Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., Dec. 23rd
J.C. Chandor’s topical thriller “Margin Call” unfolds over the course of 24 hours in 2008, showing how one financial firm dumped worthless assets on unsuspecting customers and features superb performances from Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto and Demi Moore.
Gavin O’Connor’s “Warrior” is a family drama/underdog sports saga revolving around an Iraq War veteran (Tom Hardy), coached by his father (Nick Nolte), competing against his financially-strapped older brother (Joel Edgerton) in a winner-take-all Mixed Martial Arts slug-fest.
Kate Bosworth, James Marsden and Alexander Skarsgaard star in Rod Lurie’s intense remake of “Straw Dogs,” a provocative, terrifying saga of violence and its consequences, set in Blackwater, Mississippi.
Reviving the American folk legend, “Blackthorn” reveals Sam Shepard as Butch Cassidy, who didn’t die with the Sundance Kid but, instead, fled over the border to South America, assuming a new identity.
Oozing female empowerment, acrobatic Zoe Saldana plays a fearless, cold-blooded killer, wreaking her own brand of brutal revenge on bad guys in “Colombiana.” And “Glee: The Concert Movie” is an emotionally manipulative spinoff about TV’s celebrated group of talented high-school outcasts, aimed specifically at fanatic “Glee” fans.
“Monica & David” is a docudrama about a couple with Down Syndrome, yearning for love, work and independence, while “Discover the Gift” is Demian Lichtenstein’s documentary about discovering your true, unique passion.
In Mandarin with English subtitles, there are three new releases from Chinese filmmakers: Feng Xiaogang’s sequel “If You Are the One: Love and Marriage,” Andrew Lau’s romantic “A Beautiful Life,” and Zhang Meng’s comedy “The Piano in a Factory.”
Just now available on Blu-ray, film aficionados will love Vincente Minnelli’s classic Christmas musical “Meet Me in St. Louis,” starring Judy Garland, and set in 1903 during the St. Louis World’s Fair.
PICKS OF THE WEEK: Woody Allen’s fanciful fable “Midnight in Paris,” starring Owen Wilson, is a whimsical, illusion-versus-reality, time-travelling visit to the iconic City of Lights, while “Dolphin Tale” is an inspiring, feel-good, family-friendly story about a young boy’s determination to help an injured dolphin named Winter get a new tail.