Yippee-ki-yay: McClane is back
“Live Free or Die Hard” (20th Century Fox): Bruce Willis’ wiseguy cop John McClane has gotten a little more serious with age, but he can still give and take a punch - a lot of punches. After a 12-year hiatus, Willis returned to his action franchise with this hit sequel that has McClane racing to foil a plot by a technology whiz (Timothy Olyphant) to shut down vital services and infrastructure over the Fourth of July. The movie is available in two single-disc versions, a full-screen edition with the PG-13-rated theatrical release and a widescreen edition with an unrated cut. The unrated version also comes in a two-disc set whose extras include a making-of segment and a conversation with Willis and filmmaker Kevin Smith, who co-stars as a tech geek living in his mom’s basement.
“Hairspray” (New Line): It started as cult filmmaker John Waters’ little flick, went on to become a Broadway smash and returned to the big screen in a musical adaptation of the stage version. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky stars as a plump, plucky Baltimore teen who enlists friends and family - including John Travolta in a cross-dressing role as her equally portly mother and Queen Latifah as a saucy record-shop owner - to racially integrate a TV dance show in the 1960s. The movie comes in a bare-bones single-disc release and a two-disc DVD loaded with extras. Among the bonus features are deleted scenes and a new musical number.
“The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (Disney): This time out, Tim Allen’s Santa Claus is transported back to the moment in the first movie when he became jolly old St. Nick, with the scheming Jack Frost (Martin Short) stepping in to hijack the Claus persona and turn the holiday into an even gaudier exercise in commercialism than it already is. Extras include an alternate opening.
“Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same” (Warner Bros.): Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones return in one of the all-time great rock concert films, a 1976 release that captures Zeppelin at its prime in New York City performances three years earlier. The film comes in a two-disc set whose extras include unreleased performances, TV coverage of the tour, a BBC interview with Plant and a radio piece by a young rock journalist named Cameron Crowe.
“The Lady Vanishes,” “Sawdust and Tinsel” (Criterion): Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 classic spy caper “The Lady Vanishes” gets a top-notch DVD update. It features May Whitty as a kindly old woman who makes pals with a fellow train passenger (Margaret Lockwood), then disappears as though she never existed, prompting the younger woman to race to crack the case and convince everyone else she’s not crazy. The two-disc set has a choice extra, the 1941 feature film “Crook’s Tour,” starring Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne reprising the comic supporting characters they played in “The Lady Vanishes.”
TV on DVD
“Love, American Style: Season One, Volume One” (Paramount): The comedy anthology show about dating, marriage, adultery and all things romantic debuted in 1969 and went on to feature a parade of celebrity guest stars. A three-disc set has the first 12 episodes from season one.