Week of March 10

by Philip Yu    March 9, 2009

This week's slate of DVD releases includes the last two guys you'd want as role models, Disney's original toy tale, dysfunctional family festivities, and the true story of blues.

Pick of the Week

Role Models Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott star as a pair of thirty-something perpetual frat boys who refuse to grow up. When their energy-drink-fueled, hard-partying ways get them in trouble with the law, they're given a choice: do hard-time or spend 150 service hours with a Big Brothers-like mentorship program. Partnered up a teenage medieval role play geek and a foul-mouthed fifth-grader, these two "role models" soon discover that perhaps jail doesn't look half-bad.

Family Fun

Pinocchio Jiminy Cricket! Disney's 1940 animated masterpiece celebrates its 70th anniversary with an all-new two-disc platinum edition, digitally restored and full of never-seen-before bonus features. With richly detailed animation and unforgettable, award-winning music, the heartwarming adventure of a wooden puppet who wants to become a real boy -- no strings attached -- comes to life like never before, thrilling and inspiring a whole new generation of viewers to wish upon a star.

You May Have Missed...

Rachel Getting Married Anne Hathaway gives an Academy Award-nominated performance as Kym, an estranged black-sheep daughter who returns home for her sister's titular wedding, bringing a long history of personal crisis and family conflict along with her. Kym's re-emergence throws a wrench into the colorful festivities, forcing long-simmering tensions to surface in ways both hilarious and heartbreaking.

Blues Biopic

Cadillac Records Adrien Brody stars in the true rise-and-fall story of influential blues label Chess Records, which launched the careers some of America's most celebrated musical legends. With inspired casting that includes Beyonce Knowles as Etta James, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, and Mos Def as Chuck Berry, the film chronicles an exciting but turbulent era of sex, race, and rock and roll.

Also Out This Week

Milk Sean Penn gives an Oscar-winning performance as San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man voted into public office in the United States.

Transporter 3 Jason Statham is back in action as ex-Special Forces agent Frank Martin, this time pressured into transporting the kidnapped daughter of a Ukrainian official.

Happy-Go-Lucky Sally Hawkins stars as Poppy, an irrepressibly freespirited school teacher, who brings an infectious laugh and an unsinkable sense of optimism to every situation she encounters.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas When the son of the commandant at a Polish concentration camp befriends a young Jewish boy being held there, their friendship has startling and unexpected consequences.

Synecdoche, New York Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a theater director who attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

Let the Right One In A lonely twelve-year-old boy, often bullied by his stronger classmates, makes friends with the odd new girl next door, who he soon realizes is actually a vampire.

Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology (Blu-ray) Batman
Batman Returns
Batman Forever
Batman & Robin