Bring home street sleaze with ‘The Wire’ on DVD

“The Wire: The Complete First Season”

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From the streets of Baltimore, where the superb “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “The Corner” were filmed, this HBO miniseries throws us into the complex, sleazy world of cops, drug dealers, political payoffs and special interests.

Dominic West (“Mona Lisa’s Smile”) stars as a detective who, investigating drug sales and murderous infighting, becomes part of a team that may, or may not, have been set up for failure. (DVD only; 13 episodes on five discs; not rated but sequences of drug use, sexual situations, language, graphic violence)

“The Battle of Algiers”

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Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo wasn’t the first filmmaker to use documentary techniques in a narrative film, in this case to capture Algeria’s battle for independence from France.

But the result, released theatrically in 1965, bears an authentic feel for the horror of war and the cruelty demonstrated by all involved. Criterion’s new DVD release features a new interview with Pontecorvo that BBC reviewer Almar Haflidason faults only for being too short. (DVD only; 1:57; unrated but with graphic scenes of violence)

“The Day After Tomorrow”

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Facing a new Ice Age, a collection of characters, including a scientist (Dennis Quaid) and his nerdy son (Jake Gyllenhaal), struggle to survive. Questionable science and barely adequate acting from the standard troupe of stereotypes are not nearly as bad as the fact that this Roland Emmerich (“Godzilla”) film has no ending. (DVD, VHS; 2:04; rated PG-13 for intense sequences of peril)

“Salem’s Lot – The Miniseries”

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Stephen King’s vampire thriller comes again to the little screen, and Rob Lowe takes over for David Soul.

It’s not much of an improvement.

There are a few chills here and there as we follow Lowe’s struggle to save his home town from blood-sucking freaks (mainly Rutger Hauer), but not as many as, say, “It,” or even the original version.

(DVD, VHS; 3:01; not rated but sequences of graphic violence and intensity)

“Raising Helen”

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A New York party girl (Kate Hudson) is appointed guardian of her dead sister’s children, which enrages her surviving sister and model mom Jenny (Joan Cusack).

Too many subplots and core maudlin melodrama result in a film that feels paint-by-number and unrealistic. (DVD, VHS; 1:55; PG-13 for thematic issues involving teens)

Now available: “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Raising Helen,” “Salem’s Lot – The Miniseries,” “The Wire: The Complete First Season,” “Battle of Algiers” (DVD only).

Available Tuesday:

“Van Helsing,” “Garfield: The Movie,” “A Cinderella Story,” “The Hole,” “Michael Apted’s ‘Up’ Series” (DVD only).