The 'Revolutionary Road' less traveled

If you appreciate extremely well-done cinematic drama and don't always require a happy-go-lucky story to go with it, I suggest that you hop in your car and motor on over to the video store today.

"Revolutionary Road," the searing period drama set in the 1950s, is the movie that six-time Oscar nominee Kate Winslet should have won for at the Academy Awards in February.  Instead, she took home the best actress golden statuette for "The Reader," which can't compare, at least from this aisle seat.

Debuting on DVD shelves today, "Revolutionary Road" is directed by Sam Mendes, Winslet's real-life husband and an Academy Award winner himself for helming "American Beauty" in 1999.

Winslet hits the "Revolutionary Road" with her old pal and "Titanic" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, who has racked up three Oscar nominations (in case you're counting).

When "Revolutionary Road" scorched movie screens in late December, I said that Winslet and DiCaprio, both excellent actors, "ignite something several degrees hotter than special. It's white-heat internal combustion most filmmakers can only dream of."  Click here for the full review.

Also landing on DVD shelves today (June 2):

"Defiance" -- Daniel Craig (Mr. James Bond himself) and Liev Schreiber are out front as brothers herding up Jews and helping them survive after the Germans invade Poland in 1939.  It's based on actual events, but this World War II drama never quite engaged me fully in the compelling story like it should. 

"He's Just Not That Into You" -- Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Justin Long, Ben Affleck and Drew Barrymore try to understand why guys do what they do in the comic-drama-romance based on the book.

(Photo:  Don't let this happy moment fool you.  April (Kate Winslet) and Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) are in for a very rough relationship ride in "Revolutionary Road."/Paramount Vantage)