Ed Harris’ direction, acting aids ‘Appaloosa’

‘Our Daily Bread’

•••

In the 2005 documentary “Our Daily Bread,” which played at the 2007 Spokane International Film Festival, Austrian director Nikolaus Geyrhalter takes us on a tour of every food-related industry from chickens, cattle and pigs to sunflowers, peppers and salt. The fascinating thing about the film is how impersonal everything, and everyone, is. From the shifting of baby chicks – hardly more than yellow balls of fluff – between storage crates to the butchering of pigs and steers both by machine and human, everything is done with a mostly wordless sense of calm bordering on psychosis. DVD includes interview with director Geyrhalter, behind-the-scenes photo gallery. (1:32; not rated)

‘Brick Lane’

••1/2

Relationships are never easy, especially when we have no say in how they begin. Mired in a marriage arranged by her parents, a Bengali woman (Tannishtha Chatterjee) living in a London neighborhood begins to dream of something more – including one of her young male neighbors. Exquisitely photographed and featuring the beautiful Chatterjee, the film sets up an intriguingly familiar scenario. But then it cops out by taking an easy step toward resolving the seemingly unresolvable. DVD includes commentaries by director Sarah Gavron and actress Chatterjee, making-of featurettes, interviews. (1:41; rated PG-13 for brief strong language, sexuality)

‘Brideshead Revisited’

••1/2

One of the Public Broadcasting System’s miniseries sensations of the early 1980s was the 11-episode adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel, which starred Jeremy Irons, Diana Quick and Anthony Andrews. Julian Jarrold’s big-screen version of the same novel, which follows the relationship that a young London painter (Matthew Goode) has with the noble Flyte family and its vast estate, is, by comparison, a Cliff’s Notes version of the same sordid tale. Yeah, it boasts decent acting and glorious cinematography, but the abbreviated story line cheapens the whole project. DVD includes making-of featurettes, deleted scenes. (2:14; rated PG-13 for sexual content)

Also available: “All Roads Lead Home,” “Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach,” “The Family That Preys,” “Hit and Run,” “Mirrors,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Ring of Death,” “Shut Up and Shoot!” “Swing Vote,” “Yeti”