This Week in DVD

A Single Man: I don't understand why Colin Firth's character should be single. He's attractive, neat, smart...why can't he just settle down and marry a nice woman already?

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Hey, this movie has all those words at the bottom of the screen and stuff. Wait for the American version, which will surely adapt the popular novel with the nuance, subtlety, and intelligence you just don't get from foreign films.

Brooklyn's Finest: I don't know, call me crazy, but if you want your cop movie to look like anything other than "just another cop movie," you ought to do a lot better than casting Richard Gere.

Chicago: This purports to be the original 1927 version. Wow, 1927! That's so long ago, Richard Gere's hair must be dark in this.

Columbia Film Noir Classics Collection Volume II: Consider this an appetizer for next week's superior Warner Brothers Film Noir Volume 5 set. And consider this a really expensive restaurant because this particular appetizer carries an MSRP of 60 bucks. I'm glad Sony is putting these movies out, but the extras seem a little stingy: I mean, Martin Scorcese's comments on "The Brothers Rico" last about 3 minutes? The guy'll give you a half-hour if you ask him if he wants cream or sugar in his coffee.

Dragnet 1968 Season 2: It's taken a long, long time to get season 2 out there. Better get this if you want more. Who knows how long Retro will show it? It's not like Sleuth is gonna make a big deal out of this show anytime soon.

Have Gun Will Travel Season 4 Volume 2: I'm really being negative this week, so let me look at the bright side on this item. Paramount is also celebrating the classic Western by thoughtfully packaging all 4 seasons into one bundle for--well, actually it's really expensive and not discounted at all, but at least it saves you the hassle of tracking down Season 4 Volume 1.

Background to Danger: So much for the bright side. I don't normally comment on Warner Archives titles, but I can't help bitching about the fact that a George Raft/Peter Lorre/Sydney Greenstreet movie, even if it's not an AFI Top 100 candidate, can't get a proper release.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.: This is one of those movies that you lose track of because it seems to have come out dozens of times already. Well, here it is again, but Kino put a lot of effort into it.

Lost Keaton: More Buster Keaton, and though I've never seen any of these shorts, I'll never complain about that, even if the material has been released dozens of times--and this hasn't been.