Susan’s DVD UPDATE for week of Friday, July 9:
Best known as “Mr. Darcy” on the BBC’s “Pride and Prejudice,” Colin Firth delivers an extraordinary performance in “A Single Man,” a depressing, bleak drama about a discreetly gay, middle-aged man struggling with loneliness after the death of his partner of 16 years; Gucci creative director Tom Ford financed, produced, directed and co-wrote the non-linear, stream-of-consciousness, vignette-studded screenplay and displays a stylistic, sophisticated elegance.
Unfolding during one chaotic week, three conflicted, corrupt cops (Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke) face tough decisions in Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” as the NYPD’s Operation Clean-Up targets a notoriously drug-ridden housing project, learning “There’s no such thing as right or wrong – only righter and wronger.”
Asking the question, “Are our skies safer after 9/11?” the documentary “Please Remove Your Shoes” scrutinizes corruption and vulnerabilities within US Aviation Security and TSA’s failure to keep travelers safe.
For quirky comedy, “The Flying Scissors” is set in the grueling world of Rock Paper Scissors; after touring 42 colleges, this satire has developed a cult following.
Foreign film aficionados may enjoy a Spanish-language drama, “The Wind Journeys,” that follows an old musician and his aspiring disciple as they undertake a legendary journey through the Colombian countryside. And “Sex Stories” is an explicit French film that explores the complexities of modern relationship; the script, which follows two dinner parties, is more conversational than carnal.
For tots, the first release from Sesame Street’s New Series “Preschool is Cool: ABCs With Elmo” introduces children to the alphabet with engaging extras like the music video “African Alphabet,” as well as a kid growth chart to use while learning letters.
PICK OF THE WEEK: The Swedish film version of Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is an intense, indelibly gripping thriller, totally capturing the mysterious essence of the international best-seller. As a Stockholm financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), struggles to regain respect after being found guilty of criminal libel, he teams up with an unlikely partner – punk, pierced-and-tattooed hacker, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) – to solve a 40-year-old ‘cold case.’