Now that the summer blockbusters have come and gone, it’s time to catch up on the movies that slipped through the cracks–aside from the smash hit “300"–now that they’re finally on DVD.

300

Warners
directed by Zack Snyder
starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey & Dominic West

Frank Miller’s graphic novel about the ancient battle of Thermopylae–where an outnumbered group of 300 Spartans was slaughtered by the Persian army–has been turned into a surprisingly entertaining and energetic action film that avoids, for the most part, much of what makes this genre so dated and dull. Director Zach Snyder overdoes the slow-motion bloodletting, but the intensity never lets up, and the dramatically striking Lena Headey as the Spartan leader’s queen  assures that all is not testosterone and sweaty armored soldiers.

Extras: Snyder commentary; second disc includes interviews, deleted scenes, making-of featurette.

The Astronaut Farmer

Warners
directed by Mark Polish
starring Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen & Jon Gries

By casting Billy Bob Thonton as the Midwestern eccentric whose yearning to launch into space can’t be dissuaded by his wife, children, the bank or the government, writers-directors the Polish brothers obviously hoped to make this sentimental pap into a weirdly entertaining yarn. But Thornton tries to play it straight—as if he were just another ordinary hero—and the result is a mediocre mess enlivened by Thornton’s interplay with the always sensible Virginia Madsen as his loving but levelheaded wife.

Extras: making-of featurette; conversation with astronaut David Scott.

Broken English

Magnolia
directed by Zoe R. Cassavetes
starring Parker Posey, Drea de Matteo & Tim Guinee

Parker Posey gives her most accomplished portrayal to date as a single thirtysomething who’s being subtly pushed by everyone around her to finally find that special guy. She, of course, can’t–not until an unlikely Frenchman enters the picture. Zoe Cassavetes’ feature directorial debut has a few low-key pleasures, but along the way loses focus and limps along to a soggily melodramatic conclusion. The final scenes are so contrived they make the whole movie seem ridiculous, although Posey does what she can to keep it afloat.

Extras: deleted scenes; making-of featurette.

Cashback

Magnolia
directed by Sean Ellis
starring Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox & Shaun Evans

Beware of movies expanded from shorts: Hal Hartley ruined his delicious short “Flirt” by turning it into a full-length feature. Sean Ellis goes the same route by expanding his Oscar-nominated short into a 100-minute feature that far overstays its welcome. Ellis’s clever idea—showing how night-shift supermarket workers wile away the ungodly hours–is rather uncleverly repeated, as people freeze when time is stopped time and time again. It’s shot and edited so superbly and acted so well that you want it to succeed. But “Cashback” falls apart from mind-numbing repetition long before its obvious ending.

Extras: the original short film; making-of featurette.

Deliver Us from Evil

LionsGate
directed by Amy Berg
starring Jeff Anderson, Case Degroot & Jane Degroot

Often difficult to watch, Amy Berg’s transfixing documentary about the children who were abused by Catholic priest Oliver O’Grady blows the lid off a culture of corruption and denial that’s haunted the Church for centuries. Berg interviews Father O’Grady himself, several (now grown-up) victims and their families and makes valuable use of head-scratching depositions of other priests, bishops and cardinals in the church hierarchy; the result is an important document of complicity and life ruination.

Extras: commentary by Berg and producer/editor Matthew Cooke; deleted scenes; alternate ending; additional interviews.

Factory Girl

Genius/WeinsteinSienna
directed by George Hickenlooper
starring Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce & Hayden Christensen

Miller’s remarkable transformation as Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol’s “it” girl in the mid 60s, is the sole reason to see George Hickenlooper’s inept, unintentionally funny biopic. How such rich material got turned into dross is easy to see in the Dylanesque character badly played by Hayden Christensen: Hickenlooper, obviously afraid of lawsuits, shied away from a hard-hitting, warts-and-all biography. Instead, we see pretty people do unpretty things for 95 minutes, and the result is desperate and unenlightening. Guy Pearce catches Warhol’s exterior, but that’s all; Sedgwick–and Miller–deserve far better.

Extras: Hickenlooper’s commentary; additional 10 minutes not seen in theaters; deleted scenes; Miller’s screen test; Pearce’s video diary; making-of featurette.

The Host

Magnolia
directed by Joon-ho Bong
starring Kang-ho Song, Hie-bong Byeon & Hae-il Park

Bong Joon-Ho’s monster movie has drawn raves from so many reviewers that it’s an inevitable letdown once seen. The premise is workable, if unoriginal: a creature which hosts a deadly virus is unleashed on an unsuspecting populace by a complicit government. There are good scares and funny moments that follow Spielberg’s “Jaws” blueprint, yet “The Host” never convinces on any except the most elementary level: the characters are cardboard, the dialogue is cliched, the filmmaking is derivative and the special effects are laughably inferior. Oh well.

Extras: 2-disc set includes deleted scenes; director commentary; featurettes; interviews; gag reel.

Hot Fuzz

Universal
directed by Edgar Wright
starring Simon Pegg, Martin Freeman & Bill Nighy

“Shaun of the Dead,” with its satirical send-ups of horror movies, quickly wore out its welcome. Now, the return of actor-writer Simon Pegg and writer-director Nick Frost brings us an unnecessary spoof of cop buddy movies that drags on far longer than it should have any right to. The ridiculously unfunny padding drags down a cache of substantial supporting actors, including Bill Nighy, Paddy Considine, Jim Broadbent and Timothy Dalton. Sure, there are hilarious moments; too bad they’re spread so thin at two hours.

Extras: outtakes; deleted scenes; trivia; U.S. press tour by Wright and Pegg.