Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., Feb. 3:
Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) stars as “Janie Jones” in a music melodrama about a faded rock star (Alessandro Nivola) who discovers he has a 13 year-old daughter when she’s dropped off by a former flame (Elisabeth Shue) trying to kick drugs.
Winner of the Sundance Screenwriting Award, writer/director Sam Levinson’s “Another Happy Day” chronicles a woman (Ellen Barkin) struggling to survive at a volatile family gathering as her disturbed children (Kate Bosworth, Ezra Miller, Daniel Yelsky, Michael Nardelli) vent resentments.
“Shut Up Little Man: An Audio Misadventure” is a poignant, dark comedy documentary about the world’s first “viral” pop-culture sensation: back in 1987, when Eddie Lee and Mitchell D moved into a cheap San Francisco apartment, they tape-recorded their neighbors’ nightly rants.
In the vein of “Bend It Like Beckham” and “Strictly Ballroom,” Mehul Shah’s “Bollywood Beats” is a feel-good comedy about an unlikely group of friends dancing to the beat of their own drum.
“Dream House” is a tiresome, tedious psychological thriller, starring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, about a suburban family terrorized by someone who committed a brutal murder in their house before they moved in.
Despite its incessantly percussive music, “The Double” is a disappointing Cold War espionage thriller as a retired agent (Richard Gere) is recruited back into action and paired with a hotshot newbie (Topher Grace), who has extensively researched their target: an elusive Russian assassin.
If you’re a horror fan with a taste for shocking, controversial, brutal black humor, “The Woman” reveals a domineering father who abducts a feral woman while out on a hunting trip and decides to “civilize” her, a decision that he and his family will regret.
For preschoolers, “Thomas & Friends: Curious Cargo” finds the railway pals carrying unusual great and freight as they embark on four fantastic adventures to deliver giraffes, cows, birds and bunnies.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black play manic birders with binoculars, as they compete to log the most sighted species in “The Big Year,” an ornithology-inspired comedic expedition.