"Across the Universe" (PG-13)
Songs by the Beatles and wild visuals crafted by director Julie Taymor take center stage in this musical romance set against the social upheaval of the 1960s and the Vietnam War. Evan Rachel Wood stars as a sheltered American teen whose eyes are gradually opened to the era's injustices and idealism, while Jim Sturgess plays a working-class Brit who comes to America searching for his father and falls for Wood. The largely unknown cast is augmented by musical performances from Joe Cocker, Eddie Izzard and Bono. The two-disc DVD set ($28.96, Sony) and Blu-ray high-definition disc ($38.96) have eight extended musical numbers and a deleted one -- the tune "And I Love Her" featuring co-stars Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy. Taymor and composer Elliot Goldenthal also provide commentary.
"The Brave One" (R) Jodie Foster gets mad and gets even in a female variant of "Taxi Driver," the 1970s film that brought the actress her first Academy Award nomination. Foster stars as a New York radio host who turns into a vengeful vigilante prowling the streets with a gun after she's seriously injured and her fiancé is killed by thugs. Terrence Howard co-stars as a cop who befriends her, unaware that she's the perpetrator making headlines as judge, jury and executioner of wrongdoers. The DVD ($28.98; Blu-ray and HD DVD, $35.99 each; Warner Bros.) has deleted footage and a featurette.
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (PG-13) Cate Blanchett returns to the role that made her movie career, again earning a best-actress Oscar nomination as the British monarch of centuries past. The follow-up to 1998's "Elizabeth" reunites Blanchett, co-star Geoffrey Rush and director Shekhar Kapur as the Protestant spinster queen faces a holy war with Roman Catholic Spain while engaging in a dalliance with dashing explorer Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). Among the extras on the DVD ($29.98, Universal) and HD DVD ($39.98) are deleted scenes, featurettes on locations, battle scenes and production design, and commentary from Kapur.
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (R) The movie whose title is its own plot spoiler stars Brad Pitt as legendary 19th-century outlaw James, an 1880s media star coming undone amid his own self-created myths, while Casey Affleck plays the spurned admirer who decides to take out his idol. The role earned Affleck an Oscar nomination as supporting actor, while cinematographer Roger Deakins also was nominated for the dreamlike imagery captured in director Andrew Dominik's portrait of James. (DVD, $27.95, Warner Bros.; HD DVD and Blu-ray releases follow on Feb. 26, $35.99 each)
"The Jane Austen Book Club" (PG-13) An ensemble including Maria Bello, Kathy Baker, Jimmy Smits, Emily Blunt and Amy Brenneman plays out modern variations of Austen's romantic entanglements as a book club meets monthly to discuss the author's works. Extras include deleted scenes and commentary. (DVD, $26.96; Blu-ray $38.96, Sony)
"Feast of Love" (R) Another ensemble led by Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Radha Mitchell and Selma Blair is featured in director Robert Benton's tale of love and heartache set at an Oregon coffee shop. Benton provides commentary, and the DVD ($29.99, MGM) has a couple of featurettes.
DAVID GERMAIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
