DVD Update for week of Feb. 8

Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., Feb. 8

 

Commemorating Black History Month, there’s the 12-disc collection: “Spirit of the Church: Celebration of Black Gospel Music.”

In the satirical comedy “The Whole Truth,” Elisabeth Rohm is an acting coach who makes it big – not in Hollywood but by coaching criminal defendants on how to work the system and win jury acquittals, while the tech-savvy toddlers return in “Baby Geniuses and the Mystery of the Crown Jewels.”

Zoe Kravitz plays a shy, introspective, mixed-race teenager who unsuccessfully tries to blend into her inner-city high-school in Victoria Mahoney’s “Yelling To The Sky,” a visceral coming-of-age story, while Matthew Gordon’s “The Dynamiter” paints a vivid portrait of a lonely 14 year-old boy growing up in the rural South.

“Deadfall” is a contrived caper with Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde as casino-robbing siblings whose escapade leads to lots of bloodshed and violence, and Tyler Perry flounders as the forensic psychologist-turned-detective in “Alex Cross.”

Interested in documentaries?  Stephen Kessler’s “Paul Williams: Still Alive” reveals the songwriting genius, and “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel” is about the famous Vogue editor who reached her pinnacle of influence during the 1960s.

Oscar-winners Jean Dujardin and Marion Cotillard top the cast of “Little White Lies,” Guillaume Canet’s sharply observed comedy-drama “Little White Lies,” while Isabelle Huppert stars in Anne Fontaine’s delectable French comedy, “My Worst Nightmare,” as a Parisian art dealer who’s seduced by her skirt-chasing handyman (Benoit Poelvoorde).

In Japanese with English subtitles, visionary auteur Takashi Miike’s “Hara-Kiri” is a remake of Masaki Kobayashi’s 1962 classic samurai film, exploring revenge, honor and individuality in the face of oppressive power.

For children, “Elmo’s World: All Day With Elmo” follows the beloved “Sesame Street” character from when he first wakes up to when he falls asleep.

PICKS OF THE WEEK: You don’t have to know chamber music to be enthralled by the engaging drama of “The Late Quartet,” as Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Mark Ivanir never strike a dissonant note. And Denzel Washington plays an intoxicated pilot in “Flight,” an intense aviation drama redefining the concept of “flying high.”

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