The Beaver
Earlier this year, it looked like the Jodie Foster-directed dark comedy The Beaver might be Mel Gibson's career comeback. But after it debuted to a mixed critical reception and thoroughly tanked at the box office, it may instead become the troubled star's career gravestone. Though I've got no particular affection for Gibson, it would be a shame if that turns out to be the case because he's not this movie's main problem. In fact, his committed, funny and, at times, quite raw performance is the best thing about The Beaver, or, as it could also be called, Lars and the Real Puppet. Gibson plays a depressed family man who is on the verge of killing himself, when he stumbles upon a beaver puppet and uses it as his vehicle to reconnect with his family and the rest of the outside world. Although Foster surrounds her star with lots of talented actors (including herself, Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence) the trite, superficial script and her own tonally-challenged direction blunts much of the humor, as well as the emotional impact of the story. For a movie that's starts out confronting the messiness of mental illness, The Beaver is ultimately much too neat and tidy.
Extras: Deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, and a commentary track from Foster.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
A few years ago, Morgan Spurlock's expose of the proliferation of product placement in movies, television shows and video games might have been truly eye-opening. Unfortunately, we've become so inured to the practice, very little of what he uncovers here will come as a surprise. Still, it's instructive to see just how much of the media we consume comes pre-packaged with advertisements urging us to buy more and buy often. What's even sadder is that cash-strapped public institutions like schools are now forced to see ad space in order to raise much-needed funds. Directed in his typically zippy, information-packed style, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold at times comes across as a feature-length commercial for commercials... but then again, that's Spurlock's point.
Extras: Roughly 30 minutes of deleted scenes, a commentary track with Spurlock and some of his colleagues and five commercials-within-the-movie.

Win Win
Three movies into his career, writer/director Tom McCarthy's M.O. has become all too clear. Like his previous efforts, The Station Agent and The Visitor, Win Win is a low-key buddy comedy that matches a set-in-his-ways guy -- in this case, struggling lawyer and high-school wrestling coach, played by Paul Giamatti -- with a stranger that knocks his world for a loop. The stranger here is a runaway teenage wrestling phenom that winds up living with Giamatti and his family, including his sarcastic Jersey Girl wife, played to perfection by the great Amy Ryan. The cast is fine and the movie's pace and tone is agreeable, but as in The Visitor (and, to a lesser extent, The Station Agent), there's a necessary spark of surprise missing from the proceedings. Win Win is exactly the kind of movie you think it's going to be and, throughout, I found myself hoping for more conflict, more laughs, more drama...just more.
Extras: A pair of deleted scenes, a filmed recording of a conversation between McCarthy and Giamatti at Sundance, a music video by The National.

Barry Lyndon
Picking my favorite Stanley Kubrick film is a tough proposition, because it changes by the day. Sometimes I'm jonesing for the fluid camerawork and unsettling shocks of The Shining, other days I marvel at the prescient satire on display in Dr. Strangelove and then there are those moments when I want to be transported to the stars alongside 2001's Dave Bowman. (Heck, there are even days when I can't get Eyes Wide Shut out of my head.) But if forced to choose, the one I keep coming back to is this 1975 period epic, about an 18th century farm hand (Ryan O'Neal) who rises to great wealth only to squander it all. While far less broad than Strangelove, it's equally as merciless in its dissection of the social inanities and prejudices of its era. After being left out of the Blu-ray Kubrick Collection box set that hit stands earlier this year, Barry Lyndon is getting its own high-def release. Don't miss it.
Extras: Just an old theatrical trailer.

Also on DVD:
If picking my favorite Kubrick movie is a challenge, I never have any trouble naming my least favorite. That would be the new-to-Blu Lolita, his ham-fisted adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's brilliant satirical novel of the same name. "Brilliant" and "satirical" are two words that would never be applied to any of Jim Varney's Ernest comedies that flourished during the '80s. A whole batch of them are hitting Blu-ray this week, but you only need to concern yourself with the first and best one, Ernest Goes to Camp, a movie I'm only vaguely ashamed to admit I watched over and over again during the summer of '87. Another childhood favorite, 1985's dinosaur tale Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, also emerges from Disney's dusty vaults for a new Blu-ray release. I'm scared to revisit it in the harsh light of the present, but I have fond memories of watching William Katt and Sean Young pet that animatronic baby dino. In more recent Blu-ray nostalgia picks, the 1996 comedy Swingers briefly revived the nation's interest in Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and swing dancing (in that order), while 1998's Rounders had the good fortune of hitting theaters right as the late-'90s poker craze was cresting. Finally, the well-reviewed Norwegian monster movie Trollhunter arrives on disc after a modestly successful theatrical and VOD run and, just in time for the Guillermo Del Toro-produced remake, the original Don't Be Afraid of the Dark gets a quickie release with a new commentary track featuring a trio of horror experts.

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