DVD
British film 'Kes' finally takes flight

"Kes," from 1969, was selected by the British Film Institute as one of the 10 best British films of the 20th century, yet its recent release on DVD and Blu-ray (Criterion, $30-$40) might be the first opportunity many Americans will have to view it. Based on Barry Hines' novel "A Kestrel for a Knave," "Kes" is about a 15-year-old boy named Billy Casper (David Bradley) who leads a miserable existence until he discovers an abandoned kestrel and painstakingly trains the bird to fly away and return to him on command. "Kes" was the first major feature film directed by Ken Loach. As he explains in the excellent documentary retrospective on the disc, his goal was to "represent ordinary life on film in all its complexity, comedy and sadness -- to have a social context to it." That included filming entirely on location in a coal-mining town and using a cast of non-professional actors. Bradley, cinematographer Chris Menges and others also contribute to the documentary, and they offer fascinating accounts of the film's creation, inspiration and business problems.

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Out Tuesday: "Blood Out," "Fly Away," "Human Planet," "Knockout," "Sniper: Reloaded," "Sacrifice," "Upstairs Downstairs" (2011), and Blu-rays of "Betty Blue," "Blow Out," "Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back," "Daylight," "Dementia 13," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

GAME

This one is definitely worth a shot If "Section 8: Prejudice" ($15 download for Xbox 360; rated Teen) were a full-priced first-person shooter, it would be recommendable as a flawed but endearing breath of fresh air. At $15, though, it's simply a no-brainer. From the visual presentation to the enemy A.I., "Prejudice's" campaign doesn't completely mask its smaller budget. At the same time, though, its warzones are wider and higher than the constrictive corridors that dominate most shooters, and it gives you the necessary tools -- jet packs, mechs, vehicles that are wildly fun to operate -- to take advantage of all that space. Warts or not, everything about "Prejudice" operates with a great mix of competence and chaos, and the total package is a total steal for the price.

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GADGET

Get a real power boost from your desk With every new gadget, we add a power cord and a battery that always seems to run out just before we actually need the device. The beautiful Power Pod desk accessory from Coalesse (store.coalesse.com, $99) disguises itself as a pen and pencil holder, but underneath the liftoff container are six power outlets. For those who don't have access to several power outlets on their desktop, this is a huge help to keep that power-hungry smart phone charged while at work.

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