Short Circuits: 'Shadows' hits video, 'Sky Map' app

'Shadows' lacks biteTim Burton's retread of the 1970s daytime goth-opera "Dark Shadows" -- starring Johnny Depp -- is depressing on many levels. It doesn't know where it wants to dwell: in the eerie, subversive penumbra suggested by its title or in playful, go-for-broke camp.

Depp once again plumbs his vocal depths to come up with a sonorously memorable voice for Barnabas, beginning with a narrated preamble explaining how the Collins family settled in Maine. The ribald humor that runs through "Dark Shadows" will most likely go over the heads of the youngsters to whom the rest of the movie is presumably aimed. But few will buy the third-act twist that occurs in the middle of the mayhem.

The DVD and Blu-ray (Warner, $29-$36) include a featurette, a picture-in-picture function and deleted scenes.

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Colin Covert's take: "Dark Shadows" opens promisingly, downshifts after 30 minutes and sputters into a meandering, momentum-free mess.

Also out Tuesday:

Movies: "Chained," "Iron Sky," "Peace, Love & Misunderstanding," "People Like Us," "Red Lights."

Blu-ray debut: "Annie," "Cinderella" (animated Disney classic), "In the Mood for Love," "Masters of the Universe," "Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection."

Look - up in the skyMake the most of early fall's cool, clear nights with Google's Sky Map (free, for Android), an open-sourced guide to all that glitters above. It's particularly good for students taking astronomy courses, but it's also just a handy go-to reference to the stars. The app will overlay constellations and a star grid, and will let you either point the phone up for information on that part of the sky or let you search for particular constellations.

And, yes, in case you're wondering: The app still works in the daytime, or in places with too many lights to see the stars.

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Leave tangles behindThere isn't much to the CordCruncher ($20, www.cordcruncher.com): a set of earbuds whose cord is encased in an elastic sleeve. But the cool thing is that it stretches from 16 inches to 3.5 feet and stays tangle-free the whole time.

There isn't a microphone on the cord for hands-free calls, but they are more than worth the money since you get the earbuds along with a cable management system.