DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

You can't look away from 'Crash'

Like the cars on L.A.'s freeways, the lives of the characters in ``Crash'' inevitably pass each other and sometimes intersect and, yes, wreak destruction on one another.

An ensemble piece co-written and directed by Paul Haggis, who wrote the screenplay for ``Million Dollar Baby,'' ``Crash's'' vision of the the City of Angels is an overgrown suburb populated by people seething with hate and mistrust, unable to see past their fears and racial prejudices.

After their SUV has been stolen at gunpoint by two young black men in a fashionable part of town, Jean (Sandra Bullock) complains to her husband (Brendan Fraser), ``I'm angry all the time, and I don't know why.'' He happens to be the city's district attorney but frets more about what this will mean in votes from the American-American community.

The film opens with a fender bender involving an L.A. detective named Graham (Don Cheadle) and his partner (and lover) Ria (Jennifer Esposito). While Graham muses about the impersonal nature of the city, Ria, who is Latino, and an Asian woman get into a shouting match about the accident in which race arises. It sets the tone for the film, which then flashes back a day to when the carjacking and other events unfold.

Before the theft, the carjackers argue that they were discriminated against by a waitress at dinner. Afterward, Jean insists the locks be changed again on the house because the locksmith looks like a ``gangbanger.''

Two other threads are woven into the story, one involving an Iranian shopkeeper who's buying a gun because he feels threatened. In the second, a racist L.A. cop (Matt Dillon) pulls over an affluent black couple and takes liberties with the woman (Thandie Newton).

You know none of this will end well. Graham and Ria were pulling up to a crime scene with a dead body when the accident occurred.

A relatively low-budget film, ``Crash'' struck a chord with a lot of people and became a moderate hit (huge in relation to what it cost to produce, making more than $50 million on an estimated $6.5 million budget). But while Haggis' film serves up some truths aided by a number of solid performances in the ensemble cast, its jaundiced view distorts the city.

Its relatively small community of players helps create dramatic tension in the film, but it can't be considered a microcosm of L.A. It's too contrived. The racial problems that ``Crash'' focuses on are very real, but this city is far too diverse in scope and dimension to described that simply. But in a city of rubber-neckers, it's also advisable not to look away from ``Crash.''

``Crash'' (Lions Gate; $28.98).

'Lost'

Get ``Lost.''

We mean it. Get ``Lost.'' However, it may take you a while to actually ``get'' the hit ABC series about survivors of a commercial plane crash stranded on an unknown, mysterious South Pacific isle. Most of us who were hooked on the show's first season, out today on DVD, are still trying to figure out what's really going on. (If any of you know, feel free to write, call or e-mail.)

Of course, it isn't just the tantalizing mysteries that keep people tuning in every week. There's also a cool cast, ranging from hunks and babes (Matthew Fox as Jack and Evangeline Lilly as Kate, to name two) to the offbeat (Jorge Garcia as Hurley). Everyone has a somewhat shady or strange back story, which has led some people to conjecture that the isle is some kind of purgatory. (As I said, feel free to write or call.)

Created by J.J. Abhrams (``Alias''), the ``Lost'' discs (seven in all) are filled with all kinds of extras, including audition tapes, deleted scenes and commentaries. With the new season around the corner (Sept. 21), here's a chance for fans to look for clues they missed and to beef up the show's mythology, which, like that of ``The X-Files,'' keeps growing. And if you haven't seen the series, here's your chance to get lost in ``Lost.'' Yeah, it's probably like Sudoku - you feel crazy because you're hooked on something so silly, but you just can't help yourself.

``Lost - The Complete First Season'' (Buena Vista; $59.99).

'To Kill a Mockingbird,' 'The Sting,' 'The Deer Hunter,' 'Garbo - The Signature Collection,' 'The Innocents'

There are a ton of older films being brought out, including three Oscar winners that have been remastered - ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1962), ``The Sting'' (1973) and ``The Deer Hunter'' (1978).

Robert Mulligan's ``Mockingbird,'' about a trial of black man (Brock Peters, who died recently) accused of raping a white woman in Alabama in the 1930s, is still powerful today. The black and white is a bit claustrophobic in staging, but the performances by Peters and Oscar winner Gregory Peck as defense attorney Atticus Finch are outstanding.

George Roy Hills' ``The Sting,'' starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman, was enjoyable fluff but didn't deserve an Oscar. Michael Cimino's Vietnam-era saga ``The Deer Hunter,'' starring Robert De Niro and best supporting Oscar winner Christopher Walken, was tremendously affecting coming on the heels of the war but today seems somewhat strained in its execution, although the performances still hold up.

On the centennial of her birth (Sept. 18, 1905), the spotlight is back on the glamorous Greta Garbo, the actress who wanted to be alone. The new ``Signature'' box set covers the highlights of her shortened career. (She went into a self-imposed exile from Hollywood in 1941.) The set includes ``Anna Christie,'' ``Mata Hari,'' ``Grand Hotel'' ``Queen Christina,'' ``Anna Karenina,'' ``Camille''/``Ninotchka'' and some of her silent films. The best of the lot is the 1939 ``Ninotchka,'' directed by Ernst Lubitsch, which touted the fact that Garbo laughs. A wonderfully sly film that pokes fun at communism and capitalism, ``Ninotchka'' showed a new side of the Swedish star. The others - except the very good Oscar-winning ``Grand Hotel,'' which was an ensemble piece - relied on Garbo's enigmatic allure, which is often enough.

And keep in mind Jack Clayton's 1961 ``The Innocents,'' a chilling, atmospheric adaptation of Henry James' ``The Turn of the Screw,'' starring Deborah Kerr and Michael Redgrave. Co-scripted by Truman Capote, the elegant film still delivers the jolts.

``The Sting - Legacy Series Edition'' (Universal; $26.98).

``To Kill a Mockingbird - Legacy Series Edition'' (Universal; $26.98).

``The Deer Hunter - Legacy Series Edition'' (Universal; $26.98).

``Garbo - The Signature Collection'' (Warner; $99.92).

``The Innocents'' (Fox; $14.98).

'Fraggle Rock,' 'The Charles Dickens Collection' and more TV

There plenty of TV-related sets out this week, but for the kids (of all ages), don't overlook ``Fraggle Rock - Complete First Season.'' The Jim Henson series about a bunch of funny, furry subterranean creatures never gained the popularity of ``The Muppets,'' but it's just as timeless.

Also not to be overlooked is ``The Charles Dickens Collection.'' It consists of six excellent BBC adaptations of the great English writer's novels, including ``Oliver Twist,'' ``Martin Chuzzlewit,'' ``Bleak House,'' ``Hard Times,'' ``Great Expectations'' and ``Our Mutual Friend.''

Other TV-related sets are listed below.

``Fraggle Rock - Complete First Season'' (Hit Entertainment; $44.99).

``The Charles Dickens Collection'' (BBC; $59.98).

``Charmed - The Complete Second Season'' (Paramount; $49.99).

``MacGyver - The Complete Third Season'' (Paramount; $38.99).

``Millennium - The Complete Third Season'' (Fox; $59.98).

``21 Jump Street - The Complete Third Season'' (Anchor Bay; $44.98).

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) JENNIFER ESPOSITO and DON CHEADLE in ``Crash''

(2) MATTHEW FOX, left, EVANGELINE LILLY and JOSH HOLLOWAY in ``Lost''