Susan Granger’s DVD update for week of Friday, June 17:
One week. No rules. That’s the premise of the Farrelly brothers’ comedy “Hall Pass,” as two restless husbands (Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis) are given seven days ‘off’ to see what they might be missing out on…or forever hold their peace.
“What could possibly go wrong diving in caves?” asks a naïve newcomer who joins cranky cave diver (Richard Roxburgh) as they descend into the mammoth yet inaccessible Esa-ala Caves, outside of Papua, New Guinea, in “Sanctum,” a schlocky chronicle filled with claustrophobic, undersea suspense.
In “Red Riding Hood,” the inhabitants of the European hamlet of Daggerhorn are terrified when a werewolf gobbles a young woman, so they summon a lycanthropy expert, as Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman team up for director Catherine Hardwicke’s tepid, twisted medieval melodrama.
Martin Lawrence continues his profitable franchise with “Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son,” relying heavily on frantic slapstick and formulaic sketches as he plays an FBI agent in disguise as a woman.
“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Ultimate Editions continue the definitive inside story of “Creating the World of Harry Potter.”
For Father’s Day, consider “Talking Baseball With Ed Randall,” a collection of interviews with the greatest Major League Baseball has to offer, including the game’s most iconic players, managers and announcers – from Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams to Bob Gibson and Ernie Banks.
Or, on a serious note, filmmaker Brook Silva-Braga’s thoughtful documentary “The China Question” examines the economic, political and moral implications of China’s rise to the world’s next superpower.
And for film buffs, there’s the once-lost M.G.M. classic “Night Flight” (1942), starring John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy.
For pre-schoolers, there’s “Bob the Builder: The Big Dino Dig The Movie” in partnership with LEGOLAND and the new collection “Happiness is…Peanuts: Snoopy’s Adventures.”
PICK OF THE WEEK: Gung-ho Marines go into combat against monstrous alien forces in “Battle: Los Angeles,” led by a squinty-clenched jawed Staff Sgt. (Aaron Eckhart) who has already lost too many buddies in the Middle East.