Clive Owen takes a break from thrillers to star in a real-life domestic drama with liberal doses of comedy, which leads these new-to-DVD movies.
"The Boys Are Back" (Miramax, 2009, PG-13, $29.99). Owen's down-to-earth central performance and the straight-forward direction by Scott Hicks — who earned an Oscar nomination 14 years ago for another true story, "Shine" — help keep this compelling melodrama from sinking into treacle.
Owen plays an English sportswriter transplanted to Australia, and because he's often on the road, he's a somewhat absent husband and father. When his beloved wife dies, he is left to raise their young son alone, without a clue about how to do so. And when his teenage son from his first marriage arrives for an extended visit, he's even more lost.
This is familiar territory, but Owen and Hicks, along with a fine supporting cast and that gorgeous Australian landscape, make it a fulfilling and entertaining drama.
Extras: widescreen, featurettes, trailers
"Bright Star" (Sony, 2009, PG, $27.96). Jane Campion — one of only three women to earn a best-director Oscar nomination — helmed this drama based on the 19th-century romance of doomed poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his brash, opinionated next-door neighbor Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish).
Beautifully realized and meticulously performed, this melodrama has "chick flick" written all over it, but it's better than that sounds, a slow but engaging true story that quite beautifully captures the period.
Extras: widescreen, deleted scene, featurettes, trailers
"Surrogates" (Touchstone, 2009, PG-13, $29.99). This sci-fi thriller (based on a graphic novel) stars Bruce Willis as an FBI agent in a future where people live vicariously through robotic avatars and crime is virtually nonexistent — until a mysterious string of murders starts up. Whom do you trust when everyone wears a mask? There are some good ideas here that are unfortunately squandered in a routine action flick. (James Cromwell co-stars in a role that resembles his "I, Robot" character.")
Extras: widescreen, audio commentary, music video, trailer
"Whiteout" (Warner, 2009; R for violence, language, nudity; $35.99). Speaking of routine action flicks, here's Kate Beckinsale as a U.S. Marshal assigned to a South Pole expedition force. The action is well staged and occasionally thrilling, but the mystery is weak, and the resolution is dumb. Except for the unique locale, this plays like a by-the-numbers TV cop show. Tom Skerritt co-stars.
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes
"Soul Power" (Sony Classics/Blu-ray, 2008, PG-13, $34.95; also on DVD, $28.96). This is a musical documentary of the star-studded concert that accompanied the famed 1974 Muhammad Ali-George Forman boxing match in Zaire.
The brainchild of Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine, and assisted by boxing promoter Don King, the event features James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz and many others. Foot-stomping fun (and a terrific double-bill with another documentary, "When We Were Kings," about the fight).
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, audio commentary
"Tennessee" (Vivendi, 2009; R for language; $19.97). Mariah Carey is the name draw, but she's really a supporting player in this so-so road-trip melodrama about two brothers (Adam Rothenberg, Ethan Peck) traveling to Tennessee to find their estranged father. Carey plays an aspiring singer-songwriter on the run from a troubled marriage who tags along.
Extras: widescreen, featurette, trailers
"St. Trinian's" (Sony, 2008, PG-13, $24.96). Haltingly amusing farce, a vulgar, updated version of the 1950s and '60s British "St. Trinian's" films about misfits in a school for girls who come together to save the institution. In the original, Alastair Sim played both the headmistress in drag and her brother; here, Rupert Everett tries the same stunt, with lesser results. Co-stars include Colin Firth, Lena Heady, Russell Brand and Mischa Barton. (And a sequel has already been released in England.)
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, featurette, music video, bloopers, trailers
"Give 'Em Hell Malone" (NEM, 2009, $24.98). Forced, campy, sleazy and extremely violent spoof of 1940s film noir has Thomas Jane as a private eye who supposedly can't be killed as he battles bad guys to protect a mysterious small toy, a blue elephant. The film is kinetic, but the blood flows by the way-over-the-top bucketful from the get-go — a seven-minute shootout/chase before the opening credits. Gregory Harrison and Ving Rhames are the chief bad guys.
Extras: widescreen, featurette
"Pontypool" (IFC, 2008, $19.98). One of Laurie Anderson's best songs is "Language Is a Virus," which could have been the inspiration for this horror yarn about the verbalizing of certain words turning people into zombies. Stephen McHattie is a small-town Canadian DJ whose station is surrounded by flesh-eaters, and he begins to wonder if his radio chatter may be a contributing factor. (A sequel is already in the works.)
Extras: widescreen, audio commentary, three short films, audio radio program, trailers
"The Escapist" (IFC, 2007, $19.98). This English thriller has a team of hardened criminals plotting an escape from a penitentiary. It's all set-up and action in a predictable way, but it's well paced and features a familiar British cast, led by Brian Cox and Joseph Fiennes.
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, featurette, trailer
"Little Ashes" (E1, 2008; R for sex, language; $26.98). This melodrama, based on fact, follows 18-year-old Salvador Dali (Robert Pattinson) as he meets poet Federico Garcia Lorca (Javier Beltran) and artist/filmmaker Luis Bunuel (Matthew McNulty) at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid, circa 1922.
Extras: widescreen, featurette, trailers
e-mail: hicks@desnews.com