DVD Picks

PICK OF THE WEEK

A Prophet

Drama; rated R for strong violence, sexual content, nudity, language and drug material; also available on Blu-ray

The Gist: After a brutal education in prison, Franco-Arab teenage hoodlum Malik el Djebena rises through the French underworld.

The Lowdown: In the vein of "The Godfather," "Goodfellas" and "Scarface," "A Prophet" charts the career of a small-time hood who claws his way to the top of a criminal syndicate. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Oscars, the film also swept France's César Awards and a couple dozen more festival and critics prizes.

This is grim, hard genre fare, and aficionados of such stories will find subtitles don't distract from the inherent drama of Malik's ascent - or descent, depending on your point of view. The film layers more strata of intrigue: As an Arab working for the Corsican mob, Malik is able to leverage his unique position and manipulate others' allegiances. The film also peppers in some ambiguous supernatural elements, resulting in a dark crime drama unlike any you've seen before.

The Extras: Commentary track with director Jacques Audiard, actor Tahar Rahim and screenwriter Thomas Bidegain; deleted scenes; screen tests and rehearsal footage.

The Bottom Line: For those with the stomach for it, "A Prophet" is a gripping and very heavy underworld crime drama.

Double Secret Bonus Tip: The prison scenes feature actual (former) convicts and assorted genuine hard guys.

Classic Albums: Damn the Torpedoes Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Music documentary; unrated; also available on Blu-ray

The Gist: The latest from the addictive Classic Albums series, which documents the greatest records in rock 'n' roll history.

The Lowdown: If you've ever trolled VH1 or VH1 Classic on off-peak hours, you're already aware of this series. Each Classic Albums release focuses on one of rock's marquee albums, then invites the artists and producers to break the record down in delightfully painstaking detail.

And I mean really painstaking. Probably the series' most compelling element is the requisite scene in which individual songs are broken down track by track (drums, guitars, vocals, etc.) with the artists sitting at the mixing board and excavating the original multitrack recordings.

In this episode: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' third album, "Damn the Torpedoes," which staked a claim for straight-ahead rock 'n' roll at a time when disco and punk were threatening from either side.

Tom Petty fans will find plenty to keep them occupied here, but consider this a recommendation for the Classic Albums DVD line as a whole. Name your own favorite rock band and odds are you'll find a DVD in the Classic Albums back catalog to suit your needs. Browse the virtual record bins at www.eagle-rock.com.

The Extras: Eleven varied outtakes totaling about 45 minutes of material you won't get on VH1.

The Bottom Line: Professional-grade rock scholarship for the discerning music geek.

Double Secret Bonus Tip: The Heartbreakers' classic single "Don't Do Me Like That" was nearly given away to the J. Geils Band - which makes a certain sense, if you think about that song.

Kick-Ass

Action comedy (I think); rated R for - deep breath - strong, brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and drug use, occasionally involving children; also available on Blu-ray.

The Gist: A teenage boy, a preteen girl and her psychopath dad don superhero costumes and attempt to take down a vicious drug lord.

The Lowdown: Based on the popular comic book series "Kick-Ass" stars Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse ("Superbad") and newcomer Chloe Moretz in a movie so singularly mishandled that it becomes fascinating - for all the wrong reasons. Graphically violent and clumsily assembled, the movie is intended to be a dark satire but is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is.

Tone deaf throughout, it's a sterling example of shock film lameness cynically posing as transgressive art. The "Kick-Ass" concept might work in comics, but as presented here - with unrestrained, visceral violence - it's a bloody mess. I have a bad feeling we're going to see more of this kind of thing: third-tier comic book and video game properties badly transposed to film.

The Extras: DVD includes audio commentary, art archives and a featurette on the movie's comic book origins; Blu-ray adds two more production docs and some interactive elements.

The Bottom Line: "Kick-Ass" qualifies as a DVD Pick only for students of pop culture interested in chronicling contemporary Fall of Rome scenarios.

Double Secret Bonus Tip: Moretz stars as the little girl vampire in the upcoming American remake of "Let the Right One In."