DVDs

Taylor Lautner inhabits the Twilight zone in “Eclipse.” – Photo: Courtesy

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” finds graduating high school senior Bella (a slightly less sullen Kristen Stewart) still obsessed with brooding vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson). She accepts her true love’s marriage proposal in exchange for his promise to “change” (read “kill”) her so that they can be together for eternity. Wait, let’s get this straight. Mormon author Stephenie Meyer thinks it’s all right for white trash teenagers to marry vampires, but LGBT folks should be deprived of the same expression of love and commitment. Maybe she should have called her saga “Twit-light.”

This third installment of the ongoing saga about the vampires, wolves and humans of Forks, Wash., eclipses its predecessors. It’s got plenty of skin, courtesy of stud (wolf) cub Taylor Lautner (who continues to do most of his acting with his abs) as Jacob, and his pec pack of wolves.

Boys Life 7

‘Boys Life 7’

Over the years, the “Boys Life” short film compilation series has allowed gay film fans to catch up with work from such gay filmmakers as Eytan Fox, Jason Gould, Brian Sloan, Phillip J. Bartell, Adam Salky and Michael Burke, among others. Three of the four shorts collected on “Boys Life 7” (Strand), the seventh DVD in the series, are promising additions to the canon.

In the highly stylized “The Young and Evil,” which opens with an Oscar Wilde quote, 18-year-old, Tiparillo-smoking, bug-chaser Karel (Vaughn Lowery) lives with his drunk, widowed mother (Diana Jordan). Harassed in the ’hood by thugs, including The One (Reggie Watkins), Karel seems disappointed when the doctor (Heather Halley) tells him that he’s tested HIV-negative. But he has plans to remedy that. Meeting up with Julio (Eric Pumphrey) at a sex club run by Maxie (Raja), he pursues an HIV-positive maintenance man and tailor named Naaman (Mark Berry) and proceeds to seduce him.

"The Sound of Music" 45th Anniversary Edition

‘The Sound of Music’

The 45th anniversary edition of the movie version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is out in a three-disc set. Consisting of two Blu-rays containing the feature film and a mountain of special features, including the “Music Machine Sing-Along,” as well as a DVD of the film and more special features, the hills are now more alive than ever.

Set in Salzburg, Austria, during the “last golden days of the 1930s,” the Oscar-winning movie musical tells the more-or-less true story of Maria (Julie Andrews), an outspoken and unlikely novice nun. Always in trouble at the abbey, Maria is sent out into the world for a short time by the Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) to become the governess for the seven Von Trapp children, aged 5 to 16, and their widowed, disciplinarian, naval captain father Georg (Christopher Plummer).

Strictly Ballroom

‘Strictly Ballroom’

“Strictly Ballroom” (Miramax, 1992) deserves credit for sparking renewed interest in ballroom dancing, leading eventually to the popular ABC series “Dancing With the Stars.” The directorial debut of Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, the heightened and exaggerated “Strictly Ballroom” remains his best work. Far less overblown than the misguided “Australia” and the overrated “Moulin Rouge,” “Strictly Ballroom” is gaudily colorful, wickedly funny and strictly sentimental and entertaining.

Competitive and promising ballroom dancer Scott (the stunning Paul Mercurio, making his film debut) is the son of former competing dancers Shirley (Pat Thompson) and Doug (Barry Otto). Working toward the Pan-Pacific Championship since he was 6 years old, Scott almost blows it by working in his own flashy, crowd-pleasing steps during an early competition. He upsets dance partner Liz (Gia Carides), disappoints his parents and coach Les (Peter Whitford) and infuriates crooked toupee-wearing Australian Dance Federation president Barry (Bill Hunter).

‘The Kids Are All Right’

‘The Kids Are All Right’

The kids really are all right, it’s the adults who are all fucked up in the latest movie from lesbian filmmaker Lisa Cholodenko (“High Art,” “Laurel Canyon”). Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) are the teenage offspring of alternatively inseminated lesbian couple Nic (Annette Bening, who is nothing less than riveting in the most nuanced performance of her career and received a Golden Globe award for her efforts) and Jules (Julianne Moore). Her younger brother Laser, 15, is urging Joni, 18, who is leaving soon for college, to contact their biological father/sperm donor, because he is too young to arrange such a meeting.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’

For its loyal fan base, the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” experience involves dressing up as characters from the movie and performing on stage as a shadowcast — not to mention talking back to the screen and filling pockets and purses with rice, playing cards, toast, rolls of toilet paper, squirt guns and other accoutrements to be flung at the screen at appropriate moments.

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‘Cher: The Film Collection’

Just in time for Cher’s return to the big screen in “Burlesque” (a 21st-century “Showgirls” to be sure), “Cher: The Film Collection” (MGM), a six-DVD anthology of her movies, has arrived for her fans. Perhaps it’s meant to remind us of the broad range of films in which the singer-turned-actress has appeared.

‘Kylie: Rare and Unseen’

The Kylie Minogue installment from the “Rare and Unseen” collection features non-stop interviews with the 21st century “Aphrodite,” as well as rare footage, including British TV interviews from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, her first-ever TV appearance and more. The DVD also contains an Australian interview with Minogue at 21-years-old, the newly restored “Ghost Train” children’s show and press interviews, as well as other thrilling bits.