week of Jan. 22nd: DVD Update

Susan’s DVD Update for week of Friday, Jan. 22nd:

 

    Frustrated N.Y. Giants supporters can cheer Patton Oswalt as an obsessive parking-garage attendant from Staten Island, the self-described “world’s biggest New York Giants fan” in the black comedy, aptly titled “Big Fan.” And an Aussie sportswriter (Clive Owen) has to stop jet-setting when his wife dies, forcing him to raise his two sons solo in the charming, poignant drama “The Boys Are Back.”

    Ricky Gervais stars in “The Invention of Lying,” a rambling discourse in an alternate reality in which everyone tells the truth. Hearing people converse when there’s no deceit, no tact and no fiction is funny – but only for about 20 minutes.

    In “Trucker,” Michelle Monaghan leads a carefree life of long-haul trucking, one-night stands and all-night drinking until her estranged 11 year-old son (Jimmy Bennett) is dumped on her doorstep; it’s authentic roadside Americana.

   Set in Belfast in the 1980s, a small-time Catholic hustler (Jim Sturgess), goaded by a covert British agent (Ben Kingsley), infiltrates the IRA in “50 Dead Men Walking”

    Plausibility hits the “Breaking Point” early in this crime thriller about a coke-addled Manhattan defense attorney (Tom Berenger) who gets mixed up in a series of unlikely murders, feuds and double-crosses. And “Whiteout” is an ice-scholcky thriller with Kate Beckinsale as a U.S. Marshal in Antarctica who races to find a mysterious killer before she becomes his next victim.

    Spike Lee’s “Passing Strange: The Movie” is basically canned rock musical theater, preserving the Broadway show by singer/songwriter Stew and Heidi Rodewald. And “Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself” continues his grandmotherly Madea franchise, focusing on love and loss.

    PICK OF THE WEEK: Since the U.S. is sending an additional 30,000 troops abroad, “The Good Soldier” could not be timelier. This documentary follows five combat veterans from different generations of American wars as they sign up, go into battle and eventually understand what it means to be a good soldier. At this moment in history, when American support for the war in Afghanistan is divided, it’s important to recognize the difference between supporting the war and supporting our soldiers.

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