How ‘Crying’ won the game

The Crying Game

Stephen Rea, Forest Whitaker

Lions Gate, $20

“The Crying Game” was the surprise hit of 1992 that received numerous Oscar nominations including best film, director (Neil Jordan) and actor (Stephen Rea), ultimately winning the statuette for Jordan’s intricate screenplay.

The DVD has intelligent, thought-provoking interviews with Jordan, Rea, actress Miranda Richardson and various production staff. Like most personal, low-budget films, “Crying Game” was truly a labor of love for those involved.

The highlight of this edition is Jordan’s astute commentary -- he not only discusses the trials and tribulations of making the film but also how he came to love movies and decided to create them.

The Irish filmmaker talks frankly about the financing difficulties and the compromises he had to strike in order to make the film acceptable to American audiences. One such compromise was a softer, kinder ending, which Jordan was told to shoot but jettisoned when all involved realized it ruined the film. The recently discovered excised ending is included in the disc.

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Sky Captain and the

World of Tomorrow

Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow

Paramount, $30

Kerry Conran wrote and directed this throwback to the serial adventures of the 1930s. The film’s eye-popping sets were all accomplished digitally, but critics wished that Conran had used the same amount of imagination and fun with his script. Gwyneth Paltrow plays an intrepid newspaper reporter, while Jude Law is the heroic Sky Captain.

The digital edition boasts several interesting mini-documentaries that explain and demonstrate how the digital effects and sets were accomplished, as well as the difficulties the cast encountered performing on nearly empty soundstages.

There’s also Conran’s original 1998 short, on which the film was based; he created it entirely on his computer.

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AVP: Alien vs. Predator

Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova

Fox, $30

Fox took two long-dormant sci-fi franchises, “Alien” and “Predator,” and merged them for “AVP.”

The disc features an extended version with a new beginning; numerous deleted scenes; the requisite “making of” featurette; passable commentary with director Paul W.S. Anderson, actress Sanaa Lathan and costar Lance Henriksen; and a technical commentary with the visual and special-effects team.

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First Daughter

Katie Holmes, Michael Keaton

Fox, $28

Katie Holmes plays a presidential daughter who leaves the White House to go to college in this romantic comedy, directed by Forest Whitaker.

The one highlight of the DVD is a remembrance of the film’s late composer, Michael Kamen, that is touching and sweet without succumbing to sentimentality.

The disc also includes deleted and extended scenes and less-than-scintillating commentary with Holmes and her costars, Marc Blucas and Amerie Rogers.

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-- Susan King

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Also this week

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“When Will I Be Loved” (MGM: $25.98), “Head in the Clouds” (Columbia TriStar: $24.96) and “The Story of the Weeping Camel” (New Line: $27.95).

Top video rentals

1. “The Village”

2. “Without a Paddle”

3. “Troy”

4. “Paparazzi”

5. “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”

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What’s coming

Tuesday: “Ray,” “The Grudge,” “Shall We Dance?,” “Vanity Fair,” “Mr. 3000,” “She Hate Me” and “Pauly Shore Is Dead”

Feb. 8: “Shark Tale,” “The Notebook,” “P.S.,” “Zelary,” “Jay-Z: Fade to Black,” “Eulogy,” “Bright Young Things” and “Remember Me, My Love”

Feb. 15: “The Motorcycle Diaries,” “Saw,” “Taxi,” “Raise Your Voice” and “Yes Men”

Feb. 22: “I (heart) Huckabees” and “Around the Bend”