New DVDs: ‘Gone Baby Gone,’ more

REVIEWS

By David Germain

updated 5:12 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2008

“Gone Baby Gone”
Ben Affleck makes an impressive directing debut with this dour yet captivating drama starring his brother, Casey Affleck, and featuring a breakout performance from veteran TV and stage performer Amy Ryan. Casey Affleck plays a private detective drawn into the convoluted case of the missing daughter of a neglectful, drug-abusing woman (Ryan, who earned a supporting-actress nomination). The film co-stars Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris as cops on the case. The DVD and Blu-ray high-definition disc have deleted scenes with commentary from Ben Affleck and screenwriter Aaron Stockard, who also offer commentary for the full film. There’s also a behind-the-scenes segment with the Affleck brothers. DVD, $29.99; Blu-ray, $34.99. (Miramax) Read the review.

“Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?”
The latest hit from playwright-director-actor Perry (“Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” “Madea’s Family Reunion”) features him alongside an ensemble that includes Janet Jackson, Jill Scott and Malik Yoba. Adapted from his stage play, the movie follows four couples, old college friends gathered for their annual reunion as secrets are revealed, infidelity is exposed and everyone comes to question their own domestic choices. The DVD comes with featurettes on Jackson, the movie’s music and ruminations about marriage. The movie is available in widescreen or full-screen versions. Also new to DVD is “What’s Done in the Dark,” a filmed production of Perry’s play about doctors, nurses and patients in an emergency room. “Why Did I Get Married” DVD, $29.95; “What’s Done in the Dark” DVD, $19.98. (Lionsgate)

“No Reservations”
A master chef (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who lives for work finds her orderly kitchen routines challenged by an uninhibited sous chef (Aaron Eckhart) and suddenly finds herself taking on maternal duties tending an orphaned niece (Abigail Breslin). The DVD and Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition releases have an episode of the Food Network show “Unwrapped” that offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the movie. The Blu-ray and HD DVD discs also have a segment with chef Emeril Lagasse featuring Eckhart and Breslin. DVD, $28.98; Blu-ray and HD DVD, $35.99 each. (Warner Bros.) Read the review.

“We Own the Night”
Joaquin Phoenix plays a black-sheep son running a nightclub who reluctantly gives in to pressure from his cop brother (Mark Wahlberg) and deputy police chief dad (Robert Duvall) to work undercover exposing a Russian drug crew operating out of the bar. Writer-director James Gray, who previously directed Phoenix and Wahlberg in the crime story “The Yards,” provides commentary. The DVD and Blu-ray disc also have featurettes on the police action and the production design that went into re-creating Brooklyn of the late 1980s, when the story takes place. DVD, $28.95; Blu-ray, $38.96. (Sony) Read the review.

“Lubitsch Musicals”
Ernest Lubitsch, a master of the madcap in early Hollywood with such comedies as “Trouble in Paradise” and “Ninotchka,” also was a pioneer of the movie musical. This four-disc set packs four song-and-dance flicks Lubitsch made from 1929-32: “The Love Parade,” with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in a romance set among royals of the fictional realm of Sylvania; “Monte Carlo,” starring MacDonald as a countess who jilts her hubby-to-be on their wedding day and finds new real love on the Riviera; “One Hour With You,” reuniting MacDonald and Chevalier as a couple whose marriage is shaken by a flirty friend; and “The Smiling Lieutenant,” starring Chevalier as an Austrian military officer pursuing the star of an all-woman orchestra (Claudette Colbert). DVD set, $59.95. (Criterion)

TV on DVD:

“The Equalizer: Season One” — Edward Woodward stars as guardian angel to people in need in this crime drama that debuted in 1985, offering his skills as a detective and covert operative to solve problems the police cannot. The five-disc set has the first 22 episodes. DVD set, $49.98. (Universal)

“Dallas: The Complete Eighth Season” — Year eight of the nighttime soap opera brought in Donna Reed to temporarily replace the ailing Barbara Bel Geddes as matriarch to the conniving oil clan. A five-disc set packs 30 episodes. DVD set, $39.98. (Warner Bros.)

“Family Ties: The Third Season” — The 1980s sitcom featuring Michael J. Fox as the ultraconservative son of liberal parents returns in a four-disc set with all 23 episodes from year three. DVD set, $42.99. (Paramount)

“Girlfriends: The Third Season” — Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones star in the series about gal pals maneuvering through work and romance in Los Angeles. A four-disc set has the third year’s 24 episodes. DVD set, $39.99. (Paramount)

“George of the Jungle” — The 1960s animation series about the dopey king of the jungle arrives in a two-disc set with all 17 episodes. DVD set, $19.95. (Classic Media)

Other new releases:

“Becoming Jane” — Anne Hathaway stars as Jane Austen, leading a great cast that includes James McAvoy, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters and James Cromwell in this tale chronicling a romance that parallels the author’s novel “Pride and Prejudice.” Extras include deleted scenes, commentary with director Julian Jarrold and a featurette on Austen. DVD, $29.99; Blu-ray, $34.99. (Miramax) Read the review.

“Martian Child” — John Cusack plays a widowed science-fiction writer who adopts a strange little kid, a boy convinced he’s an alien from Mars sent to Earth to study the planet and its people. The DVD has deleted scenes, commentary with the producers and screenwriters and behind-the-scenes segments. DVD, $28.98. (New Line) Read the review.

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