Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., Dec. 9:
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford team up in “Cowboys and Aliens,” a preposterously serious, sci-fi Western action-adventure, set in 1875 in the territory of New Mexico. Craig is a mysterious gunslinger who rides into the desolate mining town of Absolution, ruled by a tyrannical Civil War cavalry Colonel, played by Ford, as a scary, extra-terrestrial enemy attacks from the sky.
In “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” Jim Carrey must cope with a passel of waddling Gentoo penguins as he tries to reconcile with his estranged wife (Carla Gugino) and two children while negotiating a real estate deal to acquire Manhattan’s prestigious Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park.
Writer/director Todd Phillips’ raunchy, formulaic “The Hangover, Part II” reunites Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha and Zach Galifianakis as buddies who continue to cause chaos – this time in Thailand.
Available in the U.S. for the first time, the original, uncut, nine-hour edition of Stieg Larsson’s Swedish crime drama, “Dragon Tattoo Trilogy Extended Edition,” includes characters and plot developments never seen in the film versions.
Crayton Robley’s engrossing, insightful documentary “Making the Boys,” reveals the behind-the-scenes story of Mart Crowley’s controversial “The Boys in the Band,” which premiered off-Broadway in 1968, when the majority of homosexuals were still in the closet and homophobic Americans felt uncomfortable talking about the topic.
For pre-schoolers, celebrate the season with “Barney: Holiday Favorites,” “Angelina Ballerina: Nutcracker Sweet” and “Thomas & Friends: Holiday Express.” Along with “The Smurfs in 3-D,” there’s “The Smurfs Holiday Celebration” incorporates two merry TV specials: “’Tis the Season to be Smurfy” and “The Smurfs’ Christmas Special.”
PICKS OF THE WEEK: Werner Herzog’s documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” explores the famous Grotte Chauvet in southern France, an awe-inspiring subterranean gallery of 300 animal images that were created about 32,000 years ago. And “The Help,” starring Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone and Jessica Chastain, adroitly adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s best-seller, is a powerful, provocative drama about women in Jackson, Mississippi, in the early 1960s. Resounding with sensitive, emotional truth, it’s a multi-racial, multi-generational must-see.