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By KAREN MARTIN SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LITTLE ROCK — Recent DVD releases:

Betty Blue (not rated, 186 minutes) This is the director’s cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1986 sexy, tragic drama about a young handyman (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and a beautiful waitress (Beatrice Dalle) who begin an erotic escapade that grows into a genuine relationship, then tumbles into madness. The DVD includes director’s commentary. Grade: 83

The Canyon (R, 102 minutes) A low-budget thriller with gorgeous scenery, decent story and bad dialogue about a newly married couple (Eion Bailey, Yvonne Strahovski) honeymooning in the Grand Canyon who get separated from their guide and find their lives in danger. The DVD includes a casting session, a behind the-scenes featurette and deleted scenes. Grade: 79

The Exiles (not rated, 72 minutes) This angular, searingly realistic 1961 black-and white film chronicles one night in the lives of young American Indian men and women living in the Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles. It was rarely seen for nearly 50 years until its restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and its releaseby Milestone. The DVD contains hundreds of pages of writer/director Kent Mackenzie’s scripts, notes and correspondence, along with his master’s thesis on the five-year journey. Grade: 89

Galaxy Quest (PG, 102 minutes) This is the Blu-ray release of a cheerful, clever 1999 sci-fi comedy about a parallel universe where a space opera called Galaxy Quest draws a huge audience share 20 years after its cancellation. The cast includes Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell and Justin Long. Bonus features include interviews with actors and filmmakers, a featurette on visual effects, Weaver rapping and deleted scenes. Grade: 87

How to Be (not rated, 85 minutes) Robert Pattinson, who plays tormented vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight films, is hot. This 2008 comedy, in which he plays an angst-ridden aspiring musician who works at a supermarket, gets dumped by his girlfriend and has to move in with his unsympathetic parents, is not. But it gives his many fans another venue to admire his looks. The DVD includes a making of featurette with extended scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, an interview with Pattinson and the theatrical trailer. Grade: 82

Humpday (R, 94 minutes) A funny, chatty, realistically awkward comedy in which a couple of straight guys who were college pals (Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard) decide to enter an amateur pornography contest together. Bonus features include deleted scenes, commentary by director Lynn Shelton, and a behind-the-scenes featurette. Grade: 83

My Effortless Brilliance (not rated, 79 minutes) Lynn Shelton’s funny, sometimes unnerving improvised bromance follows Eric (Sean Nelson), a Seattle novelist whose selfish behavior cost him his friendship with Dylan (Basic Harris), as he tries to make amends by showing up at earthy Dylan’s log cabin in the woods. Grade: 82

sex, lies, and videotape (R, 100 minutes) This groundbreaking 1989 Steven Soderbergh film, now on Blu-ray, is a dazzling dark comedy that exposes the sexual proclivities of four characters (James Spader, Andie McDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo) and how their behaviors transform their lives. Bonus features include deleted scenes, commentary with writer/director Soderbergh (who was 26 when the film was made for $1.2 million), and notes on remastering and restoring the original film. Grade: 90

Skills Like This (not rated, 86 minutes) An energetic, often clever indie comedy in which Max (Spencer Berger) gives up on trying to be a writer and takes up a new profession at which he excels: robbing banks. The DVD includes deleted scenes, cast and crew interviews, and filmmaker biographies. Grade: 87

Train (R, 94 minutes) Gory, gruesome, predictable yet somewhat entertaining (if you like this sort of thing), Train shows what happens when members of a college wrestling team touring western Europe party too hard, miss their train, then take another train that doesn’t have their safety and well-being in mind. The DVD includes a making-of featurette. Grade: 77

Vampire Party (not rated, 85 minutes) A lively, intermittently funny French vampire farce in which three young friends get invited to a notoriously wild party held yearly at a remote castle that’s rumored to be haunted. Guess who’s throwing the party? In French with English subtitles. Grade: 83

MovieStyle, Pages 37 on 11/20/2009

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