The curious directorial career of Jodie Foster
Which is stranger, the fictional spectacle of a clinically depressed guy able to communicate only through an animal puppet, or the idea that filmmakers would feel compelled to make a movie with this as the subject? In the Jodie Foster-directed “The Beaver’’ (2011), the question mostly gets shunted aside by something arguably even more curious: a look at Mel Gibson in his first role since his private-life meltdown last year. Gibson’s performance, delivered mostly in a Michael Caine-Ray Winstone cockney rumble, is pretty out there, but not exactly lacking professional precedent. This is Mel in “Lethal Weapon’’-despondent mode, only with a family. Foster plays his wife; Anton Yelchin is his son. The surprising element lies more in Foster’s storytelling choices. As a filmmaker, she’s shown a penchant for unusual material, from her meditative debut, 1991’s “Little Man Tate,’’ to the still-unmade circus performer drama “Flora Plum.’’ But “Beaver’’ is more unconventional still, a film sold as absurdist whimsy, but one that’s also freighted with - shhh, someone might hear - mental illness themes. A PSA about depression leads off the disc, and the film itself contains one gruesome scene characterized in Foster’s commentary as “a dealbreaker’’ between her and potential financiers. There’s no rest for Foster, apparently: After spending the film’s publicity tour defending pal Gibson, she gets to spend the DVD justifying the story’s dark turns, some of which are tough to rationalize. Gibson turns up briefly in a featurette, praising Foster’s responsible approach. (Summit, $26.99; Blu-ray, $30.49)
CRIME DRAMA
THE KILLING (1956)
Stanley Kubrick’s early career heist yarn about a shabby gang knocking over a horse track is both completely of its time and a bit ahead of it. A pre-“Strangelove’’ Sterling Hayden is all business as the group’s leader; secondary player Timothy Carey, as a thoroughbred-targeting gunman, anticipates contemporary caper idiosyncrasy, as do the story’s recurring rewinds. Extras: A featurette with Jim Thompson biographer Robert Polito explores the crime novelist’s contentious working relationship with Kubrick. The disc also includes interview excerpts with Hayden, a new interview with Kubrick’s producing partner, and Kubrick’s 1955 noir “Killer’s Kiss.’’ (Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95; available now)
COMEDY/DRAMA
WIN WIN (2011)
Director Tom McCarthy (“The Station Agent,’’ “The Visitor’’) tells another intimate, engaging story of folks making unexpected surrogate connections. Paul Giamatti plays a lawyer and wrestling coach whose uncharacteristic ethical lapse lands an elderly client’s troubled grandson (real-life student athlete Alex Shaffer) with Giamatti and wife Amy Ryan. Part of what’s refreshing here is that Giamatti isn’t plot-mindedly presented as having some gaping void in his life; he’s a workaday sort whose situation goes from routine to more pleasantly routine. Extras: Sundance featurettes are shorter than they could be, given the strength of the film. (Fox, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99)
TELEVISION
PHINEAS AND FERB THE MOVIE: ACROSS THE 2ND DIMENSION (2011)
It’s one of the quirky perplexities of the DVD biz that the
ROUNDERS (1998)
It’s a Blu-ray reissue for Matt Damon’s poker showcase - you know, from back when he was at the table helping Edward Norton get out of a jam. “Swingers’’ gets a companion ’90s-revisited release. (Lionsgate, $14.99 each)
BLITZ (2011)
Jason Statham’s straight-to-DVD release is packaged to look like one more of his generically dependable action outings. But the British-produced film plays more like Statham deposited into a BBC police procedural, with Paddy Considine (“Dead Man’s Shoes’’) as his partner and Aidan Gillen (“The Wire’’) as a showboating cop killer. Some good character work helps compensate for a meandering narrative. (Millennium Entertainment, $28.99; Blu-ray, $29.99)
CUL-DE-SAC (1966)
Criterion spotlights Roman Polanski’s dark comic look at a gangster on the run stopping to terrorize married couple Donald Pleasence and Françoise Dorléac. Extras: Retrospective and vintage interviews with Polanski. (Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95; available now)
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD (2011)
The latest gimmick from stunt documentarian Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me’’): making a movie about branding and product placement that’s financed by branding and product placement. (
THE EVENT: THE COMPLETE SERIES (2010-11)
Take one last look back at NBC’s truncated would-be “Lost’’ successor. Just the thing to complement “FlashForward’’ on your video shelf. (Universal, $59.98)
SUPER HYBRID (2011) We spotted this horror schlock on the release schedule and pictured “Christine’’ rebuilt for the Prius market. No such luck, beginning with the muscly design. The schlock tag still applies, though. (Anchor Bay, $22.98; Blu-ray, $29.99)
Titles are in stores Tuesday unless specified. Tom Russo can be reached at trusso2222@gmail.com. 
