THERE WILL BE BLOOD (TWO-DISC SPECIAL COLLECTOR’S EDITION) (Paramount) In addition to spawning the year’s unlikeliest catchphrase (not since the heyday of Kelis has discussion of frosty summertime beverages so permeated the cultural landscape), Paul Thomas Anderson’s oilman-gone-mad melodrama — starring Daniel Day-Lewis as turn-of-the-20th-century industrialism incarnate — divided viewers into two camps: those wowed by its combination of white-hot thespian pyrotechnics (“Draainaage!”) and cool, Kubrickian remove, and those skeptical that its impeccable technique was wrapped around a facilely topical capitalist critique.
I think that There Will Be Blood is Anderson’s strongest and least judgment-impaired work to date, flush with well-staged sequences and aided immensely by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s ambient-buzzsaw score. But I will also concede that, upon reflection, the Citizen-Kane-without-a-Rosebud conceit is a shade too easy — it elides the need for credible dramatic motivation and excuses the thinness of the supporting characters — and that the final act’s horror-show excesses smack (entertainingly, mind you) of desperation. EXTRAS: making-of, deleted scenes, outtakes “The Story of Petroleum.”
 
WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY (Sony) Judd Apatow is the hardest-working lazy man in show business, and of the three comedies released last year bearing his imprimatur, this showbiz-biopic-spoof — call it Mock the Line — was both the least ambitious and the most satisfying. Like the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker comedies of the ’80s, it eschews finesse for attrition: the sheer volume of gags — verbal, visual, musical, referential, nonsensical — will override even the staunchest mental defence systems. Bonus points for proving Eddie Vedder has a sense of humour about himself — if there were a prize for best supporting-supporting actor, it’d be hard to deny the Pearl Jam frontman’s perfectly pitched cameo. EXTRAS: Commentary with Judd Apatow, Jake Kasdan, Lew Morton and John C. Reilly, Eight performance sequences, Line-O-Rama, “The Music of Walk Hard” featurette, “The Real Dewey Cox” featurette, deleted scenes.

Also out this week
LIONS FOR LAMBS (Fox) Robert Redford’s ensemble drama probes the Iraq war debate with a surfeit of sincerity, but wrestles itself to an ideological stalemate. EXTRAS: commentary, making-of, trailers.

P2 (Summit) Wes Bentley plays cat to Rachel Nichols’ mouse in this parking-lot-attendant-from-hell thriller, which makes a compelling argument for public transportation. EXTRAS: audio commentary, making-of, “Designing Terror,” and “Tension Nouveau” featurettes.
Out April 15

Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Lars and the Real Girl and everyone’s favourite (not so)-little-(faux)-indie-that-could (not fail due to a thermonuclear marketing blitz): Juno.