DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Hearts take a real pounding in `Closer'

Mike Nichols' film ``Closer'' is like a romantic comedy in that it strains credulity. But its conclusions are dark, somewhat unhappy ones.

Based on Patrick Marber's stage play, the London-set ``Closer'' mostly talks through the relationships rather than actively demonstrates them. The film's quartet - Jude Law as Dan, a newspaper obituary writer; Natalie Portman as Alice, an American who works as a stripper; Clive Owen as Larry, a dermatologist; and Julie Roberts as Anna, an American photographer - connect in appropriately cute romantic-comedy style, one pair literally running into each other.

It isn't long before these moments of magic lead not to the happily-ever- after results that we'd expect after a few humorous misadventures, but to knotty relationships with lies and betrayals tied up with love and desire and no one with a clue as to how to untangle them.

Intimacy is something the characters all long for and fear, reflecting the overriding sense of insecurity seen in today's relationships - if what's in the media is to be believed. That is why some will find ``Closer'' hard to take. Many go to the movies to escape their realities, and being confronted with them can be uncomfortable - even if the medicine comes with a spoonful of sugar in the guise of attractive, top-flight actors.

I suspect that that's why ``Closer'' met with a lukewarm reception when it came out in theaters. It's far from perfect, offering no brilliant lessons on love, but if you look beyond the characters' superficiality, it may lead you to insights of your own.

``Closer'' (Columbia; $28.95) includes music video of Damien Rice's ``The Blower's Daughter.''

`Vera Drake'

Imelda Staunton rightly received a best actress Oscar nomination for her role as the title character in ``Vera Drake,'' a film by Mike Leigh. The story is set in the 1950s in England, when abortion was illegal except in certain cases, and even then, affordable only for the rich.

Staunton's Vera is a lower-middle-class housewife who begins to perform abortions. While the question of abortion is controversial to some, Leigh presents Vera not as a crusader but as a woman simply trying to do good, and the kindly, cheery Vera, who is played to a perfect pitch by Staunton, doesn't even take money for her services (although a friend who sets them up does charge a small fee without telling her).

When the police become involved, the law allows little latitude for dealing with Vera, although some in the legal system are sympathetic. And that clash is the crux of Leigh's thoughtful, well-acted drama.

``Vera Drake'' (Warner; $27.95)

`After the Sunset'

I saw ``After the Sunset'' twice. Lest you think that that's a recommendation for the Brett Ratner caper film starring Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Woody Harrelson and Don Cheadle, you only have to know it was on two plane rides - once going one way across the country, the other coming back.

It wasn't the worst way to waste time. Among the film's merits was a scantily clad Hayek. I'm still thinking about a second one.

The plot revolves around a pair of wealthy jewel thieves (Brosnan, Hayek) who have never been caught and have retired to paradise in the Caribbean. Just as the one diamond they've never stolen sails into port, an FBI agent (Harrelson) - who sees the couple as his great white whale - arrives. Cheadle plays a local crime boss also interested in the ice. Cheadle's very good, of course, and he can play these cracked bad guys in his sleep. They could have made it interesting by giving Cheadle Brosnan's role, Brosnan Harrelson's and Harrelson Cheadle's. As it is, it's a mild diversion if you're trapped on an airplane.

``After the Sunset'' (New Line; $27.95) includes commentary by Ratner, deleted scenes and featurettes.

`Apollo 13,' `Orgazmo,' `Kagemusha'

The 10th anniversary two-disc edition of Ron Howard's ``Apollo 13'' has a whole lot more for the space-race aficionado, including a look at the last 45 years in space and a featurette called ``Lucky 13: The Astronauts' Story - Recounting the Events of the Mission.'' There's also Howard's re-edited IMAX version of the film.

While most people only remember the mission's punch line, ``Houston, we have a problem,'' the film effectively brought home the drama of the ill-fated moon voyage. Tom Hanks, as flight commander James Lovell, exudes the resolve needed for the role, and is supported by an excellent cast - Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton and Kathleen Quinlan as Lovell's wife, Marilyn. The special effects, top-notch at the time, still hold up. What the film lacks is a bit of messiness and grittiness. While NASA and the brave astronauts deserve all the respect they get, too much respect can also flatten out a film, and ``Apollo 13'' suffers from a bit of that.

``Orgazmo,'' on the other hand, has little respect for anything, which is what gives it its punch. From ``South Park'' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, this live-action film starring Parker is sophomoric, gross, politically incorrect and occasionally hilarious - if you consider a Mormon caught up in the porn business as funny. Now, thanks to some outtakes (it was already rated NC-17), ``Orgazmo'' is even grosser. As with ``South Park,'' you have to drop your pretenses and put on an adolescent mind set to like the humor in this film.

``Kagemusha'' was the great Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's return to filmmaking in 1980 after a number of years of inactivity. He was aided by American directors Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, who used their clout to get the film made. As with all the films in Criterion's collection, ``Kagemusha,'' a colorful samurai epic, is given a loving treatment that film buffs can appreciate. Although not among the director's greats - like ``Ran,'' which was to follow in 1985 -``Kagemusha'' ranks among his best works, and a Kurosawa near-masterpiece is still something to behold.

``Apollo 13 (10th Anniversary Widescreen Edition)'' (Universal; $22.98) includes commentary and features on two discs.

``Orgazmo (Unrated Special Edition)'' (Universal; $19.98).

``Kagemusha - Criterion Collection'' (Criterion; $39.95) includes commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince, a documentary on the making of ``Kagemusha'' and the featurette ``Helping a Master: Coppola, Lucas and Kagemusha.''

`Auschwitz,' `Murder, She Wrote,' `The Lone Gunmen,' more TV

Oscar-winning actress Linda Hunt narrates the recent BBC documentary about the Holocaust, ``Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State.'' As grim archival footage rolls by, Hunt solemnly describes the horrifying reality of how the German hierarchy in World War II systematically tried to wipe out the Jews and Gypsies in Europe. ``Inside the Nazi State'' relies on the latest research and uses computer-generated animated effects and re-enactments to recount Hitler's plans for a ``final solution.'' Still, as scholarly, intelligent and well-done as this excellent documentary is, there is nothing that ever adequately explains such inhumanity.

The mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, who solved crimes on the long-running series ``Murder, She Wrote,'' owes a lot to the woman who played her. Angela Lansbury gave the character the right combination of understated toughness and matronly warmth. The first of 12 seasons of ``Murder, She Wrote'' is out on DVD, and no doubt many will turn to it for Lansbury's peculiar charms rather than for the usually thinly constructed mysteries that she would unravel in less than an hour.

``The Lone Gunmen,'' a spinoff of ``The X-Files,'' shows why sidekicks' series don't work. (Don't write. I'm sure I overlooked some exception). On ``The X-Files,'' the Gunmen, a trio of geeks who helped Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) on their FBI cases, only needed to help move the plot along and provide comic relief. On their own show, they had to shoulder the dramatic burden, and while ``Gunmen'' maintains the quirkiness of Chris Carter, the creator of both series, it lacked the emotional linchpin of the Mulder-Scully relationship. What was left was amusing at times, just not compelling.

Other TV releases are listed below.

``Auschwitz - Inside the Nazi State'' (BBC; $34.98).

``Murder, She Wrote - The Complete First Season'' (Universal; $49.98) includes 21 episodes plus the pilot movie.

``The Lone Gunmen - The Complete Series'' (Fox; $39.98) includes all 13 episodes, commentary and featurettes.

America's Next Top Model - Cycle 1'' (Paramount; $38.99).

``A Touch of Frost - Season 5'' (MPI; $49.98).

``Midsomer Murders - Set 5'' (Acorn; $59.99).

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) IMELDA STAUNTON in ``Vera Drake''

(2) BILL PAXTON, left, KEVIN BACON and TOM HANKS in ``Apollo 13''

(3) TOM BRAIDWOOD, left, BRUCE HARWOOD and DEAN HAGLUND in ``The Lone Gunmen''