(Enlarge) "The Films of Michael Powell" introduce two vintage classics to DVD.

The danger in today's PlayStation world is that we will come to think of movies as flashy, disposable leisure-time novelties. We may forget what British filmmaker Michael Powell, for one, knew well -- that films can also be agents of culture and maturity.

A slim, budget-conscious collector's set out now serves to remind us: "The Films of Michael Powell" (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, not rated, $24.96) brings two more of his vintage productions to DVD.

"A Matter of Life and Death," made in 1946 and released in this country under the title "Stairway to Heaven," stars David Niven as a World War II pilot who unaccountably survives his plane's downing without a parachute and falls in love on what appears to be "borrowed time." There's a whole fantasy subplot that includes a "Topper"-like invisible angel and a heavenly trial in which Niven's case for postponing death must be argued, though the film itself allows that it's all a series of recurrent hallucinations resulting from Niven's head injuries.

Of thematic concern to Powell and his frequent collaborator, Emeric Pressburger, is that the close wartime alliance between America and England continue into the post-war world. Their witty and literate plot is just a modern-day "masque," of sorts, for airing out past cultural differences. The fantasy carries strong comic and tragic touches, including a depiction of Heaven as a sort of socialist bureaucracy.

The film is introduced on DVD by Martin Scorsese, and there's an insightful commentary by Ian Christie, who observes that the film "marked the end of the war and the beginning of the new world." Best of all, the movie's notable Technicolor palette and achievements in depth-of-focus look better here than they may have appeared in their initial run.

The great James Mason stars in the other offering, 1969's "Age of Consent," which was Powell's final feature film. It's a portrait of a successful London painter who returns to Australia in later life to recapture his muse. There he spars with the colorful beach-front locals and falls in love with a free-spirited nymph, played by Helen Mirren in her screen debut. This DVD also has a worthy commentary track and "making of" featurettes, plus a warm reminiscence by the fetching present-day Mirren.

Watching Powell and Pressburger movies -- they also made "The Red Shoes" and "I Know Where I'm Going" together -- is as close as one can get to dreaming without being asleep. Their celluloid reveries still transport us between worlds and open our eyes to other realities. In travel savings alone, this two-disc set is easily the best bargain of the decade.

What were they thinking?

In this first column of 2009, we introduce a new feature called What Were They Thinking? with a look at Alan Ball's new-to-DVD 2008 movie, "Towelhead" (Warner Home Video, rated R, $27.95).

Actor Aaron Eckhart is the indie filmmaker's go-to guy for roles that are disturbing and frequently misogynistic, but he outdoes himself in this new movie by the author of the Oscar-winning "American Beauty." Eckhart does his utmost here to make sympathetic a patriotic U.S. Army reservist caught sexually preying on the 13-year-old Arab-American girl (Summer Bashil) next door.

Ball based his screenplay on a novel by Lebanese-American Alicia Erian about an exploited innocent caught between her traditional, Lebanese-born father, her own awakening bi-sexuality, and a largely unsympathetic Houston suburb. Fellow students hurl ethnic slurs at times, but Ball's film is less concerned with racial intolerance than with the crucible of adolescent sexuality, especially when it runs counter to "the norm."

In two added panel discussions on the new DVD, the socially progressive Ball is confronted by Arab representatives who ask him, in essence, "What were you thinking?" All he can answer is that, as a gay man, his PC credentials are impeccable and his solidarity with persecuted minorities beyond reproach -- a line of defense the Arab advocates don't appear at all willing to concede.

Also new on DVD

*"Appaloosa" (Warner Home Video, rated R, DVD $28.98, Blu-ray Disc $35.99). Actor Ed Harris grabs the directorial reins for this enjoyable if hollow Western based on a Robert B. Parker novel. Harris and Viggo Mortensen play amoral drifters hired to rid Appaloosa of evil gentleman-rancher Jeremy Irons. Then one day a mysterious lady (Renee Zellweger) steps off a train and nothing between the two gunmen will ever be the same. Harris' inexperience shows in the lax reactions of bystanders and a utilitarian approach to camera placement. The DVD offers mainly memories of the film's making, but the less said the better about the end title song written and sung by Harris himself.

*"Brick Lane" (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, $28.96). A respectful, 20-year marriage in London's expatriate Bangladeshi community is threatened by a potentially passionate love affair in this well observed drama of generational culture clash. A subtle and natural performance is turned in by Tannishtha Chatterjee as the shy businessman's wife, still trying to find her place in the world. I also liked the traditionalist husband's incorrigible optimism and the film's juxtapositions of the wife's present-day squalor with the lush, colorful images from her Indian upbringing.

*"Brideshead Revisited" (Miramax Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, $29.99). One visit should suffice for those curious to see how Evelyn Waugh's period novel plays out on screen here. Stylish photography and lighting emphasize memory and dreaminess in a formal framework, but the characters are not particularly witty and the action about class envy, guilt and repression is not well dramatized. The son of an unloving merchant goes off to university and falls in with a dissolute dreamer from a ridiculously rich family that is being devoured by its own unbending Roman Catholicism. The handsome DVD includes a commentary track, deleted scenes and a "making of" short.

*"Mirrors" (20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment, rated R, $29.95). Kiefer Sutherland becomes night watchman at a creepy, burned-out department store and starts seeing reflections of carnage and menace in the mirrors. You'd think he'd ask for more money, but instead he sets off on an investigation to put an end to the curse before it can destroy his family. Why? Don't ask. It's enough that it raises some gooseflesh and makes even a modicum of sense.

*"Pineapple Express" (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated R, $28.96). Watching drug-addled behavior isn't as amusing as it used to be, but panda-like Seth Rogen still makes me chuckle. The title refers to a potent blend of marajuana which all of the lost boys in the cast pursue until they cross paths with a murderous den of dealers and suddenly embrace their inner Rambos. James Franco ("Milk") joins in the fun of dredging for druggie yucks, though the film's lethargic pacing is more lethal than its armory.

*"Swing Vote" (Touchstone Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, $29.99, Blu-ray Disc $34.99). Don't demean the memory of Frank Capra by linking him in any way with this crock about a New Mexico deadbeat dad (Kevin Costner) who finds himself the center of a national uproar in a presidential election. Skip the details -- they are all contrived and charmless -- the filmmakers' attempt at fashioning a new populist comedy just shows how out-of-touch today's Hollywood can be. The DVD has lots of extras but I can't imagine anyone electing to stick around for them.

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