This Week's DVD Releases

Another week, another set of new DVD releases, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video. Let me start by telling you to avoid The Bounty Hunter. I'm not alone in that thought, as it's one of the worst-reviewed films of the year. Look for many forthcoming Razzie nominations. Greenberg, on the other hand, is well worth your time, assuming you like Noah Baumbach's uncomfortable true-to-life studies in sociopathy and have longed to see Ben Stiller in a film without the word "Fockers" in the the title.

Weepy dead son drama The Greatest is over-the-top maudlin, but got a theater release due to strong grieving performances from Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, as well as rising stars Carey Mulligan and Aaron Johnson. Meanwhile, Atom Egoyan's love triangle Chloe features some hot Julianne Moore on Amanda Seyfried action.

In terms of documentaries, this week brings 8: The Mormon Proposition, the Prop 8 doc recently at SIFF, narrated by Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black. In the same vein is Fagbug, in which a woman's VW Beetle is graffitied with anti-gay slurs, and in response, instead of getting a new paint job, she decided to go on a road trip and document others' reactions. Finally out on DVD is America the Beautiful, a 2007 doc about the American obsession with beauty and the subsequent deleterious effects on society. On a lighter note, Don't You Forget About Me is a love letter to dearly departed John Hughes.

Looking at the foreign film releases, there's the Criterion Collection edition of two films by Yasujiro Ozu, The Only Son and There Was a Father. There's also two films from Down Under: Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger, an indie coming-of-age film with Keisha Castle and Toni Collette, and the just-played-SIFF My Year Without Sex, in which a brain injury leads to the titular condition. It's a comedy! Then there's Terribly Happy, about a big-city policeman who moves to a small town after a breakdown. That doesn't sound terribly happy, (especially with its original Danish title Frygtelig lykkelig), but it's supposed to be very Coens Brother-y.

Now for the random flicks: Our Family Wedding is a hilarious (it is not hilarious) look at a black family and a Mexican family coming together when their children get married. Carlos Mencia is one of the fathers of the bride--nuff said.  2:37 is a high school drama with intersecting stories, all of which converge at 2:37 p.m. Parasomnia is a serial killer sleeping thriller, while How to Make Love to a Woman is a comedy about learning how to give a girl the big O. Middle of Nowhere stars Eva Amurri with her real-life mama, Susan Sarandon. Saint John of Las Vegas is a quirky comedy, which you can tell by the wacky cast: Steve Buscemi, Sarah Silverman, Peter Dinklage, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Cho. In other wonders of casting, Formosa Betrayed is a based-on-a-true-story Taiwanese espionage drama with James Van Der Beek as an FBI agent. The Beek is back, baby!