Susan Granger’s DVD UPDATE for week of Friday, August 5
“Rio” is a splashy, family feature about a pampered, uber-nerdy but rare blue macaw (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) who is returned to a bird sanctuary in Rio de Janeiro to mate with a feisty, female blue macaw (voiced by Anne Hathaway) to save the species.
In “Soul Surfer,” AnnaSophia Robb plays brave Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack on the Kauai Coast and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, through sheer determination, unwavering faith and the love of her parents (Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt).
Set in a post-apocalyptic world after a vampire-virus pandemic, the tense, gruesome “Stakeland” stars “Gossip Girl’s” Connor Paolo as a vampire-killer-in-training with Michael Cerveris as the leader of the Brotherhood, a power-crazed group of religious zealots.
“The Perfect Game” is an unabashedly corny but occasionally stirring dramedy about a scrappy group of young, impoverished baseball players who, in 1957, made their way from a Monterrey, Mexico, sandlot to the Little League World Series.
“Exporting Raymond” is sitcom creator Phil Rosenthal’s documentary video diary showing how the Russian version of “Everybody Loves Raymond” was adapted and exported to Moscow.
Foreign film aficionados may enjoy “A Screaming Man” in French and Arabic with subtitles; winner of the Grand Jury prize at Cannes last year, it’s about the quiet desperation of an aging former swimming champion whose life changes amid political strife in Chad.
For pre-schoolers , there’s “Sesame Street: Learning Letters With Elmo,” filled with exciting stories and songs that focus on early literacy skills, while “Chuggington: It’s Training Time” follows the adventures of three young trainees as they learn to “ride the rails” of life.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Music is what feelings sound like – and on hearing a piece of music, we often recall not only when we first heard the notes but countless memories from the past. That’s the subject of the poignant, insightful “The Music Never Stopped” in which a distraught father (J.K. Simmons) tries to re-connect with his estranged 36 year-old son (Lou Taylor Pucci) after brain tumor surgery.