New on DVD: Mar. 23

New DVD’s This Week: March 23

Beck (The Rock) is a man paid to “retrieve” people–and he’s got one last person to find before he can retire. That person is fast-talking double-dealer Travis (Seann William Scott), who’s somewhere in the Brazilian jungle. Complications arise, including Mariana (Rosario Dawson), a no-nonsense local who holds the answers to some of the jungle’s hidden mysteries, and Hatcher (Christopher Walken), an unhinged despot who has turned the jungle and its inhabitants into his own gold mining empire. Beck is going to have to unleash everything he’s got to keep on top of his smack-talking quarry, the secretive girl and the crazy tyrant, not to mention horny monkeys, hallucinogenic fruit, perilous terrain and every other obstacle the jungle could throw at him.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director Peter Berg and The Rock
Commentary by producers Kevin Misher and Marc Abraham
Featurettes: “The Rundown Uncensored”; “Appetite for Destruction”; “Rumble in the Jungle”;
“Running Down the Town”; “The Amazon: Hawaii Style”; “Walken’s World”
Deleted scenes

	From Our Review:
	Director Peter Berg’s The Rundown is an unexpectedly entertaining and well-executed action comedy carried comfortably by Seann William Scott and The Rock–who reveals a classy transition from WWE star to charming and charismatic big-screen action hero. More. . .

Gothika

As a brilliant and respected criminal psychologist happily married to her doctor husband (Charles S. Dutton), Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) treats patients at the Woodward Penitentiary for Women, women such as the intensely delusional Chloe (Penelope Cruz). Miranda’s comfortable life is thrust into a nightmare when she has a terrifying encounter one night, loses her memory, and wakes up to learn her husband has been murdered–and the bloody evidence points directly at her. Forced to rely on her instincts when the facts are obscured, Miranda begins to believe that a supernatural force determined to exact revenge is to blame. Meanwhile her former colleague Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.) believes her claims of innocence signify Miranda’s deep descent into madness.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director Mathieu Kassovitz
Music video: “Behind the Blue Eyes” by Limp Bizkit

	From Our Review:
	This plane-crossing load of malarkey is not altogether awful until two-thirds in, the exact point when the music stops, you see the abysmal finale coming at you like a brick-loaded train, and you wish you’d rented The Ring instead. More. . .

Honey

Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba) has worked hard all her life to show the world her dance moves, and now everything she ever wanted is just a step away. Her one-in-a-million break comes when a video director sees Honey dancing in the club and offers her a chance at a spot as a backup dancer. From there, her true ability shines through, and she begins to finally live her dream–choreographing for some of the hottest acts in hip-hop and R&B. But fame isn’t everything and Honey eventually rediscovers her love of dancing though the exuberant energy of a group of neighborhood kids. Also stars Mekhi Phifer.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by star Jessica Alba and director Bille Woodruff
Featurettes: “Behind the Groove: The Making of Honey”; “Make Your Move: Dance Like Honey!”
Deleted scenes
Music videos: “I’m Good” by Blaque and “In The Mix with Blaque”–a behind the scenes look at Blaque’s music video; “J-A-D-A” by Jadakiss & Sheek; and “Sexy” by Shawn Desman
Outtakes

	From Our Review:
	Despite its clichéd premise and even cheesier dialogue, this sugary teen drama is actually quite endearing. More. . .

The Magdalene Sisters

A drama which charts several years in the young lives of four “fallen women” who were rejected by their families and abandoned to the mercy of the Catholic Church in 1960’s Ireland. These women are stripped of their liberty and dignity and are condemned to indefinite sentences of servitude in The Magdalene Laundries in order to atone for their “sins.”

What’s Cool:

Acclaimed original exposé, “Sex in a Cold Climate”
French and Spanish subtitles

The Magdalene Sisters interview: Nora Jane Noone

Dirty Pretty Things

Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a kindhearted Nigerian doctor, and Senay (Audrey Tautou), a Turkish chambermaid, work at the same West London hotel. The hotel is run by Senor “Sneaky” (Sergi Lopez) and is the sort of place where “dirty business” like drug dealing and prostitution takes place. However, when Okwe finds a human heart in one of the toilets, he uncovers something far more sinister than just a common crime.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director Stephen Frears
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Dirty Pretty Things

For more on the movie, click here

Still Hot

21 Grams

The film centers on three people whose personal stories collide tragically. College professor Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is mortally ill and in need of a heart transplant, and gets one when the husband of Cristina Peck (Oscar-nominated Naomi Watts) is killed in a hit-and-run accident along with the couple’s two young daughters. Ex-con Jack Jordan (Oscar-nominated Benicio Del Toro), a devout Christian trying to get his life back in order, is the cause of the tragic accident. If spiritual equilibrium is to be regained by any one of them, it could come at great cost to the others. Yet the will to live, and the instinct to reach out to another person for support, remains ever present among them all.

What’s Cool:

“21 Grams: In Fragments” featurette
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

For more on the movie, click here

Compiled by Kit Bowen

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