Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., July 20:
Edgy and amusing, Jennifer Westfeldt’s “Friends With Kids” is filled with timely, perceptive observations about the nature of friendship and the definition of 21st century family.
Set in 2079, the sinister sci-fi thriller “Lockout” finds Guy Pearce as a falsely convicted government agent who’s promised freedom if he can rescue the President’s daughter (Maggie Grace) trapped by ferocious killers in an outer-space maximum-security prison.
Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games”) is “The Forger,” a troubled, homeless 15 year-old who lands in Carmel-by-the-Sea, an art community where he’s lured into the underground world of forgery, and Michael Sheen stars in “Jesus Henry Christ” revolving around a misfit 10 year-old genius and his fervently left-wing mother (Toni Collette).
In TinselTown, some people take the ride, others have to drive – as David Arquette and Bijou Phillips discover in the surreal “Black Limousine.”
A low-budget vanity project set in Mexico, Will Ferrell’s ridiculous “Casa de mi Padre” is a racist, repulsive spoof on Spanish telenovas, while “The Three Stooges” is the Farrelly brothers’ frantic, foolishly funny re-creation of the manic trio and their characteristic slapstick comedy. And for authenticity, “Three Stooges Celebration” features the original Larry, Moe and Curly in a 2-DVD collection.
“Forbidden Hollywood” revives many sexy, provocative, uncensored films from the pre-Production Code era (1929-34), and Volumes 4 & 5 includes Jimmy Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck and William Powell, among others.
Lutz Hachmeister’s documentary “Three Stars” reveals the drama and rituals of 10 esteemed chefs who have earned the coveted Michelin three-star rating.
In English and Armenian, “Here” chronicles a brief but intense relationship between an American satellite-mapping engineer and an expatriate photographer who travel into uncharted territory.
“Kids Get Movin’” is the newest title in children’s yoga series, and “Scooby-Doo! Laff-A-Lympics: Spooky Games” invents wacky sporting events.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Lasse Halstrom’s “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” starring Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor), is a whimsical, offbeat comedy that surprises and delights, as a visionary Yemeni sheik persuades a skeptical British bureaucrat to bring his favorite sport to his Middle Eastern country.