Susan Granger’s dvd update for week of Friday, June 20th:
As a recently divorced couple, Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey team up in “Fool’s Gold,” searching for the legendary Queen’s Dowry treasure of jewels that was lost in the Caribbean in 1715. Extras include a gag reel and behind-the-scenes bantering with Kate and Matt.
Martin Lawrence stars in “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins” as talk-show sensation RJ Stevens, who left behind his modest Georgia upbringing and family name to become a self-help guru. Now he’s headed back for his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. The dvd has almost 45 minutes of outtakes and deleted/extended scenes plus an alternate opening.
Clint Eastwood’s daughter Alison makes an auspicious directing debut with “Rails & Ties,” a heartfelt, if bleak family melodrama starring Marcia Gay Harden and Kevin Bacon. What’s striking is the uncanny resemblance between Bacon’s reserved demeanor and ‘early’ Clint Eastwood performances.
Set in Beirut, “Caramel” follows the lives of five women who meet regularly in a beauty salon to discuss men, sex and motherhood; it’s both an astute cultural study and a charming comedic drama.
Although “Chaos Theory” never got a wide release, it stars Ryan Reynolds as a timid, uptight efficiency consultant who learns to embrace life’s unpredictability when his wife (Emily Mortimer) sets the kitchen clock ahead by mistake.
“Popeye and Friends Vol. 1” and “Popeye the Sailor 1938-1940 Volume 2” show how everyone’s favorite sailorman hasn’t aged a day since his debut 75 years ago, proving the power of eating spinach.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Evoking memories of “Cinema Paradiso,” Patricia Riggen’s engaging road movie “Under the Same Moon” traces parallel stories of a mother and son in Los Angeles and Mexico. In Spanish with English subtitles, it’s a gem – one of those rare films that truly touch your heart.