Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., Dec. 16:
More than 25 years after its initial release, a re-imagined “Fright Night” shifts from Iowa to suburban Las Vegas, where a charming yet enigmatic stranger (Colin Farrell) moves in next door to a teenager (Anton Yelchin) and his mother (Toni Collette), giving them a silly, bloodsucking scare.
Combining the suspense of a political thriller with international espionage and social commentary about our veneration of heroes, “The Debt” stars Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds as former Mossad operatives who were dispatched back in 1965 to East Berlin to capture a notorious Nazi war criminal.
“Kung-Fu Panda 2” takes up where the highly popular original left off, as the roly-poly, dumpling-devouring bear (voiced by Jack Black) faces another threat as the Dragon Warrior Po.
Weaving together news clips and archival footage with rare interviews, “Bobby Fischer Against the World” transports viewers to a different era – when a chess champion could be compared with Muhammad Ali and inspire an entire nation.
‘Tis the season to believe in miracles, notes the Hallmark Channel’s “A Christmas Wish,” as a single, destitute mother (Kristy Swanson) prays for a miracle to help her homeless family. And “A Christmas Wedding Tail” is a heartwarming story about two passionate pooches falling head over tail in love.
In Portuguese with English subtitles and based on famous medium Chico Xavier’s best-seller, “Astral City: A Spiritual Journey” centers on Andre Luiz, a successful doctor who experiences an enlightening awakening after his death.
In Farsi with English subtitles, Maryam Keshavarz’s semi-autobiographical “Circumstance” revolves around a well-to-do, liberal family struggling to cope with Lebanon’s intolerant regime; the son has just returned from drug rehab, while his 16 year-old sister is involved in a lesbian relationship.
PICK OF THE WEEK: One of this year’s best ‘origin’ stories, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” stars James Franco as a research scientist and Andy Serkis – in a motion-capture performance – as a genetically-enhanced chimpanzee. It’s an action-packed, cautionary tale, based on the sci-fi simian mythology created by Pierre Boulle in “Planet of the Apes.”