Notable New Releases
STEP-BROTHERS (Single Disc Unrated Version) (Sony) After years of playing overgrown man-children, Will Ferrell finally stars in a film that’s explicitly about arrested adolescence. No surprise, then, that he kills it. Step-Brothers wasn’t as well-received as the previous Ferrell and Adam McKay collaborations, though it occasionally approaches Anchorman’s manic highs (as in a climactic musical number that somehow involves centaurs). Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s double-dolt act is more appealing here than in Talladega Nights, and the supporting players do their bit: long after my memories of 2008’s various pieces of Oscar bait have faded, I’ll think of Richard Jenkins pantomiming “T-Rex arms” and smile. Extras: audio commentary, “Line-O-Rama,” music video for “Boats and Hoes.”
THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE (Three-disc Special Edition) (Fox) Chris Carter’s comeback venture felt like little more than an underdeveloped late-season episode. Essentially a semi-lucid paper on stem cell research fused to a Frankenstein riff, I Want to Believe is suffused with the sort of earnestness that suggests that Carter’s heart was in it — which makes its crumminess all the more disappointing. Extras: extended cut, gag reel, deleted scenes, featurettes, interviews, interactive game.
Also This Week
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN (Three Disc Collector’s Edition) (Disney) Ben Barnes’ terrible Sicilian accent is the only real point of interest in this follow-up to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Tilda Swinton’s witch only gets one scene to remind us that she’s the best thing about this franchise. Extras: director commentary, bloopers, deleted scenes, making-of.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Two-disc Special Edition) (Fox) The keynote 1950s science-fiction film — featuring an intergalactic Christ manqué with a condescending smirk and his towering pet robot — gets the snazzy DVD treatment it deserves, which is almost worth the indignity of a contemporary remake starring Keanu Reeves (“Klaatu, Barada…whoa.”). Extras: director commentary, historian commentary, featurettes, trailers, audio reading of the original short story.
Out December 9
Horton Hears a Who, Lost: The Complete Fourth Season and also one of 2008’s best films, James Marsh’s breathtaking documentary Man on Wire.