Susan’s DVD UPDATE for week of Friday, Feb. 5th:
Lady Diana Spencer was the direct descendent of glamorous, trend-setting Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire, who was famously painted by Gainsborough. In “The Duchess,” vivacious Keira Knightley stars in a frivolous recounting of her exploits.
Based on a graphic novel, “Surrogates” is set sometime in the not-too-distant future, when robot technology has enabled mankind to live ‘virtually,’ through remote-controlled cyborgs but when something goes wrong, two FBI agents (Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell) must track down the culprit.
The silly, slapstick/teen romance/horror satire “Zombieland” follows four resilient survival strategists (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) across a country that’s ravaged by the virus-infected, flesh-hungry un-dead.
The psychological thriller “Law Abiding Citizen” explores how our flawed justice system can be infuriating, as a vengeance-driven Philadelphian (Gerard Butler) fiendishly defies a plea-bargaining prosecutor (Jamie Foxx) to avenge the murder of his family.
Songbird Mariah Carey’s understated dramatic performance is the only surprise in “Tennessee,” a road picture in which two brothers (Adam Rothenberg, Ethan Peck) help her sad-eyed waitress escape her abusive husband (Lance Reddick), a Texas cop.
Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? You’re not quite sure as real-life unlucky-in-love Jennifer Aniston plays an unlucky-in-love florist who falls for a self-help author/psychologist (Aaron Eckhart) in the cliché-riddled comedy “Love Happens.”
“No Impact Man” follows the travails of Colin Beavan, a contemporary urban Thoreau who experimented with biking around Manhattan, eating only locally-grown food, using little or no electricity, depositing his waste in a can of worms, etc. But it’s his wife, Michelle Conlin, a senior writer at Business Week, whose candid complaining provides this provocative documentary with a welcome dose of humor.
“More Than a Game” is a documentary that looks back on the achievements of a high-school basketball team in Akron, Ohio, that happened to include superstar LeBron James.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Hilary Swank stars in “Amelia,” Mira Nair’s candy-colored, sugar-coated traditional biography of America’s most famous aviatrix, Amelia Earhart, a daredevil who was destined to make her mark on history.