DVD Report

''REDBELT'': Tim Allen (left) plays a movie star and Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays a dojo master in the David Mamet film.

New Releases | Tom Russo

Mamet goes to the martial arts mat

The last time David Mamet staged one of his signature hustles a decade ago with "The Spanish Prisoner," part of the fun was in his refusal to give anything more than surface treatment to the story. Who knows what priceless think-tank secret was swiped from protagonist Campbell Scott? Mamet amusingly just shorthanded it as "the process." With "Redbelt" (2008), the wordsmith-filmmaker makes a welcome return to the shell game arena, and this time, spelling out the details counts - specifically, the culture and codes of martial arts, which the film explores with enthusiasm. Chiwetel Ejiofor demonstrates an impressive facility for Mametian dialogue as Mike Terry, a jiu-jitsu dojo master whose belief in honor above profits earns the loyalty of students like cop Joe Collins (Max Martini, "The Unit"). When Mike's chance encounter with movie star Chet Frank (a surprisingly understated Tim Allen) leaves Frank in his debt, things start looking up in a big way. So much so, in fact, that you'll wonder if all of the conflict here is destined to be on the jiu-jitsu mat, rather than in the real world outside of the academy. Which would be fine - the film's physical scenes feel like a grounded version of "Fight Club," bristling with tension, and giving Mamet's fondness for word repetition a new purpose: coaching exhortation. But sit tight, and watch your wallets - Joe Mantegna and Ricky Jay get into the mix eventually.

Extras: Recalling the days when boxing was still considered sweet science by thinking men, Mamet supplies commentary with Ultimate Fighting Championship star Randy Couture, a supporting player in the film. There's also a featurette on magician and cast member Cyril Takayama, and an interview with UFC president Dana White. (Sony, $27.96; Blu-ray, $38.96)

"SON OF RAMBOW" (2008)

The notion of a valentine to Rambo might be a tad oxymoronic, but it's nevertheless at the heart of an endearing ode to youthful friendship from British filmmaker and child of the '80s Garth Jennings ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). Jennings casts Bill Milner as Will Proudfoot, a quiet, imaginative kid whose stern religious background requires that he keep to himself at school. Good luck with that around bullying Lee Carter (Milner's fellow newcomer Will Poulter), who reels scrawny but fearless Will into playing stuntman in a backyard video epic. The various Stallone homages the boys produce feel like Little Rascals bits updated for the pyrotechnic age, while the kids' general lack of adult supervision is like something out of "Peanuts," and helps keep adult-sounding sentiment largely in check.

Extras: Jennings's own, real-life adolescent action short definitely hints at his future career; in commentary, he and his young leads revisit the film's mischief over an in-studio cookie stash. (Paramount, $19.99)

"HEROES": SEASON 2 (2007-08)

Creator Tim Kring offered a mea culpa to the Comic-Con crowd for getting off track with the series' second saga, about a virus engineered to affect the super-gifted - but naturally having far wider-reaching implications. Yet if the show suffered, the writers' strike clearly played a role - this four-disc set includes just 11 episodes. We'd argue that a bigger problem is taking superheroism - the very definition of event-movie spectacle - and trying to make it pay not only episode after episode, but season after season. At that rate, how "super" can it be?

Extras: Alternate ending to the season finale; extensive cast and crew commentaries. (Universal, $39.98; Blu-ray, $69.98)

"ALFRESCO" (1983-84)

Despite the title, this British sketch series isn't nearly as edgily "outside" as it fancies itself. Still, it's your chance to get a look at the comedy work of then 20-somethings Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie, as well as Robbie Coltrane pre-pre-Hagrid. Less familiar troupe member Ben Elton makes an impression as a good-timey buffoon living life by his own set of rules - or a lager commercial's, anyway.

Extras: Three-part pilot; overview of Britain's '80s comedy scene. (Acorn Media, $39.99)

Jazz DVD | Mark Feeney

Falling in love too easily

Early on in "Let's Get Lost," Bruce Weber's 1988 documentary about Chet Baker, the jazz trumpeter is asked if he'd like a glass of wine. "Yeah," he replies in that wispy exhale of a voice that made his singing sound so imperiled - and irresistible. The way Baker pronounces the word you hear diffidence, avidity, resignation, possibly even thirst. It may be that no syllable has been more seductively uttered in a movie. It also may be that no documentary has ever been more seductive than "Let's Get Lost," never before available on DVD.

It's hard to exaggerate just how beautiful Baker was when young: prominent cheekbones, deep-set eyes, square jaw, sensual mouth. Weber's inclusion of extensive archival footage casts into all the greater relief what a wreck Baker became. He was a kind of aural Dorian Gray: The aspen-leaf voice staying ageless, the delivery improving even, as the face tightened into decay and corruption.

"Everyone has a Chet Baker story," the photographer William Claxton says on-camera. Weber lets us hear a lot of them. Sometimes the stories are funny, as when the trumpeter Jack Sheldon talks about Baker eating the pie off his plate when the young musicians were starting out (and Sheldon's mother had baked the pie!). Usually, they're not, as when we hear from the last of Baker's three wives, three of his four children, his mother, a past girlfriend, and a current one.

The miraculous thing about "Let's Get Lost" is that Weber has managed to create something that's both impossibly stylized - the black-and-white photography is nothing short of ravishing - and unmistakably moral (not judgmental, moral). Even as he glorifies Baker's persona - no, he worships it - Weber presides over its self-destruction. He shows us just how dreadful Baker could be as a person . . . and, however paradoxically, the extent to which that dreadfulness contributed to his magnetism. Those women Weber interviews all have hair-raising things to say about Baker. Also, to varying degrees, they all still love him. The two elements don't cancel out but rather merge to create something larger, richer, deeper: a rendering of an artist that is itself a work of art, a moral portrait of a hopelessly amoral man.

Extras: documentary short about Baker, director's commentary, Weber documentary short "The Teddy Boys . . ." (Metro, $49.98)

Drama DVD | Saul Austerlitz

A famous name in a forgettable film

John Drew Barrymore's name alone indicates his intermediate position, trapped between beloved father and adored daughter. Barrymore's career as an actor was cut tragically short by alcoholism and run-ins with the law. In his short time in front of the camera, he made an indelible impression; anyone who has seen his performance in Fritz Lang's "While the City Sleeps" can testify to his feral, uncontrollable energy.

In the mostly mediocre "Never Love a Stranger," from 1958, he is Frankie Kane, adolescent numbers runner turned mob boss. Frankie comes head-to-head with his childhood sparring partner Marty Cabell (Steve McQueen), now a crusading district attorney assigned to Frankie's case.

For a 90-minute film, "Never Love a Stranger" overflows with subplots, competing explanations for Frankie's rage, and his unquenchable appetites: the loss of his teenage love, the discovery that his mother was a Jew, Depression-era misery. Better, then, to look outside the film for explanations. Frankie is forever the son, forever the bronze medalist, even at his moment of glory. He is a cornered animal, a permanently aggrieved adolescent forever tormented by shame and confusion. "Either take me as I am, or not at all!," Frankie shouts at his girlfriend, and Barrymore asked much the same of us.

As Hollywood royalty, John Drew Barrymore's crown weighed heavily on his head - too heavily, ultimately. Seeing him on screen is a chance to watch him squirm beneath the burden of his name - try as you might to forget it, or this eminently forgettable film, you can't. (Lionsgate, $14.98)

ALSO THIS WEEK

"WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?" (2008)

Documentarian Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me") delivers a combination travelogue and pop essay on the misgauged cultural divide between Americans and Middle Easterners. Likably well-intentioned as always, if obviously lacking the depth of "No End in Sight" and other thematically related documentaries of the last couple of years.

Extras: Bonus interviews with Israeli president Shimon Peres and others. (Genius Products, $24.95)

"WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS" (2008)

After a drunken hook-up turned (retch!) matrimonial, Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher are forced to cohabitate to legally hang onto their slot-machine jackpot. Occasionally funny when it's nasty; less so when it's nice.

Extras: Filmmaker commentary; cast interviews. (Fox, $34.98; single-disc version, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98)

"THE LITTLE MERMAID: ARIEL'S BEGINNING" (2008)

This made-for-DVD prequel finds Ariel's singing silenced because King Triton forbids it. Standard fare, although choreographer-turned-director Peggy Holmes injects some fun - conga, Triton, conga! - and there are surprising shades of Bambi's mom in the movie's catalytic scene.

Extras: Games; backstage segment on the original's Broadway adaptation. (Disney, $29.99)

"PURPLE VIOLETS" (2007)

Edward Burns continues in a directing rut with his relationship comedy about old flames that still have some smolder left. For frustrated, unhappily married writer Selma Blair, Patrick Wilson is the one that got away but unexpectedly comes back; Burns, meanwhile, is still hung up on Debra Messing. The movie made news by premiering on iTunes, an industry first, but there's a reason it needed to go that route. (Genius Products, $19.97)

FOREIGN

"BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF" (2002)

Director Christophe Gans's French action-adventure import was positioned at the time of its release as the next "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," but couldn't conjure the same exotic magic. The film's convoluted recounting of 18th-century legend follows a scientist (Samuel Le Bihan) hunting for a monstrous wolf, but bagging a conspiracy. Atmosphere is the real draw here, from kung-fu fighting to sensuous Monica Bellucci - and this two-disc director's cut reissue offers more of all of it. (Universal, $19.98)

TELEVISION

"ENTOURAGE": THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON (2007)

Vince (Adrian Grenier) finally gets cracking on his own personal "Scarface," the long-gestating "Medellin," then moves his ever-rolling party to Cannes. Once again, this show manages to make its fictitious releases look more interesting than most real ones.

Extras: Commentary by creator Doug Ellin and the boys; comedy festival panel; "Medellin" featurette (and trailer!). (HBO, $39.98)

Capsules are written by Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.