DVD Releases

By Tom Russo, Globe Correspondent  |  July 5, 2009

Compared to, say, “Transformers,’’ the Nicolas Cage cataclysm-prophecy thriller “Knowing’’ (2009) is thinking man’s sci-fi. If only that didn’t have to be the yardstick. The fact is, for all the first-run reviews jumping on the movie’s dunderheadedness, the screenwriters and director Alex Proyas (“The Crow,’’ “I, Robot’’) reach for a spiritual depth that’s ambitious, even if it exceeds their grasp. Cage plays an MIT astronomy prof (posed against Australian-shot faux-Hub backgrounds) whose young son makes quite the grab during a time-capsule opening at school: a 50-year-old list of numbers that Cage soon deduces is an accurate prediction of every major disaster during that span. (Cage’s discovery might play better if the movie took its time with the code-cracking.) The fateful list contains three dates yet to hit, leaving widowed Cage with the weight of the end of the world on his shoulders. The filmmakers pose an intelligently creepy what-if question with their premise, getting creative with the determinism-versus-randomness debate. But story developments and coincidences are piled on indiscriminately, with Cage’s son (Chandler Canterbury) hearing the same doomsday whispers that tormented the original list writer. Meanwhile, Proyas, who’s done great effects work, on a budget, in films like “Dark City,’’ delivers a trio of uneven set pieces that lose a lot on DVD. Extras: In commentary, Proyas makes valid points about movies that cop out when it comes to the apocalypse, and this one’s circle-of-life hopefulness. (Summit Entertainment, $26.99; Blu-ray, $34.99)

ACTION

PUSH (2009)

Chris Evans (“Fantastic Four’’) plays superhero again, albeit unplugged, as a telekinetic slacker hiding from quasi-government forces amid Hong Kong’s chaos. Director Paul McGuigan (“Lucky Number Slevin’’) creates a gritty paranormal world, but the movie never feels as compelling as last year’s “Jumper.’’ Villainous banshee-wailers have a wild-eyed appearance that’s a fun riff on chopsocky posing, but you’ll miss the lightness that Evans brought to the Human Torch, and you’ll be entertained only to a point by seeing “little’’ Dakota Fanning as a sardonic psychic with a thirst for liquor. Extras: Commentary by McGuigan, Evans, and Fanning. (Summit Entertainment, $26.99; Blu-ray, $34.99)

TELEVISION

KATH & KIM: SEASON 1 (2008-09)

Gawking at those with lesser taste may be an old TV comedy standby - witness “K&K’s’’ lead-in, “My Name Is Earl’’ - but Molly Shannon and screen daughter Selma Blair make blithe tackiness feel fabulously fresh. And John Michael Higgins upstages even Shannon as her orientation-oblivious fiance. (Higgins’s sensitive-guy bachelor party isn’t just a highlight of the 17-episode run, it’s the anti-“Hangover.’’) So remind us how exactly this Americanized Aussie sitcom landed on the NBC chopping block? As if the gals ever would have run out of celebrity gossip to lounge around discussing over the end credits. (Universal, $29.98)

SILENT FILM

THE JOHN BARRYMORE COLLECTION (2009)

One of the famed acting dynasty’s brightest lights, Barrymore first made his name in cinema with “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’’ (1920), an anchor of this four-film sampler along with “Sherlock Holmes’’ (1922). But Barrymore earned the moniker “the Great Profile’’ for vehicles like the “The Beloved Rogue’’ (inset, 1926), in which he swashbuckles his way across Parisian rooftops as 15th-century vagabond poet Francois Villon, and the sweeping romance “Tempest’’ (1928), casting him as a sergeant in the final days of Czarist Russia. (Kino, $59.95)

GARRISON KEILLOR: THE MAN ON THE RADIO IN THE RED SHOES (2009)

If Robert Altman’s film take on “A Prairie Home Companion’’ left you still grasping for a handle on Keillor’s homespun radio phenomenon, then try this documentary profile. Extras: Keillor and Altman interview. (Docurama, $26.95)

PEANUTS 1960’s COLLECTION (2009)

Now here’s something better than a rock in your trick-or-treat bag: a six-special set that includes a pair of DVD debuts in addition to the requisite Christmas and Halloween shows. See Snoopy packed off to obedience school in “He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown,’’ while the whole gang gets packed off to summer camp in “It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown.’’ Extras: Profile of jazz composer Vince Guaraldi. (Warner, $29.98)

THE CODE (2009)

Master thief Morgan Freeman recruits fellow career criminal Antonio Banderas for a Fabergé egg hunt that stands to pay off a Russian mob debt. Director Mimi Leder (“Deep Impact’’) delivers a heist flick that went straight to DVD - the only unpredictable thing about it, really. Extras: Production featurette. (First Look, $28.98; Blu-ray, $29.98; available now)

BEAU GESTE (1939)

Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, and Robert Preston are brothers doing hard time in the Foreign Legion in director William Wellman’s desert adventure. Brian Donlevy nabbed a best supporting actor nod as the outfit’s sadistic commander. (Universal, $19.98)

THE DEEP (1977)

Nick Nolte, Jacqueline Bisset, and Robert Shaw are Bermuda treasure hunters in this post-“Jaws’’ Peter Benchley cash-in. It’s the visuals, not the story, that justify a Blu-ray debut. (Sony, $28.95) Titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.