DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Allen, Costner mix well

Mike Binder's ``The Upside of Anger'' is a testament to the wiriness of Joan Allen and the malleability of Kevin Costner.

Though it's a blend of romantic comedy and domestic drama that occasionally gets lumpy, ``Upside'' at least tackles suburban unease with a sense of spirit and is helped by its leads' performances. Allen is Terry Wolfmeyer, the angry middle-age mother of four almost-grown daughters whose unease comes from her husband having left her high and dry with the parenting duties.

Living near her Michigan home is Costner's Denny Davies, a former pro baseball player of note who is living off his past glory selling his autographs, hosting a radio talk show and drinking a lot of beer as he drifts into aimlessness.

Terry is drinking, too, just trying to cope with the girls played by Evan Rachel Wood, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt. What Denny sees in Terry is purpose and substance - a challenge that he hasn't had since his retirement. Terry at first sees only another childish man. But an uneasy truce and then a relationship develops as Terry begins to bend - the tall, thin Allen says volumes with her body language - and Denny, bloated in his post-baseball life, begins to show some of the grace and muscle in his character that once made him a successful athlete. It's a transition that Costner does with an engaging ease.

While Binder's film is manipulative at times, it captures some of the complexities and absurdities of middle-age relationships, often born of mistrust and fear. Denny and Terry appear unsuited for each other - no Romeo and Juliet - yet they manage not just to agree on a middle ground but to find a way beyond it. As messy as love is, it requires thinking outside the box and a few laughs, Binder seems to be saying.

And ``The Upside of Anger'' delivers its own laughs, a few tears and two very lovely performances.

If there ever was a Hollywood limit to the preposterous, the thriller/spy flick ``XXX: State of the Union'' takes little time exceeding it. This sequel is even sillier than the wildly silly ``XXX'' - which found Vin Diesel supposedly making the world of espionage hip by infusing extreme sports like snowboarding, skateboarding and parasailing into his efforts to save the world.

Both films are live-action video games with an emphasis on blowing things up - which, in ``State,'' begins, oh, about five minutes into the film. Another thing ``State'' tries to blow up is its star, Ice Cube (real name O'Shea Jackson), who never seems to have the muscle to be a superhero no matter how much iron he might have pumped to get ready for the role.

The plot involves an attempted coup of the U.S. government and the only one who can prevent this is Cube's Darius Stone, who will become the new XXX. The former extreme spy who wore that moniker (presumably Diesel's character) is dead, explains disavowed intelligent agent Augustus Gibbons, played by Samuel L. Jackson, back for a second go-round.

After breaking Stone out of a military prison - he was there for doing the right thing, of course - Gibbons is suddenly out of the picture and the new XXX must save the country, which includes recruiting help from a Washington, D.C., chop shop. (They want to preserve their thieving way of life, of course.)

Only Scott Speedman, as the one member of the government with a clue as to what's going on, has much of an on-screen presence. Cube, whose film personality is usually affable, seems miscast. (Oddly enough, he was starring in the family comedy ``Are We There Yet'' a bit before ``State'' was released, while Diesel was in his own family comedy, ``The Pacifier.'')

Directed by Lee Tamahori, who managed to put a bit of an edge on the dulling James Bond franchise with ``Die Another Day,'' ``State'' may make a 007 film look like cold reality, but it works well enough to be diverting for a very undemanding night at home. And if you have a home theater system, those explosions will be really loud.

``Steamboy'' is a Japanese anime flight of fancy that tries to carry some heavy questions. It's set in a reimagined Victorian era where steam power rules - the way oil does today. The film, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo (``Akira''), displays some clever steam-powered gadgetry that stands in for today's technology as its young hero, Ray Steam (voiced by Anna Paquin), tries to prevent a new fuel source called a ``steam ball'' from being used for the wrong reasons.

Lining up against Ray are big business and warmongers. This all boils over into a fairly wild third act that's too chaotic at times - like a big Hollywood spectacle - but Otomo's pen-and-ink-style animation is often spectacular. Since this is anime and not Disney, blood does flow (the film was rated PG-13). ``Steamboy'' never manages to be terribly enlightening in its thoughts about man and his relationship to technology. Still, the visuals alone make it worth the trip.

``The Upside of Anger'' (New Line; $27.95).

``XXX: State of the Union'' (Columbia; $28.95).

``Steamboy'' (Columbia; $26.96).

'Revenge of the Sith' on Nov. 1

The Force will be complete - at least for now. ``Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith,'' this year's box-office giant, will be released on Nov. 1 on DVD.

The two-disc ``Sith'' set will include a new full-length documentary, two new featurettes - one exploring the Anakin Skywalker prophecy, the other providing a look at the movie's stunts - and a 15-part collection of ``Web documentaries.''

Also coming out that day is the ``Star Wars Battlefront II'' video game.

Once ``Sith'' has had its DVD run, expect various box sets to follow. At least, that's my prophecy.

'The Jerk,' Errol Morris collection

``The Jerk'' is most notable for bringing Steve Martin to the big screen, and it's rather cheeky for Universal to release a 26th anniversary edition. The Carl Reiner comedy follows the adventures of a man so dumb he doesn't realize he's adopted although he's white and being raised by a family of poor Southern black farmers. The jokes never get any more sophisticated, but Martin can sure be funny.

On a more serious note, ``The Errol Morris DVD Collection'' includes three of the documentarian's early works - ``Gates of Heaven,'' ``Vernon, Florida'' and the gem of the bunch, ``The Thin Blue Line,'' about a notorious Texas murder case.

``The Jerk (26th Anniversary Edition)'' (Universal; $19.98).

``The Errol Morris DVD Collection'' (MGM; $49.98).

'Remington Steele,' 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show,' other TV

There was little doubt after Pierce Brosnan came on the scene in 1982 to play the suave, mysterious private eye Remington Steele on the NBC show of the same name that one day he would be James Bond. It took a while (supposedly because of his commitments to the show), but Brosnan eventually became the best Bond since Sean Connery.

It easy to see in the first season of the likable whodunit, which also starred Stephanie Zimbalist as his partner, that Brosnan possessed both the charm and, well, steel to play 007. ``Remington Steele'' - like another detective show that came a couple of years later, ``Moonlighting'' - relied on light, fun mysteries and an unresolved sexual subtext between its leads to succeed, which it did more often than not.

Though some episodes have been already released, the complete first and second seasons of ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' are out. One of the greatest sitcoms ever, there are features on the making of each season on both discs.

Other notable TV-related sets out this week are listed below.

``Remington Steele - Season 1'' (Fox; $39.98)

``The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Complete First Season'' (Fox; $29.98).

``The Mary Tyler Moore Show - The Complete Second Season'' (Fox; $29.98).

``3rd Rock From the Sun - Season 1'' (Anchor Bay; $39.98).

``Star Trek Enterprise - The Complete Second Season'' (Paramount; $129).

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) KEVIN COSTNER and JOAN ALLEN in ``The Upside of Anger''

(2) EWAN McGREGOR in ``Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith''

(3) BROSNAN