Unlike last weekend, will this weekend be rainy? Probcast says probably! With that in mind, here’s this week’s DVD releases, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video.
This week’s big release is The Informant! Matt Damon got chunky and frumpy for his role as Mark Whitacre, a whistleblower on price-fixing at agribusiness conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland, and yet his Oscar nom this year is for Invictus? For shame, Academy! The This American Life episode on this real-life incident was great, and I’m assuming Kurt Eichenwald’s book was, too. In fact, the real-life story is so ridiculous and crazy that it’s diminished by a fictional account, even if said fiction is directed by Steven Soderbergh and includes our precious Joel McHale.
What’s in The Box? A movie I don’t wanna watch. Also skip the misguided sideshow Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant and slashfest remake Sorority Row in favor of the Nazi zombies in Dead Snow, which was not so-bad-it’s-good, but actually entertaining.
For new documentaries out this week, there’s The September Issue, about Anna Wintour and what goes into making the biggest Vogue magazine of the year, and End of the Line, about the slightly more important topic of the waning populations of fish in the sea. Meanwhile, Blood on the Flat Track is a look at the rise of our local Rat City Roller Girls.
In terms of foreign films, you can check out The Damned United, with Michael Sheen playing British soccer coach Brian Clough, or Flame and Citron, the Danish Resistance WWII drama. There’s also the quirky stop-motion animation of $9.99. Finally, on the indie front, hit up the latest from director Joe Swanberg, on mumblecore marriage and its discontents, Alexander the Last.