Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., Nov. 18:
Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts team up in “Larry Crowne,” a mediocre romantic comedy about a bland, middle-aged guy who loses his job and an embittered English teacher. Despite the star-power, the feel-good script is overly generalized, lightweight fluff.
Narrated by Miranda Richardson, the documentary “Turtle: The Incredible Journey” followers a female’s long ocean journey across the Gulf Stream to Newfoundland, the Azores and the Caribbean after hatching on a sandy Florida beach.
Julie Bertuccelli’s serene drama, “The Tree,” stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as a rural Australian wife/mother dealing with the unexpected death of her husband; it’s a slow-moving but worthwhile tale of loss and rebirth.
Featuring a killer soundtrack of Nirvana, Iggy Pop, Jane’s Addiction, Bob Dylan and Alice in Chains, “The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll” follows a former superstar (Kevin Zegers) as recalls his ‘90s glory days to a journalist (Lukas Haas), reunites with his estranged partner (Jason Ritter) and drives back to L.A, with hangers-on (Peter Fonda, Taryn Manning) in tow.
Mixing comedy, gore and campiness, “Thankskilling” revolves around a demonic killer turkey and five college students home for Thanksgiving break. Shot for $3.500 in 14 days, it’s a cheesy seasonal horror flick.
“Becoming Chaz” is the Emmy-nominated documentary about journey to self-discovery by Chaz Bono, the only child of Sonny & Cher, who transformed from a woman to a man, while “Sons of Perdition” is an insightful glimpse inside the lives of three teenage boys who escape from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound on the Utah/Arizona border, the oldest polygamist community in the United States.
Bringing together all four complete seasons (88 episodes) with bonus programming in 20-discs, A&E’s “Farscape: The Complete Series Blu-Ray Edition” transports viewers through a wormhole across a thousand galaxies to this cult classic from The Jim Henson Company.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Christopher Plummer gives an elegant performance in “Beginners,” an intelligently written, beautifully photographed, creatively challenging story about a young man (Ewan McGregor) who discovers that his widower father (Plummer) wants to embrace as much of the gay lifestyle as he can in the time he has left.