‘Gran Torino’ — Widescreen Edition
This racially-centered drama features Clint Eastwood as Walt Kowalski, a recent widower, longtime bigot and disgruntled Korean War vet living in Michigan amongst a mixed neighborhood including some troubled Hmong residents next door. His life takes a different turn after he sets out to reform a neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal the former auto worker’s prized possession — a vintage Detroit muscle car, a 1972 Gran Torino. Bonus materials center on the subject of cars and manhood in our American culture. (Warner Bros)
‘Van Wilder: Freshman Year’
In this third edition in the series of popular and rude college humor comedies, Van (Jonathan Bennett) follows in his wealthy father’s footsteps by enrolling at prestigious Coolidge College. The slacker is surprised that Coolidge is hardly the party school he envisioned, so to rectify this intolerable situation, the civic-minded Van launches a personal crusade to free his school from the shackles of sexual oppression and party dysfunction. Extra segments include commentary by director Harv Glazer and the lead cast, “Creating the Legend: The Making of Van Wilder: Freshman Year,” “Going Balls Out: Colossus,” “Coolidge College: Orientation Video,” “Previously on Decatur,” “Teacher’s Pets,” and assorted bloopers (Paramount)
‘Echelon Conspiracy’
Ed Burns, Ving Rhames and Shane West star in this high-tech action-thriller that mixes intrigue, greed and national security. Mysterious cell phone messages promise a young American engineer (West) untold wealth, but he soon finds out they make him the target of a deadly international plot when dangerous security operatives chase him across the globe trying to unravel a conspiracy, while a powerful government official (Martin Sheen) pursues a mysterious agenda that threatens the stability of the entire world. (Paramount)
‘Leverage’ The First Season
Timothy Hutton stars as former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who leads a team of criminals hired by individuals looking for their own brand of justice “outside the system.” Ford’s felonious crew consists of Parker (Beth Riesgraf), an expert cat burglar and thief; Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), a charismatic con-artist with thespian aspirations; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), a technologically savvy cyber-criminal; and Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), the enforcer with advanced martial arts training. A four-disc set with 13 episodes, it also has bonus material that contains commentaries, deleted scenes, and segments entitled: “Leverage: Behind the Scenes,” “Anatomy of a Stunt Fight,” “The Cameras of Leverage,” “Leverage Gets Renewed” and “Beth Riesgraf’s Crazy Actress Spoof.” (Paramount)
‘Mad Men’ Season Two
The popular series on AMC about the glamorous and ego-driven world of the “Golden Age” of advertising where selling never ends, is an Emmy-winning drama about one of New York’s most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm’s most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper (Jon Hamm). The show continues to blur the lines between truth and lies, perception and reality in the 13 episode four-disc second season now on DVD. Smartly packaged in a limited edition sleek shirt box with a see-through window, the title comes with cast and crew commentaries, an examination of the rise of female independence in the Mad Men era, the lasting fashions of the 1960s and “Time Capsule,” an interactive homage to historical events of the 1960s. (Lionsgate)
Randy Williams can be reached at www.sportandcinema.com.