailer and TV spots
• A booklet featuring a conversation between Jonze and pop-culture critic Perkus Tooth

Buy or Rent Being John Malkovich
DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray

Director Garry Marshall’s (The Princess Bride) romantic comedy New Year’s Eve got slammed by critics when it was in theaters, but audiences enjoyed the movie and its large name-actor cast more.

Following the lives of a number of couples and singles in New York over one New Year’s Eve, the film features a whopping amount of stars: Sarah Jessica Parker (I Don’t Know How She Does It), Jessica Biel (The A-Team), Ashton Kutcher (No Strings Attached), Michelle Pfeiffer (Stardust), Zac Efron (Charlie St. Cloud), Halle Berry (Dark Tide), Cary Elwes (Saw: The Final Chapter), Alyssa Milano (Hall Pass), Carla Gugino (Sucker Punch), Katherine Heigl (Killers), Sofia Vergara (TV’s Modern Family), Lea Michele (TV’s Glee), James Belushi (Cougars, Inc.), Abigail Breslin (Zombieland), Josh Duhamel (Life As We Know It), Hilary Swank (Conviction)… Phew!

The PG-13 movie’s vignette of stories look at love, hope, forgiveness and second chances. They include Kim (Parker), a single mother; Claire (Swank), who’s in charge of the city’s annual ball drop in Times Square; Laura (Heigl), a chef who’s cooking for a record company’s party; Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi, U-571), Laura’s ex and a singer performing at the party; Ingrid (Pfeiffer), who has a near-death experience and asks a young messenger, Paul (Efron), to help her fulfill her resolutions. And many more…

Despite bad reviews, New Year’s Eve grossed a decent $55 million when it was in theaters.

The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack includes streaming of the movie with UltraViolet digital copy, redeemable before May 1, 2014. Plus, the disc set has these special features:

• audio commentary with Marshall
• featurette “The Magic of Times Squares”
• “New Year’s Eve Secrets of the Stars”
• “Jon Bon Jovi & Lea Michele Rock New Year’s Eve”
• deleted scenes with Marshall
• and a gag reel.

Buy or Rent New Year’s Eve
DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray

The lives, careers and friendship of legendary Hungary-born cinematographers László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond are examined in the 2008 documentary No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos,

László Kovács (r.) and Vilmos Zsigmond focus on their work in No Subtitles Necessary.

Both survivors of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Kovács and Zsigmond immigrated in poverty to America in the late 1950s, helping each other up the ladder out of the underbelly of Hollywood all the while holding onto their dreams. After ten years of no-budget toil, Kovács’s camera broke Hollywood’s rules with Easy Rider, directed by Dennis Hopper.  Suddenly in demand, he recommended Vilmos to both Peter Fonda and Robert Altman, where Zsigmond poured his “poetic realism” into Fonda’s 1971 The Hired Hand and Altman’s 1971 McCabe & Mrs. Miller. The two cinematographers quickly became the go-to camera guys of the New Hollywood, ultimately yielding some 140 credits between them, including Kovács’s Five Easy Pieces, Paper Moon, Shampoo and Ghostbusters and Zsigmond’s Scarecrow, Cinderella Liberty, The Rose, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blow Out and The Deer Hunter.

That small list of films alone is proof that both deserved their Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC)!

Filled with clips from their greatest films (and a few of their turkeys), No Subtitles Necessary also features a number of interview with those who have worked with the pair, including Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet), Sandra Bullock (Crash), Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show), Peter Fonda (Race with the Devil), Sharon Stone (The Specialist), Jon Voight (Coming Home), composer John Williams and fellow cinematographer Haskell Wexler.

Directed by James Chressanthis, No Subtitles Necessary premiered on PBS’s “Independent Lens” in November, 2009.

The DVD includes some 45 minutes of bonus features, including the following:

• The birth of Easy Rider – A tribute to Dennis Hopper, featuring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Karen Black.
• Actor Master Class with Karen Black on Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces
• Director of Master Class with Bob Rafelson on Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces
• Peter Bogdanovich on László
• Drugs on Easy Rider with Peter Sorel

Buy or Rent No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos
DVD		DVD

STUDIO: S’More Entertainment | PRODUCTION COMPANY: Pamandia | CAST: David Susskind, Mel Brooks, David Steinberg, George Segal, Stan Herman, Dan Greenburg, Larry Goldberg
DVD RELEASE DATE: 2/14/2012 | PRICE: DVD $19.98
BONUSES: none
SPECS: NR | 90 min. | Television show | 1.33:1 fullscreen | Dolby Digital stereo

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie� | Audio� | Video� | Overall

The most popular installment of The David Susskind Show during its 28 years on the air, November, 1970’s “How To Be a Jewish Son—or My Son, The Success!!” still has the ability to illicit a great, big smile, if not the power to have viewers doubling over with laughter. (It was never that remarkable, but the passage of time and growing lore has been fueling its legend as a classic for more than 40 years.)

Mel Brooks makes his point on The David Susskind Show's "How To Be A Jewish Son" installment.

The talk show episode set out to offer a twist on Dan Greenburg’s 1964 best-selling novelty book How To Be A Jewish Mother by featuring the viewpoint of the Jewish sons, the ones who had to live with the guilt, outbursts and food issues that were hoisted upon them by their mothers. Thus, Susskind (who had a Jewish mom himself) found himself moderating a panel that included the great writer/filmmaker Mel Brooks (High Anxiety) as his movie The Twelve Chairs was rolling out to theaters, rising comic David Steinberg (the son of a rabbi), then-hot actor George Segal (Love and Other Drugs), pizzeria chain mogul Larry Goldberg, swishy fashion designer Stan Herman and writer Greenburg.

There’s no denying that the air was electric and that the usually on-top-everything Susskind nearly loses control of his show as the panel talks and gestures and shouts. Led by the high-energy Brooks and the underhandedly snarky Steinberg, the show’s overall exuberance is what makes it all work, as opposed to any specific jokes or bits. The laughs are there, yes, but the idea of seven Jewish guys sitting around on a bare-bones set—smoking cigarettes and drinking water—and simply talking about being Jewish is what makes it so memorable and effective. Behind the giggly veneer are some serious thoughts (again, cloaked in laughter) on success, assimilation and Jewish identity. And who better to pontificate on those matters than Mel Brooks, who frequently lapses into the little old Jewish man voice of his “2,000 Year Old Man” character.

The program offers the secondary pleasure of watching relative unknowns Goldberg, Herman and Greenburg trying to keep up with Brooks and company. George Segal, in particularly, looks as if he’s running out of patience with Goldburg, whose attempts to make jokes at this expense are met with an icy stare and scrunched eyebrows from the actor.

Long available for viewing online at a zillion video sites, the How To Be a Jewish Son DVD doesn’t come with any extras (oy!), but it would still make a nice gift for any kvelling parent who wonders why their children don’t bring them a gift when they come over for a Friday night dinner.

Buy or Rent How To Be A Jewish Son
DVD	DVD

Disc Dish

Written by Dennis Potter and directed by Ms. Russell’s then-husband Nicolas Roeg (The Man Who Fell To Earth), Track 29 is an eccentric fantasy-reality juggler if ever there was one. In it, she portrays Linda, a bored housewife who becomes captivated by the handsome young hitchhiker Martin (Oldman), who suddenly “drops” into her life. After Martin claims that he’s the child that she gave up for adoption after a teen pregnancy, Linda must deal with a series of increasingly bizarre events, which may or may not be transpiring solely in her own lonely head.

Not a great film but far from a forgettable one, Track 29 is a real brain-tease, one of a bunch of arthouse entries that Ms. Russell made with Mr. Roeg a couple of decades back.

Disc Dish: Between 1980 and 1991, you appeared in five feature films directed by your former husband Nicolas Roeg, including Bad Timing, Eureka and Insignificance. Where does Track 29 fit in to your personal appreciation and assessment of the work you did together?

Theresa Russell: Where does it fit it? Hmmm, I’m not sure how to answer that. The one that I can say is my all-time favorite is Bad Timing. It was a huge film for me—I was only 22 years old and was part of such a unique film. In terms of Track 29, I had more input into that one and how it turned out. Usually, Nic wouldn’t let me read any of the material before the production was ready to go. I had no input in any of the other films until I was on-set.

DD: Knowing Mr. Roeg’s splintered chronological style in his filmmaking, it sounds like that would make things even more challenging.

TR: Well, that’s how he worked. But for Track 29, I got the script at the very beginning. [Screenwriter} Dennis Potter would come over the house and we would all go over it. He was a very interesting fellow, always mixing fantasy and reality and going for an absurdist quality in his work Remember, he had nurses in hospitals singing and dancing in The Singing Detective! But there was a rhythm to his writing and I really enjoyed working with that.

DD: Was he ever on-location in North Carolina during the production? And how about George Harrison, whose Handmade Film produced the film?

TR: No, neither George nor Dennis ever came to North Carolina, but before that they were around, which was pretty cool.

Theresa Russell dreams a little dream of Gary Oldman in Track 29.

DD: What was the most notable contribution you made to the film, apart from being its leading lady, of course.

TR: One of my best girlfriends, Colleen Camp, was also in the film, and we had seen Sandra Bernhardt in King of Comedy. We both just loved her and I helped to shanghai her for Track 29.

DD: And how did you get along with Gary Oldman?

TR: I adore Gary. He was wonderful then and wonderful now. And so terrific to work with.

DD: Over a ten-year period that included Track 29, you worked with a really diverse group of filmmakers, including Mr. Roeg, Bob Rafelson, Michael Crichton, Sondra Locke, Ken Russell and Steven Soderbergh. Was it a real challenge to shift creative gears, so to speak, in such a short amount of time for such a varied group of directors?

TR: Well, that’s the nature of film, isn’t it? I don’t think of it in retrospect like that. They’re all just completely different. The actor’s job in film is to facilitate the director’s vision and, hopefully, you can trust them—unless the director isn’t doing his job and doesn’t have a vision, and then you’re on your own. To me, every single experience is different and it’s up to the actor to negotiate the relationship with the director. But I can say that that Michael Crichton film (1989′s Physical Evidence) wasn’t a very good one. I think he may have taken it off his resume.

DD: Worry not. There are plenty of other films you’re associated with that people are talking about, particularly Track 29.

TR: Oh, I’m completely proud of it, as was Nic. I was [Nic’s] muse for those years.

DD: With five features, you and Mr. Roeg are on record as one of the most prolific filmmaking couples, like Fellini and Giulietta Masina and Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands.

TR: We’re a part of film history!

DD: Any chance of you two making more film history with another project together?

TR: I’m not sure if there’s going to be another one. He’s getting up there now and it isn’t likely. Probably not. Actually, I’d have to say that the answer is no.

Buy or Rent Track 29
DVD	DVD	DVD

Gabriel Macht (l.) and Patrick J. Adams look legally sharp in their Suits.

The USA Network’s original television series Suits is the latest TV comedy-drama to look at the fast-paced, vulgarly moneyed world a New York corporate law firm.

Suits zeroes in on hotshot attorney Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht, Love and Other Drugs) and his latest hire: a brilliant but unmotivated young man Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams, TV’s Luck) whose only problem is that he doesn’t have an actual law degree. Despite his lack of credentials, Mike has managed to earn himself a spot amongst the otherwise Harvard-educated staff via his extensive, encyclopedic knowledge of the law. Jealousy, tensions and lots of legal maneuverings follow as the unstoppable team of Harvey and Mike try to keep Mike’s secret under wraps.

Also starring Meghan Markle (Get Him to the Greek), Gina Torres (TV’s Huge), Rick Hoffman (TV’s Samantha Who) and Sarah Rafferty (TV’s Brothers & Sisters), Suits has been renewed for a second season that’s tentatively slated to premiere in the summer of 2012.

The three-disc, 12-episode DVD set includes the following bonus features:

• Cross Examination: Fan Q&A with stars Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Rick Hoffman, Meghan Markle, Creator Aaron Korsh, and Executive Producer David Bartis
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Pilot Commentary: Commentary by Creator/Co-Executive Producer Aaron Korsh, Executive Producer David Bartis and stars Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams
• Episode Commentary: “Dogfight” episode commentary with Creator/Co-Executive Producer Aaron Korsh, Executive Producer David Bartis and stars Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams

Buy or Rent Suits
	DVD

STUDIO: Olive Films | DIRECTOR: Frank Tashlin | CAST: Jerry Lewis, Marilyn Maxwell, Reginald Gardiner, Salvatore Baccaloni, Connie Stevens, Hans Conreid
RELEASE DATE: 2/14/12 | PRICE: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
BONUSES: none
SPECS: NR | 103 min. | Comedy | 1.85:1 widescreen | stereo

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

The adjective “charming” is rarely thought of to describe Jerry Lewis, but Rock-a-Bye Baby, the candy-colored 1958 vehicle crafted for him by the eminently talented Frank Tashlin (The Girl Can’t Help It) does indeed showcase “le roi du crazy” as a friendly, even lovable presence. Tashlin does this by creating a wonderful cartoon universe in which the spotlight often veers away from Jerry — when it returns he’s depicted as an affable schnook the audience can’t help but like.

Jerry Lewis fills the screen in Rock-a-Bye Baby.

The film is a remake of Preston Sturges’ The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944), in which a Hollywood star (Marilyn Maxwell, The Lively Set) gets pregnant and decides to leave her newborn with an adoring friend (Lewis) who still lives in the small town she grew up in. She winds up having triplets, and there the silliness begins.

Tashlin’s experience as a Looney Tunes animator came into play when he worked with Lewis (the duo made eight films together). It’s been noted by British and European critics that Lewis was a “living cartoon” in Tashlin’s pictures, and Jerry does wonders with the various set-pieces in Rock-a-Bye Baby, especially a long sequence with an out-of-control hose (paging Dr. Freud) and the scenes in which he devises ways to feed and care for the triplets.

There are no extras on this release, but the film has been restored beautifully and provides a perfect example of a “prestige” comedy vehicle from the last era when a comic like Lewis could indeed be “king” of a studio (he was Paramount’s leading star for several years). The initial group of Lewis movies put out on DVD by Paramount with Jerry’s input concentrated, naturally enough, on the films that he himself directed (with the exception of Cinderfella and The Disorderly Orderly). This new crop of Olive releases contains the four as-yet-unreleased Tashlin/Lewis titles.

Rock-a-Bye was released simultaneously with The Geisha Boy (1958) and Boeing Boeing (1965) — a non-Tashlin title that found Jerry floundering in the kind of international-playboy role that Dean Martin excelled at. Olive is set to release Tashlin’s wildly inventive Who’s Minding the Store? (1963) and the wonderful noir comedy It’s Only Money (1962) in March, 2012.

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George Maharis( l.) and Martin Milner get their kicks on Route 66.

Shout! Factory gets its kicks with the release of the 1960 road tip drama television show Route 66: The Complete Series which marks the first time all four seasons of the show have been issued as one set.

Created by Academy Award-winning writer Stirling Silliphant and producer Herbert Leonard, Route 66 follow the lives of two young men: Yale graduate Tod Stiles (Martin Milner, TV’s Adam-12), an intellectual who has led a privileged and sheltered life, and Buz Murdock (George Maharis, TV’s The Most Deadly Game), a tough young man raised in “Hell’s Kitchen” who’s been struggling his entire life just to survive. When his wealthy father dies, Tod finds himself unexpectedly penniless with just one possession, a Chevrolet Corvette. On a quest to find adventure – and themselves – Tod and Buz hit the open road in a classic American journey.

Over the course of its four year run, the 116 episodes of the respected drama featured an impressive array of guest stars, including Barbara Eden (TV’s I Dream of Jeannie), Buster Keaton (Our Hospitality), Boris Karloff (Frankenstein), Burt Reynolds (Deliverance), Cloris Leachman (American Cowslip), James Caan (Rollerball), Joan Crawford (Trog), Lee Marvin (Point Blank), Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now), Robert Duvall (Get Low), Robert Redford, Rod Steiger (Doctor Zhivago) and Walter Matthau (The Odd Couple), among others.

The 24-disc collection includes a handful of supplements, including a featurette about Corvette, the first mass-produced American sports car.

Buy or Rent Route 66: The Complete Series
DVD

With The Adventures of Tintin, Steven Spielberg (War of the Worlds) brought the beloved comic strip characters to the screen in the kind of CGI animation that was used in The Polar Express and 2009′s A Christmas Carol. Although the motion capture technique is still criticized for creating creepy too-human animated characters, Tintin was applauded for its animation, especially its use of 3D, which is no doubt why it’s available on Blu-ray 3D the same day as DVD and Blu-ray.

The Golden Globe winner for Best Animated Feature Film, The Adventures of Tintin follows the titular character and his loyal dog Snowy as they try to uncover the secrets of a sunken ship that might hold a vast fortune and an ancient curse. The family movie blends tales from the original comics by Herge.

Jamie Bell (Jane Eyre) headlines the voice cast as Tintin, along with Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Daniel Craig (Cowboys & Aliens), Nick Frost (Pirate Radio), Simon Pegg (Paul) and Cary Elwes (No Strings Attached). The PG film also has the cache of being produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

Cheered by critics and audiences alike, The Adventures of Tintin grossed a good $75 million in theaters.

All disc versions have some kind of special features. The DVD contains:

• “The Journey of Tintin”
• “Snowy: From Beginning to End.”

Both the Blu-ray/DVD combo and the Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD combo includes those plus:

• “Toasting Tintin: Part 1″
• “The World of Tintin”
• “The Who’s Who of Tintin”
• “Tintin: Conceptual Design”
• “Tintin: In the Volume”
• “Animating Tintin”
• “Tintin: The Score”
• “Collecting Tintin”
• and “Toasting Tintin: Part 2.”

And all versions have UltraViolet, which allows you to stream the movie or download.

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STUDIO: Universal | DIRECTOR: Brett Ratner | CAST: Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Peña, Judd Hirsch, Tea Leoni, Stephen Henderson
BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 2/21/2012 | PRICE: DVD $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.98
BONUSES: commentary, featurettes, deleted and alternate scenes including two alternate endings, gag reel
SPECS: PG-13 | 105 min. | Action comedy | 2.39:1 widescreen | DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1/Dolby Digital 5.1 | English, Spanish and French subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

A populist Hollywood crime caper if ever there was one, Brett Ratner’s (Red Dragon) comedy-action film Tower Heist zeroes in on a bunch of hardworking New Yorkers who plot to rob a Bernie Madoff-like Wall Street exec of millions after they discover he cashed in on their retirement funds and hid the money in his luxurious Central Park West penthouse apartment.

The would-be thieves plotting to steal back the money the exec (Alan Alda, Behind the Burly Q) stole are mostly the highrise’s employees: the building manager (Ben Stiller, Little Fockers), a concierge (Casey Affleck, The Killer Inside Me), a maid (Gabourey Sidibe, TV’s The Big C) and a new bellhop (Michael Peña, Everything Must Go). Also on board for the heist are a broke former Wall Streeter (Matthew Broderick, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and a fast-talking, small-time thief (Eddie Murphy, 48 Hrs.) who the “gang” recruits to show them the ropes.

It’s not until nearly the half-way point — after the exec’s crimes are revealed and all characters (leading and supporting, including Tea Leoni, who has one stand-out scene as a NYC detective) have been introduced — that Tower Heist shifts into its titular crime mode. The movie’s laughs are scattered up until that point, but they pick up considerably in the second half, as does the action and outrageousness quotient, led by all manner of stuntwork involving a bright red 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso that was once owned by Steve McQueen. The car is a gorgeous piece of eye candy (almost as stunning as model Kate Upton in a quick walk-on) that figures greatly into the story and is given a lot of action-filled screen time, most of it transpiring 300-feet above the ground.

Elements of Tower Heist have a 1980s and 1990s throwback feel, particularly Murphy as a street-wise hustler, Broderick as a (formerly) snobby rich kid and the over-the-top action pieces a la director Ratner’s own Rush Hour films. It’s invigorating enough, as are the nuts and bolts of the heist itself, but it all kept on reminding me of other star-filled caper films (like Steve Sodergergh’s Out of Sight and Ocean’s 11 films) where trickery and stealth were employed to better effect than this movie’s auto hijinks and crank-it-up sound effects. And I could have used some more laughs.

Speaking of which, the Blu-ray’s audio quality is top-notch, particularly when it comes to all car-crashing, glass-breaking and wall-smashing that goes down in the final third. Thankfully, the dialog clearly stands out from the wall of sound.

The high-definition video quality is also outstanding, with the central luxury building locale and its surrounding Manhattan landscapes looking wonderfully textured and alive.

Ratner himself is all over the Blu-ray’s bonus features, starting with a commentary that also includes editor Mark Helfrich and co-writers Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson. Though the spirited track finds the gentlemen sharing more laughs than production information, it’ll do for this film.

The director can also be seen and heard in a fun 23-minute video diary that contains lots of behind-the-scenes material and raw footage, as well as an extended making-of featurette.

Also included are a pair of alternate endings, one of which is pretty clever, and nine deleted and alternate scenes that definitely warrant their slot in the supplemental section and not the movie proper.

Buy or Rent Tower Heist
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Matt Damon (Contagion) gets friendly with animals — the exotic kind — in filmmaker Cameron Crowe’s (Almost Famous) We Bought a Zoo.

Based on the memoir by Benjamin Mee, the family movie stars Damon as Mee, a Los Angeles newspaper columnist and adventure writer. When he tries to get a new start for his family, Mee buys an old rural house outside the city that just happens to come with a zoo. With no experience, little time and a tiny budget, Mee sets out to reopen the zoo with the help of his children and head zookeeper Kelly Foster (Scarlet Johansson, Iron Man 2).

The film also stars Thomas Haden Church (Easy A), Elle Fanning (Super 8), Angus Macfadyen (Equilibrium), Patrick Fugit (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant) and a cameo with Mee himself.

As well as directing, Crowe co-wrote We Bought a Zoo with screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (I Don’t Know How She Does It).

Rated PG, the movie grossed a tidy $73 million in theaters, but it was enjoyed much more by audiences than critics. Detroit News‘ Tom Long described it as “filled with artificial sweetener,” and Newsday‘s Rafer Guzman said it “lacks the emotional honesty and unpredictability that made Crowe’s early films so irresistible.”

But come critics liked it. Renowned movie reviewer Leonard Maltin called the movie “a welcome cup of holiday cheer.”

On Blu-ray and DVD, We Bought a Zoo comes with an English Family Friendly Audio Track that earned the Dove Seal of Approval. Here are the special features on the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack:

• gag reel
• featurette “The Real Me”
• featurette “We Shot a Zoo”
• featurette “Their Happy Is Too Loud”
• commentary with Crowe, actor J.B. Smoove and editor Mark Livolsi
• a whopping 20 deleted scenes
• and a downloadable digital copy of the movie.

Buy or Rent We Bought a Zoo
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