Screenwriters Get Their Due on DVDs

Screenwriters finally get their due on the digital editions of two recent releases: “Changing Lanes” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

Screenwriters often get short shrift in the film community and that has been the case on most DVDs--the director and the stars are usually interviewed while the scribe is barely mentioned. But on the DVDs of “Changing Lanes” (Paramount, $20) and “The Count of Monte Cristo” (Touchstone, $30), the writers are actually given their own featurettes.

Both Chap Taylor and Michael Tolkin, who penned “Changing Lanes,” discuss the film, which stars Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson. And the very funny Jay Wolpert talks about the trials and tribulations of adapting “Monte Cristo,” Alexandre Dumas’ 19th century tale of revenge, for modern audiences.

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Francis Ford Coppola’s son, Roman, makes his directorial debut with the disappointing “CQ” (MGM, $27), a film-within-a-film set in 1969 about the turbulent problems surrounding the production of a hip sci-fi film. The sci-fi film itself, “Codename Dragonfly,” is a lot of fun, but the “real” story about the making of the film is a snooze.

The DVD includes literate commentary from Coppola--who is a real film buff--and his cinematographer, Robert Yeohman; an amusing “Chronique D’un Cineaste,” which is Coppola’s own visual diary of the production; and the revealing “Ellie--On the Set of ‘CQ,’ ” mom Eleanor Coppola’s documentary on the production. The most enjoyable extras on the DVD deal with “Codename Dragonfly,” including a behind-the-scenes documentary, audio commentary, a cut of the film and the trailer.

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Several documentaries about the Sept. 11 attacks are currently available on both video and DVD: Paramount’s “9/11: The Filmmakers’ Commemorative Edition” ($15 each for VHS and DVD) is an expanded version of the CBS special that features 20 minutes of previously unseen footage and an extra 50 minutes of interviews on the DVD; HBO’s “In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01” ($20 for each format) incorporates visual material from more than 100 people in and around New York City; and Artisan’s “Operation Enduring Freedom: America Fights Back” ($15 for each format); “World Trade Center: Anatomy of the Collapse” ($15 for VHS; $20 for DVD); and “New York Firefighters: The Brotherhood of 9/11” ($15 for both formats).

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Before he died in July at age 72, John Frankenheimer directed one of his best films, HBO’s “Paths to War,” and recorded an audio commentary for one of his favorite films, the 1969 melodrama “The Gypsy Moths” (Warner, $20). Listening to the colorful, authoritative director is akin to taking a directing class at a film school.

Critics gave mixed reviews to “Gypsy Moths,” starring Burt Lancaster, Gene Hackman and Scott Wilson as men who travel the Midwest doing parachute stunt shows. Though it’s not up to the par of such Frankenheimer classics as “The Manchurian Candidate,” he says it was one of his two or three personal favorites because it fell into a genre he loved--character-based action movies.

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Anchor Bay has resurrected Kathryn Bigelow’s stylish 1987 thriller “Near Dark” ($30). This quirky, inspired vampire western focuses on a young man who suddenly finds himself a member of a truly bizarre vampire family after a beautiful young woman bites him. Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henrickson and Bill Paxton star.

The two-disc set features commentary from Bigelow, deleted scenes with commentary, original storyboards and a comprehensive new documentary on the making of the film.

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Has there ever been a series as smarmy as “The Bachelor”? The ABC unscripted series became a water-cooler hit earlier this year as viewers tuned in for six weeks to discover which one of 25 single gals bachelor Alex would pick for his one and only.

The DVD of the series (Warner, $20) features all the episodes plus extra goodies, including a phone conversation between Alex and teary-eyed runner-up Trista, and Alex and Amanda’s secret weekend getaway in Mexico.

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The latest series from Aardman Animations, the creators of “Chicken Run” and the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit shorts, is “Rex the Runt,” a clay-animated comedy about four domesticated Plasticine dogs. The animation is terrific, but “Runt’s” story is a bit puny. A&E; has imported both seasons of the series on VHS and DVD ($30 for each format).

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What’s Coming

Tuesday: “Monsters, Inc.,” “Panic Room,” “Death to Smoochy,” “Hollywood Ending,” “Frailty,” “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “Spring Forward.”

Sept. 24: “Monsoon Wedding,” “Murder by Numbers,” “Enigma,” “Festival in Cannes,” “Big Fat Liar,” “Stolen Summer” and “Big Bad Love.”

Oct. 1: “The Scorpion King” and “Brotherhood of the Wolf.”

Oct. 8: “Enough,” “Big Trouble,” “The Son’s Room,” “Lucky Break” and “Jason X.”

Oct. 11: “Scooby-Doo: The Movie.”