"R.L. STINE'S MOSTLY GHOSTLY." (2008. RATED PG. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. $19.98.)Halloween always means new R.L. Stine DVDs, most of them based on the writer's perennially popular spooky stories for young people, the "Goosebumps" series. ("Popular" hardly tells the story: According to the author's Web site, he has sold more than 300 million books.)This year's Stine releases, however, include a feature film, "Mostly Ghostly," based on the author's series of the same title. High-school freshman Max (Sterling Beaumon) cuts a deal to help a pair of brother-and-sister ghosts (Madison Pettis and Luke Benward) if they aid him in winning the attention of a female schoolmate. The film also features siblings of a couple of famous young stars: Ali Lohan and Noah Cyrus. The pace is slow, but it picks up toward the end, and the scares are mild throughout.As for the "Goosebumps" sets, Scholastic has three new ones, all following the usual format: Each disc has several stories from the '90s TV series, tales that are often like the old "Twilight Zone" episodes, with some laughs, some not-very-scary scares and, often, a twist ending.The new DVD "Goosebumps" titles -- "A Night in Terror Tower," "One Day at Horrorland" and "Monster Blood" -- have a suggested retail price of $14.98 each."JAZZ ICONS: SERIES THREE." (1958-75. NOT RATED. NAXOS/REELIN' IN THE YEARS. $119.99 FOR EIGHT-DISC SET OR $19.99 PER DISC.)This is a smashing set of DVDs featuring never-released live and studio performances by seven singular artists: Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Nina Simone, Oscar Peterson, Cannonball Adderley, Lionel Hampton and Rahsaan Roland Kirk (a bonus disc for boxed-set buyers has other rare tracks by Rollins, Simone and Kirk).Taped for television in cities across Europe, these club and concert performances capture the musicians at peak moments in their careers. We see a shaved-headed Rollins blowing his tenor saxophone for a live crowd in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1965, pouring out solos of sustained invention and energy on "St. Thomas" and "Oleo." He plays with equal fervor during a Danish studio performance taped three years later.The Evans disc brings together five performances with various trios, filmed in Sweden, France and Denmark from 1964 to 1975. We see the lyrical pianist huddled over the keys as he shapes a beautifully introspective "My Foolish Heart" with bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker in Stockholm in '64, and swinging "Someday My Prince Will Come" in Copenhagen in 1970 with drummer Marty Morrell and bassist Eddie Gomez.Simone never sang more passionately than she did during the potent performances offered here: a 1965 Dutch concert at which she sings Dylan's "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" and her wrenching civil-rights song "Mississippi Goddam," and a 1968 broadcast on England's Granada TV featuring everything from Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You" to "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" from the musical "Hair." The Adderley and Kirk discs are full of bright moments as well. Each DVD comes with a booklet of fine essays, photographs and ephemera.-- Jesse Hamlin"MISSING." (1982. RATED PG. CRITERION COLLECTION. $39.95. TWO DISCS.)Costa-Gavras has always been known for his political polemics. "Z" established the genre. "Missing" continued in that vein, but the movie is about more than politics. It's a personal story, and that's what makes it so great. Starring Jack Lemmon as Ed Horman, "Missing" is based on a true story about the search for a missing journalist by his wife and father, who get caught up in the military overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende.When Ed first hears that Charlie (John Shea) has not checked in to report his whereabouts, he assumes that it's just another act of rebellion by his son, who hasn't settled into the same middle-of-the-road routine as his father. But as Ed goes from government official to government official (David Clennon is excellent as the duplicitous U.S. consul Phil Putnam) with Charlie's wife, Beth (Sissy Spacek), he realizes that all his preconceptions about his son and daughter-in-law, as well as the government, are wrong. Ed discovers not only that the U.S. government has played a dastardly role in the affair and its tragic consequences, but also that his son is really a fine person.Costa-Gavras makes the story move like a thriller, and it has the atmosphere of a foreign film. The acting is great across the board, and the story is still relevant decades later. That's what gives "Missing" its lasting, universal appeal. This "special edition" two-disc set includes interviews with Costa-Gavras, Lemmon and Ed Horman; Charlie Horman's wife, Joyce; the film's producers; and the author of the book "Missing."-- Leba Hertz"NASH BRIDGES: THE FIRST SEASON." (1996. NOT RATED. PARAMOUNT. $39.98. TWO DISCS.)In the '80s, Don Johnson became a star playing a pastel-wearing detective in "Miami Vice," a show whose music and fashion sense changed the way television was made. In the late '90s, after pursuing a film career that didn't make much of a splash, Johnson put on his detective hat again and returned to the small screen in "Nash Bridges." Another action-geared police show, one could argue that it was almost as good as "Vice," but it didn't get anywhere near the attention (even though it was set in a much more exciting city).Johnson plays Inspector Nash Bridges, a member of San Francisco's special investigations unit who, according to one of the show's writers, got all A's in being a cop "but flunked his personal life." He has a teen-age daughter and two ex-wives, one of whom he still sleeps with on occasion, and the family dynamics make for interesting subplots.But the meat of the series is the police drama. Nash works with pal Joe Dominguez, played affably by Cheech Marin as a guy who's always looking for a get-rich-quick scheme. The plots typically include Russian gangsters, drug lords, thieves or murderers, with plausible enough stories that always include a little humor to balance the violence.In that canary-yellow Barracuda, Nash looks just as cool as Sonny Crockett ever did in his Ferrari, and the scenes shot on location in San Francisco are always fun to watch. Extras include on-set interviews with Johnson and Marin, a writers' roundtable and audio commentaries.-- Sue Adolphson(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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