DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Superlatives are overrated -- ``four stars,'' ``stunning,'' ``the best ...'' and other accolades too easily ladled out by film critics these days mean little in the long run. Most of these movies will fade, remembered simply as good or entertaining.

Of the Oscar contenders this year -- including ``Brokeback Mountain'' and ``Crash'' -- only Steven Spielberg's ``Munich'' is likely to have a long-lasting reach.

Based on ``Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team,'' ``Munich'' tells the story of Israel's crusade of revenge against a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September following the killing of Israeli hostages during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The facts of the matter are in dispute, but Spielberg does not try to pass them off as true.

Instead, opting for ``inspired by real events,'' he has fashioned a dark parable of blood-soaked people locked in a death-grip of vengeance they can't extricate themselves from. It is a film that is worth arguing about and discussing long into the future.

Despite such a serious subject, Spielberg's virtuosity as a filmmaker still reigns. ``Munich'' will have you on the edge of your seat as much as any of his more popular entertainments, such as ``Jaws.''

Written by Eric Roth (``Forrest Gump'') and Tony Kushner (``Angels in America''), the film follows five Israeli agents recruited to wipe out the terrorists, although their country will officially deny they exist.

The team is led by a former Mossad agent named Avner (Eric Bana). A good soldier but with a conscience, Avner has taken the assignment with the urging of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

He is run by his case officer Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), a no-nonsense zealot. The others in his crew are an odd mix, and hardly what you'd expect: the flashy Steve (Daniel Craig -- the new James Bond); the academic Carl (Ciaran Hinds, Julius Caesar in HBO's ``Rome''); an antiques dealer, Hans (Hanns Zischler); and a toy/bomb-maker, Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz).

As they crisscross Europe tracking down suspects -- first months pass, then years -- the bloody campaign takes its toll. They agonize over killing innocents. When Avner faces his prey, he is hesitant. Nightmares ensue, and the Palestinians strike back.

Bana exudes toughness, vulnerability and humanity in his acting. Had he played a cool Bond type, ``Munich'' would have no moral ground to stand on or question.

The film is not about Israel and its right to exist -- nor about the Palestinians' right to a homeland. It is about the cost of vengeance.

There are two telling meetings in the film -- one during the operation between Avner and a terrorist who predicts Israel will fall. The other is afterward, when Avner has moved to Brooklyn to escape his past. There he meets Ephraim in an unsettling scene, with the sight of the World Trade Center towers in the background. This question of blood, Spielberg is saying, is not just in the remote past. It is here, now.

The two-set DVD includes the usual on-the-set material as well as a segment on memories by individuals of the 1972 massacre in the Olympic village.

``Munich'' (Universal, $29.98 for single disc, $39.98 for two-disc edition)

A `New World,' a new Pocahontas

Even by director Terrence Malick's strange standards, his latest, ``The New World,'' is a strange choice for a movie. The retelling of the Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas story might have lent itself to drama, but that's not Malick's style. Hardly a prolific director -- this is only his fourth film in more than 30 years -- Malick makes tone poems that are beautiful, intelligent and ambiguous.

You can always count on lyrical passages in a Malick film, and the beginning of ``The New World'' works well in that sense. As the ship carrying Smith (Colin Farrell) approaches the virgin shores of Virginia in 1607, Malick's shots of sky and water accompanied by James Horner's atmospheric score capture the wonderment of both the English settlers and the native Indians.

Of course, as we know, things go badly after that. There is mistrust and misunderstanding. Malick replays the perhaps mythic scene of Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher) saving Smith's life and then creates a real romance between the two.Much of the story is told in voice-overs by Smith, Pocahontas and -- after Smith goes on other adventures -- her eventual husband John Rolfe (Christian Bale). But since Malick wrote the script, it feels a bit contrived.

But this is a different Pocahontas than the sexy one perpetrated in stories. In Kilcher, who was 14 at the time of filming, we see an ethereal and elusive nature that reflects the land that was colonized, often brutally. Whether this version is any truer than any other is something we'll never know, but this Pocahontas at least comes to life, even in a film that is a bit lifeless at times.

A pseudo-sequel to ``The Graduate'' may have seemed like a clever idea. But ``Rumor Has It,'' starring Jennifer Aniston as a woman who thinks she is the offspring of the real family the story was based on, seems caught in a time wrap.

While ``The Graduate'' caught the anti-authoritarian, confused zeitgeist of the time, ``Rumor Has It'' sits there like someone trying on his '60s outfits in front of a mirror -- not a pretty sight. Save for the performances by Shirley MacLaine, who plays the grandmother of Aniston's character, Sarah, and is the supposed model for Mrs. Robinson, and Kevin Costner, who plays a very different version of Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin Braddock, there is very little spark in the film. Sarah is a journalist going through a crisis. She's engaged to a lawyer (Mark Ruffalo) but is feeling insecure when she finds out about the ``Graduate'' connection. That sends her into even more of a tizzy and a quest to learn what happened when her mother took off for a week in Mexico a week before her marriage to her father. That leads her to Beau Burroughs (Costner), the man who slept with her grandmother and mother and is now a successful entrepreneur who she thinks may be her father. Things go pretty much as you'd guess from there.

Aniston is pluckily watchable. The upper crust of Pasadena, where the story is centered, would seem an easy target for satire, but ``Rumor Has It'' isn't taking aim at much. Its only goal is to be nice and sweet, which makes it pretty fluffy.

Emma Thompson is one of those actors who, as the saying goes, could read the phone book and make it interesting. So it's not surprising that she could create such an unforgettable title character in ``Nanny McPhee.''

Adapted by Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books, which were written in the '60s, Nanny McPhee is hardly a cheery Mary Poppins. Wielding a crooked walking stick that holds magic, she has a face that could stop a clock and a demeanor that could make anyone sit up straight.

The Victorian-era nanny promises she will be there ``when you need me but don't want me.'' She materializes at the house of the widower Mr. Brown (Colin Firth ) and his seven extremely unruly children. That Nanny McPhee will save the day, including a nudge in preventing Mr. Brown from the wrong marriage, there is no doubt. And there are delightful performances by Angela Landsbury as the icy Aunt Adelaide, who controls the family's fortune; Imelda Staunton as the bedeviled cook; and the children themselves, particularly the eldest, Simon (Thomas Sangster).

In contrast to Nanny McPhee's dark mien, everything is shot in weird, bright psychedelic hues. But the brightest colors are Thompson's literate script -- which gives children their due -- and her smart performance.

``Rumor Has It'' (Warner; $28.98)

``The New World'' (New Line; $27.98)

''Nanny McPhee'' (Universal; $29.98)

The best of New Wave's Truffaut

Many of New Wave French director's Francois Truffaut's films were drawn from his life. His first feature, the 1959 ``The 400 Blows,'' began it with the story of Antoine Doinel (played by Jean-Pierre Leaud, who would continue the role in other films), a troubled teenager from a troubled home. He also has a creative streak, which can sometimes work against him, as when he tells his teacher he hasn't finished his homework assignment because his mother is dead. When she shows up, he finds himself in more trouble.

Eventually, he ends up in a youth home, which he runs away from. This leads to the film's brilliant final shot -- Antoine on the beach looking into the camera at the sea that he's never seen. It's like he's trapped between the water and where's he's come from, with only a dead-end world behind and an uncertain future ahead. It is a truly marvelous film.

It's also '70s disaster week, with special editions of ``The Poseidon Adventure'' and ``The Towering Inferno'' and a no-frills version of ``Earthquake.''

``The 400 Blows'' (Criterion; $29.95)

``The Poseidon Adventure -- Special Edition'' (Fox; $19.98)

``The Towering Inferno -- Special Edition'' (Fox; $19.98)

``Earthquake'' (Universal; $14.98)

Stand at attention for `Bilko'

Phil Silvers was one of the funniest men on TV in the '50s. As Sgt. Ernie Bilko, he was the ultimate con man. There was nothing repentant about Bilko as he wheeled and dealed and gambled and lied in his money-making schemes at a fictional Army base in Kansas. A 50th anniversary edition of the show finds the laughs -- including the satirical jabs at the military -- still packing a punch.

There are also season sets from two shows about to end their network runs -- ``That '70s Show'' and ``The West Wing.''

Other TV-related discs are listed below.

``Sgt. Bilko -- 50th Anniversary Edition (The Phil Silvers Show)'' (Paramount; $39.95)

``That '70s Show -- Season 4'' (Fox; $49.98)

``The West Wing -- The Complete Sixth Season'' (Warner; $59.98)

``Rescue Me -- The Complete Second Season'' (Columbia; $49.95)

``Everybody Loves Raymond -- The Complete Sixth Season (HBO; $44.98)

``Scrubs -- The Complete Third Season'' (Touchstone; $39.99)

``The Andy Griffith Show -- The Complete Sixth Season'' (Paramount; $38.99)

``The Golden Girls -- The Complete Fifth Season'' (Touchstone; $39.99)

``Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist -- Season 1'' (Paramount; $19.99)

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) ERIC BANA in ``MUNICH''

(2) EMMA THOMPSON in ``NANNY McPHEE''

(3) PHIL SILVERS in ``BILKO''

(4) no caption (``The 400 Blows'')