City of God, The Help among new home entertainment titles 

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Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes; a making-of piece; the music video for Mary J. Blige's "The Living Proof"; and the featurette In Their Own Words: A Tribute to the Maids of Mississippi.

Movie: ***

MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS (2011). Aside from Tom Popper (Jim Carrey) mistakenly believing that "BFF" stands for Big Fat Friend, the only original element to be found anywhere in Mr. Popper's Penguins is the character of Pippi, Popper's personal assistant and a Brit prone to parleying with prose that begins with the letter "p." The London-born actress with the terrific name of Ophelia Lovibond essays this role, and she provides a lift to every scene in which she appears. Unfortunately, she doesn't appear nearly enough to save this ghastly family film. A bastardization of the award-winning children's book, this finds Carrey cast as a ruthless businessman with daddy issues, spousal issues, and neglected kids issues. Mr. Popper has always placed his job above all else, but that changes after he receives a parting gift from his deceased father: six penguins (given names like Loudy, Bitey and Stinky) that take over his apartment and his life. The penguins seen in the picture are a mix of actual animals and CGI creations, and here's a quick primer for those unable to tell the difference: The ones acting normal are the real birds while the ones pooping in Popper's face or leaning over to break wind are the fake ones. Watching the real penguins, your have to feel sorry for them — in this picture, they get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. Still, they fare better than Carrey, who's simply required to react to the wacky penguin shenanigans. Small children might get restless during the sequences in which Popper tries to patch up his relationship with his ex-wife (wasted Carla Gugino), but they'll otherwise be kept entertained by the animal antics. Adults, on the other hand, might want to stay away — as Pippi would doubtless note, this movie is putrid, puerile and painful.

Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes; a gag reel; making-of featurettes; and the all-new animated short Nimrod & Stinky's Antarctic Adventure.

Movie: *

ONE DAY (2011). The title of the film One Day refers to July 15, though in truth, it refers to over two decades worth of that date. Beginning on July 15, 1988, when Brits Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) graduate from college, attempt a one-night stand and then decide to remain lifelong friends instead, the picture checks in on the lives of the pair every July 15 through the present day. It's a high-concept gimmick that could go either way, and this one ends up parting straight down the middle. Emma starts out gawky, reclusive and toiling in obscurity, while Dexter is confident, charismatic and famous. The ensuing years impart the expected A Star Is Born career switcheroo, but the focus is mainly on the personal lives of these two best friends and whether they'll eventually decide if they should become romantically entwined or if they should even be buddies anymore (as Emma notes during one of Dexter's obnoxious phases, "I love you, Dext; I just don't like you anymore"). Considering director Lone Scherfig's previous film was 2009's excellent An Education — one of the best films of recent years — it's impossible to consider the frequently choppy One Day anything besides a disappointment. Still, that's not to say it's a total washout: The movie nicely captures the whiplash collision of youthful optimism with strenuous reality, and Hathaway and Sturgess are fine together and even better in their individual scenes. I would be even easier on the film if it wasn't for the last-act tragedy, a grotesque and clumsy development that's less a logical procession of the story and more a shameless stab at moviewatcher manipulation and pandering.

Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by Scherfig; deleted scenes; a piece on Hathaway and her character; and a featurette on the film's look.

Movie: **1/2

VELVET GOLDMINE (1998). Writer-director Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven) earned the Best Artistic Contribution prize at Cannes for Velvet Goldmine, which relates a fictional tale inspired by the life and times of David Bowie (with a generous side helping of Iggy Pop). Haynes immerses us in the Great Britain of the early 1970s, when glam rock was hot and alternative lifestyles were suddenly thrust into the mainstream. In a clever opening, the film establishes Oscar Wilde as the forefather of the glam rock movement before introducing us to the saga's '70s protagonists: effeminate rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), raging rock star Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor, looking like Kurt Cobain) and timid teenager Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale), whose own burgeoning homosexuality is drawn out by his exposure to these flamboyant icons. Cramming his soundtrack with grandiose staples from the era and playfully using his crew's contributions (notably Sandy Powell's tasty costumes) to showcase the period's garishness without any trace of condescension, Haynes has made a movie in which the characters manage to celebrate both creativity and identity without ever really grasping their own self-worth or bothering to establish a heritage beyond their immediate circumstances. Velvet Goldmine is both rueful and stimulating, a giddy motion picture filled with sharp dialogue (someone states that Curt Wild was once subjected to "electric shock therapy to fry the fairy right out of him, but all it did was make him go bonkers whenever he heard an electric guitar") but also tarnished by a clumsy framing device set in 1984 (and clearly inspired by the more accomplished one in Citizen Kane). Powell earned an Oscar nomination for her excellent costume designs but lost the award to ... herself, for her work on Shakespeare in Love. Incidentally, REM's Michael Stipe served as one of the executive producers.