New DVDs: ‘I Am Legend,’ ‘Enchanted’

REVIEWS

By David Germain

updated 9:29 p.m. ET March 20, 2008

“I Am Legend”
Will Smith can even turn the end of humanity into a blockbuster. Smith’s latest sci-fi smash is the third adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel about a researcher who may be the last man alive (it was previously filmed as Vincent Price’s “The Last Man on Earth” and Charlton Heston’s “The Omega Man”). Alone with a dog for much of the movie, Smith stars as a survivor desperately seeking a cure to a plague that killed most of the human race and turned the rest into savage cannibals. Single-disc and two-disc DVD editions, along with the Blu-ray high-definition disc, include four comics that fill in details on the story. The two-disc set and the Blu-ray disc have the PG-13 theatrical cut plus an unrated alternate version that runs four minutes longer, featuring a different ending. An HD DVD high-definition version follows April 8. Single-disc DVD, $28.98; two-disc DVD set, $34.99; Blu-ray, $35.99. (Warner Bros.) Read the review.

“Enchanted”

Walt Disney Pictures

Disney flips its animation legacy on its head with this hit fairy-tale musical about a cartoon princess whose happily ever-after turns into a through-the-looking-glass journey to modern Manhattan. Amy Adams stars as the storybook princess Giselle, who is about to wed her dream beau when her wicked stepmother-to-be (Susan Sarandon) hurls her from the animated realm to real-world New York, where she livens up the shaky life of a single dad (Patrick Dempsey). Director Kevin Lima provides introductions for a batch of deleted scenes, and other extras include a short film featuring Giselle’s chipmunk pal. The Blu-ray disc allows viewers to bring up segments relating to the movie’s references to classic Disney flicks. DVD, $29.99; Blu-ray, $34.99. (Disney) Read the review.

“Atonement”

Focus Features

The second acclaimed collaboration between director Joe Wright and Keira Knightley, who teamed on “Pride and Prejudice,” this period drama earned seven Academy Award nominations, including best picture. Set largely in the 1930s, the tragic romance traces the consequences of a terrible lie told by a jealous girl (supporting-actress nominee Saoirse Ronan), who makes a false accusation against the new lover (James McAvoy) of her older sister (Knightley). Also featuring Vanessa Redgrave, the film is accompanied by deleted scenes, commentary from Wright and two making-of featurettes. DVD, $29.98. (Universal) Read the review.

“After Dark Horrorfest”
Debuting on DVD is the second installment of eight fright flicks released in theaters simultaneously under a series called “8 Films to Die For.” The titles in this batch are the funeral chiller “Crazy Eights”; the boogeyman tale “Nightmare Man”; the end-of-the-world cannibal story “Tooth and Nail”; the monster yarn “Unearthed”; the mortality thriller “The Deaths of Ian Stone”; the psycho killer saga “Lake Dead”; the mutant chronicle “Mulberry Street”; and the human-sacrifice shocker “Borderland.” Available separately or in an eight-disc set, the films all come with promotional Webisodes, and some are accompanied by deleted scenes, featurettes and commentary. DVD boxed set, $159.84; single DVDs, $19.98 each. (Lionsgate)

“The Ice Storm”
The ever-versatile Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “The Hulk”) directs this 1997 drama set among parents and teens searching for meaning in the Connecticut suburbs of the 1970s. With a cast led by Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood and Tobey Maguire, the film centers on two families whose adults and youth idle away their time in sexual experimentation, booze and drugs and prying into the lives of others as the Watergate scandal builds on the news in the background. The two-disc set has deleted scenes and interviews with much of the cast, plus a segment with Rick Moody, whose book was the basis for the film. Lee joins writer-producer James Schamus for commentary. DVD set, $39.95. (Criterion)

“Bull Durham,” “Eight Men Out,” “The Pride of the Yankees”
With a new season at hand, three of Hollywood’s finest baseball flicks return. Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins star in “Bull Durham,” the story of a romantic triangle among a veteran minor-league catcher, a raw pitching prospect and a baseball groupie who singles out one player each year as her season-long lover. The 20th-anniversary edition DVD includes commentaries with Costner, Robbins and director Ron Shelton and featurettes with new cast and crew interviews. Also in a 20th-anniversary edition is “Eight Men Out,” featuring John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, David Strathairn and D.B. Sweeney in director John Sayles’ account of the Chicago Black Sox scandal. Sayles provides commentary, and the DVD has a retrospective featurette. Gary Cooper stars as New York slugger Lou Gehrig as he climbs to stardom and struggles with the disease that bears his name in “The Pride of the Yankees.” The DVD has six background featurettes. DVDs, $14.98 each. (MGM)

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