Rap riff is lacking in both commentary and taste

8 Mile

Eminem, Brittany Murphy

Universal, $27

The Grammy Award-winning rap star from Detroit makes an impressive debut in Curtis Hanson’s predictable but electrifying film about an angry young man named B Rabbit working in a factory while trying to vent his rage at weekly rap-offs in local clubs. Brittany Murphy and Kim Basinger (the only sour note as B Rabbit’s alcoholic, tramp-like mother) also star.

The DVD suffers as a total viewing experience because Hanson, like Steven Spielberg, doesn’t do commentaries. Included are a passable behind-the-scenes featurette, production notes and an uncensored and very R-rated music video of Eminem’s “Superman” that’s pretty tasteless. The best extra on the disc is a documentary narrated by Hanson that features never-before-seen rap battles between Eminem and local Detroit rappers -- extras in the movie’s club sequences -- who had auditioned and won the chance to appear in the movie.

*

Auto Focus

Greg Kinnear, Willem Dafoe

Columbia TriStar, $27

Paul Schrader’s smarmy look at the sordid, kinky private life of “Hogan’s Heroes” star Bob Crane and his subsequent unsolved murder is one of those films that inspires the question: “Why am I watching this?” Despite decent performances from Greg Kinnear as Crane and Willem Dafoe as John Carpenter, a swinging, sleazy video equipment manager who introduced Crane to the seamier side of life, “Auto Focus” is more creepy than dramatically satisfying.

The DVD is jammed with goodies, including a lengthy documentary, “Murder in Scottsdale,” that examines in detail the murder of Crane. It’s not for the squeamish. There are also deleted scenes with commentary by Schrader; a “making of” featurette; a wry commentary track with Schrader; a laid-back track with Kinnear and a very funny Dafoe; and a third commentary track with producers Scott Alexander and Larry Karazewski and writer Michael Gerbosi.

*

Roger Dodger

Campbell Scott, Jesse Eisenberg

Artisan, $27

Campbell Scott, the son of George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst, gives an uncompromising performance as a crude, callous womanizer who learns about love and humanity when his 16-year-old nephew (an engaging Jesse Eisenberg) arrives for a visit. Isabella Rossellini stars as Roger’s boss and former lover; Elizabeth Berkley and Jennifer Beals offer strong support as two women Roger and his nephew pick up in a bar.

The entertaining DVD features an introduction by its first-time director, Dylan Kidd; interviews conducted by Kidd with several members of his creative staff, from the casting director to the composer; a detailed examination of a scene that takes place in a bar; a cute “New York at Night” walking tour of New York with Eisenberg; a deleted scene; technical commentary with Kidd and cinematographer Joaquin Baca-Asay; and commentary with Kidd, Scott and Eisenberg.

*

Personal Velocity:

Three Portraits

Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey

MGM, $27

Rebecca Miller, the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller and the wife of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, proves herself to be a writer and director of skill and perception with these three short digital films, character studies of three vastly different women at the crossroads of their lives.

Kyra Sedgwick is a woman in an abusive marriage who decides to leave her husband, Parker Posey plays a book editor on the rise who decides to leave her sweet but boring husband and Fairuza Balk plays a pregnant young woman who narrowly escapes death in a hit-and-run accident.

The digital edition features a terrific conversation and raw behind-the-scenes footage of Miller at work on the set. Surprisingly, Miller isn’t very chatty on her commentary track.