'Closer' (R): "Closer" is a brave movie, one of those films that risks alienating certain segments of the audience in taking its discussion to a higher level -- and when you're talking about a film that stars popular actors Julia Roberts and Jude Law, that's a huge risk to take.

Directed by veteran helmer Mike Nichols, the drama is far more searing and cynical than the sort of films we're used to seeing from Roberts or Law. It's a story about the shallow games and power plays two couples mistake for love, and the primal sexual forces and hollow gestures that keep them busy, but leave them empty in the end. It is a dark and bleak movie, one that will resonate most strongly for those who have played these games, and seen these gestures before.

In the film, two couples -- Anna (Julia Roberts) and Larry (Clive Owen), and Dan (Jude Law) and Alice (Natalie Portman) -- find their lives upturned as they succumb to their inner desires and swap partners.

But buyers beware: All is not as simple as it appears.

In reality, each of these characters portrays a different faction of the romantic world. Anna is the divorced photographer who is torn between lust and restraint, driven by her impulses but also feeling guilty for her transgressions. Larry is her dapper but crude boyfriend, the dominating and aggressive type, who meets Anna through one of Dan's pranks involving an online porn site.

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Preview: 'Closer'

Dan is an obituary writer for a London newspaper, the sort of guy who pretends to be sophisticated in the ways of love but is really needy and desperate. And Alice is the immature girl, torn between living the grounded life of a waitress in love, or returning to the stripping world where sex is not something sincere, but a commodity to be bartered.

Based on the Patrick Marber play, "Closer" is very much a world of words, and in stunning scenes of verbal confrontation these characters attack and retreat, test and manipulate, and discuss sex in ways that will make jaws drop. They are not so much real characters as they are chess pieces for Marber's manipulation, existing to explore these ideas and confront these issues.

DVD Features: The features on the disc are surprisingly scant. The only bonus worthy of note is a Damien Rice music video for "The Blower's Daughter." (Columbia Tri-Star Home Entertainment) --Steven Snyder, Contributing Writer

Also New: 'Vera Drake' (R) Veteran British actress Imelda Staunton stars in this controversial 1950s drama about a housekeeper who also performs illegal abortions on the side. Staunton scored a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the film, which also earned Oscar nods for Mike Leigh for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The disc contains no notable bonus features. (Warner Home Video)

'After the Sunset' (PG-13): Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek star as a pair of master thieves who retire to a tropical island paradise to enjoy the spoils of their labors, only to be tracked there by a FBI agent (Woody Harrelson) who wants to make sure they're not planning on stealing from a nearby "diamond cruise." Don Cheadle also stars. DVD features include commentary by director Brett Ratner; deleted/alternate scenes with optional director commentary; a blooper reel; production featurettes and more. (New Line Home Entertainment)

TV On DVD: Fans of "The X-Files" will revel in the release of "The Lone Gunmen" Season One DVD set (NR -- Fox Home Entertainment), a short-lived spin-off series that follows the exploits of the oddball conspiracy theorist trio of John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood) and Richard 'Ringo' Langly (Dean Haglund).

Also new is the first complete season of the hit Angela Lansbury detective series "Murder She Wrote" (Universal Studios Home Video), as well as the "The Saint: The Early Episodes -- Vol. 1" (A&E Home Entertainment), which features the first 12 black and white episodes of the show, which stars a pre-James Bond Roger Moore as modern-day Robin Hood character Simon Templar.