New on DVD Feb. 24

New DVD’s This Week: Feb. 24

Set in 1886 New Mexico, Maggie Gilkeson (Cate Blanchett) is a young woman who is raising her two daughters in an isolated and lawless wilderness. When her oldest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is kidnapped by a brutal cult of desperados, Maggie is forced to reunite with her long-estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones) to rescue her. They find themselves in a race against time to catch up with the ruthless renegades before they cross the Mexican border and disappear forever.

What’s
Cool:

Commentary by director Ron Howard
11 behind-the-scenes featurettes
3 short films by Ron Howard
3 alternate endings
11 deleted scenes

	From Our Review:
	Ron Howard’s The Missing is an intense and character-driven Western that evenly blends mystery, action, suspense and the supernatural to buck the clichés normally associated with that genre. More. . .

Matchstick Men

Meet Roy (Nicolas Cage) and Frank (Sam Rockwell), a couple of professional small-time con artists. Roy’s an obsessive-compulsive agoraphobic barely hanging on to his wits. He discovers that he has a teenage daughter, Angela (Alison Lohman), who wants to meet the father she never knew, and at first, Angela’s appearance disrupts her neurotic father’s carefully ordered routine. Soon, however, Roy begins to enjoy a relationship he never dreamed of having, but while he develops paternal feelings for Angela, she’s developing a fascination with Daddy’s questionable career.

What’s
Cool:

Commentary by director Ridley Scott and writers Nicholas and Ted Griffin
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
“Tricks of the Trade” featurette

	From Our Review:
	With an excellent cast and expert direction, Matchstick Men just may con you into having a rollicking good time. The bonus is you won’t mind being “taken” at all. More…

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over

Underage agents Juni (Daryl Sabara) and Carmen Cortez (Alexa Vega) are at it again in this third Spy Kids installment. In their most mind-blowing mission yet, they have to journey inside the 3-D world of a video game designed to outsmart them in order to save the world from a power-hungry villain (Sylvester Stallone). A brave Juni and Carmen rely on their family, their cool gadgets, their lightning-quick reflexes and, of course, a fair amount of humor to battle through tougher and tougher levels of the game.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director/writer Robert Rodriguez
Featurettes: “A Behind-the-Scenes Vignette”; “The Making of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over”; “Robert Rodriguez’s Film School”; “Spy Kids 3-D From Concept To Screen”
Alexa Vega in concert; making “Traks” with Alexa Vega
Mega Race Set-Top Game (3-D And 2-D Versions)
DVD collector’s set includes the 3-D glasses

	From Our Review:
	Although the Spy Kids franchise may be getting a little old, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over is definitely an improvement from Spy Kids 2 and should thrill audiences–just as long as their 3-D glasses work properly. More…

Still Hot

Runaway Jury

Representing a widow in a civil suit against a powerful corporate consortium is Wendall Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), whose opponent is not the attorney representing the corporation, but Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), a brilliant and ruthless jury consultant, who with his team work on the surveillance and assessment of potential jurors. One of the jurors, Nick Easter (John Cusack), seems to have his own plan for swaying the panel. Working with his accomplice Marlee (Rachel Weisz), they let both Rohr and Fitch know the jury’s for sale to either of them–and that the verdict won’t come cheap. While the case is argued in court, a dangerous cat-and-mouse game begins to play out.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director Gary Fleder
Deleted scenes with commentary
“Exploring the Scene”–Hackman and Hoffman’s first scene together
Featurettes: “The Ensemble: Acting”; “The Making of Runaway Jury“; Shadow and Light: Cinematography”; “A Vision of New Orleans: Production Design”; “Rhythm: The Craft of Editing”

	From Our Review:
	Even with all the mechanisms of a typical courtroom drama, Runaway Jury and its high-powered cast takes things up a notch by giving audiences a fresh point of view–while nailing a worthy adversary. More. . .

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star

Dickie Roberts (David Spade) is a 35-year old former child star. Now an out-of-work actor turned parking valet, Dickie is desperate to audition for a great role that could revitalize his career, but the part requires him to play a "normal" guy. Problem is, Dickie is anything but normal. He decides to hire a family to adopt him so he can relive his childhood and, in essence, grow up from scratch.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director Sam Weisman, star David Spade
Deleted scenes
Featurettes: “Behind ‘Child Stars on Your Television'”; “Pencil Dickie: Writing the Story”; Reel Comedy: Dickie Roberts“; “The True Hollywood Story”
Extended music video: “Child Stars on Your Television”

	From Our Review:
	If you ever wonder what happened to those child stars of the ’70s and ’80s, Dickie Roberts sheds some light, but it doesn’t make you necessarily laugh as hard as it intends to. More…

Compiled by Anne Reiman

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