This week's DVD and Blu-ray releases

 The following are capsule reviews of new and recent DVD and Blu-ray releases from the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Theatrical movies have a USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification and Motion Picture Association of America rating. These classifications refer only to the theatrical version of the films below, and do not take into account the discs' extra content.

American Gangster

Gritty, chaotically filmed 1970s New York true-life story about a scrupulously honest if womanizing cop (Russell Crowe) investigating a notorious drug kingpin (Denzel Washington) who's shipping heroin from Thailand to the States in Vietnam War soldiers' body bags, all the while posing as an upstanding family man. Director Ridley Scott, working from Steven Zaillian's fact-based script, captures the tumultuous era's spirit and skillfully counterbalances the prosperous criminal with the struggling hero, but the squalid milieu and strong violence will not be to everyone's taste, despite a moderately redemptive ending. Pervasive rough language and profanity, racial epithets, upper female nudity, adultery, a graphic sexual encounter without nudity, violence, murder, suicide, brief torture and drug dealing. Spanish titles option.  L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (R) (Universal Studios Home Video; also available on Blu-ray.) 2007

Dead Again

A reincarnation theme fuels this slick romantic thriller in which a private eye (Kenneth Branagh) and a fearful amnesiac (Emma Thompson) use a hypnotist (Derek Jacobi) to uncover their past lives -- which had intersected violently. Also directed by Branagh, it's an eerie, crackling-good suspense movie, only partially marred by a strident music score and gory climax. Some brief, intense violence, intermittent rough language and mild sexual innuendo.  A-III -- adults.  (R) (Paramount Home Entertainment) 1991

Hero (Special Edition)

Visually stunning, historically inspired tale set in war-torn ancient China and told from various points of view -- each shot in a different dominant color -- about an enigmatic swordsman (Jet Li), who defeats three deadly assassins determined to kill an ambitious warlord (Chen Dao Ming) obsessed with uniting the divided land by conquest and becoming its first emperor. Combining spectacular martial arts action sequences with multilayered storytelling, director Zhang Yimou has masterfully crafted a piece of epic filmmaking as dramatically involving as it is aesthetically arresting, and which, in spite of all its swordplay, imparts an overwhelmingly anti-violence message. Recurring stylized martial arts violence, an implied sexual encounter and a ritual suicide. In Chinese; English and Spanish language and titles options.  A-III -- adults. (PG-13)
(Miramax Home Entertainment; also available on Blu-ray.) 2004

The 39 Steps

Classic spy thriller about an innocent but resourceful Canadian (Robert Donat) pursued across Scotland by the police and a sinister gang of foreign agents while handcuffed for a time to a woman (Madeleine Carroll) who believes him to be a murderer. Director Alfred Hitchcock has a lot of fun concocting surprising visual twists to the fast-paced suspense story, relieved by occasional comic turns of plot and a charming romance that begins in mutual antagonism. Some stylized violence, much menace and mild romantic references. A-II -- adults and adolescents.  Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. (Criterion Collection) 1935

Wagon Master

Lyric Western about a Mormon wagon train whose leader (Ward Bond) hires a pair of genial cowboys (Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr.) to guide them to Utah, encountering along the way a broken-down patent medicine show (Alan Mowbray and Joanne Dru), a band of Navaho Indians and some vicious killers on the run from a posse. Director John Ford's poetic homage to the pioneer spirit is imbued with the natural grandeur of the terrain as well as an appreciation of the faith needed to journey into the wilderness and the courage required to withstand the perils of the trail. Frontier violence.  A-I -- general patronage. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. (Warner Home Video) 1950

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Lavish and flashy action-packed prequel to the popular "X-Men" series exploring the origins of conflicted superhero Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), including his defining childhood, turbulent relationship with his brother, Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber), role in a team of fellow mutants (Ryan Reynolds, Will.i.Am, Kevin Durand, Dominic Monaghan) led by the duplicitous Col. Stryker (Danny Huston), and tragic romance with schoolteacher Kayla (Lynn Collins). Director Gavin Hood tries not to lose sight of the human elements with Wolverine generally demonstrating moral conscience, though the kinetic action and violence necessarily predominate. Intense action violence, killings, explosions, patricide, fleeting rear nudity, premarital habitation, some crude expletives, crass expressions and brief profanity, limiting its appropriateness to mature teens and up. Spanish language and titles options.  A-III -- adults. (PG-13) (20th Century Fox; also available on Blu-ray) 2009

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.
  

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