‘FLIGHT’

This film includes one of Denzel Washington’s best performances, a gripping drama starring Washington as an airline pilot whose heroic action begins forcing him to confront the many demons in his life. Washington catches both the arrogance and the desperation of his character, and is deservedly nominated for a best-actor Oscar.

John Gatins’ script, nominated for best original screenplay, is merciless about showing Washington’s troubled side, with the movie’s R rating granted in large part “for drug and alcohol abuse, language (and) sexuality/ nudity”; we know Washington’s life is falling apart even before he becomes a hero.

The cast also includes John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood and Melissa Leo. Among the extras on video are a piece about the making of the film and one about the exciting plane crash that sets the movie’s deeper drama in motion.

‘SIDE BY SIDE’

Written and directed by Chris Kenneally, it features movie makers talking about the increasing use of digital technology, and how that is contrasted with the use of film. It contains a good primer on the two forms and how they work. But it also looks at how that changes the way a movie is made.

In one respect, for example, digital is much more time-efficient, since a director can see on the set how a scene has been shot, instead of seeing rushes a day a later, after the film has been developed. But that also reduces the power a cinematographer has, since the director can immediately demand a reshoot or changes in lighting - rather than having to trust the cinematographer to have gotten it right.

Then there is the even bigger issue of how digital movies can look compared with ones shot on film; is there an esthetic sacrifice being made, much the way some audiophiles believe digital music is lacking compared with vinyl? Through sometimes vigorous conversations with actor Keanu Reeves (also a producer on the documentary), people like George Lucas, James Cameron, David Fincher and Martin Scorsese weigh in. So do the cinematographers themselves. And the answers are not simple. Scorsese, for one, likes the immediacy of seeing digital images on the movie set - but also wants to see film rushes. Extras include deleted scenes and additional interviews with movie makers.

OUT THIS WEEK

The underrated “Alex Cross,” based on Palm Beacher James Patterson’s novel and turned into a tight, gritty, ’80s-style thriller by director Rob Cohen. Tyler Perry steps out of his comfort zone and succeeds…”Peter Pan,” the 1952 Disney animated classic on Blu-ray…“Celeste and Jesse Forever,” a generally well-received comedy starring Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones - and co-written by Jones.