Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., June 10:
Joel and Ethan Coen’s “True Grit” reverts back to Charles Portis’ straight-shooting 1968 novel with Jeff Bridges as Federal Marshall Rooster Cogburn, who is hired by Hailee Steinfeld, as fearlessly determined 14 year-old Mattie Ross, to track down the hired hand (Josh Brolin) who killed her father.
Reworking “Cactus Flower” (1969), “Just Go With It” stars Adam Sandler, as a deceitful plastic surgeon who wears a wedding ring to protect himself from romantic entanglements. But when he meets a 23 year-old (Brooklyn Decker), he thinks she might be The One. But she insists on meeting his divorced wife, so he recruits his single mom assistant/receptionist (Jennifer Aniston) to impersonate her – and what ensues is not only familiar and formulaic but lame romantic comedy.
The theme of British filmmaker Mike Leigh’s bittersweet “Another Year” is that having a partner to share the vicissitudes of life is what makes the difference between loneliness and happiness. Divided by the seasons into four sections, it revolves around three characters, a married couple played by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen, and their desperate divorcee friend, played by Leslie Manville.
Narrated by Ellen Page, “Vanishing of the Bees” is a documentary exploring the mysterious massive disappearance of honeybees across the world and uncovering the story of the Colony Collapse Disorder phenomenon; extras include “Honeybee Rescue,” showing how to remove a colony without harming the bees.
From the producers of the movie “Green Lantern” comes “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights,” an animated, expository backstory featuring TV stars Nathan Fillion (“Castle”) and Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”) as two of the voices behind the legendary, intergalactic Green Lantern Corps.
For preschoolers, there’s the debut of “Roary the Racing Car” and the always popular “Angelina Ballerina: Pop Star Girls.”
PICK OF THE WEEK: As relevant as today’s headlines, “The Company Men” is a powerful, provocative psychological drama about several generations of executives tumbling down the corporate ladder. Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner deliver intelligent, insightful performances, shrewdly revealing the emotional savagery of the worldwide economic meltdown.