There's a good chance State of Play (Universal Home Entertainment, $30 DVD, $40 Blu-ray) will be the last big-budget Hollywood movie about an investigative newspaper reporter. If so, the genre will go out on a decent note.

The movie, which was based on a six-part BBC TV miniseries, centers on a Washington D.C., journalist (an excellent Russell Crowe) whose former college roommate (Ben Affleck), now a congressman, is embroiled in a scandal involving the apparent suicide of a female member of his staff.

Director Kevin McDonald (The Last King of Scotland) crafts a satisfying, complex plot, which also includes a blogger (Rachel McAdams) who competes with Crowe's old-school print reporter for the story. The DVD edition is light on extras, only a 20-minute making-of featurette and a handful of brief deleted scenes, but the Blu-ray includes an informative picture-in-picture commentary that offers a combination of interviews with the filmmakers, stills and a neat option that uses images from Google Earth to show you where the movie was shot.

`ADVENTURELAND'

Although Adventureland didn't repeat the success of director Greg Mottola's previous effort, the smash hit Superbad, there's a good chance the film will find an equally appreciative audience on home video (Miramax Home Video, $30 DVD, $45 Blu-ray). A disarmingly funny comedy with a wistful undertone, the movie is set in the mid-1980s and centers on a college graduate (Jesse Eisenberg) who spends a summer working at a run-down amusement park in Pittsburgh.

Featuring an excellent supporting cast that includes Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, Adventureland sports the same off-kilter wit that has become Mottola's signature (he also directed The Daytrippers). The main supplement on the Blu-ray edition is a funny, chatty commentary track by Mottola and Eisenberg, who deliver a mini class on the difficulties (and joys) of low-budget filmmaking, a measly two minutes of deleted scenes and some other making-of featurettes, including the complete training video used by the park's owners to break in new employees.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@