The Wrap Up ...
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Two-Disc Special Edition High School Musical 2: Extended Edition	Although Hollywood producers and studio executives tend to treat sequels with the same respect McDonald's shows hamburgers, not all franchise titles are created from leftover ingredients and out-of-date recipes. The lucky projects are those blessed with budgets that are in line with the original and a creative team that hasn't been recruited from junior varsity. Indeed, some sequels and threequels are allowed to improve on the recipe, and not simply set the table for the straight-to-DVD market. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Bourne Ultimatum and High School Musical 2 - new to DVD this week - suffer not at all from forced familiarity. To the dismay of some observers, the fifth Harry Potter film was characterized by its willingness to sacrifice a bit of magic and sleight of hand, in the support of story development and the maturation of individual characters. Here, the Ministry of Magic and Daily Prophet newspaper have conspired to cover up the return of the Dark Lord, Voldemort and the inevitability of war. To succeed, they must keep Harry Potter and Dumbledore in harness, and not alarm the students at Hogworts . After the school's Order of the Phoenix is re-organized in anticipation of conflict, the ministry assigns a ruthless administrator (Imelda Staunton, in a role that ought to be considered in the Best Supporting category) to dictate the curriculum of Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Despite her repressive efforts, key students become obsessed with preventing an apocalyptical showdown. In the process, much of the fun stuff from previous Harry Potter installments necessarily has been replaced demonstrations of wand-waving tactics and CGI-enhanced martial arts. As choreographed by second-time director, David Yates, the fight scenes are terrifically entertaining and powerfully rendered. Even so, devotees of J.K. Rowling weren't happy to discover that so much of the novel - the longest in her series -- was lopped off to fit a more exhibitor-friendly 139 minutes. A second disc adds some missing scenes, as well as featurettes that take viewers behind the scenes at Hogwarts and on the set. Disney Channel's High School Musical franchise may have been created to fill the small screen, but the cross-platform sensation has already found its way to the stage, record stores and gossip columns. The sequel, which aired in August, reportedly is the most-watched basic-cable show ever. Kenny Ortega returned as director, this time setting the music, dancing and romancing in a snooty country club, during summer vacation. The Extended Edition DVD adds to the experience by offering a new musical scene, sing-along feature, rehearsal footage, karaoke and music videos. -- Gary Dretzka
The Bourne Ultimatum	If anything, director Paul Greengrass has made the third installment in the saga of Jason Bourne even more exciting than the previous two, which is saying a lot. In Ultimatum, an investigative reporter stumbles upon clues the amnesiac assassin will need to unravel the truth about his lost identity, and, if possible, exact justice on whoever approved the murder of his girlfriend. Unfortunately for the journalist, his articles also raised a red flag at CIA headquarters, where high-ranking agents have staked their post-9/11 careers on keeping knowledge of their private death squads private. They hope to use the reporter as bait to trap Bourne, but, of course, he's too slick for the agency's vast network of cameras, operatives and weaponry. Instead, Bourne and the CIA engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse, in the streets and on the rooftops of Moscow, Turin, Madrid, Tangiers, Paris, London and New York. Greengrass has already proven in United 93, Bloody Sunday and The Bourne Supremacy that he's a master of tick-tock action. Here, though, he's dialed the excitement up another couple of notches. He gets great support from a cast, which, besides an inexhaustible Damen, includes Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn and Paddy Considine. For once, too, the deleted scenes are as informative as they are fun to watch. -- Gary Dretzka
Interview	Steve Buscemi's fiery chamber piece is a remake of the 2003Dutch drama, Interview, which was directed by the controversial filmmaker and columnist Theo Van Gogh. A year after that film was released, the controversial Dutch artist and columnist would be gunned down and stabbed by an Islamic extremist. This Interview, however, is less interested in politics than the battle of wits between two people who make their livings on words, but can barely communicate without the aid of such social lubricants as booze and cocaine. Buscemi plays a dissipated foreign correspondent, reduced to interviewing movie stars for a national news magazine. One such self-absorbed starlet -- Sienna Miller, in a powerful performance -- adds insult to injury by showing up an hour late for a dinner interview. Things drift even further downhill after the actress learns that the reporter cares so little about her work that he skipped the formality of watching any of it. Neither example of such rude behavior is all that unusual in the game played every weekend at publicity junkets. After exhausting each other's patience, a freak accident outside the restaurant prompts the actress to invite the reporter to her apartment to heal. Here, the conversation takes a more revelatory turn, with personal histories being exchanged and secrets revealed. If said on the record, the actor's revelations would make for good reading. But, rarely is anything provocative discovered over Caesar salads or afternoon tea at the Four Seasons. As is the case in real-life interviews, of course, distinguishing embellishments from outright lies is as difficult a task for readers as it is for the journalists, themselves. Buscemi and Miller really nail their characters, neither of whom is particularly likable, and it's a joy to watch such expressive actors spit venom at each other for 84 minutes. In addition to the theatrics, it's fun watching the sausage of entertainment journalism being squeezed into its casing. -- Gary Dretzka
Waitress	Two months before Waitress was to debut at Sundance, writer-director-actor Adrienne Shelly became the victim of the sort of senseless beating and murder that we see each week on Law & Order. Set largely in a Southern diner, Shelley's third feature was immediately reminiscent of such cozy, food-centric material as Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Spitfire Grill, Frankie and Johnny and Bagdad Café. Every time the story threatened to drift irretrievably into chick-flick realm so feared by the male half of dating couples, however, she would inject an unexpected dollop of bitterness, dark humor and forbidden love. Keri Russell, who will forever be associated with the coming-of-age series Felicity, plays a small-town waitress beaten down by bad breaks and poor choices. Jenna's latest insult arrives in the form of an unwanted pregnancy. Upon being informed of his impending fatherhood, Jenna's overbearing thug of a husband, Earl (Jeremy Sisto), warns her against giving more love and attention to their child than to him. While Jenna is fully nuanced, undeniably appealing and completely sympathetic - and second only to Betty Crocker in her ability to create magical pastry -- Shelley spares no stereotype in her portrayal of Earl. Salvation arrives in the person of a mild-mannered OB/GYN, who's filling in for Jenna's regular doctor. Married, as well, the young man allows himself to be wooed by Jenna's imaginatively named pies. In the real world, and most movies, their less-than-clandestine trysts would almost immediately draw Earl's attention and violent wrath. Here, however, the light bulb goes off over Earl's head almost simultaneously with Jenna's realization that Dr. Pomatter probably would be better off sticking with his wife and she's strong enough to handle single-parenthood. Shelley's past experience with indie mainstay Hal Hartley clearly has informed her work in Waitress, especially in the unexpected character twists that emerge near the film's end. Andy Griffith is a welcome addition, as the grumpy owner of the café, and Cheryl Hine does a nice turn as a waitress on Jenna's shift. Sadly, though, her character must compete with the audience's familiarity with her polar-opposite Beverly Hills wife on Curb Your Enthusiasm. -- Gary Dretzka
Arctic Tale	It would be difficult to describe Arctic Tale any more succinctly than to observe, as did a Variety critic, "… it hopes to combine the appeal of 'March of the Penguins' and 'An Inconvenient Truth.'" No penguins were flown to the Arctic ice floe, but they won't be missed much by kids who can study the yearly cycle of anthropomorphized walruses and polar bears in their meteorologically endangered habitat. Adults likely will find themselves far more impressed with the spectacular Arctic vistas and images of untrained animal actors. The National Geographic film crew endured freezing temperatures, as well as unpleasant dips below sea level for fabulous underwater footage. An informative making-of featurette also is included. -- Gary Dretzka
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Erik the Viking Clive Cussler's The Sea Hunters	No matter how much money one spends on a home-theater system, it's simply impossible to match the experience of watching an epic adventure, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, in a state-of-the-art theater. Most Hollywood products easily translate from big to small screens, if only because the gap in entertainment value has closed so much in recent years. Police and crime dramas compete especially well for eyeballs. Having neglected to see POTC: At World's End in a theater, I was anxious to sample the third installment in the trilogy on my very decent-sized Sony. Although the story and special effects held up under scrutiny, the overall experience was less than satisfactory. Perhaps, it would have improved if I had thought to pop a large bowl of corn, turn off the lights and block all incoming calls. Instead, my mind was free to wander during the expository scenes, and the complexity of the plot took me by surprise. Actually, I had forgotten that Jack Sparrow was killed in Dead Man's Chest and his spirit was consigned to Davy Jones' Locker. True, Johnny Depp kept reminding me that his character, Sparrow, was a deceased pirate, and, after a while, his hallucinations started to make sense. But, then, how could Sparrow and the rest of the undead buccaneers interact so easily, in broad daylight, with characters I assumed to be alive? Or, had M. Night Shyamalan been recruited as a script doctor when no one was looking? No matter, by the end of the first of three hours, I was gelling like Magellan with the spectacular special makeup- and visual-effects, which, by then, included a vast Arctic wasteland, a convoy of crustaceans and the raging falls at land's end. Even so, I couldn't help but wish to have seen them in a spacious auditorium, where the dramatic images were being thrown by a digital-projection system. (And, it simply was impossible to conceive of anyone paying good money to watch POTC on an iPod.) This time around, an international armada of pirate vessels - some ghostlier than others - has been enlisted to take on the military-backed warships of the East India Trading Company. The battle scenes are terrific, as usual, and Sparrow remains delightfully nutso. The special two-disc Collector's Edition of At World's End arrives with a rich bounty of bonus features, including several interesting making-of mini-docs and the usual assortment of bloopers and deleted scenes. Don't miss Keith & the Captain, which documents what happened when Depp shared time on-set with Keith Richard, the man who inspired his portrayal of Sparrow. Another nautical yarn isn't nearly as seaworthy. The Director's Son's Cut edition of Erik the Viking has benefited not at all from having 25 minutes of its original length lopped off in its DVD debut. Directed by Monty Pythonite Terry Jones, the period comedy stars Tim Robbins as great warrior who embarks on a mission to Valhalla, where he'll beseech the gods to lift the curtain on the dark ages. As is typical with projects spun off the madness that was Monty Python, Erik the Viking is informed by much anachronistic humor and genre-bending. Writer-director Jones also plays King Arnulf, alongside John Cleese, as a blacksmith whose business has benefitted from the dark times; Mickey Rooney, as Erik's grandfather; Eartha Kitt; and Jim Broadbent. The DVD comes with Jones' commentary, the original making-of mini-doc, a photo gallery and a discussion between father and son, Bill. The British DVD edition is expected to include both the abridged and full-length version. What are we, chopped liver? The Sea Hunters follows author Clive Cussler and maritime archaeologist James Delgado as they explore the sites of shipwrecks from World War II. In addition to post-mordems on several well-known vessels, the crew studies the remnants of an aircraft carrier made entirely of ice and the amphibious craft that didn't make it to shore on D-Day. -- Gary Dretzka
The Nanny Diaries Live-In Maid Not having read the book upon which The Nanny Diaries is based, it would be impossible for me to compare Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's adaptation to the tell-all best-seller written by former nannies Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. If it was as flat and predictable as the movie, however, there would be no logic to its popularity. A believably dolled-down Scarlett Johansson plays Annie, a recent college graduate who isn't quite ready to embark on the business career for which she was trained. Instead, while licking her wounds in Central Park, Annie literally stumbles upon a job as a nanny for a ridiculously wealthy East Side society gal (Laura Linney). What comedy there is in The Nannie Diaries is found in the Jersey girl's running anthropological analysis of a culture foreign enough to her as to exist in Borneo. Her employers, Mr. and Mrs. X, are portrayed as gargoyles of the sort that populated Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities. Their son, Grayer X, is a spoiled and mean-spirited brat, who only relents when Annie introduces him to the banned pleasures of peanut butter and sugar-coated cereal. Annie, too, is forbidden by Mrs. X from partaking in the joys of dating the Harvard hottie who lives upstairs … to similar results. From there, the narrative unspools precisely as anyone with a working knowledge of the work of the Ephron sisters would expect. That The Nanny Diaries was directed and screenwritten by the same team responsible for the wonderfully offbeat and comically edgy American Splendor borders on the incomprehensible. The Argentine chamber piece, Live-In Maid, puts a far more realistic spin on the class war waged by upper-crust women against the hired help. The great Norma Aleandro plays Beba, a recent divorcee who finds her once-bottomless bank account being devoured by the country's out-of-control inflation. Dora (Norma Argentina), her maid of 30 years, hasn't been paid in seven months, and appears ready to pull up stakes and move into a simple working-class neighborhood with her longtime boyfriend. One senses immediately that Dora will be better able to survive without money than Beba, who apparently doesn't even know how to make a cup of tea. At least, Dora will be able to enjoy the companionship of her boyfriend and less-snooty neighbors. Compounding Beba's loneliness is the absentee nature of her relationship with her daughter, who lives in Spain and prefers communicating with her mother through Dora, and an ex-husband who suggests that a more austere lifestyle might be in order. For her part, Dora appears to be suffering from the kind of separation anxiety that borders on Stockholm syndrome. Eventually, both women recognize the invisible bonds that have kept them together for almost half a normal lifetime, and they're able to stop seeing each other as boss and employee. Their parallel journey to this mutual understanding is dramatized more in facial ticks and informed glances than through expository dialogue. It's called acting, and both women are working at the top of their game. -- Gary Dretzka
El Cantante Mariah Carey: Adventures of Mimi Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony combined their considerable talents and undeniable charisma to bring to the screen the story Nuyrorican-salsa legend Hector Lavoe, as well as that of his long-suffering wife, Puchi. El Cantante explains how salsa captured the hearts not only of New Yorkers in the drug-fueled '70s, but those of heartland Americans who think Puerto Rico is a suburb of Havana. It's a musical genre that commands feet, hips and heads to move in a parallel rhythm, whether the brain says yes or no. That much, at least, is captured by Leon Ichaso's schizophrenic direction. What's lacking, though, is a reason to care much about the off-stage behavior of a musician worshipped, if at all, in a relatively few American area codes. However talented he was, Lavoe's professional trajectory was far less compelling than the ones assayed in Ray and Ring of Fire. Once addicted, he pissed away a career that was full of immense promise. Then, he died. Miguel dramatizes both aspects of Lavoe's personality with passion and flair, while his real-life wife makes for a sympathetic partner, in and out of denial. Nonetheless, Hector and Puchi's story hardly qualifies as tragic. Sad, certainly, but tragedy requires hubris, and it's in limited supply here. The bonus features add commentaries by the director and writers, and a making-of mini-doc that amplifies on Lavoe's impact on the music scene. Like Lopez, Mariah Carey has been forced to live most of her life in the bright glare of the media spotlight. Their great professional success has been tempered by disappointing commercial response to ill-considered vanity projects, as well as the constant harassment of paparazzi. El Cantante failed to light any sort of spark at the box-office, and so did Carey's semi-autobiographical turkey, Glitter. Four years later, The Emancipation of Mimi would resuscitate her music career, and last year's Adventures of Mimi tour would re-establish her as a genuine diva. The two-DVD documentation of that tour promises to do just as well. In addition to copious concert footage, there is a featurette directed by Spike Lee and a 15-minute spoof, both starring Carey. Guest stars include Boyz 2 Men and Maya Gilbert. -- Gary Dretzka
Vietnam Long Time Coming As unlikely as it sounds, right now, there will come a day when American soldiers will want to revisit the war zones of Iraq, Afghanistan and, if W has his way, Iran. This exceedingly moving documentary relives an extraordinary 16-day, 1,200-mile bicycle ride embarked upon by a group of American and Vietnamese veterans a quarter-century after the killing stopped there. They excursion was organized by World T.E.A.M. Sports, and included champion cyclist Greg LeMond and Sen. John Kerry. The experience was especially cathartic for those Americans who left Vietnam minus limbs, buddies and their youth. The documentary was produced and directed by Jerry Blumenthal, Peter Gilbert and Gordon Quinn of Chicago's estimable Kartemquin Films. -- Gary Dretzka
Paprika/Tekkonkinkreet Return to Never Land/ The Land Before Time: The Wisdom of Friends It really isn't fair to compare today's bumper crop of animated features from Japan to such tightly budgeted fare as Disney's Return to Never Land, even in its so-called Pixie-Powered Edition, and the 13th installment in Universal's straight-to-video franchise, The Land Before Time. Such well-crafted Hollywood blockbusters as Ratatouille and Shrek can stand up to competition from any corner of the world, of course, if only because no expense was spared to make them successful in both their theatrical and DVD incarnations (and sell tons of branded toys along the way). Neither should such intricately drawn and intellectually ambitious Japanimation exports as Paprika and Tekkonkinkreet be mentioned in the same breath as the anime that passes for entertainment on television, during the networks' children's programming ghettos. Adapted by Satoshi Kon from a popular sci-fi novel, Paprika straddles the boundaries between dreams and reality. In it, a device that allows therapists to enter the brains of their patients also is being used by villains to perpetrate mass psychosis. The brilliant animation amplifies the victims' increasingly chaotic dream state. Meanwhile, Michael Arias' Tekkonkinkreet tells the somewhat darker story of a pair of street urchins who match wits and muscle with the Yakuza and greedy developers. It was based on a manga by Matsumoto Taiyo, creator of the wonderful Ping Pong comics, and directed by Michael Arius, who was part of the Animatrix team. Peter Pan gets over-the-title billing in Return to Neverland, the 2002 follow-up the 1953 animated classic. It's decent enough, as these thing go. But, as it was originally intended to launch on video, production costs were intended to create a product that was good enough for youngsters, but not nearly as memorable as either the original cartoon or concurrent stage-to-TV adaptation with Mary Martin. The Pixie edition adds an interactive Tinkerbelle game, deleted scenes and the featurette, Magic Fairies Moments, to the 72-minute film. The summary description of the latest Land Before Time is far too silly to repeat, but, since the series has managed to make it to No. 13, it's likely that kids will enjoy the adventures of the anthropomorphic dinosaurs, and the extras. -- Gary Dretzka
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Collection Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Series New Street Law: The Complete First Season The Best of Crank Yankers Squidbillies, Vol. 1: Metalocalypse, Season One The Universe: The Complete Season One The Wire: The Complete Fourth Season The Bronx Is Burning: World Championship Limited Edition Anyone old enough to remember watching the hit shows of the '60s is likely to harbor fond memories of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Along with Get Smart, I Spy and Mission:Impossible, the NBC series was designed to exploit the global fascination with James Bond. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum played a pair of agents -- American Napoleon Solo and Soviet Illya Kuryakin - in the employ of the multinational United Network Command for Law Enforcement and a pipe-smoking spy master played by Leo G. Carroll. The organization was established to promote world peace and seek an end to the Cold War. It was Solo and Kuryakin's mission to eliminate threats to a U.N.C.L.E. and its lofty goals. Their foes included crime syndicates, Nazi war criminals, dictators and operatives of THRUSH, a society of evil scientists, greedy industrialists and corrupt government officials. Among the many guest stars who appeared on the show were Joan Crawford, George Sanders, Jack Palance, Janet Leigh, Telly Savalas, Kurt Russell, Max Slapsie Maxie'' Rosenbloom, Sonny and Cher, and, pre-Star Trek, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan. The relationship between the debonair Solo and enigmatic Kuryakin, while not entirely realistic, added an air of personal mystery absent in other spy shows. At its height, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was telecast in 60 countries, and eight feature-length films were cobbled together from two-part episodes for release in foreign markets. Time Warner has re-mastered all 105 episodes and packaged them with commentary, original promotional material and interviews. The 41-disc collection fits neatly in a handsome chrome suitcase. It is only available through www.TimeLife.com, for $249.95. (On the plus side, most Internet shoppers don't have to pay sales tax, a Google search will lead to a $20 coupon.) The most loyal fans of Everybody Loves Raymond will enjoy the goodies that have been packaged in a house-shaped container, alongside all 210 episodes of the Emmy-winning series. In addition to 44 discs worth of material, the bonus features include a 40-page script of the series finale, autographed by all 10 of the episode's writers. HBO Home Video has put a $280 price tag on collectible box, but only a complete computer putz would be unable to locate a set in the $145 range. John Hannah is a familiar face to loyal viewers of BBC America, and such imported crime series as Rebus, Sea of Souls and McCallum Here, he plays a shrewd Manchester attorney, who's made a career decision that antagonizes his friend, mentor and current courtroom rival. Comedy Central's Crank Yankers raised the ancient teenage art of placing prank calls to strangers to the level of weird science. The new best-of collection doesn't add a whole lot to what's already been released, but nuisance-minded newcomers likely will welcome its arrival in pre-sorted form. And, in case you were wondering, a puppet cast acts out the often testy phone conversations. Squidbillies and Metalocalypse arrive via the Cartoon Network's increasingly offbeat late-night cartoon segment, Adult Swim. Squidbillies exploits every imaginable white-trash stereotype in the pursuit of trailer-park humor, while Metalocalypse imagines a scenario in which members of a death-metal band rules a post-apocalyptic world. Top that. Meanwhile, The Universe employs state-of-the-art computer technology to paint a brilliantly diverse portrait of our cosmos. Just as scientists continue to find new corners of the ocean to explore, astronomers now have tools that allow them to probe the limits of the known universe. The History Channel mini-series truly takes viewers where where no man has gone before. The best of the full-season packages, not limited to freshman series, is the compilation of fourth-season episode of HBO's The Wire. Filmed in the mean streets of a Baltimore - those not informed by denizens of John Waters' movies, anyway -- The Wire is the best continuing series not to have been recognized by Emmy voters. Each year, the show's writers examine a single issue confronting the citizens of Baltimore and recurring cast of characters on either side of the law. Last year, it was the sad state of education, in all its complexities. These boxed sets leave no room for excuses from advocates of quality programming. Otherwise, this month's basket of TV-to-DVD goodies holds third-year compilations of such popular entertainments as Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, Diagnosis Murder, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and Happy Days; the second half of the fourth season of Touched by an Angel; the fifth season of 7th Heaven; the seventh stanza of C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation; and the penultimate year of Frasier (which, oddly enough, is being released after the final-season box). The DVD edition of ESPN's original mini-series, The Bronx Is Burning, has spent fewer than three months on video-store shelves, and, already, Yankee fans are being tempted by the five-disc World Championship Limited Edition. The otherwise well-done mini-series was a bit too remindful of Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, but the team's tumultuous '77 season provided enough drama for several movies. The new limited-edition set comes in a special package, which also contains a cap, team picture, outtakes, deleted and extended scenes, a breakdown of key plays, the complete Game 6, extended interviews with players and the actors who portrayed them, a stats package, and ancillary webisodes.- Gary Dretzka