Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., July 22nd:
Unreeling like the discarded spawn of “The Royal Tennenbaums,” “Peep World” is a dark satirical comedy about the neurotic adult siblings (Michael C. Hall, Sarah Silverman, Rainn Wilson, Ben Schwartz) of a Los Angeles real estate mogul (Ron Rivkin) who are currying favor at his 70th birthday party.
“Girl Interrupted” meets “Sybil” in the psychological thriller, “Waking Madison,” starring Sarah Roemer as a New Orleans phone-sex operator suffering from Disassociate Identity Disorder with Elisabeth Shue as the psychiatrist who guides her in a life-or-death struggle for sanity.
Drenched with clichés and profanity, “White Irish Drinkers” is John Gray’s semi-autobiographical story about a young Brooklyn artist (Nick Thurston) caught between the past, represented by his passive mother (Karen Allen) and violent father (Stephen Lang), and the future, embodied by a new girlfriend (Leslie Murphy) and a Rolling Stones concert he’s organized during the summer of 1975.
Featuring an original soundtrack by Bob Dylan, “My Own Love Song” stars Renee Zellweger as a wheelchair-bound singer and Forest Whitaker as a firefighter who embark on a road trip to New Orleans to find the son she gave up for adoption.
Directed by Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley), the British drama “Cracks” is a kitschy soaper set in 1934 at a posh all-girls boarding school, set on a remote island, with former Bond girl Eva Green as a swimming/diving coach.
Based on the worldwide best-seller, “Desert Flower” stars Ethiopian-born model Liya Kebede as Waris Dirie who recounts her incredible journey from an African nomad to international supermodel/UN Ambassador and human rights advocate; it’s in Somali, French and English with English subtitles.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Part fantasy fulfillment, part paranoid thriller, “Limitless” is a cautionary sci-fi thriller, starring Bradley Cooper as a struggling author with paralyzing writer’s block. As the story begins, he’s suicidal – and a flashback reveals that he’s hooked on a pharmaceutical miracle drug that allows him to access all parts of his brain in a delirious frenzy of clarity and perception, attracting the attention of a Wall Street high-roller (Robert DeNiro).