short circuits

DVD
It's war out there

A cross between "The War of the Worlds" and a Marine recruiting film, "Battle: Los Angeles" sends a bunch of earnest leathernecks into the most hostile territory they've ever experienced: Santa Monica, Calif. Twenty major cities around the world have been attacked by metal-sheathed extraterrestrials. The movie emphasizes the effects of the intergalactic brawl on a lone Marine patrol, led by no-nonsense Staff Sgt. Mike Nantz (Aaron Eckhart). The repetitive point-and-shoot story suggests an M-rated video game, but the movie's pounding symphonic score and irony-free outlook are closer to World War II B-movies. So are its lack of humor and embrace of cliché. The DVD and Blu-ray (Sony, $29-$39) include commentary and deleted scenes.

WASHINGTON POST

Also out Tuesday: "Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son," "Elvira's Movie Macabre" (new volumes), "Glades" (Season 1), "Hall Pass," "Happiness Is Peanuts: Snoopy's Adventures," "Haven" (Season 1), "Jackass 3.5," "Kill the Irishman," "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen," "Mooz-Lum," "Red Riding Hood," "Rubber," "Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D," "Supernatural" (Season 2), "Vanishing of the Bees," and Blu-rays of "The Cincinnati Kid," "Heavy Metal," "Insignificance," "The Makioka Sisters," "Point Break."

Series ranks devices "101 Gadgets That Changed the World," a two-hour special on the evolution of technology and its impact on society, premieres at 8 p.m. Wednesday on the History channel. Editors from Popular Mechanics and a panel of other experts will rank the most influential inventions of the past 200 years and detail historically significant stories behind them. For example, the common household blender, essential for making a proper smoothie, helped Jonas Salk create the polio vaccine.

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

Redone shooter misses A reworked version of 2005's "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory," "Splinter Cell 3D" ($40 for Nintendo 3DS; rated Teen), takes place when Sam Fisher still worked for the government as an agent. The game looks good on the 3DS, and the 3-D effects add to the sneaky atmosphere. But the change in format means the game handles differently. Sadly, the compromises aren't for the better, and the controls feel unwieldy.

SACRAMENTO (CALIF.) BEE