Susan’s DVD Update for week of Friday, February 26:
If you’re into high fashion, R.J. Cutler’s “The September Issue” is a riveting, behind-the-scenes look at Vogue’s legendary editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and how she and her editors created a compendium of eye-candy clothes in pre-recession, September. 2007.
Continuing in the fashion vein, “Eleven Minutes” chronicles how Jay McCarroll from TV’s reality show “Project Runway” prepared for his first independent runway show in New York’s Fashion Week in Bryant Park.
“Motherhood” is Katherine Dieckmann’s ode to matrons of New York City’s West Village, charting one day in the life of a one-time fiction writer-turned-blogger (Uma Thurman) whose existence is now consumed by her duties as a wife and mother.
Starring Matt Damon, Steven Soderbergh’s subversive, hide-and-sneaky “The Informant” exposes an over-eager corporate executive-turned-FBI tattle-tale whose ever-changing stories make it almost impossible to decipher what’s real and what’s imagined.
Maudlin and confusing, “The Box” is a sci-fi muddle based on a provocative, philosophical concept that revolves around a couple (Cameron Diaz, James Marsden) facing a moral dilemma: if they push a button that will kill a complete stranger somewhere in the world, they will get one million tax-free dollars.
“Dead Snow” is the zombie/horror film that shocked Sundance and rocked Europe, focusing on medical students on a sex-and-booze-fueled ski vacation to a remote cabin in the Norwegian Alps, where they uncover a dark secret from World War II.
Another film festival favorite is “$9.99,” an artful stop-motion animated feature examining the meaning of life, based on the short stories of Etgar Keret.
For kids, there’s Wallace & Gromit’s “Shaun The Sheep: A Woolly Good Time” and “The Wiggles: Hot Poppin’ Popcorn” with a slew of new Jamie Redfern songs.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Imagine an ocean without fish. According to “The End of the Line,” this is our future – in less than 40 years – if we don’t stop, think and act. Based on Charles Clover’s acclaimed book and narrated by Ted Danson, this documentary shows firsthand the effects of over-fishing. And among the many DVD extras is a wallet-sized sustainable fish guide.