Susan Granger’s DVD/VIDEO UPDATE for Friday, Aug. 27:
Before “I Love Lucy” and “All in the Family,” there was “The Goldbergs” about a Jewish immigrant family living in the Bronx, starring writer/director/producer Gertrude Berg, and “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” delivers the touching, timeless message that family and friends, not possessions, are what’s most important.
As summer winds down, A&E’s “Instant Expert” offers student and lifelong learners documentary “quick guides” on a wide array of subjects like “The Story of Oil,” explaining how oil changed the world, along with dangers on land and sea; “The French Revolution” and its reign of terror; “The Mayflower,” a flight from persecution and the true story of Thanksgiving; “Beowulf,” the western world’s oldest written story; “Egypt,” the world’s first superpower; and “Ben Franklin,” publisher/inventor/founding father.
Set in 2055, when Earth is devastated, “The Age of Stupid” focuses on an archivist (Pete Postlethwaite) trying to discover why we didn’t save ourselves when we still had the chance.
It’s fortunate that Jennifer Lopez is a successful pop singer because her taste in romantic comedies is formulaic and stale, as evidenced by “The Back-Up Plan,” in which she plays a Manhattanite who realizes that her biological clock is ticking faster than her ability to marry so she decides on artificial insemination. Right after the procedure, she meets Mr. Right (Alex O’Laughlin) – and you know they’re going to wind up together.
And despite its similar Victorian London setting, don’t confuse Colin Firth’s tepid re-make of “Dorian Gray” with the original Oscar Wilde classic, starring Hurd Hatfield.
PICKS OF THE WEEK: New Yorkers, particularly those with ties to the Bronx, may feel a special affinity to “City Island,” an amiable romantic comedy about an Italian/American family, starring Andy Garcia. As a companion piece, in “Lucky Days,” triple-threat writer/director/actress Angelica Torn has crafted a sympathetic slice-of-life, film noir-like drama that’s centered on the doomed enclave known as Coney Island, playing a conflicted, confused 30-something virgin who’s trapped by family obligation. It’s the first film in which Angelica appears on-screen with her father, Rip Torn, and the late Paul Newman is credited as “producer emeritus.”