DVD Report
New Releases | Tom Russo
'Essential'? Well, at least the interesting Egoyan.
''I [don't] have some messianic vision of myself being the person who's going to teach people how to read films," indie director/acquired taste Atom Egoyan says with a shrug in a bonus interview in the four-disc retrospective ''The Essential Egoyan" (2006). Still, as we're reminded in reviewing this survey of his early work, Egoyan clearly has never met an ambiguous, awkwardly lingering moment that he didn't like. There are plenty of them in ''Speaking Parts" (1989), a techno-speculation about a movie extra (Michael McManus) who lands his first big role but, for all his new big-deal connections, is physically and emotionally disconnected. There's truth, and interest, in Egoyan's comment that the film is a jumble of contradictions: a movie about everyday life's overload of imagery that is, itself, an overload of imagery.
''Next of Kin" (1984) and ''Family Viewing" (1987) ostensibly give a look at the comic side of Egoyan's sensibility, but they're mostly characteristically cold -- although Aidan Tierney does project a vague Bud Cort vibe as a young man who discovers that his father is erasing home videos to make sex tapes. Rounding out the set is ''Calendar" (1993), in which the Armenian-Canadian Egoyan casts himself as a photographer drawn into personal drama when he travels to Armenia to shoot historic churches. The film is most reflective of Egoyan's talent for pulling rich story detail from corners others would never think to explore -- also a trait of his stunning ''The Sweet Hereafter." That career highlight, along with ''Exotica" and ''The Adjuster," would ideally be included for this pricey set to fully merit its ''Essential" tag.
Extras: Commentary tracks; early short films. (Zeitgeist Video, $79.99)
''IN HER SHOES" (2005)
Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette (''Connie and Carla") make us forgive their shoehorned-to-fit casting with some help from an impeccably cast Shirley MacLaine in this comedy from versatile director Curtis Hanson (''LA Confidential," ''8 Mile"). A feel-good chick flick with some atypical emotional ambitions, the film casts Collette as self-conscious lawyer Rose, older sister to Diaz's incorrigible wild child Maggie.
When the two have a particularly nasty -- and juicy -- falling out, their long-lost grandmother (MacLaine) coolly smacks a bit of sense into Maggie, while Rose works to get a handle on some of her own hang-ups. Diaz is a couple of years past playing party girl with total credibility -- in a good way -- and Collette isn't the frump that the dialogue obliviously insists she is, but the movie's family dynamics are engrossing. Yep, this one's a love story -- but it's the sisters who are temporarily star-crossed.
Extras: Production featurettes. (Fox, $29.98)
''TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE" (2005)
A decade after ''The Nightmare Before Christmas," codirector Burton effectively returns to Halloweentown with another stylishly macabre stop-motion animated feature. This time, Johnny Depp gives voice to Victor, a sensitive 19th-century soul whose imminent marriage to Victoria (Emily Watson) hits a snag when a girl from beyond the grave (Helena Bonham Carter) mistakenly thinks his ring is intended for her bony finger. The story isn't bad, but Burton has tread this ground before, and while the musical numbers by regular composer Danny Elfman might raise the toon's dead, they don't memorably raise the roof. And how exactly does one sell a wisecracking maggot to the kids?
Extras: An extensive collection of production featurettes spotlighting the much deserving animation. (Warner, $28.98)
'' 'MI-5': VOLUME THREE" (2004)
The BBC's answer to ''24" is back with a new batch of episodes that finally get hipster spy Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen of last year's ''Pride & Prejudice") out of the dicey corner he'd been backed into: framed for murder and treason, and possibly dead. But imagine if after pulling a disappearing act, Kiefer Sutherland then stayed gone -- that's what this import does in ably segueing from Macfadyen to new, even more metrosexual lead operative Rupert Penry-Jones.
Extras: Footage unaired on American TV; cast and crew commentary and interviews. (BBC, $79.98)
Television Box Set | Matthew Gilbert
Years later, 'Hill Street' still has influence
With the likes of ''Knight Rider" already out on DVD, it's about time a ''Hill Street Blues" package arrived -- all due respect to David ''The Hoff" Hasselhoff. ''Hill Street Blues" is one of those rare TV series you can call groundbreaking without sounding like a hyperbolic publicist. More than two decades since its 1981 premiere, we still see the impact of Steven Bochco's cop series all over prime-time drama, from ''Law & Order" to ''The Shield." The large and star-free ensemble casts, the multiple plotlines, the gritty violence, the documentary tone, the moral ambiguity, they all took flight on this show.
With ''Hill Street," TV cops were no longer conventionally handsome, invincible, and unwaveringly heroic. They were human. They could be crooked, they could be shot, they could compromise their ethics for a greater -- or lesser -- good. The show was a sort of TV correlative to Robert Altman's movie version of ''M*A*S*H," as it banished Hollywood's flat notions of character and technique and embraced a less consoling realism. This show engaged viewers' emotions, not just their need to feel safe in a crime-ridden world.
The 17 episodes on the DVD set are extraordinary, with few false notes among them -- and more than enough good notes to compensate. Indeed, despite poor ratings, the first season of ''Hill Street" went on to win eight Emmy awards, including best drama, best actor (Daniel J. Travanti), and best actress (Barbara Babcock). From episode one, in which officers Hill and Renko are gunned down by drug dealers, Bochco's vision is already complete. And it only becomes richer as the series progresses -- something fans and newcomers will see once (fingers crossed) the other six seasons of the series are released.
Extras: Episode commentary by Steven Bochco, James B. Sikking, and Joe Spano. Also, a 51-minute featurette called ''Roll Call: Looking Back at 'Hill Street Blues,' " in which cast members share memories of late actor Michael Conrad and note that their favorite compliments have come from real cops. (Fox, $39.98)
Music DVD | Renee Graham
'Grey Whistle' channels the glory of live music
The BBC's onetime premier live music show ''The Old Grey Whistle Test" derived its name from the whimsical notion that if the silver-haired doorman can whistle your song, it must be a hit. It's hard to imagine that was ever the case for such long-forgotten artists as Judee Sill (''The Kiss") and Heads Hands & Feet (''Warming Up the Band"), but then that's part of the joy of this compilation.
The second release of a planned trilogy, ''The Old Grey Whistle Test, Vol. 2" has fewer big names than its predecessor, which featured Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, and the Ramones. Yet this DVD, with 30 performances from throughout the show's 1971-1986 run, boasts several genre-spanning gems, ranging from the Joan Armatrading (above) cult favorite ''Love and Affection" to obscurities such as the Adverts' petulant ''Bored Teenagers" to chart toppers Hall & Oates's poignant ''She's Gone." In some cases, lesser-known acts trump the legends. While it's a thrill watching the Who -- with Keith Moon attacking his drums as if they owe him money -- blaze through ''Relay," it's singer-songwriter Tim Buckley's soulful ''Dolphins" that's the real revelation. Add to that the eerie reminder of how much his son, the late singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, resembled his father (who also died young) both physically and vocally and it's a spellbinding moment.
The showstopper has to be ribald, rotund Meat Loaf's rendition of Jim Steinman's brilliantly bombastic epic ''Paradise by the Dashboard Light." Along with singer Karla DeVito, he offers a sweaty, sexually charged, microphone-stand-slamming 11-minute tour de force that would never make it past today's puritanical TV censors. And, as with all the performances here, it's presented without flash or distracting excess -- just musicians playing music that was, more often than not, gloriously live.
Extras: Very funny commentary from former host David Hepworth and archivist Mark Ellen; artists gallery. (BBC, $24.98)
ALSO THIS WEEK
''THE LEGEND OF ZORRO" (2005)
Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and director Martin Campbell (''GoldenEye") have at the swashbuckling franchise for a second time, again delivering breezy adventure but not really making their mark.
Extras: Commentary by Campbell; stunts and effects featurettes. (
''BUBBLE" (2006)
Even the packaging on this one refers to it as an ''experiment" rather than a movie, as director Steven Soderbergh spins a modest murder mystery with nonprofessional actors -- as product to debut simultaneously on DVD, in theaters, and on cable, letting viewers watch as they will. And, the argument goes, boosting revenues.
Extras: Commentary by Soderbergh; cast commentary; cast audition interviews. (Magnolia Home Entertainment, $29.98)
''AFRO-PROMO" (2006)
For a very quick look at the evolution of African-American identity on-screen, where better to check than coming attractions? This intriguing 90-minute reel surveys movie trailers from the '40s through the '70s, from plantation drama to blaxploitation, from Sidney Poitier to Pam Grier.
Extras: Critical essay. (Facets Video, $24.95)
''LIVE FREAKY! DIE FREAKY!" (2003)
In the spirit of (sort of) Todd Haynes telling Karen Carpenter's story with Barbie dolls comes this clay-animated riff on Charles Manson's lurid legacy. Crude and very, very odd, naturally, but diverting. Featuring voice work by members of Green Day, Blink 182, the Go-Go's, White Zombie, and numerous other rockers. (Wellspring Media, $24.98)
''THE WAR WITHIN" (2005)
Filmmaker Joseph Castelo ventures into highly provocative territory by examining the motivations of a recently indoctrinated Pakistani terrorist (Ayad Akhtar, who co-wrote the script) helping to plan an attack on New York. Ultimately not as penetrating a portrait as it seems to aspire to be.
Extras: Commentary by Castelo and Akhtar. (Magnolia Home Entertainment, $28.98)
REISSUES
''CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS" (1937)
Crusty fisherman (and Oscar winner) Spencer Tracy pulls spoiled rich kid Freddie Bartholomew out of the ocean and on board the S.S. Reality Check in this enduring adaptation of Kipling's classic. The film is one of several Warner assets with an Academy Awards pedigree debuting on DVD this week, along with ''The Champ" (1931), ''The Good Earth" (1937), the Ginger Rogers acting showcase ''Kitty Foyle" (1940), Jane Wyman's ''Johnny Belinda" (1948), and ''Lust for Life" (1956), with Kirk Douglas as Vincent Van Gogh.
Extras: Vintage shorts or animation on most; film historian commentary on ''Lust for Life." (Warner, $19.97 each)
''THE PINK PANTHER CLASSIC CARTOON
COLLECTION" (2006)
The jazziest cat in cartoons returns in a five-disc set comprising 124 shorts.
Extras: Production featurettes; title sequences from five ''Panther" films. (MGM, $69.96; individual volumes also available for $14.94 each)
Capsules are written by Globe correspondent Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified. 
