Beowulf: Director’s Cut

Dir. Robert Zemeckis. 2007. N/R. 114mins. Paramount. Available now ($29.99). Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Crispin Glover, John Malkovich. It was probably best to see Zemeckis’s animated Beowulf in IMAX, where the 3-D dimness only enhanced the sense of immersion in an age before electric light. Then again, the DVD is available in this new, too-hot-to-handle edition, which includes more violence and almost-nudity than you could see in the theatrical version. You are there, in A.D. 567 Denmark, as Glover’s slobbering Grendel, Jolie’s nekkid water demon and a nasty-ass dragon take on Beowulf (Winstone), all of them drooling bytes instead of that old special-effects standby, K-Y jelly. The mere idea of a multiplex Beowulf is enough of a hoot. If we must have mead halls, let them be populated by rogues like Malkovich. There are deleted scenes and making-of featurettes galore, plus the trailer for (among others) Iron Man, which you’ll be really glad to have a year from now.—Ben Kenigsberg

Home for Life

Dirs. Gordon Quinn and Gerald Temaners. 1966. Unrated. Kartemquin Films. 80mins. Available now ($29.95). Documentary. The earliest project hammered over the anvil of cinéma vérité storysmith and chief of Kartemquin Films (Hoop Dreams), Gordon Quinn, Home has a 16mm camera snake through the experiences of two 80-somethings during their first month in a nursing institution. Watching the toothless, endearing Bertha Weinberg adjust to her new life is so gut-wrenching, we wanted to track her down to help sort out her troublesome clothes closet ourselves. Equally visceral observations involve family members and fellow residents. Special features include staff reactions to the film and the music and game programs it inspired.—Veronica Hinke

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

Dir. Zach Helm. 2008. G. 94mins. Walden Media. Available Tue 4 ($29.98). Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, Zach Mills. If the jangly rhyming title sets your teeth on edge, we should give you fair warning: It’s all like that. Hoffman plays 243-year-old Mr. Magorium, the proprietor of a magical toy store. He’s decided that it’s time to leave this world and pass his store on to his perky assistant Molly Mahoney (Portman). To assess the business’s finances, Magorium has called in uptight accountant Henry Weston (Bateman). There’s also an adorable, precocious hat-wearing kid (Mills) who hangs around the store looking cute and narrating the living daylights out of the movie. What little narrative tension there is comes from the store’s resistance to change and the need to free Henry of his buttoned-down ways. There are five behind-the-scenes featurettes on the DVD, so get comfortable.—Hank Sartin

My Kid Could Paint That

Dir. Amir Bar-Lev. 2008. PG-13. 82mins. Sony Pictures Classics. Available Tue 4 ($24.96). Documentary. Four-year-old Marla Olmstead started painting alongside her father, producing big canvases covered in swirls and streaks. Dad, a frustrated amateur painter, liked what he saw and got a local coffeehouse to hang Marla’s work. People started buying the work, and the next thing you know, Marla had representation, five-figure prices and a profile in The New York Times. But then 60 Minutes cast doubts on whether Marla was getting a little help from Dad. This is when Bar-Lev started examining his own role as filmmaker, asking whether he’s been conned and whether he owes the Olmsteads a sympathetic hearing. Without being didactic, My Kid delves into complex problems surrounding art, childhood, the media and, perhaps most daringly, the ethics of documentary filmmaking.—HS

Things We Lost in the Fire

Dir. Susanne Bier. 2008. R. 118mins. Dreamworks. Available Tue 4 ($29.99). Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchovny, Alison Lohman. This film offers two recovery dramas for the price of one: After her husband (Duchovny) is fatally shot while saving a stranger from domestic abuse, Audrey (Berry) struggles to raise their two children on her own. In a vaguely symbolic gesture, she invites Duchovny’s ex–heroin addict buddy Jerry (Del Toro) to move in with her, even though he’s struggling to stay off smack. Bonding with your friend’s kids, studying for a mortgage broker’s license: It’s the new methadone. The movie, however, provides a rather dubious kind of fix: The characters are poorly drawn, their dilemmas jerry-rigged for maximum tear-jerk. The DVD contains a few additional, possibly weepy scenes.—BK

Television

Human Giant: Season One

Dir. Jason Woliner. 2007. N/R. 160mins. Paramount. Available Tue 4 ($26.99). Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer. Even before Giant aired on MTV last year, the three-man team already had a small fan base from live shows and YouTube. Not since The State, another MTV find, has a cult-followed sketch group shown so much potential to rock the mainstream. Channeling the unshackled nature of Internet videos, the group proves that when nothing is off-limits, the laughs keep on coming. Paul gets a time machine but refuses to heed warnings of dinosaur rape; in an attempt to capture hipster ironic cool, Aziz purchases a space suit; Rob sends his ex into a corn maze to avoid a breakup confrontation. Recurring segments like Shutterbugs—a cutthroat agency that represents child actors—are so well executed and uproarious (especially a ’bugs bit about the film Lil 9/11), you’ll wish you had the idea first. Extras include alternate scenes just as good as the originals.—SH