“Inside Man”Leave it to Spike Lee to go commercial without selling his soul. Director Lee scores his biggest box-office hit ever, working with a big-name cast and a mainstream premise yet still hanging on to undercurrents of racial unease that characterize most of the filmmaker’s movies. Denzel Washington, who starred in three previous Lee films including “Malcolm X” and “He Got Game,” plays a detective struggling to defuse a hostage situation that arises during a bank robbery, with Clive Owen as the criminal ringleader and Jodie Foster as an intermediary with a mysterious agenda. The DVD packs 25 minutes of deleted scenes, a chat between Lee and Washington about working together, commentary from the director and a behind-the-scenes featurette. DVD, $29.98. (Universal) Read the review
“Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector”
The redneck stand-up comedy star gets his own movie — one that may have you seeking out your own mental health inspector if you’re unlucky enough to watch it. Overloaded with crude, unfunny gags about flatulence, vomit and other bodily functions, the movie presents Larry the Cable Guy as a city health inspector who goes undercover to root out the guilty parties responsible for a food-poisoning outbreak at some of the town’s best eateries. The DVD includes a making-of featurette and has both the widescreen theatrical release and the full-screen formatted version of the movie. DVD, $29.99. (Paramount) Read the review
“Don’t Come Knocking”
Director Wim Wenders, who previously teamed with playwright Sam Shepard as screenwriter on “Paris, Texas,” now casts Shepard in the lead of another quirky road-trip tale set in the vast empty spaces of the modern American west. Shepard, again writing the screenplay, stars as an aging star of Hollywood Westerns who flees the set of his latest movie in a quest that reconnects him with an old lover (Jessica Lange) and puts him in touch with offspring he never knew. Wenders offers commentary on the full film and deleted scenes and joins in an interview with co-star Eva Marie Saint. The DVD also has two featurettes. DVD, $24.96. (Sony) Read the review
“Manderlay,” “CSA: The Confederate States of America”
Two dark, sardonic flights of fancy make for intriguing reflection about race relations in America, presenting alternate universes where slavery remains viable long after the Civil War. “Manderlay” follows “Dogville” as part two of director Lars von Trier’s trilogy critiquing and satirizing America. Bryce Dallas Howard steps into the role originated by Nicole Kidman in “Dogville,” playing a woman in the 1930s who stumbles across a Southern plantation where black slaves continue serving white masters as if emancipation never happened. Danny Glover co-stars. Director Kevin Willmott’s “CSA” is a faux documentary offering a glimpse of present-day America under Confederate rule, the South having won the Civil War. Willmott offers commentary, and the DVD has deleted scenes. DVDs, $24.95 each. (IFC) Read the review
“The Jayne Mansfield Collection”A boxed set collects three 1950s romps starring blond bombshell Mansfield. The three-disc package is highlighted by a 50th anniversary edition of “The Girl Can’t Help It,” with Mansfield playing a bimbo whose mobster boyfriend (Edmond O’Brien) hires a talent agent (Tom Ewell) to turn the talentless woman into a singing star. Also included are “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” with Mansfield as a movie star drafted for a promotional campaign by an advertising man (Tony Randall), a geek who finds himself forced to carry on a masquerade as her lover; and “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw” with Mansfield as a saloon owner in the Old West and Kenneth More as an English gentleman who falls for her. The set includes commentary by film historians and a documentary segment on Mansfield. DVD set, $49.98. (20th Century Fox)
TV on DVD:
“Prison Break: Season One” — Brett Ratner (“X-Men: The Last Stand”) serves as one of the producers and directs the pilot episode of this crime series about a man who gets himself tossed in prison so he can engineer an elaborate escape for his wrongly incarcerated brother. The first 22 episodes come in a six-disc set, with Ratner contributing commentary on the pilot. DVD set, $59.98. (20th Century Fox)
“Beautiful People: The Complete Series” — Daphne Zuniga stars in a short-lived series as a single mom who moves from New Mexico to New York City with her two daughters, one attending a posh prep school on a scholarship, the other trying to start a career as a model. The four-disc set has all 16 episodes, plus deleted scenes and cast-and-crew commentary. DVD set, $49.95. (Sony)
“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The Complete Fourth Season” — Mr. Smith goes to college in year four of Will Smith’s sitcom about an inner-city youth who brings his streetwise attitude to ritzy Bel-Air, where he’s sent to live with rich relations. A four-disc set has the season’s 26 episodes. DVD set, $29.98. (Warner Bros.)
“The Wire: The Complete Third Season” — Drug users, pushers, the cops who arrest them and the politicians who pull the strings intermingle in the gritty crime series set on the streets of Baltimore. A five-disc set has season three’s 12 episodes, with commentary on five and a panel discussion among cast and crew. DVD set, $99.98. (HBO)
“Laguna Beach: The Complete Second Season” — The lives of the young, wealthy and beautiful are chronicled in this reality show about teens living the good life along the California coast. Year two’s 17 episodes are packaged in a three-disc set whose DVD extras included deleted scenes. DVD set, $38.99. (Paramount)