Susan’s DVD/Video Update for week of Friday, August 14:
Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Film, Laurent Cantet’s “The Class” is about a dedicated Parisian public school teacher who tames relentlessly resistant ethnically diverse students – many of African or Caribbean descent – by adjusting his lesson plan to include self-portraits, an edgy concept reminiscent of “Freedom Writers.”
In “I Love You, Man,” one of the most popular of the recent “bromances” about one man wooing a fellow male for the purpose of becoming friends. Paul Rudd is about to marry Zooey (Rashida Jones) when he realizes he has no ‘best man’ so he embarks on a mission to audition prospective buddies.
Eric McCormack stars in “Alien Trespass,” a sentimental, self-conscious spoof of ‘50s creature features, created by longtime “X-Files” producer R.W. Goodwin; the most amusing moments occur in the faux-newsreel prologue, which claims the footage was shot in 1959 and shelved.
In Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore’s idiotic comedy, “Miss March,” they play odd-couple best friends who embark on a road trip to the Playboy Mansion, where Hugh Hefner advises, “You don’t need to find a bunny. Find the bunny in every girl.”
Based on actual events, Lori Petty’s directorial debut “The Poker House” focuses on small town life in Iowa, circa 1976, and on three sisters (Jennifer Lawrence, Chloe Grace Mortez, and Sophia Bairley) living with a drug-addicted mother (Selma Blair) in a brothel, drug Mecca and gambling oasis for local squatters.
For rugrats, “Barney: Sharing is Caring” celebrates generosity in a day of giving, inspiring Barney and his friends to donate their old toys.
PICKS OF THE WEEK – from the sublime to the ridiculous: In “The Soloist,” Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx team up as a Los Angeles Times reporter and a homeless musical prodigy; filled with memorable moments, this is an exquisitely acted, beautifully written, sensitively filmed story that, hopefully, will be remembered for the 2010 Oscars.. In “17 Again,” Zac Efron plays a younger version of Matt Perry in a timeless, universal wish-fulfillment body-swap comedy/fantasy that’s executed with a light touch and incredulous tenderness.