Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric, right) shaves his father Papinou (Max Von Sydow) in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Miramax Films

Katherine Heigl plays a woman with a closet full of bridesmaid’s dresses, but no husband of her own, in the breezy romantic comedy 27 Dresses (Fox, $29.98), which is set in New York City but was filmed mostly in Rhode Island early last summer.

Heigl’s Jane Nichols has her sights set on her handsome boss … until her blond sister comes between them. Almost as bad, Jane’s bridesmaid exploits are being tracked by a newspaper reporter who has been secretly following her, sometimes to more than one wedding a night. Some of the weddings and Jane’s outfits are outlandish, adding to the merry air. There aren’t many surprises, but it’s all played out so expertly you’ll gladly go along for the ride. Rhode Islanders get extra points for figuring out where all the location filming was done, on sites ranging from Pawtucket to Charlestown.

Dive into this

A movie about a man who is paralyzed from head to toe and can only communicate by blinking his left eye doesn’t sound as though it has the makings of a happy moviegoing experience. But The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Disney, $29.99), based on the memoirs of Jean-Dominique Bauby, is a wonderful life-affirming film that will leave you with a glow. Artist-turned-film-director Julian Schnabel, received an Academy Award nomination for his direction, having previously taken the honor at the Cannes Film Festival.

Once a man who lived a playboy life as an editor of the Elle fashion magazine, Bauby is felled by a stroke and can only communicate in a painstaking system of eye blinks. At first viewers are inside his head and become one with him. Halfway through the film, Schnabel shifts gears and gives us a third-person perspective. It is here that Bauby is transformed from a tragic, self-centered figure to one who embraces his life, difficult as it is, for all that he can pull from it. This is an inspirational film about someone who rejects life, but finally comes to terms with it.

Lost its compass

With its talking bears, parallel universe Cossack army, flying witch, Gypsies, crusty Texas “aeronaut,” kidnapped children and kidnappers known as “Gobblers,” The Golden Compass (New Line, $28.98) has too many things going for it, even before you get to that magical compass of the title which is held by a 12-year-old girl.

The Golden Compass is what everyone is after in the film, based on Philip Pullman’s first novel in his Dark Materials trilogy. Sometimes confusing and tedious, the plot comes into focus near the end with a final action-packed half hour. But by then it’s almost too late. Parents should be cautioned that this PG-13 movie contains a great deal of violence, some of it quite graphic.

Fall is in the air

Director Ridley Scott’s Roman adventure Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe, borrowed liberally from the plot of the 1964 epic The Fall of the Roman Empire (Genius $24.95) whose all-star cast includes Alec Guinness, Sophia Loren, James Mason, Christopher Plummer and Omar Sharif. Boasting what is still the largest outdoor movie set ever constructed — the 55-acre Roman Forum — director Anthony Mann’s tale traces the power struggle and political decline that emerges after Rome’s emperor, Marcus Aurelius, picks his adopted son to succeed him rather than his unstable biological son. A three-disc Collector’s Edition boxed set $39.92) also has five making-of segments and commentary with producer Samuel Bronston’s son, five historical films about ancient Rome, six production stills and more.

Pre-Indy

With the fourth Indiana Jones movie due May 22, the adventurer concludes his formative years in The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume Three — The Years of Change (Paramont, $117.99) in a boxed set of TV exploits from the 1990s series. Sean Patrick Flanery is the youthful Indy, who butts heads with Ernest Hemingway as World War I nears an end and later encounters such figures as Woodrow Wilson, Al Capone, George Gershwin and Louis Armstrong. The 10-disc set has seven movie-length adventures and dozens of detailed documentary segments on the real people and events in Indy’s life.

Also this week

Susan Sarandon is heiress Doris Duke and Ralph Fiennes is her gay butler in the what-might-have-been fictional tale Bernard and Doris (HBO, $26.98); an impoverished girl tries to get out of the ’hood by winning a stepping contest in How She Move (Paramount, $29.99); a psychologist tries to unlock the secrets of two brutal murders that have left a boy in a catatonic state in Prism (Monarch, $24.95); Val Kilmer’s career takes an interesting new twist that finds him starring in the first “Polish western” — Dead Man’s Bounty (Lionsgate, $26.98); modern-day treasure hunters hope to unearth a priceless Buddhist artifact in Diamond Dogs (Sony, $24.96); Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a trash collector whose robbery scheme goes awry in Hero Wanted (Sony, $24.96).

From TV

Get ready for another go-round with: The Waltons: The Complete Seventh Season (Warner, $39.98); Cheers: The Ninth Season (CBS/Paramount, $42.99); Beverly Hills 90210: The Fourth Season (CBS/Paramount, $61.99); Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is — The Complete Second Season (BET/Paramount, $19.99); The Big Gay Sketch Show: The Complete Unrated Second Season (Logo/Paramount, $26.99); Paranormal State: The Complete Season One (A&E, $34.95); Intelligence, Season One (Acorn, $59.99).

For children

A friendless girl befriends a pinto pony and prods it toward a horse race’s winners circle in Moondance Alexander (Fox, $26.98); Sabrina: The Teenage Witch: The Complete Animated Series (Genius, $29.95); Treasure Island Kids 2: The Monster of Treasure Island (PorchLight, $14.98); Jorge el Monito Ciclista … y Cinco Cuentos Mas which is six Curious George animated titles with a Spanish soundtrack (Scholastic, $12.95).

Performance

Sing out with the likes of Patti LaBelle, John Legend, Kirk Franklin and more in Celebration of Gospel: Spirit in Song (BET/Paramount, $19.99).

Documentaries

Children of Holocaust survivors are at the heart of A Generation Apart (City Lights, $19.95); look at the complexities and legacies of empire building in The British Empire in Color (Acorn, $24.99); western expatriates try to save 250,000 Chinese from Japanese invaders in 1937 in Nanking (THINKFilm, $27.98); learn how the Parthenon in Athens was built so quickly without the help of modern tools in Secrets of the Parthenon (WGBH, $24.95), a film from Providence-based Gary Glassman and his Providence Pictures.

Self help

Delve into issues affecting most new mothers in Surviving Motherhood: Your Guide to Being a Mom (Genius, $24.95); discover tips on good eating and exercise for children in Trevor Romain: If You Don’t Take Care of Your Body, Where Else Are You Going to Live? (PorchLight, $14.98).

Back for more

You can watch Tokyo topple twice in Terror of MechaGodzilla or All Monsters Attack (Classic Media, $16.93 each).

Two of Walt Disney’s animated celebrations of Latin America during the 1940s — Saludos Amigos and Three Caballeros, featuring Donald Duck — have been combined on the double-feature disc The Classic Caballeros Collection: Saludos Amigos/Three Caballeros (Disney, $19.99).

Sean Connery is King Arthur, Richard Gere is Lancelot and Julia Ormond is Guinevere in First Knight which returns as a Special Edition with several special features on the making of the film and the Arthurian Legend (Sony, $19.94).

With Journal Wire Reports