REIGN OVER ME

Sony Pictures / $28.95

In Reign Over Me, Adam Sandler delivers a performance of a man turned inward by his grief that is brilliant, corrosive -- and utterly mesmerizing.

MASTERPIECE THEATRE: THE BRONTE COLLECTION

WGBH Boston / $39.95

There is a rampant sexual energy in the writings of those two unruly Victorian sisters, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, that runs through the made-for-television versions of their two greatest works, respectively Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

Leave it to the Brontes to unearth the sexual magnetism of ugly, powerful men. Rochester and Heathcliff are Byronic heroes: dark, deformed, wild and surly. They were not meant to have chiseled jaws and artfully mussed hair.

Both Toby Stephens (Rochester) and Robert Cavanah (Heathcliff) are fine actors, and it cannot be denied that film is a visual medium. Still, I found myself longing for less romance and more authenticity. The novels aren't remotely picturesque or pastoral, but are as profoundly unsettling as an earthquake. In a similar way, the films made from these books should rattle our bones.

Special features include deleted scenes, audio commentaries, and interviews with the cast and crew.

mary.mccauley@baltsun.com