The Wrap Up ...
Eastern Promises	It's been a long time since any of David Cronenberg's films fit comfortably within the confines of the horror or sci-fi genres. Ever since the Nintendo-informed psycho-drama eXistenZ, however, Cronenberg's monsters have primarily been of the human variety. The wound-fetishists of Crash and single-minded assassins of A History of Violence were cut from the same cloth as Jeff Goldblum's fly and the giant bugs of Naked Lunch. If Dr. Frankenstein's signature is missing from these creations, it's only because Cronenberg's were the products of schizophrenia, Darwinian imperatives and prison-spawned amorality. In Eastern Promises, we recognize the monster by the elaborate array of tattoos on his skin. What we aren't told, however, is that the creature - a handsome thug in the employ of a London-based Russian crime family - not only has a heart, but, perhaps, a conscience to match. Apparently, this combination of ingredients is unusual in state-raised gangsters, whose tattoos serve both as visual autobiographies and passports to the international underworld. Here, on an otherwise inauspicious late-December evening, a pregnant teenager walks into the maternity ward of a London hospital. The battered and bleeding girl lives long enough to deliver a healthy daughter, but dies before she can provide her name or next of kin. In a typically compelling performance, Naomi Watts plays a midwife who takes it upon herself to use the girl's diary to locate a relative who might claim the orphan. Unfortunately, the person she asks to translate the diary is a vicious crimelord (Armin Mueller-Stahl) posing as a respectable restaurateur, and what he reads easily could lead police to a brothel populated with girls from the former Soviet Union. Golden Globe-nominee Viggo Mortensen plays a chauffeur and enforcer on the payroll of the gangster's demented son (Vincent Cassell). Knowing this, the odds against the infant's survival are prohibitively high. Watt's obsessively conscientious midwife - also Russian - thinks she's discovered a smidgen of decency under the enigmatic chauffer's tattooed skin, and won't rest until she's able to find a home for the baby. As advertised, the violence in Eastern Promises is horrific and shocking. It also is an essential element in Mortensen's transformation from monster to human being. The bonus featurettes add greatly to our understanding of the role played by tattoos in Russia's criminal underworld, and also describe the homework done by Mortensen to shape his character. In a previous interview, Cronenberg credited the films of Aleksei Balabanov, Aleksandr Sokurov's Russian Ark, Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker and Fritz Lang's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse for influencing the look and tone of Eastern Promises. For added value, link to Netflix or Facets and study them yourself. -- Gary Dretzka
Stardust	One of the great disappointments of 2007 was the commercial drubbing taken by Stardust. The highly imaginative 19th Century fantasy blended elements of sci-fi, romance and comedy into a perfectly enchanting fairy tale. Based on Neil Gaiman's graphic fable, Stardust tells the story of a young working-class lad who promises a potential upper-crust girlfriend he will exchange what's left of a fiery meteor for her hand in marriage. Tristan's search for the crater first requires him to outfox the elderly guard who keeps people from crossing the stone barrier that separates their village from a forbidden land inhabited by ageless witches, manimals, a ghostly Greek chorus, airborne pirates and a princess born of reconstituted stardust. Hoping mostly to return home with a meteorite and get laid for his effort, Tristan (Charlie Cox) instead is required to escort the fallen star (Claire Danes), who's wearing the secret of eternal life on a chain around her neck. Surely, the failure of Stardust to attract a large audience can't blamed on a cast that included Sienna Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ricky Gervais, Ian McKellen, Peter O'Toole, Rupert Everett and Robert De Niro, who plays a closet-case buccaneer. Nor is there anything particularly wrong with the film's whimsical script, splendid period look and the beautiful English and Scottish locations. Advocates of so-called family movies will only have themselves to blame if Stardust gets lost in the DVD crowd, as well. -- Gary Dretzka
The Kingdom	The inability of Peter Berg's thrill-a-minute military procedural to drive traffic to the box-office signaled a trend that would quickly sink such high-profile theatrical releases as Rendition, Redacted, Lions for Lambs and In the Valley of Elah. The only post-9/11 movie to hit a home run commercially has been Fahrenheit 9/11, which got a boost from all the Michael Moore haters on talk radio. If Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts can't find an audience for Charlie Wilson's War, Hollywood studios will beat a hasty retreat from the Middle East, which certainly would be OK with President Bush. The kingdom referred to in the film's title, of course, is Saudi Arabia. As is explained in a two-minute preamble to The Kingdom, the strategic and corporate importance of Saudi Arabia often has required the United States to compromise principles held sacred by most Americans. By turning a blind eye to the indiscretions of the royal family, we've allowed them to put their interests - yes, and ours -- ahead of those of their constituents. It is this clash of cultures, religions and values that manifests itself, as the film opens, in the form of a monstrous terrorist attack on an American compound in Riyadh. Saudi police seemingly did what they could to stem the bloodshed, but couldn't prevent a car bomb from destroying a housing complex. Anyone who's watched a season's worth of CSI could mount a more thorough investigation than the Saudi police and military. Even after being coerced into allowing a team of FBI counter-terrorism experts to examine the scene of the carnage, Saudi law handcuffed the agents from collecting and examining crucial evidence or participating in autopsies of Muslim victims. The Americans bristle at every new restriction imposed on them, just as the yanks' arrogance and impatience irritates their Muslim counterparts. The ice between them eventually melts, but only after the team leaders (Jamie Foxx, Ashraf Barhom) come to respect each other's intentions. Once the combined investigation kicks into gear, The Kingdom accelerates to the break-neck speed it will maintain until a final confrontation with the terrorist cell. It's here where Berg excels, and diverse American audiences will find a common denominator. Otherwise, the strangers-in-a-strange-land scenario plays out exactly like a Middle Eastern version of In the Heat of the Night. The making-of features in the bonus package reveal how a key chase scene and two fiery shootouts were choreographed, as well as how the cast was prepped in explosives and forensics. -- Gary Dretzka
The Simpsons Movie	If they handed out Oscars for candor, Homer Simpson would be a mortal lock for this year's prize. Even before the opening credits to The Simpsons Movie rolled, he posed this rhetorical question: Why pay for something, when you can see it for free? Judging from the hugely positive box-office response to The Simpsons Movie, the Fox Network might consider making each new episode a pay-per-view event, like those uncensored Jerry Springer episodes and pro wrestling. The only discernable difference between the movie and any three back-to-back episodes was the welcome absence of commercials. If Matt Groening & Co. had been allowed by the studio to try something truly adventurous -- such as going out with a R rating -- The Simpsons Movie might have resembled something completely new and different. Homer's environmental apocalypse - while occasionally hilarious - plays out as if the writers had voluntarily stifled their wilder inclinations, thus ensuring the broadest possible commercial opportunity for its distributor. Too bad. The bonus features aren't bad, but they will be of interest primarily to diehard fans. The commentary track is funny and perfect example of how scrambled the creative process can be. Next year, perhaps, Fox will release The Simpsons Movie Uncensored Director's Cut, and everyone will be happy. -- Gary Dretzka
Blade Runner Five Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition	For a movie that box-office observers initially dismissed as a bomb, Blade Runner has enjoyed a remarkably successful afterlife. Only The Godfather saga has been reincarnated as often on video, and in such markedly different versions. Blade Runner may be unique, however, in that its fan base has expanded exponentially with each new collector's edition. The first such leap forward occurred in 1989, after a 70mm print was discovered on a shelf in a warehouse and was sent out theatrically as a Director's Cut, which it wasn't. Its success encouraged countless other filmmakers to re-think their own projects, using video and DVD to restore material trimmed by a studio or distributor. Today, of course, it's become an industry within an industry. Twenty-five years after its disappointing premiere, director Ridley Scott not only has restored and re-mastered material from previous versions, but he also has elected to add stuff that has been newly shot and re-recorded. There also is a bevy of previously deleted scenes and an updated commentary track. It has been scanned at 4K resolution and given a new 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track. Actors Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Edward James Olmos, Joanna Cassidy, Sean Young and Daryl Hannah are among the luminaries who appear in the bonus features, which also include a new 3½-hour documentary, a dozen explanatory featurettes and four other full-length editions. The limited Ultimate edition arrives in a replica of Rick Deckard's own briefcase and adds a lenticular-motion film clip, origami unicorn figurine, spinner-car replica, photographs and a letter from Scott. -- Gary Dretzka
The Heartbreak Kid The Brothers Solomon	Although the conceit behind this raunchy updating of Elaine May and Neil Simon's The Heartbreak Kid remains essentially the same, the Farrelly brothers' version speaks volumes about the difference between what was considered to be funny in 1972, and what passes for humor 35 years later. In both versions, a nebbishy guy marries a decent-enough gal who quickly reveals herself to be something less than the ideal mate. A horrendous case of sunburn confines the bride to their beach-side honeymoon suite, leaving the husband to his own devices. Not surprisingly, perhaps, he befriends a female hotel guest who is everything his new bride isn't: funny, bright, financially solvent and single. When the perfect woman discovers that this swell guy not only is married, but freshly so, she recoils in horror and splits for home. Times passes, but the guy's obsession doesn't. After a period of decompression and divorce, he packs his bags and heads into the heartland - Minnesota and Mississippi, respectively -- where he hopes to re-connect with his friend, apologize and get married. To his dismay, he quickly discovers that she's married a local jock hero and doesn't want to see him. His choices: give up, get arrested or get out of town. In the original picture, the newlyweds (Charles Grodin and Jeannie Berlin) are New York Jews, and the object of his desire was blond and bubbly Cybill Shepherd … the ultimate shikse goddess. The Farrellys' mismatched newlyweds are played by San Franciscans Ben Stiller and Malin Akerman, and his Mississippi mermaid is brunette Michelle Monaghan. Jeannie Berlin couldn't have been more needy and neurotic, while Akerman plays the kind of ditzoid who might have inspired the first blond joke. Stiller and Grodin's characters could easily have been cousins. Their willingness to cheat on their new brides and disrupt another couple's marriage is portrayed as being anything but admirable. Simon and May trusted their audience enough to find the humor in the sheer absurdity and awkwardness of the situation. It's in the nature of the Farrellys, however, not to promote deep thinking in their fan base. Indeed, it's even possible to believe the boys set their film in Mexico -- instead of Miami Beach or, say, Jamaica - for the sole purpose of having a sight gag involving a woman and a donkey (twice). Certainly, the introduction of an additional over-the-top character - orange-haired Ben Stiller, as the groom's horny old man - was a way to add even more bawdy humor to the mix. None of this is to infer that the Farrellys aren't good at what they do. The Heartbreak Kid is never dull, and some of the scenes are hilarious. They simply weren't up to the task of upgrading a masterwork of '70s comedy, and providing sufficient reason for its very existence. One hopes that DVDs of the original version will become less scarce, and viewers can pick their own favorite. By comparison, though, The Brothers Solomon makes the Farrellys' Heartbreak Kid look like, well … There's Something About Mary. Familiar funnymen Will Arnett and Will Forte play a pair of losers who want to fulfill their dying father's last wish by making him a grandfather. The problem, of course, is that neither of them has the faintest clue as to how to behave in the company of a woman, sexually or otherwise. They find a surrogate in SNL veteran Kristen Wiig, who bears the brunt of the brothers' ignorant demands. Indeed, the otherwise very talented Bob Odenkirk directs The Brothers Solomon as if he were being forced at gunpoint to extend a five-minute sketch into a 90-minute feature. The only actors who escape with their dignity intact are the comatose Lee Majors and aforementioned Malin Akerman, a pretty and talented actor who may already be stereotyped as the the blond who can keep a straight face while playing opposite childish male bozos. -- Gary Dretzka
The Mod Squad Season 1, Volume 1 Dirt: Season One Big Love: Season Two Rawhide: Volume Two The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Volume Two: The War Years	In 1968, when ABC launched The Mod Squad, the nation was being torn apart by dissent over the war in Vietnam and racism, and controversy swirled around such issues as drugs, fashion, music, government and law-enforcement. At first glance, the teaming of Pete, Linc and Julie - a long-haired rich kid, an angry black man and a hippy chick - seemed absurdly contrived and cynical. They were, after all, little more than narcs in sheep's clothing, and their liberal point-of-view (for cops, anyway) didn't square with reality. If all undercover cops were as a flexible and open-minded as the LAPD's Mod Squad, there would be no reason to fear being beaten and incarcerated for having long hair or smoking a joint at a concert. The producers allowed the Mod Squad kids to retain their idealism, while also busting truly dangerous criminals. Somehow, this fantasy was accepted by viewers - many of whom feared hippies as much as they did Chairman Mao - and The Mod Squad would emerge as one of the most influential crime shows in television history. Today, of course, it can be enjoyed both for its nostalgic value and palpably campy appeal. Either way, it's still fun to watch. When all is said and done, FX's Dirt may go down as the show that set the bar for sleazy drama on non-premium cable and broadcast networks, eclipsing even Nip/Tuck. By setting the story in the offices of a disreputable Hollywood-based tabloid magazine - is there any other kind - the possibilities for nefarious sex, drugs and rock-'n'-roll action were virtually endless. The producers drew the line at frontal nudity and a few of the more vulgar expletives, but everything else was fair game. Courteney Cox may have seemed an unlikely choice to play the unscrupulous editor with a taste for hit-and-run sex, but she quickly grew into the role of a trash monger with relationship issues. The rest of the cast was populated by some of Hollywood's hottest young girl- and boy-toys. When they weren't shooting up, having sex and dishing dirt for fun and profit, the characters lived in fear of having their own kinky proclivities scrutinized in print. Nasty stuff, but irresistible. It was difficult to imagine how the creators of HBO's polygamy-driven series Big Love could find enough material to fill out a season's worth of episodes, let alone make it through a second stanza. Leave it to the boys and girls at HBO to defy expectations. Their best shows are informed by the day-to-day drama of living in unconventional family units. During season two, the Henrickson family not only went to war with Roman Grant, but also a rival polygamist family populated by certified of psychopaths. Meanwhile, personal relationships became even more complicated as the Henrickson wives and children began to assert their individuality. To confuse things even further, Bill developed a crush on another potential bride. The second-half of Season One episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles have now arrived, and, with them, more exciting adventures filmed in exotic locations around the globe. No expense was spared on production values, and it all shows up on the screen. With another theatrical edition of the grown-up Indy Jones saga now in production, the timing for this set is perfect. The second-half of Season Two episodes of Rawhide also are newly available. It is the western series that put Clint Eastwood on the map, of course, and remains one of the most fondly remembered shows of all time. -- Gary Dretzka
Underdog	This live-action adaptation of the long-running Saturday-morning cartoon series from the'60s will appeal to kids, and some non-discerning boomer parents. Otherwise, Underdog suffered from too little script and too much expectation. Here, the rhyming canine superhero, Shoeshine/Underdog (voiced by Jason Lee), has been kidnapped by an evil geneticist (Peter Dinklage) interested in determining how enhanced DNA might affect dogs. In the best sci-fi/horror tradition, Underdog escapes with his new powers intact, emerging as a crime-fighter and love machine. Some things are best left animated. -- Gary Dretzka
48 Angels Marion Comer's poignant, faith-based drama, 48 Angels, is one of those rare gems that surface every now and then, yet lie undiscovered by those who likely would prize it most. Ostensibly, the Northern Irish-set film describes the journey embarked upon by a 9-year-old boy, after he learns that he soon will succumb to a terminal illness. Seamus hopes to find God - or let God find him - so he can petition the deity for a miracle. Seamus (Ciaran Flynn) chooses to make the trip in a rowboat that's been set adrift in a fog-shrouded sea. Upon making shore, he encounters a surly youth who's just witnessed the murder of his father. On a different beach, the lads discover the body of a seriously injured man too frail to frail to talk. After they nurse him back to health, the boys learn he had escaped from prison and now wants to even the score between himself and the men who snitched on him. Together, they make an unlikely band of brothers, but the intensity of their pain and desire for salvation bind them together. This bond will be severely tested, of course, by the reality of life in a world that cares little for their plights. The moody cinematography adds mightily to the ethereal nature of the boy's quest, and the older lads' desperate hopes for inner peace. Without banging viewers over the head with paint-by-numbers Christianity, 48 Angels delivers a powerfully ecumenical message about the co-union of faith, forgiveness and redemption. That the film has seen little or no distribution - perhaps, because it isn't also about fantasy creatures or a brutally flogged messiah - only demonstrates how little anyone out there really cares about faith-based films. -- Gary Dretzka
Walt Disney Treasures: Disneyland: Secrets, Stories & Magic Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume Three Disney's essential Treasures collection continues to expand with this trio of highly entertaining and informative boxed sets. Disneyland: Secrets, Stories & Magic will appeal to anyone who's ever spend more than an afternoon at the Anaheim landmark. The set, originally conceived as a 50th-anniversary tribute to Disneyland, goes behind the scenes to describe Uncle Walt's vision and how it's grown in size and stature over the next half-century. At 332 minutes, its length nearly rivals that of the average wait in line for the Matterhorn or Space Mountain … before Fastpass, anyway. Among the goodies are the feature-length documentary, The Secrets, Stories, and Magic of Disneyland; the retrospective, Operation Disneyland; episodes from The Wonderful World of Color and People and Places; construction footage; interviews; an interactive tour and game; and other archival material. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit takes animation enthusiasts and Disney completists back to the beginning, specifically 1926, with the Alice comedies and Universal's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The cartoons were a collaborative effort between Disney and head animator Ub Iwerks. After the studio took control of the character, the team created Mickey Mouse. The collection includes the 13 surviving silent Oswald shorts; the documentary, The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story; three Alice comedies; and early Mickey Mouse titles, Plane Crazy, Steamboat Willie, and The Skeleton Dance. The third installment of The Chronological Donald offers more of the same ducky stuff, in order of its appearance on the big screen. -- Gary Dretzka
Bring It On: In It to Win It Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease: In the Bedroom/Vegas Strip From little acorns grow great movie franchises, or so we've learned from the ability of such small, over-achieving flicks as Bring It On to become mainstays of the lucrative straight-to-video marketplace. So, too, has Carmen Electra's Aerobic Striptease grown beyond its novelty roots to become something far more valuable to the folks at Paramount Home Video. Is there a connection between these titles, beyond their sales prowess? Only in that the routines performed by today's cheerleaders - and especially those choreographed in Hollywood - are merely one or two bumps and grinds different than those demonstrated by the former Baywatch star. The latest edition pits the squad against the mighty East Coast Jets, a team that's ruled the Cheer Camp Championships. Meanwhile, In the Bedroom and Vegas Strip combine body-sculpting dances and toning exercises with sexy dancing familiar to habitués of gentlemen's clubs. -- Gary Dretzka
Rush Hour 3 Robin B Hood Balls of Fury If New Line's Rush Hour franchise had lost any steam in the six-year gap between the second and third installments, it wasn't apparent from the box-office bonanza it scored last summer. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker might have looked a bit worse for the wear, but director Brett Ratner satisfied the cravings of action junkies by sending his odd-couple cops to Paris, where they will confront an evil triad. He also dialed up the dissing, squabbling, chasing, yelling and kung-fu fighting. It would be sad to think Roman Polanski and Max Von Sydow needed a paycheck so badly they would agree to appear in such a forgettable movie, but, perhaps, Ratner promised to share his little black book with them. Strangely enough, in the decade since the original Rush Hour was released, the cost of producing such formula fare has grown from $33 million to a reported $140 million, only a fraction of which shows up on the screen. The party and catering budget must have been incredible. Although one could easily assume that any star with the international appeal of Jackie Chan would have no trouble getting his movies released in the U.S. Two of his most recent efforts - Robin B Hood and The Myth - have only made their way here by taking the straight-to-DVD route. That these pictures didn't co-star an American of B-level status, at least, explains why distributors kept them at arm's length.Robin B Hood, which debuted at the 2006 Venice Film Festival, is a caper film in which a cat burglar with a gambling habit ends up with a kidnapped baby under his protection. The set adds a second disc with all sorts of making-of featurettes. Unlike Fumihiko Sori's exponentially more consequential Ping Pong, Balls of Fury is a one-gag movie that looks like a dozen other comedies about unlikely jocks engaged in even more improbable sporting competitions. The set-up is always the same: a child phenomenon goes to seed after being humiliated in a contest considered important by his father. Before the end of the film, the disgraced athlete will overcome great odds and bad hygiene in pursuit of redemption. Here, the protégé is played by Dan Fogler, who, despite his portly dimensions, remains a crackerjack table-tennis player. In a scenario too ludicrous to repeat, the kid is recruited by a FBI agent (George Lopez) to crack a ruthless underground table-tennis syndicate. Several of the former phenom's opponents are cleverly drawn, but their welcome wears thin very quickly. Not surprisingly, the best reason to watch Balls of Fury is Christopher Walken. Here, he plays the crimelord Feng, who dresses in the tradition of Mandarin royalty. He towers over this production in the same way the Empire State Building looms above Manhattan. -- Gary Dretzka
Everything's Cool This well researched documentary is for those who don't recoil in horror when conversations turn to the subject of global warming. Not nearly as polished and determinedly PC as An Inconvenient Truth, Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand's similarly alarming Everything's Cool examines how the debate over the issue has been manipulated by a cozy cable of politicians, scientists and pundits, all desperately in search of a spotlight. While clearly on the left side of the screening room, the filmmakers sympathize with the average Joes who not only seem hopelessly confused by the conflicting evidence, but also think they have worse things to worry about than the fate of polar bears and a decrease in sap from maple trees. Most damning is the film's indictment of media outlets - talk shows, especially - that exploit the overheated passions of environmentalists, while simultaneously pandering to those who profit by keeping their minds closed and rhetoric venomous. Everything's Cool also repeats the old news that the Bush administration censors opinions of government scientists unwilling to massage research to fit the short-term needs of corporate America. -- Gary Dretzka
Bikini Bloodbath Halloween: Unrated Director's Cut Hatchet: Unrated Director's Cut Hack! What would Christmas be without a fresh selection of slasher flicks from which to choose gifts for loved ones? The tradition, I suppose, extends all the way back to pre-VHS days with Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas, both of which arrived in 1974. By now, of course, the release of horror movies isn't limited by time, season or appropriate behavior. A Christmas launch of Bikini Bloodbath, for example, seems every bit as reasonable as if it occurred on Memorial Day. There's no character more eternal than the perverted lesbian volley ball coach, and, as we know, slumber parties and shower scenes never go out of style. This one has plenty of both. It also makes some kind of weird sense that the director's-cut edition of Rob Zombie's Halloween be released a week before the world celebrates Jesus' birthday. The former rocker's adaptation examines the forces that were responsible for Michael Myers' questionable behavior. The director's cut of Hatchet promised cultists a return to the good old days of horror films, when every swamp carried a deep, dark secret and no body part was safe from the cutlery. Hack! invites viewers along on a field trip to a remote island, where horror-mad students are encouraged to participate in a deadly game of Survivor. To survive, they are forced to fall back on their knowledge of genre clichés. Like too many other contemporary horror movies, Hack! attempts to blend horror with comedy. Only students of slasher flicks, however, are likely to get the jokes. -- 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