Meet Aaron

Aaron Eckhart, Gotham’s City’s crusading new district attorney in “The Dark Knight,” shows a more vulnerable side in “Meet Bill,” an uneven comedy about getting your act together when life’s not working.

Eckhart plays Bill, a melancholy, chocolate-scarfing, Nerf-ball type with a cheating wife (Elizabeth Banks), a spirit-draining job and a bottom-feeding role with his rich, snooty in-laws.

Bill gets his wake-up call from the shrewd, brassy teen (Logan Lerman) he’s forced to take on in a mentoring program and the spunky lingerie clerk (Jessica Alba) the teen brings into his scheme to help Bill.

The acting’s solid and, despite the film’s shaky writing, it’s a little better than it sounds.

For Eckhart at his very best, though, check him out as an arch office misogynist in 1997’s intense “In the Company of Men,” and as a tobacco lobbyist with a wisp of a soul in 2006’s satirical “Thank You for Smoking.”

Extras: Deleted scenes that aren’t worth your time.

Foolin’ with the Force

Adult Swim creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich join forces with co-writer Breckin Meyer, heavy hitter George Lucas, Conan O’Brien and a host of others for “Robot Chicken: Star Wars,” a 23-minute spoof of the sci-fi classic done in stop-motion animation with action figures.

Lacking the graphic action-figure sex and X-rated comments (language gets “bleeped” in the series and in the film) of the Cartoon Network show, the film is a compilation of “Star Wars”-related sketches, some funny, some not, taking on Darth Vader, George W. Bush (battling Abe Lincoln), Jar Jar Binks, Luke and Leia (in bed briefly) and the Death Star.

Best for “Robot Chicken” fans.

Extras: Endless takes of Green, Senreich and/or Meyer rehearsing intros, ad-libbing in and out of character and just fooling around; more.

A chiller

Veering between creepy and ho-hum, “The Last Winter” plants an eclectic band of oil-company brass (including “Hellboy’s” Ron Perlman), workers and environmentalists in a pristine, isolated Northern Alaska area intended as a base for drilling.

Then the hallucinations begin and the fatalities grow. A colleague’s jacket quote calls the 2007 film “the scariest movie of the year.” I call it slow-moving and occasionally repetitious, but otherwise a decent horror filler that turns spooky near the end.

James LeGros and Connie Britton also star.

Extras: Making-of short; deleted scenes, some of which add useful background; interview with and commentary by director Larry Fessenden (“The Brave One”).

Poor odds

An MIT professor (Kevin Spacey) convinces his brainiest math students (including Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth) to join him in a counting-cards scheme to clean out the casinos in Las Vegas in “21.”

It plays like an air-brushed adaptation of the true story (Ben Mezrich’s “Bringing Down the House”) that inspired it.

Extras: Commentary by director Robert Luketic; how-to-count-cards short; more.

Also on DVD

“Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning”: When married Susan Sarandon invites fellow Holocaust survivor Max von Sydow to dinner, he unexpectedly brings along Gabriel Byrne, who fell for Sarandon when both were at the same concentration camp; drama ensues.

“The Boston Strangler: The Untold Story”: Imprisoned small-time crook Albert De Salvo (David Faustino) plans to confess to being the Boston Strangler for fame and reward money.

“The Director’s Series: Andre Techine 4-Film Collection”: “Wild Reeds,” “My Favorite Season,” “I Don’t Kiss,” “Hotel America”; in French.

“Don Camillo” and “The Return of Don Camillo”: Comedy double-bill with Fernandel as a Catholic priest at war with his town’s communist mayor; in Italian.

“Six Reasons Why”: Four men with troubled pasts stand ready to shoot each other in an old-fashioned Western starring Dan Wooster and Colm Feore.

“Two Tickets to Paradise”: Longtime friends (John C. McGinley, D.B. Sweeney, Paul Hipp) stuck in nowhere lives escape during a cross-country trip to the College Football Championship Bowl.

TV on DVD

“Comedy Central’s TV Funhouse” (by Robert “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog” Smigel)

“LA Ink: Season One, Vol. 1” (tattoo-artist tales)

“Las Vegas: Season Five” (Tom Selleck takes over)

“Picture This” (Ashley Tisdale Disney musical).

“Sesame Street: Count on Sports” (with Vince Carter, Grover, Elmo and Venus Williams)

“Shark Week: Ocean of Fear” (don’t go in the water)

“Spaced: The Complete Series” (BBC comedy)

“Steve-O: Out on Bail” (more “Jackass” stunts)

“Transformers Cybertron: The Ultimate Connection” (animated series).

Coming soon

Aug. 5: “The Counterfeiters.”
Aug. 12: “The Wire — The Complete Fifth Season.”

`Dark Knight’ draws winning hand with Joker

There are not a lot of happy people in “The Dark Knight.’’ Or any, for that matter. Moments of joy are short-lived and muddied with uncertainty.

Christopher Nolan paints this stunning sequel in dark and unsettling shadings, more so than in his “Batman Begins” predecessor.

Director and co-writer, Nolan thickens his picture with strong story lines, constructing a violent and eerie cat’s cradle of damaged villains and heroes — a Freudian freak show ill-suited for children, despite the film’s comic book roots and PG-13 rating.

As the Joker, Heath Ledger’s brilliant showpiece villain, says “What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.” (Any movie that successfully perverts Nietzsche earns a plaudit in my estimation.)

The humor’s more morbid, the action more elaborate than in “Batman Begins,” which earned $372 million worldwide. The grandest stunts — including a high-speed chase with a big rig and the techno-cool Bat Pod cycle — were shot in IMAX. The immense, up-close perspective fosters immersion in the action and dizziness from some of the arty camerawork, but I doubt you’d lose much seeing it all on a regular-size screen.

At its core, “The Dark Knight” continues the struggle to rid Gotham City of its criminals — not only the title character’s crusade, but that of new district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the story’s designated “white knight.”

Adding intrigue, Harvey’s dating attorney Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, taking over for “Batman Begin’s” miscast Katie Holmes), the woman who’s told billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale, reprising his role) that she’s his the moment he stops being Batman.

This plot thread wends through the soft-spoken hero’s troubled psyche, making him more conflicted about keeping his secret identity and, implicitly, the loneliness that accompanies it. (Freud would kill to get him on a couch.)

He seems more withdrawn, despite having matured and toughened. As Batman — Bale’s signed for two more sequels — the actor’s performance is quieter but more chilling, as if there’s a simmering volatility lurking just below the surface. To Bale’s credit, his aberrant creation doesn’t disappear in the Joker’s long shadow.

In his final performance — not counting an unfinished role in Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” — Ledger turns the iconic character into a truly frightening villain, possibly the genre’s scariest ever. The patchy clown makeup barely hides his character’s facial scars, adding a ghoulish tint to his offhand malevolence.

Jack Nicholson’s over-the-top Joker in Tim Burton’s “Batman” ramped up the 1989 film’s charisma, delivering a handful of laughs and a lot of mugging. Ledger’s Joker grows from deeper within. His Clown Prince of Crime is rawer emotionally and psychologically. The film’s mad catalyst, he operates without boundaries, scruples, rhyme or reason beyond creating anarchy and chaos.

It’s a masterful portrayal, the source of the picture’s pitch-black humor as well as its chills. Each time Ledger’s onscreen, he expands and enriches the “Dark Knight” experience. Compared to his Joker, the film’s other villains come across as circus bozos exiting a VW.

Michael Caine, back as Bruce/Batman’s butler, adds class and wit to the angst-laden goings-on. Gyllenhaal’s earthy Rachel brings a welcome dose of relationship reality that grounds the spectacle somewhat. Gary Oldman, returning as Lt. Jim Gordon, the Caped Crusader’s ally, provides a little warmth.

Eckhart’s D.A., a fine addition, acts as Bruce’s ideal. Harvey’s the kind of in-the-open hero he aspires to, despite knowing it’s a pipe dream due to his vigilante history.

I didn’t like “The Dark Knight” — I prefer pictures that lift spirits — but I appreciated it. It’s too long, and Nolan tosses in too many twists near the end. But it delivers ongoing adrenalin rushes, mental popcorn to chew over and a rich atmosphere to get lost in.

And it’s impressive enough to rank as summer’s strongest blockbuster.

Statham stars in successful “Bank Job”

No, you haven’t seen so many robbery films that “The Bank Job” will seem like just another heist movie. It’s not. Out this week, the entertaining take on a real 1971 London robbery — well-documented in the extras — threads through government cover-ups and gangster shenanigans.

Plot-heavy and character-light, the complicated, fictionalized story scampers at a caperlike pace.

Director Roger Donaldson’s saga is bolstered by whiskery action star Jason Statham as leader of the second-rate crooks who plan the theft. It’s good escapism.

Just be prepared for a run of violence in the homestretch.

Extras: Extended scenes; making-of short; short on the real theft; digital, downloadable copy on second disc.

Trippy photos

The best thing about “Shutter,” an all-too-familiar ghost film, is a slick extra that teaches how to create a spirit photo in less than four minutes, a trick everyone should know.

In the movie, a ghostly white blur appears in a newly married couple’s photos after they accidentally hit a woman in the road with their car. Her body vanishes. They have travel plans. So it goes.

Grumpy hubby (Joshua Jackson) starts a new job in Japan as a fashion photographer. Hence, the “Shutter” title, rather than the more accurate “Bummer.”

While he works, his loving wife (Rachael Taylor) sees the weird woman in subway windows, gets jumpy and decides to investigate.

The film’s second half focuses on the mystery and is an upgrade on the first half; don’t mistake that as a recommendation.

Extras: Solid bunch about the film, spirits, spirit photography; alternate scenes; more.

Nose shtick

Christina Ricci plays the vulnerable, reclusive title character in “Penelope,” a contemporary fable about a girl born with a pig snout for a nose because of a family curse.

The way to lift the curse is to marry an aristocrat, a problem since her blueblood suitors find her so repugnant that most leap through glass windows in fear.

And that’s the rub: Ricci’s still cute as a button despite the prosthetic proboscis, so it’s nearly impossible to suspend disbelief, and the suitors’ exaggerated fright-and-flight response looks ridiculous.

Produced by Reese Witherspoon, who takes a supporting role, the fairy tale is sweet despite its ungainliness.

Catherine O’Hara plays Penelope’s high-strung mom. James McAvoy (“Wanted”) is a disheveled, nice-guy gambler who’s paid by one of the paparazzi (Peter Dinklage) to court Penelope and snap her picture.

Though the storytelling’s clumsy, the film is still family-friendly because of Ricci’s affability.

Extras: Making-of short.

Bad trip

Martin Lawrence plays an overly protective control-freak father who insists on chaperoning his daughter (Raven-Symone) on a “College Road Trip” to choose her new school.

Despite a likable cast — the begging pig’s great — the film peaks at moderately amusing and cliched, valleys at uniquely stupid and cliched. There are mostly valleys.

There’s also plenty of mugging, teenage girls shrieking and upbeat background music. Chunks of comedy are mean-spirited, surprising given the Disney brand.

The movie grows less appealing as it goes on — except for scenes with Donny Osmond in a self-parody as a giddy Up With People-ish dad.

Extras: OK gag reel highlighted by Osmond’s goofs; commentary; palatable, fan-oriented Raven-Symone video diary that serves as a making-of short; music video; deleted and alternate scenes.

Also on DVD

“Asylum”: Six college freshmen land in a new dorm that was formally a mental institution run by a demented psychiatrists with a thing for lobotomies.

“Roxy Hunter and the Secret of the Shaman”: Kid-oriented caper with preteen sleuth.

“Steel Trap”: Gory horror in a high-rise where a masked killer stalks five pseudo celebs during a private party on New Year’s Eve. (Been there.)

“Step Up 2 the Streets”: High-energy freestyle dance competitions.

“Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding”: Adrian Grenier (“Entourage”) and Mila Kunis (“That ’70s Show”) star in an adaptation of the long-running audience-participation off-Broadway satire about wedding craziness.

“Trapped Ashes”: Seven strangers must tell terrifying personal stories to escape a “House of Horrors” trap; different directors for each tale, including Ken Russell and Joe Dante.

“Voice”: High school student hears voice of dead best friend in intense ghost story.

“The Year My Parents Went on Vacation”: Brazilian coming-of-age tale of 12-year-old adjusting to life after his militant, left-wing parents go underground.

TV on DVD

“Beau Brummell: This Charming Man”
“Best of MANswers: Season One’s Top 25 Manswers”
“Birds of Prey” (complete series, about Batgirl and her offspring
“Dallas: The Complete Ninth Season”
“Eureka: Season Two”
“Evening Shade, Season One” (good Burt Reynolds sitcom)
“Reno 911! The Complete Fifth Season: Uncensored”
“Robbie Coltrane: Incredible Britain” (travels with Robbie)
“Saving Grace, Season 1”
“Swamp Thing: The Series, Vol. 2.”

Coming soon to DVD

Aug. 5: “Nim’s Island”
Aug. 26: “Heroes: Season 2″

Post-war is hell

Ryan Phillippe shows some chops in “Stop-Loss,” an insightful drama co-starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a volatile Iraq war vet who wants to return to the front, but can’t due to his instability.

In her first film since “Boys Don’t Cry,” director Kimberly Peirce builds her story around the military’s stop-loss policy, which permits sending soldiers back to battle after they’ve completed their tour of duty and returned home.

A hero abroad and in his small Texas community, Phillippe’s patriotic character balks at returning to Iraq, finding support or antipathy from friends and former comrades.

Emotions are raw, conflicts convincing.

The ending’s less than one might hope for, but palatable.

Extras: Commentary by Peirce and co-writer Mark Richard; 11 deleted scenes; making-of short; a day in boot camp (actors training).

Book in ruins

Five tourists are trapped atop an old Mayan temple surrounded by creepy, creeping vines and hostile villagers in “The Ruins: Unrated Edition.”

Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore and a handful of unfamiliar faces carry in this gruesome, downbeat, energy-sapping adaptation of the popular Scott Smith novel.

Oh, the inhumanity.

Extras: Alternate endings, one of which is OK; making-of short; effects short with close-ups of shattered, blood-soaked prosthetic legs used in a shut-your-eyes sequence too horrific to describe; filmmakers’ commentary; deleted scenes; more.

Truth still out there

“X-Files” creator Chris Carter selected eight episodes — including the series’ pilot and the droll, black-and-white “The Post-Modern Prometheus” — and explains his rationale for each in “The X-Files: Revelations,” a teaser to the “X-Files” movie due out July 25.

The shows are all quality, but if, like me, you saw them the first time around and/or in repeats, you might have a difficult time sitting through them again.

Basic premise: FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), the believer, and Dana Scully (Gillian “Bleak House” Anderson), the skeptic, investigate all things alien, psychic, vampire, genetically altered and such.

Extras: “X-Files” movie ticket worth $8.50 (go to Web site, print copy); movie trailer; 38-minute 2008 WonderCon panel session with the two stars, Carter and producer Frank Spotnitz.

Dopey-movie redux

“Meet the Spartans,” “Epic Movie”: Will the uninspired, unfunny spoof-a-lization of blockbusters ever cease?

Unlikely; not as long as there are teenagers who lap up this sort of thing (“Scary Movie” ad infinitum).

New and unimproved, “The Superhero Movie” is the latest in the series: a “Spider-Man” takeoff about a guy (Drake Bell) who gets bitten by a dragonfly and acquires all of its powers but the abilities to fly and crack jokes.

Other hits, such as “X-Men,” also get satirized, but except for the trailer and one or two OK gags that slip through the mean-spirited thicket of plot re-creations and cultural references — Barry Bonds, superhero! — the whole thing’s pretty dismal.

Extras: Filmmakers’ commentary; deleted scenes; alternate ending; shorts on the cast and — ready? — “The Art of Spoofing.”

Cry wolf

A young man (Cory Monteith) blinded at work gets a wolf’s yellow eyes in an experimental surgery done by transplant specialist Justine Bateman in “Hybrid.”

Suddenly he can sniff danger, see in the dark and run like the wind with his shirt off.

He also overreacts to threats, and imagines the same scenes of wolves romping and fighting over and over again. It drives him nuts — except when he’s tearing into raw buffalo meat served in a restaurant where it’s evidently a blue-plate special.

The dark fable involves American Indian mysticism, nature preservation and the usual nastiness from the usual government agents.

Blood’s spilled; not enough.

The ending’s loony as a tail-chasing puppy.

Decent acting given the low budget, but more werewolf wannabe than the real thing (so to speak). Extras: None.

Mummy dearest

“The Mummy — Deluxe Edition” (1999, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz), “The Mummy — Special Edition” (1932, Boris Karloff) and “The Mummy Returns — Deluxe Edition” (2001, Fraser and Weisz again) are all out in digitally restored, two-disc sets to whet appetites for “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (Fraser and Maria Bello), due in theaters Aug. 1.

Each set contains a tomb full of extras and a ticket to the new release. Karloff’s “Mummy” has the most atmosphere, Fraser’s have the most effects and action — and the least of everything else.

Also on DVD

“Batman: Gotham Knight”: Feature-length animated film uses six connected stories to show Bruce Wayne’s evolution into the Dark Knight; on two discs.

“Blood Brothers”: Seeking a better life, three brothers come to Shanghai in the 1930s, are hired by the mob and get in trouble over a woman; subtitled.

“Chop Shop”: Ramin Bahrani’s (“Man Push Cart”) drama follows a 12-year-old New York orphan who tries to scavenge a life for himself and his sister by working in an auto-body repair shop.

“305”: Hit YouTube “300” spoof, now feature length, about five cowards who seek redemption after causing the demise of the 300 Spartans.

TV on DVD

“The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet: Best of Ricky & Dave”
“The Backyardigans: Mighty Match Up”
“Batman: The Complete Fifth Season”
“Cannon: Season One, Volume One” (William Conrad fights crime)
“Fastlane: The Complete Series”
“I Dream of Jeannie: Season 5”
“Jake and the Fatman, Season One, Volume One” (Conrad again, still fighting)
“Metropolis” (sagas of world’s seven greatest cities)
“Monk: Season Six”
“Psych: The Complete Second Season”
“Sheryl Crow: Live”
“Soul Food — The Series: Final Season”
“Stargate Atlantis: Season Four”
“Teen Titans: The Complete Fifth Season”
“Wire in the Blood: The Complete Fifth Season”

Coming soon

July 29: “Shine a Light” (Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones film)
Aug. 5: “The Counterfeiters,” “Nim’s Island”

I can tolerate gruesomeness as well as the next guy, “guy” being the operative word since, with the exception of a colleague’s wife who revels in the “Saw” movies, appreciating gruesomeness is mostly a male thing.

Maybe it goes back to playing scientist as kids, and being fascinated by chicken innards.

I know: Too much information.

And that’s my criticism of the blood-and-guts overkill in “The Ruins,” a trash-and-thrash film that’s out on DVD July 8: Too much too much.

Forget about the creepiness. The tale of tourists stranded on atop an old temple mound surrounded by thick vines and vicious villagers features an intentional breaking-legs scene that crashes the Gore-O-Meter. Which isn’t easy.

You get close-ups of the action, you hear enhanced smashing-and-cracking sounds, and you get close-ups of the awful aftermath.

Don’t eat enchiladas beforehand.

As if that’s not enough, you get in-your-face looks at the icked-up artificial limbs in the extras.

Not healthy for children and other living things.