Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., Sept. 30:
Liv Tyler, Charlie Hunnam and Patrick Wilson star in Michael Chapman’s neo-noir, race-against-time psychological thriller called “The Ledge” about a detective (Terrence Howard) summoned to talk down a ‘jumper’ perched on the ledge of an apartment building.
Charming and mouth-watering, “Today’s Special” is a comedy about an ambitious Manhattan sous chef (Aasif Mandvi) forced to take over his family’s faltering restaurant in Jackson Heights when his disapproving, Indian-born father (Harish Patel) suffers a heart attack.
Nine to five will get you 20 to life…so a young woman (Leslie Bibb) learns in the romantic comedy “Miss Nobody,” as an unexpected promotion opens an alien world of corporate intrigue and one scheming executive (Brandon Routh).
Narrated by Billy Bob Thornton, “My Run: The Terry Hitchcock Story” illuminates the determination of a husband, who lost his wife to breast cancer, to run 75 consecutive marathons in 75 consecutive days to bring attention to the incredibly difficult life of single-parent families.
J. Clay Tweel’s charming “Make Believe” focuses on adolescents who are interested in becoming magicians and preparing for championship competition in Las Vegas.
Yves St. Laurent the man, rather than YSL the designer, is the subject of Pierre Thoretton’s melancholy French documentary “L’Amour Fou,” related by Pierre Berge, Yves Saint Laurent’s business and romantic partner for 50 years. The concept revolves around the auctioning off of accumulated treasures from their Paris apartment and their opulent homes in Normandy, and Marrakech, Morocco.
In Spanish with English subtitles, Aaron Schock’s “Circo” takes to the earthen roads of rural Mexico to document a hard-working, family-run circus culture. Known as the Gran Circo Mexico, this struggling caravan of lions, llamas, clowns and contortionists is constantly on the move throughout the year.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Oscar-winner Helen Mirren stars in director Julie Taymor’s modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s final fantasy, “The Tempest,” with a gender-blender cast that includes Russell Brand and Alfred Molina. Exiled to a magical island, the sorceress Prospera (Mirren) conjures up a storm that shipwrecks her enemies and then unleashes her powers for revenge.