DVD Update for week of July 15

Susan Granger’s DVD UPDATE for week of Friday, July 15:

 

    Matthew McConaughey is “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a facile Southern California criminal defense attorney whose newest client is a spoiled, arrogant rich guy (Ryan Phillippe) who insists he never raped and beat a young prostitute; this police procedural explores whether he’s guilty or innocent.

    British bad boy Russell Brand tries to fill impish Dudley Moore’s top hat in the misbegotten remake of “Arthur” which totally lost its charm somewhere between the moon and New York City, despite the best efforts of Helen Mirren as Arthur’s nanny, a role for which John Gielgud won an Oscar.

    Julian Schnabel’s “Miral” stars Indian actress Freida Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire”) in the title role of an orphaned character based on Schnabel’s real-life Palestinian girl-friend, Rula Jebreal, and reflecting her anti-Israel sentiments as it addresses the issue of a self-governing Palestinian state via stories of suffering from Jerusalem-born Muslim women.

    Geared to appeal to adult canine lovers, “My Dog Tulip” is a dryly funny animated tale, based on the story by curmudgeonly British writer J.R. Ackerley.

    For foreign film aficianados: adapted from a book by a Buddist monk and acclaimed at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s  “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” is a perplexing story about a Thai villager, a dying farmer, who is visited by ghosts and apparitions; it’s in Thai with English subtitles.

    “A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up Timmy Turner!” is Nickelodeon’s first-ever, live-action and CG-animated presentation with Drake Bello as the now-23 year-old Timmy, who is still in the fifth grade and living at home because he refuses to grow up and leave his beloved fairy godparents.

    For pre-schoolers, there’s “Barney: 1-2-3- Learn,” preparing for the upcoming school season, and “Thomas & Friends: Thomas in Charge,” igniting the imagination via train tracks.

    PICK OF THE WEEK: “Rango” is a rootin’-tootin’ reptile, manically personified by Johnny Depp, in this irreverent, existential, CGI feature crafted by Industrial Light & Magic. The story revolves around the adventures of a chameleon that’s accidentally liberated from his glass terrarium in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

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