DVD Report
New Releases | Tom Russo
Unaired pilot among super features of 'Heroes' DVD
One big key to Hollywood's ongoing superhero boom is the way that effects technology has finally caught up with the genre's out-there storytelling demands. That's part of what makes the phenomenon of "Heroes": Season 1 (2006-07) so unexpected. In laying out its roster of simultaneously ascendant superfolk destined to come together and epically save the world, the show presents characters who fly, teleport, and threaten to go atomic, yet even the tension-fraught season finale goes light on effects shots. But what makes "Heroes" so addictive, of course, is its smart, briskly serialized mythology. Series creator Tim Kring ("Crossing Jordan") is a professed geek-culture neophyte with no interest in outlandish alter-egos -- so he simply dispenses with them, a departure from genre tradition that is highly effective. The closest the show comes to superhero costumes is the cheerleading get-up worn by invulnerable Hayden Panettiere, arguably the cast standout. (Look for nefarious Zachary Quinto, who plays Sylar and will be Spock in the next "Star Trek" movie, to start bumping her off magazine covers.) Go figure that Kring and his writers delivered something this satisfying by giving superhero fans everything they'd grown accustomed to -- and less.
Extras: The splashiest bonus is a 73-minute unaired version of the series pilot, which features a terrorism story line that Kring notes was dropped because of network concerns about how the material would play in a potential 8 p.m. time slot. (The thread does, though, give an inkling of the show's early ambition to grab the "24" audience.) The deletion meant delaying the introduction of mind-reading Greg Grunberg -- ironically, the cast member with the most fan cred going in, thanks to his role on "Alias." Commentaries and some 50 deleted scenes are also included. (Universal, $59.98)
"BLADES OF GLORY" (2007)
Here's why you'll like Will Ferrell's latest anything-for-a-laughfest better than "Anchorman" or even "Talladega Nights": There's actually a bit of clever speculation squeezed in amid the prevailing inanity. Rival prima donna figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder, living up to "Napoleon Dynamite") get banned from the sport for brawling, so they find a loophole via pairs competition. It's a what-if scenario that makes a crazy sort of sense. The leads freestyle plenty -- there's an intermittent joke about bad boy Chazz's involvement in a sex-addicts group -- but the movie's premise lends some welcome cohesion.
Extras: The featurette that most bears watching takes a too-quick peek at how Ferrell, Heder, and company pulled off all those fancy ice moves. (Hint: The wires helped.) Nick Swardson ("Reno 911!") is a gas in a cameo as that rarest of obsessives, the skater stalker -- and so gets a little extra improv time in another throw-in. (Paramount, $29.99)
"YEAR OF THE DOG" (2007)
Molly Shannon gives a surprisingly restrained performance as a grieving pet owner in an uneven directorial debut from writer and sometime actor Mike White ("The Good Girl," "School of Rock"). When hopelessly single Shannon's beagle dies from toxic poisoning, she slips into a funk that has her freaking out on game-hunting neighbor John C. Reilly, PETA-propagandizing her young niece, and personally adopting every doomed dog at the pound. Yuppie in-law Laura Dern and others offer some wry amusement early on, but as the story progresses, it emerges as a pretty downbeat portrait of a caring woman headed for a breakdown. White offers some sincere musings on emotional loyalty and self-discovery, but as ever, he seems to have trouble recognizing when his quirky story sense turns draining.
Extras: Low-key commentary by White and Shannon; production featurettes. (Paramount, $29.99)
"BOB SAGET: THAT AIN'T RIGHT" (2007) Nope, it's not an urban legend -- Saget's stand-up routine is aggressively obscene, a self-admitted reaction to his saccharine TV work. You likely won't laugh much more than you did at "Full House" -- there are far more misses than hits in his mile-a-minute patter -- but you will be strangely fascinated.
Extras: Jamie Kennedy's Saget-themed rap video. (HBO, $19.98)
TV DVD | Matthew Gilbert
Sincerity shines through season of 'Lights'
"These are ordinary heroes living ordinary lives which are pretty doggone dramatic," says E.A. Womack Jr. in the making-of documentary included on "Friday Night Lights": The First Season.
Along with being actress Connie Britton's father, Womack is also an astute observer. While TV is overpopulated with doctors, lawyers, and cops, "Friday Night Lights" arrived on NBC last year boasting only a community of small-town Texas nobodies who are a little bit obsessed with football. There are no murder cases, no corporate litigations, and no ER disasters on this show; just Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler), his wife, Tami (Britton), and a bunch of high school students who'll probably never live anywhere other than Dillon, Texas. And yet "FNL" quickly became the most emotionally evocative series on TV.
One of the beauties of "Friday Night Lights" is that it's unashamedly sincere. There's no cleverness afoot in the writing, as we see fear, bravery, sorrow, and triumph reflected in the eyes of all the characters. Essentially, the series is a nighttime soap opera, as star quarterback Jason Street learns to live as a paraplegic, while his girlfriend and best friend have an affair. The Taylors weather marital stress, while their daughter falls in love for the first time. But all this serial melodrama is given enormous depth, as the writers resist pat resolutions and as the actors -- all of them -- bring remarkable humanity to their characters. That no one in this cast was nominated for an Emmy is yet another in a long line of Emmy botches.
Also, "FNL" is filmed in a documentary style that adds an uncanny sense of realism to the story lines. The always moving hand-held cameras capture body language and unintentional facial expressions, and they enable the actors to move freely without having to hit predetermined marks.
The release of this five-disc DVD set gives newcomers to the series a great opportunity to take in season one before season two premieres Oct. 5. And Universal Home Entertainment is so confident that those buyers will like "FNL" that it is offering a money-back guarantee; see fnlguarantee.com for details.
Extras: Alas, for those who've already seen the episodes and don't plan to watch them again, the set doesn't offer much that's compelling. In addition to deleted scenes, there is only the making-of documentary, which is short at 22 minutes, but nonetheless sweet. (Universal, $29.98)
Indie DVD | Saul Austerlitz
'Broken English' deals with language of love
Like her close friend and fellow directorial daughter, Sofia Coppola, Zoe Cassavetes has risen to prominence as a filmmaker with a story about a lonely woman who searches for companionship in an unfamiliar foreign city. Cassavetes's father is indie icon John Cassavetes. She's no less interested than Coppola in the interior life of women -- their weaknesses, their insecurities, and their methods of coping.
In "Broken English," Nora Wilder (Parker Posey) is a single, 30-something New Yorker driven increasingly batty by the lack of love in her life. A series of farcical encounters with men results in her meeting Julien (Melvil Poupaud), a French visitor who appears too dashing to be entirely trustworthy. Over a weekend, his impulsive, intrusive nature grows on Nora, who's at wit's end when he heads back to Paris. Eventually, she and her best friend, Audrey (Drea de Matteo), take a sudden trip to France, hoping to track down Julien.
Cassavetes's debut feature plays as a cover version of Coppola's "Lost in Translation," with Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" echoing in the background. Posey (above) makes a perfect foil for Cassavetes's whimsically melancholic film, a wounded soldier in the wars of love who must learn how to remove her armor and let life back in.
Extras: An enjoyably slapdash making-of featurette and an interview with the director and her mother, Gena Rowlands, who appears in the film. (Magnolia, $26.98)
ALSO THIS WEEK
"KICKIN' IT OLD SKOOL" (2007)
Jamie Kennedy busts a lateral move in hip-hop spoofery to play an '80s break dancer who wakes up from a 20-year coma. "Blowin' Up" viewers will be amused, but nostalgia-trippers will find a sharper recent flashback in "Music and Lyrics."
Extras: Deleted scenes. (Fox, $27.98)
"AIR GUITAR NATION" (2007)
Take a look inside the heated competition at the national (and world!) air-guitar championships. As one insider observes, is the idea really any sillier than figure skating? (Guess that depends on whether you're talking about Michelle Kwan or "Blades of Glory.")
Extras: Deleted scenes and performances. (Docurama, $26.95)
REISSUES
"3:10 TO YUMA" (1957)
The original adaptation of Elmore Leonard's tense Western tale of a farmer (Van Heflin) keeping watch over a prison-bound outlaw (Glenn Ford) gets a reissue pegged to the upcoming Russell Crowe-Christian Bale version. (
"DR. T & THE WOMEN" (2000)
Robert Altman gives his usual sprawling ensemble a decidedly feminine bent with the story of a feel-good Dallas gynecologist (Richard Gere) and the many, many women in his life (Farrah Fawcett, Helen Hunt, Shelley Long, etc.). A trifle that mainly helped tide fans over until "Gosford Park."
Extras: Filmmaker and cast commentary; production featurettes. (Lionsgate, $19.98)
TELEVISION
"DANE COOK: THE LOST PILOTS" (2007)
In two different shows called "Cooked," the stand-up star tries to find his sitcom legs and comes off looking wobbly (and sorely in need of a studio audience). One attempt casts him as a comedian who loses his TV gig and has to move in with family, including Justine Bateman; the other, overseen by sitcom vet Jay Kogen ("Malcolm in the Middle"), is a "Friends" wannabe. An interesting bit of insight into the Hollywood branding process, if nothing else.
Extras: Deleted scenes. (Sony, $14.94)
"THE ODD COUPLE": THE SECOND SEASON (1971-72)
Sophomore highlights include Felix and Oscar unexpectedly winding up as hospital roomies and a flashback to their first meeting.
Extras: None -- a disappointment after the nicely loaded season one set. (Paramount, $42.99)
"RICK & STEVE": THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (2007)
Fisher-Pricey little toy people get molded into "the happiest gay couple in all the world" in the Logo network's irreverent cartoon. Smart, funny stuff, if more deliberately one-note than it probably needs to be. Like "Team America" with a rainbow banner flying over HQ.
Extras: Production featurettes; interviews with Alan Cumming, Margaret Cho, and other voice cast. (Paramount, $19.99)
Capsules are written by Globe correspondent Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified. 
