Also this week
ALSO THIS WEEK
''THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE" (2004)
In updating the classic '60s paranoia thriller, director Jonathan Demme doesn't get too flashy, but he does smarten up some of the more strained elements of the original. Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber are well cast as conspiracy mind-control victims Marco and Shaw, and Meryl Streep lends a passive-aggressive flair to Angela Lansbury's mother-from-hell template.
Extras: Commentary by Demme; Schreiber screen test. (Paramount, $29.95)
''STANDER" (2004)
Tom Jane stars as a real-life, disillusioned South African cop turned notorious bank robber. We dig Jane despite his frequently rotten luck with projects; this one has him sporting some silly disguises, but none of it's nearly as silly as ''The Punisher." (
''DANNY DECKCHAIR" (2003)
This Aussie romantic comedy finds Rhys Ifans (''Notting Hill") lightening the mood in a whole new way, as he escapes his mundane existence by tying balloons to his lawn chair and taking flight. Based on a true story. (And here you thought this was just an urban legend.) (Fox, $26.98)
''THUNDERBIRDS" (2004)
Bringing Gerry Anderson's marionette adventurers to the big screen in live action was an amusing, if unnecessary, idea -- more the latter than the former. Bill Paxton and director Jonathan Frakes (''Star Trek: The Next Generation") give it a go, but you'll likely find yourself thinking ''Team America" was a better-conceived riff.
Extras: Commentary by Frakes; production featurettes. (Universal, $29.98)
''SURVIVING CHRISTMAS" (2004)
Free-spending Ben Affleck rents out James Gandolfini and family in search of some elusive holiday cheer. The movie engages in its own feel-the-joy pursuit even more futilely -- although the disc's timing does help to explain why the heck this one hit theaters in October.
Extras: Production featurette. (DreamWorks, $19.95)
REISSUES
''HESTER STREET" (1975)
Director Joan Micklin Silver casts Carol Kane as a young Jewish woman who comes to America in the 1890s and discovers that her husband has given up the ways of the old country. Versatile work by Kane, who earned an Oscar nomination.
Extras: Commentary by Silver; cast and crew interviews. (Home Vision, $29.95)
TELEVISION
''STAR TREK: VOYAGER": SEASON SEVEN (2000-01)
Before Kate Mulgrew was impersonating Kate Hepburn over at the Shubert, she was rocking the bridge as Captain Janeway in a role that didn't always get the attention it deserved. Includes the series's satisfying, quest-ending finale.
Extras: Production featurettes; interview with cast member Robert Picardo. (Paramount, $129.99)
Capsules are written by Globe correspondent Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.
