Theater, TV, DVD & Blu-Ray

CHICAGO – The Blu-Ray Round Up is back with two HD music releases, a beloved holiday movie from a director with a new comedy on the horizon (Richard Curtis, “Pirate Radio”), and a release that’s a must-own for fans of one of the most popular shows of the ’00s. This informative column is designed to let you know synopsis, technical specs, and features for titles that may have slipped under your radar. Pick your favorite.

CHICAGO – When a New York subway dispatcher finds himself locked in a tense battle of the wits with a deranged criminal onboard Pelham 123, he’s offered this bit of advice from a seasoned hostage negotiator: don’t enter his world. The same warning could be issued to viewers intent on entering the world of Tony Scott.

CHICAGO – “Orphan” is a surprisingly effective thriller that delivers exactly what audiences should expect from it. This is B-movie filmmaking elevated by A-list actors Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard in a clever mix of honest emotion and ridiculous, over-the-top, “Mommie Dearest”-esque insanity. The film deserved a better Blu-Ray release.

CHICAGO – There simply wasn’t space on television for both “Fringe” and “Eleventh Hour”. As soon as I saw them, I knew one or both of the fall 2008 shows would have to go. With the strong lead performances by the great Rufus Sewell and beautiful Marley Shelton, I thought “Eleventh Hour” had the edge, especially after it did pretty well in its first season.

CHICAGO – When did “gentleness” first become “unhip” in children’s films? Practically every studio in America, with the exception of Pixar, feels the need to make their “all ages” entertainment as abrasive, dumb and crude as their escapism targeted at teens and simple-minded adults.

CHICAGO – Reboots of classic TV programs have been a tough sell lately as shows like “Bionic Woman” and “Knight Rider” have failed to connect with critics or audiences.

CHICAGO – Legendary TV shows deserve legendary DVD sets and the “Ultimate Edition” release for the beloved “Blackadder” truly lives up to the often over-used “ultimate” title. Giving fans everything “Adder”-related that they could possibly ask for, this is the perfect gift this holiday season for fans of British television.

CHICAGO – Though graphic novels may read like great movie storyboards, they often fail to translate into compelling cinema. From “Sin City” to “Watchmen,” filmmakers have tried replicating graphic art with a reverence more suffocating than exhilarating. Images that reverberated with power on the page become coldly calculated on the big screen. No matter how tightly structured a film may be, it must give viewers the illusion of spontaneity. And there’s nothing more tiresome than a horror film in which all the scares feel telegraphed.

CHICAGO – Many editions of the DVD Round-Up have featured a different genre and focus for each title within it. This week seems a little more thematically linked as we have a trio of foreign horror films and a few more independent films than usual. Of course, there has to a holiday comedy to spice things up.

CHICAGO – “Left Bank” centers on` a woman whose apartment appears to be above a black hole, or a pit or something dark and deep like that. The Belgian horror outing (which has gone straight to DVD in the United States after playing in Chicago at the EU Film Fest) isn’t nearly as dumb as that synopsis makes it out to be, but in the end, that’s actually more of criticism than a compliment.