Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., July 13:
Each summer, fantasy fans gather in San Diego at what started as a comic book convention and has grown into a major pop culture event, chronicled in Morgan Spurlock’s “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fans’ Hope,” following five attendees as they descended upon the ultimate geek mecca in 2010.
The libidinous high school gang (Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Chris Klein, Mena Suvari) reconnects in “American Reunion” with Jennifer Coolidge and Eugene Levy supplying laughs.
From the producers of “Animal Kingdom,” Willem Dafoe is “The Hunter,” a mercenary hired by a secretive European biotech company to stalk the last surviving Tasmanian tiger, while “Fightville” is a revealing look at what it takes to be a champion in the World of Mixed Martial Arts.
Set during Japan’s 1937 invasion of China, “Flowers of War” stars Christian Bale as an opportunistic American who takes shelter in a Roman Catholic convent school called Winchester Cathedral.
Steve Balderson’s “The Casserole Club” focuses on a neighborly yet competitive group of 1960s housewives determined to be ‘the hostess with the moistest.’
In Japanese with English subtitles, “Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog” is based on the true story of a golden Labrador retriever who became a dedicated seeing-eye dog for the blind.
Baseball enthusiasts can re-live Johan Santana’s no-hitter with “Baseball’s Greatest Games: New York Mets First No-Hitter,” featuring the original broadcast – in English or Spanish.
For preschoolers, there are lessons to be learned in “Barney: All About Opposites,” “Timmy Time: Happy Birthday” and “Thomas & Friends: Schoolhouse Delivery,” along with “Sesame Street: Elmo’s Magic Numbers.”
PICK OF THE WEEK: After the success of “You Can Count On Me, writer/director Kenneth Lonergan made “Margaret” with Matt Damon, Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo and Matthew Broderick – but it was shelved because of a battle between art and money, a clash of creative visions. This new DVD contains two different cuts of the film – Lonergan’s theatrical cut and a longer, three-hour-plus extended version. Whether it’s a curiosity or a masterpiece is in the eye of the beholder.