Susan Granger’s DVD Update for week of Fri., May 10:
Creepy scares abound in “Mama,” a spooky, supernatural creature feature, starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolj Coster-Waldau, about two feral children who were abandoned in the woods and cared for by an evil, vengeful presence known as Mama.
The screen adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ “Safe Haven” follows a distraught young woman (Julianne Hough) who flees from a suburban crime scene and seeks refuge in a small, sleepy community on the picturesque North Carolina coastline, where she’s wooed by a recent widower (Josh Duhamel).
Actor/writer/director Martin Papazian’s “Least Among Saints” is a touching, true-to-life drama about a combat veteran’s journey to redemption through his service to his troubled 10 year-old neighbor.
Julian Farino’s “The Oranges” is a relationship dramedy in which Leighton Meester plays a free-spirited twentysomething who reluctantly moves back in with her suburban New Jersey parents (Alison Janney, Oliver Platt) and begins an affair with her dad’s best friend (Hugh Laurie).
In “Starlet,” newcomer Dree Hemingway (great granddaughter of Ernest and daughter of Mariel) is an aspiring actress who befriends an elderly woman (Besedka Johnson) in California’s San Fernando Valley.
In Spanish with English subtitles, “The Condemned” is a chilling psychological thriller about the dark and terrible secrets hidden in an old mansion that stir back to life when the original owner returns.
Based on Joann Sfar’s best-selling graphic novel, “The Rabbi’s Cat” – in French with English subtitles – tells the story of a rabbi and his talking cat, a sharp-tongued feline philosopher brimming with scathing humor.
“Superman: Unbound” is the new entry in the ongoing series of DV Universe Animated Original movies with a stellar vocal cast led by Matt Bomer, John Noble, Stana Katic and Molly Quinn.
For tiny tots, “Elmo The Musical” contains Sesame Street’s newest imaginative and math skill-enhancing lessons.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Tom Cruise plays Lee Child’s cool, quirky character in “Jack Reacher,” a fast-paced, action-packed thriller about the search for a sniper who shoots what appears to be five random pedestrians on a Pittsburgh waterfront promenade. Reacher, a former military policeman, suspects there’s more to the mysterious murders.