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Starring in the grim Punisher: War Zone are (from left) Dash Mihok, Colin Salmon and Ray Stevenson.
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Published: March 19, 2009
'Punisher' movie stays true to the character's violent ways
Punisher: War Zone (R): On the third try, Hollywood finally got Marvel's grim comic-book character The Punisher right. Ray Stevenson (HBO's Rome) takes over the role of Frank Castle, previously played by Dolph Lundgren in 1989 and Thomas Jane in 2004. He is a vigilante who saw his family slaughtered and has begun a one-man war on crime. Think Batman without the mask, armed to the teeth and willing to kill. With his ultra-violent tendencies and grim outlook, The Punisher is far removed in tone from the kid-friendly likes of such other Marvel characters as Spider-Man and Iron Man.
War Zone follows Castle as he takes on a disfigured mob boss called Jigsaw (Dominic West, under heavy makeup). Castle also has to contend with an FBI task force assembled to stop his vigilante crusade. The DVD is available in a single-disc edition or a double-disc set loaded with extras. Those extras are also available on the Blu-ray version.
Elegy (R): Isabel Coixet directs this adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Dying Animal, in which a college professor (Ben Kingsley) becomes obsessed with a younger student (Penelope Cruz).
Return of the Outlaws (PG-13): This Western revolves around an outlaw on the run, a saloon gal and a crooked judge joining together for a heist.
Wuthering Heights (Unrated): The latest adaptation of Emily Bronte's classic novel, this two and a half hour-long production was shown recently on Masterpiece Theatre.
The Life of Lucky Cucumber (Unrated): Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, this offbeat mockumentary follows two filmmakers searching for a man reputed to have extraordinary luck and running afoul of various lowlifes.
Three Stooges Collection Vol. 5 (Unrated): Say farewell to Curly and hello to Shemp in this, the latest set in the chronological Three Stooges shorts. This one has 24 shorts released from 1946 to 1948. Curly Howard had suffered a stroke, and is in poor health for most of his appearances. In 1947, his brother Shemp -- who had been part of the comedy group in its vaudeville days but not on film -- took his place.
Afro Ninja: Destiny (Unrated): The YouTube hit short film becomes a feature-length film in this spoof of kung-fu movies.
Mr. Belvedere Seasons 1 and 2 (Unrated): Christopher Hewett plays a refined English butler who moves in with a rowdy American family in this 1980s sitcom. The five-disc boxed set has the first two seasons of the show plus new interviews with the cast and a Saturday Night Live sketch making fun of the show.
Head Case Season 1 (Unrated): Alexandra Wentworth plays a therapist to the stars in this sitcom, which was originally shown on the Starz digital network. She specializes in helping celebrities, and the show features self-deprecating cameos by such stars as Andy Dick, Rosanna Arquette, David Alan Grier, Joel Madden, Christopher Lloyd, Cindy Margolis and Jeff Goldblum.
Barney Miller: The Complete Third Season (Unrated): Fans had to wait four years between the DVD releases of the first and second seasons of this much-loved series, a workplace comedy where the work just happened to be in a police precinct. But it only took a little over one year between the second and third seasons coming to DVD.
Azur and Asmar: The Princes' Quest (PG): This stylish French animated adventure follows two boys on a magical quest.
The Zeta Project Season 1 (Unrated): Diedrich Bader, an alumnus of the UNC School of the Arts, provides the voice of the title character in this Saturday morning animated adventure series. He plays Zeta, a robot designed for warfare and equipped with a holographic projector that lets it disguise itself as human. When Zeta becomes self-aware, it rejects its military training and goes on the run to keep from being used as a weapon. The series followed Zeta and a girl named Ro as they evade government agents and try to find Zeta's creator.
The show was a spinoff of the popular animated series Batman Beyond, and like that show was set in the not-too-distant future. The DVD set has 12 episodes of the show, two episodes of Batman Beyond that featured the Zeta character, and a roundtable discussion with the cast and crew talking about how the show would have ended if it hadn't been canceled after its second season.
The Spectacular Spider-Man Vols 2 and 3 (Unrated): Spidey takes on such familiar foes as Sandman, Dr. Octopus, and the Green Goblin -- plus more obscure ones including Hammerhead, Tombstone and The Rhino -- in the latest DVD releases of this popular Saturday morning animated series. Each disc has three episodes of the show.
New on Blu-ray: The 1987 romantic comedy-fantasy The Princess Bride; and two biblical dramas, 1951's Quo Vadis, with Robert Taylor and Peter Ustinov, and 1953's The Robe, with Richard Burton.
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