CrazyGamer

In one of the all-time great episodes of “Seinfeld,” George Costanza will do anything to preserve his high score on an arcade game of Frogger — even if that means lugging the fridge-sized console through rush-hour traffic to plug it in before it loses battery power. George has nothing on Billy Mitchell, a real-life gamer whose arcadian rhythms long ago earned him the top score in the history of Donkey Kong. So when Steve Wiebe, a likable science teacher from Seattle, submits a videotape of himself hopscotching over barrels to break the record, Mitchell, along with the insular gaming community, is quick to question the unknown upstart’s bid for the title. What ensues in this documentary is more sublimely hilarious than even a Christopher Guest mockumentary.

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When “Stardust” was first released, critics aptly compared the swashbuckling fairy tale to “The Princess Bride.” Adapted from a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, the story follows Tristan (Charlie Cox), a man on a quest for a shooting star in order to win over his true love, played by Sienna Miller. The anthropomorphic star turns out to be a cranky Claire Danes, who is pursued by a jumble of other characters. The most memorable is Michelle Pfeiffer, stunning as a witch scrabbling desperately for her lost youth and beauty - which can only be reclaimed with the heart of a fallen star. Robert De Niro makes an unexpected cameo as Captain Shakespeare, a flamboyant can-can enthusiast who pilots a flying pirate ship. Not terribly memorable extras include a making of the film with Gaiman.

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Mira Nair (”Monsoon Wedding”) returns to familiar themes of cultural conflict in her adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s family saga about a young couple, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli (Bollywood stars Irrfan Khan and Tabu), from Calcutta who struggle to adapt to their new life in New York. Their children are equally conflicted, especially their son, the unfortunately named Gogol - played by Kal Penn with an energy and humor that lifts the character out of cliche - who, as an all-American teenager with a WASP girlfriend, initially rejects his family heritage. Nair tries to cram too much of Lahiri’s sprawling novel into two hours, and the emotion is often broadbrush, verging on sentimentality. But her penchant for pictorial vignettes, the loving shots of New York and Calcutta - “a portrait of two cities as if they are one” - and outstanding performances make the film truly moving. Special features include Nair talking to Columbia students about moviemaking, sure to interest amateur filmmakers.

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After Harry Potter defends himself against an attack by Dementors - ghouls that could give even Stephen King nightmares - he stands trial for the underage use of magic. Then, when he returns to school, he is confronted with a new teacher, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), who has her own “brand” of corporal punishment. All the while, the forces of Voldemort’s Army gather in the outside world. We’re definitely no longer in “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” territory. This is the shortest, but best, film in the series thanks to improved acting by the teen principals and a villainess for the ages in Staunton. Fans incensed by the curt abridgement of the brick-sized book will find crumbs of comfort in a few deleted scenes and a tour of the set by Natalia Tena, the actress who plays Nymphadora Tonks, the witch with chameleonic hair.

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The Statue of Liberty inscription, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,” comes to vivid life in this early 1900s immigration saga about a destitute Sicilian family’s voyage to America. In the bonus features, director Emanuele Crialese observes that they are voyaging to a literally New World, an idea he underscores in his occasionally surreal visual poem. (When the ship departs, for example, an overhead shot depicts an opening chasm between those on board and those on shore.) Though Salvatore, head of the family, finds romance aboard the vessel, it’s hardly the Cunard line. During a storm, the ship’s hold churns like a clothes dryer. Worse is yet to come. At Ellis Island, a conveyor-belt bureaucracy weeds out “undesirable” peasants. The family’s triumph is hard won.

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In the pantheon of quirky independents, the New Zealand film “Eagle vs. Shark” falls closer to “Napoleon Dynamite” than “Juno.” But where Napoleon was ultimately a winning character and the film more or less succeeded in its flirtation with total absurdity, the oddball characters in “Eagle vs. Shark” too often go over the edge. There is Lily, a sweet fast-food cashier whose mouth is caught in a permanent sheepish sneer. And Jarrod, so self-absorbed, seems undeserving of her affection. They meet, play a video game, sleep together, then make the journey back to his childhood home where he sets out to avenge a youthful slight. Unsympathetic as Jarrod may be, there is something touching about Lily’s unflagging acceptance and devotion.

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Sci-fi directors belong to a most fickle fraternity. Every new work is always open to reinterpretation; this applies to even the senior members, and the most treasured work. Consider “The Invasion,” a remake — twice-over — of 1956’s “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Here, Nicole Kidman takes point, playing a psychiatrist who discovers that those dang aliens have crashed her party. She turns to a friend (Daniel Craig) for help, and shock and awe ensue. The flick is best with mood — eerie blues and grays dominate — and there a few great “gotcha” moments. But the nuance of the original is sorely missed.

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The third in the trilogy based on the Robert Ludlum books of CIA intrigue, this hyper-action film easily upholds the high standard set by the first two, with quick-cut camera-work and another unrelenting global chase. Matt Damon really inhabits the edgy role - amnesiac agent gone rogue, and now finally closing in on the creators of the dark program that reduced him to a killing machine. Very compelling “making of” extras include a short on the filming of the climactic New York City car chase - a logistical Mt. Everest. Another shows the work - by cable-cam and leaping cameramen - behind a stunt-stacked Tangier rooftop scene. Says director Paul Greengrass: “We’ve definitely got a bit of adrenaline going.” Bit of an understatement.

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