Susan Granger’s DVD update for week of Friday, March 9:
Impressionistically sweet, “The Myth of the American Sleepover” is a poignant, coming-of-age dramedy, set in Detroit, Michigan, where confused teenage misfits search for sexual connections on their last night of summer vacation.
Critically acclaimed, journalist Thet Sambath’s investigative documentary “Enemies of the People” reveals the inside story behind Cambodia’s Killing Fields and the gruesome events unfolded by the Khmer Rouge.
Promoted as a sort of sequel to “300,” “The Immortals” is a shallow, sword-and-sandals spectacular, featuring Mickey Rourke, Henry Cavill, Zach Braff and Stephen Dorff and filled with incoherent carnage.
Storytelling in all its forms is skewered in “The Catechism Cataclysm,” bizarrely blurring lines between the Bible, Mark Twain and campfire tales.
In the rehashed spoof “Johnny English Reborn,” forcibly retired Rowan Atkinson’s titular secret agent is called back into action by a new boss (Gillian Anderson) when a gang plans to assassinate the Chinese premier.
Adam Sandler won Razzie Awards as both Worst Actor and Worst Actress for “Jack and Jill,” a downhill drag, filled with stereotypical shtick and sloppy slapstick, with Sandler playing fraternal twins. Even worse, the despairing, drug-addled “I Melt With You” revolves around a reunited quartet of college buddies (Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Thomas Jane, Christian McKay).
“Justice League: Doom” finds Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Cyborg and Batman on their heels when super-villains implement the Dark Knight’s “contingency plans” for stopping any rogue Justice League member.
For pre-schoolers, “Angelina Ballerina: Ballerina Princess” is a new, five-episode mouseling collection; “Barney: Clean Up, Clean Up” proves that being tidy can be fun; “Thomas & Friends: Up, Up & Away” soars with four stories, plus games and puzzles; “Elmo’s Learning Adventure Triple Feature” compiles Sesame Street favorites…and “Tom and Jerry: In the Dog House” is a fur-flying collection of 22 cartoons.
PICKS OF THE WEEK: For family viewing, the rockin’ remake of “Footloose” with Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough celebrates toe-tapping adolescent angst. And for foreign film aficionados, Pedro Almodovar’s “The Skin I Live In,” starring Antonio Banderas as a celebrated plastic surgeon, is a shocking, stunning, psychosexual thriller designed to make you shudder.