New DVD releases: `Transformers,' `Planet Terror,' `A Mighty Heart'

"Transformers"

The big old robots that were all the rage of the 1980s return to Earth in a live-action spectacle that became one of the year's top hits. With a human cast led by Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Tyrese Gibson, Anthony Anderson and John Turturro, the movie centers on a battle of good vs. evil waged by two bands of shape-shifting machines, the big-hearted Autobots and the dastardly Decepticons, who wreak havoc as they tramp about our puny world. The movie comes in a single-disc DVD, a two-disc DVD set and a high-definition HD DVD version. Extras are highlighted by a huge batch of behind-the-scenes featurettes spelling out the backstory of the robots and the master power source they fight over, offering details on the Autobots' human allies and breaking down the moviemaking that went into the desert assault at the start of the movie. Director Michael Bay provides commentary. Two-disc DVD set, $36.99; single-disc DVD, $29.99; HD DVD, $39.99. (Paramount)

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"A Mighty Heart"

Angelina Jolie and romantic companion Brad Pitt, a producer on the film, found a passion project with this portrait of radio journalist Mariane Pearl, the wife of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Jolie delivers a tremendous, self-effacing performance as her character rallies a diverse circle of loved ones and new friends to try to save Daniel Pearl, who was abducted by terrorists in Pakistan and later beheaded. The DVD and high-definition HD DVD release include a making-of featurette, a segment on the Committee to Protect Journalists and a public-service announcement featuring CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour for the Daniel Pearl Foundation, a nonprofit group aimed at countering religious and ethnic hatred and promoting objective journalism. DVD, $29.99; HD DVD, $39.99. (Paramount)

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"The Jazz Singer"

Eighty years has flown by since Al Jolson told audiences, "You ain't heard nothing yet," ushering in the age of talking pictures. The 1927 film gets grand DVD treatment in a three-disc set featuring restored images and sound. Jolson plays a son at odds with his dad because he chooses the life of a pop singer rather than enter the family trade as a Jewish cantor. The set is augmented by hours of vintage short films from the 1920s and '30s, including several featuring Jolson, plus a Tex Avery cartoon, mini dramas and musical performances. Among other extras are a new documentary on the transition from the silent era to sound pictures, commentary from film historians and Jolson's 1947 radio version of "The Jazz Singer." DVD set, $39.92. (Warner Bros.)