Susan Granger’s dvd/video update for week of Friday, May 1st:
“Nothing But the Truth” is Rod Lurie’s timely political drama inspired by Judith Miller, the former New York Times journalist who was jailed when she refused to cooperate in the ‘outing’ of undercover agent Valerie Plame Wilson. Here, Kate Beckinsale plays a reporter for a Washington newspaper who blows the cover on an Ambassador’s wife (Vera Farmiga). Despite the assistance of a top-notch lawyer (Alan Alda), a federal prosecutor (Matt Dillon) sends her to prison on charges of treason. To his credit, Rod Lurie is one of the few writer/directors who specialize in strong, intelligent protagonists, evidenced by Joan Allen in “The Contender” and Geena Davis in TV’s “Commander-in-Chief.”
On the fluffy front, “Bride Wars” finds Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway as New Yorkers whose nuptials have been inadvertently scheduled for the same date, same time, same place. Oops!
Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke team up as brotherly hoodlums on the gritty streets of South Boston in “What Doesn’t Kill You,” falling under the aegis of a local gangster, played by Brian Goodman, who also co-wrote and directed this crime drama.
In “JCVD,” Jean-Claude Van Damme is a parody of himself as an actor facing a bitter child-custody dispute and confronted by a hold-up while filming a movie. Self-reverential projects are tricky, but Van Damme displays admirable humor.
In the psychological horror thriller, “The Uninvited,” a fragile teen (Emily Browning) is released from a sanitarium where she’s been confined since her mother died in a fire, only to discover that her father (David Strathairn) is living with her mother’s nurse (Elizabeth Banks) – and things may not be what they seem. At least it’s better than “While She Was Out,” a revenge-fantasy with Kim Basinger as a suburban housewife facing Christmas Eve with an abusive husband and a quartet of sociopath rapists.
FAMILY-VIEWING PICK OF THE WEEK: “Hotel for Dogs” is a visually amusing comedy about orphaned siblings (Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin) who have been shuffled through five foster homes in two years and who covertly start a shelter for stray dogs. Lacking a real home of their own, they create one for the pooches.