Like Peter Jackson's King Kong, Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (Warner Bros.) is in some ways ideally suited to DVD, not just because of the hours and hours of behind-the-scenes footage and deleted scenes, but because the movie itself is so piecemeal, with brilliant action sequences and poorly conceived melodrama staggered throughout. On DVD, Superman fans can immerse themselves in the movie's transcendent plane-crash scene, set on endless repeat…
After bottoming out with the touchy-feely sentimentality of Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith returned—with a vengeance—to the crude scatology of his early films with Clerks II (Weinstein). The big surprise this time around is that Smith's stumbling stabs at emotional maturity prove far more resonant and endearing than the shock comedy, which has lost much of its freshness. Smith being Smith, there's a two-disc collectors' edition available…
The traditional sitcom has died and been resurrected so many times that half the time, it's hard to tell whether it's coming or going. Right now, the form seems pretty moribund, with one sterling exception, How I Met Your Mother (Fox), whose first season is now out on DVD. Clever, chronology-twisting scripts help it stand out, but the most likeable cast since the early seasons of Friends is what makes it so compulsively watchable. Everyone's good, but the standout performance belongs to Neil Patrick Harris as Barney, a living yuppie id who may be the most quotable character since Fonzie…
High concept, low humor, and middle-of-the-road clichés all clash in The Ant Bully (Warner), a kids' film about a boy who picks on the ants in his yard until an ant wizard voiced by Nicolas Cage shrinks him to insect-size and shows him what it's like. The CGI animation is inventive, and the ant's-eye view of the world is fun, but the predictable bad-boy-makes-good plot arc and the protagonist's relentless obnoxiousness both weigh heavily on the story…
Just in time for Oscar season comes the DVD release of See No Evil (Lions Gate), a collaboration between Vince McMahon's WWE Films and former hardcore pornographer Gregory Dark that's far sleazier than even that pairing would suggest. It's intended as a vehicle for baby-faced Kane—who plays a deranged killer who specializes in plucking out his victims' eyeballs—but the fact that Kane used to wrestle under such colorful names as Dr. Isaac Yankem and The Christmas Creature is far more entertaining than anything in this sordid little exploitation shocker.