“Drillbit’s” not super bad

All you need to know about “Drillbit Taylor: Extended Survival Edition”: The extras are more fun than the movie — about three nerdy young high schoolers who hire a supposed soldier of fortune (Owen Wilson) to protect them from two older bullies.

The Judd Apatow-produced comedy isn’t awful; some scenes satisfy. And Apatow regular Leslie Mann (she’s his wife) is incandescent in the supporting role of a sexually charged schoolteacher with a thing for losers.

The film struck me as similar to “Superbad” but without the raging hormones, the raunch, the sweetness or the clever writing. “Drillbit’s” kinder, cleaner, more simplistic, and targeted at a younger set (it’s PG-13).

The action’s as predictable as a “Little Rascals” short and the screenplay’s like an afterthought, but, except for a couple of sleep-walking moments by Wilson, the cast’s plucky.

Extras: An affable bunch, including outtakes and a line-o-rama (actor’s keep ad-libbing after flubs); a short on directing kids; a rap-off; filming the school sprinkler scene; a droll bit by Danny McBride as Wilson’s homeless pal; filmmakers’ commentary; more.

Easy as pie

An earthy film with earthy extras, “My Blueberry Nights” gives singer Norah Jones her first lead — as a jilted woman who drowns her depression in blueberry pie at an all-night café and easy conversation with its owner (Jude Law).

Eventually, she solos on a cross-country road trip and runs into an alcoholic cop (David Strathairn) and his estranged floozy wife (Rachel Weisz) at one stop, and a enigmatic young gambler (Natalie Portman) at another.

A composition in romantic lighting, director Wong Kar Wai’s slice-of-life film plays like a trio of relationship vignettes, all giving Jones’ character reason to reflect ­— which she does continually.

Strathairn and Weisz are superb, Law and Portman very good. Jones has little to do but listen, watch and process. No surprises, but adult entertainment that goes down easily.

Extras: Appealing making-of short; Q-and-A with the director; still gallery.

Deja P.O.V.

The best way to enjoy “Vantage Point” may be to watch it over five days, one for each of the characters whose perspectives make up the bulk of this repetitive thriller about the assassination of the U.S. president (William Hurt) during an anti-terrorist summit in Spain.

Unlike “Rashomon,” the granddaddy of P.O.V. dramas, the segments offer little in terms of new insight; you get the same vital 15 or so minutes with little variance. But director Pete Travis keeps the action moving at a brisk pace and creates an exciting albeit predictable finale.

Most of the befores and afters are shown through the eyes of a Secret Service agent (Dennis Quaid), a camcorder-toting tourist (Forest Whitaker), a Spanish detective, a terrorist and her reluctant assistant.

Not a lot here but it’s intense and diverting.

Extras: Interviews with cast and crew; lively shorts on plotting the assassination scene and coordinating stunts; one outtake; director’s commentary. More on the two-disc version.

A good sell

In “Mad Men: Season One,” the take-no-prisoners Madison Avenue hucksters who give this multi-award-winning AMC TV drama its title are a mesmerizing lot despite a severe shortage of scruples on their part.

Set in 1960, the show follows the hard-drinking, heavy-smoking band of greedy cutthroats, headed by ad-man supreme Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

Misogynistic, philandering and ambitious, Draper, like his male cohorts, cares only about the sell, professionally and personally.

They’re not particularly likable. But Draper’s conflicted character makes him intriguing, and the characters generate plenty of heat.

The writing and the ensemble are top notch (Elisabeth Moss, Vincelt Kartheiser and January Jones also play major roles).

The series is also excellent at capturing the look and attitudes of the times and it’s addictive.

Extras: Commentaries on all 13 episodes; shorts on the world of the “Mad Men,” the changes in media in the ‘60s, the look of the people and places, and the music.

Also on DVD

“Bob the Builder: Let’s Build the Beach”: Bob and his Can-Do crew build a beach.

“City of Men”: Best friends since childhood choose different sides in a Rio de Janeiro gang war.

“Get Smart’s Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control”: Spy agency’s clumsy techies (Masi Oka and Nate Torrence) from the “Get Smart” movie try to find a missing invisibility cloak they invented.

“Meet the Browns”: Tyler Perry film with Angela Bassett as an unemployed single mother of three whose life jump-starts after she and the kids travel to Georgia for the funeral of the father she never knew.

“The Royal Diaries”: Teen-oriented tales of Cleopatra, Isabel of Spain and Elizabeth I.

“Shotgun Stories”: Two sets of half-brothers engage in a blood feud in Arkansas.

“The Tattooist”: U.S. Tattoo artist steals sacred artifact and horror ensues.

“Triloquest”: Psychotic teenage sibs and a creepy dummy leave a trail of corpses on the way to Vegas to become the city’s top ventriloquist act.

“The 2007 Newport Music Festival Connoisseur’s Collection”: Fest’s best classical-music concerts on 10 discs.

“The Wig”: A woman unknowingly gives her sister, battling cancer, an evil wig.

TV on DVD

“Anglo-Saxon Attitudes”
“The Closer: The Complete Third Season”
“Fireman Sam: To the Rescue”
“Rebus, Set 3”
“The Streets of San Francisco: The Second Season, Volume One”
“30 Days: The Complete Second Season”
“’Til Death Do Us Part”
“Tyler Perry’s House of Payne: Volume Two”
“Walker Texas Ranger: The Fifth Season.”

Coming soon

July 15: “Shutter”
July 22: “21”

Killers take R & R in beautiful Bruges

“In Bruges” could just as easily be called “Gangsters in Wonderland.”

The pitch-black comedy-drama kicks off after a volatile London crime boss (Ralph Fiennes) orders two hit men (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) to lay low in Bruges, the oldest medieval town in Belgium, when a hit goes bad.

The fairy-tale-like city gets almost as much screen time as the stars.

Years ago I spent a week in this charming town of lazy canals, old architecture, lace-making and great beer; all the sorts of things (except for the beer) that make the coarser killer (Farrell) think he’s landed in hell.

His attitude leads to most of the quirky humor in this brew of bloody murder, mayhem, odd-couple comedy (with the excellent Gleeson as a more refined hit man), romance and moviemaking.

The story doesn’t always gel — some of the humor’s forced, and Farrell’s whining grates — but it picks up near the end with splashes of violence and poignancy. (Warning for those with refined sensibilities: the “F”-word runs rampant.)

Extras: A must-see (I’m biased) canal-boat ride through Bruges; other looks at the city and its history in making-of and background shorts; deleted scenes; gag real; more.

Fab fantasy

“The Spiderwick Chronicles” is the most entertaining DVD I’ve seen this month. Based on a children’s-book series, the exciting saga is fast-paced, frothy and fun — perfect ingredients for screenings in a house with no air-conditioning.

The story centers around twin boys (both played by Freddie Highmore) and their older sister (Sarah Bolger) after they move into a secluded, rundown mansion with their mother (Mary-Louise Parker) when she and their father separate.

The obstreperous twin blames mom and acts out, so he gets blamed for the strangeness that hits the house — personal items disappear, noises come from the walls.

Investigating, he finds a hidden room containing his late, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick’s (David Strathairn) “Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You.”

The book is filled with sketches, observations and mythology that open his eyes to the world of fairies, brownies and deadly goblins surrounding the house — and after the book for the power it contains.

Adventure ensues, with plenty of frights, humor, fantasy and suspense.

Extras: The two-disc set contains shorts on the “Field Guide”; background story; the characters; making the movie; deleted scenes; more.

Coming of age in Iran

“Persepolis” is a powerful, adult-oriented animated movie based on co-writer/co-director Marjane Satrapi’s popular autobiographical comics about her experiences growing up in Iran during the Shah’s regime and the Islamic Revolution and attending high school in Austria.

Film being a different medium, Satrapi explains in the insightful and recommended bonus materials, “Perspolis” is a fictionalized version of the stories but rendered primarily in black and white, as in the comics.

The look is reminiscent of German Expressionism, says rocker Iggy Pop, who voices one the of the characters. It adds an other-world reality to the eloquent Satrapi’s experiences, as a precocious, defiant 9-year-old and an angst-laden teen and young woman.

The compelling story personalizes Iran and its people as it addresses politics, protests and restrictive culture via Satrapi’s relationships with family, friends and young men.

Gena Rowlands voices her beloved grandmother, Catherine Deneuve plays her mother.

Extras: Cannes Q&A with actors and filmmakers; featurettes on translating the comics to film, working relationships and more.

Also on DVD

“Careless”: After a slacker finds a severed finger on his kitchen floor, he, his dad and his best friend search for the woman who owns it; comedy with Colin Hanks and Tony Shalhoub.

“Charlie Bartlett”: Cocky teen (Anton Yelchin) wins over student body by playing psychiatrist at his new school; with Robert Downey Jr.

“Definitely, Maybe”: Facing divorce, Ryan Reynolds talks about his life and his important relationships with women (Rachel Weisz, Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Banks) for his daughter (Abigail Breslin) at her request. The romantic comedy is better than you think.

“The Eye 3”: Chinese-language chiller about people who contact the spirit world and its creepy creatures. (“Spiderwick” for horror fans.)

“Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs”: Animated interplanetary love story involving a planet-size critter with tons of tentacles; voice talent includes Brittany Murphy; based on the Fox TV show.

“The Hammer”: Comedy about a middle-age construction worker (former Golden Gloves boxer Adam “The Man Show” Carolla) who gets a second shot at fame at the U.S. Olympic boxing trials; “Rocky” with wit?

“Honeydripper”: John Sayles’ drama centers around the goings-on in a fading, ’50s-era Alabama blues club whose owner (Danny Glover) hires a famous electric guitar player to bring back business; good music; always something of value in Sayles’ films.

“The Lodge”: Romantic weekend in a secluded lodge becomes a struggle for survival for a couple that just wants to make whoopee.

“Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt”: Documentary about the journalist and Black Panther on death row for 25 years for murdering a Philadelphia police officer.

“Priceless”: Gold digger Audrey Tatou mistakes a poor shnook for a wealthy mark.

“Quantum Hoops: The Caltech Basketball Story”: David Duchovny narrates a documentary about the final week of the 2006 hoop season with the brainy school stuck in a 21-year losing streak.

“10,000 B.C.”: Mammoths, sabertooth tigers and cave men, oh my.

“Wide Sargasso Sea”: “Jane Eyre” prequel with Mr. Rochester (Rafe Spall) meeting the Creole heiress (Rebecca Hall) who becomes his first wife.

DVD on TV

“Elmo’s World: Summer Vacation”; “Evening Shade – Season One”; “Ice Road Truckers: On & Off the Ice”; “The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Set 3.”

Coming soon

July 1: “Vantage Point”
July 15: “The Bank Job”