For Your Consideration (DVD)

For Your Consideration (2006) starring Christopher Guest, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Eugene Levy, Ricky Gervais. During the making of a schlock independent drama, "Home for Purim," rumors arise on the Internet that some of the actors may be up for Oscars. Guest's reliable troupe of improv actors deliver a funny and poignant and sometimes savage take on Hollywood. Extras on the DVD include a number of worthwhile deleted scenes and outtakes. Grade: B+

Marie Antoinette (DVD)

Marie Antoinette (2006) starring Kirsten Dunst. Profoundly boring portrait of Marie Antoinette, naive Austrian princess who married Louis XVI of France right before the French Revolution. The film explores her luxurious yet terribly confining lifestyle and seems to suggest that it was her overspending that brought down the monarchy. Grade: B

Half Nelson (DVD)

Half Nelson (2006) starring Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps. Inner-city teacher (Gosling) spends most of his time nursing hangovers. But one of his students (Epps) is on to him, having witnessed him smoking crack in the girls' locker room. They develop an engaging, if unlikely, friendship. Grade: B

My Favorite Year (DVD)

My Favorite Year (1982) starring Peter O'Toole, Bill Macy, Joseph Bologna, Mark Linn-Baker. O'Toole stars as washed-up, booze hound matinee idol Alan Swann, who is forced by financial considerations to make an appearance on a live comedy-variety TV show in 1954 New York. The unknown actor Mark Linn-Baker plays a junior writer whose job it is to make sure that Swann shows up for rehearsals and his appearance on the show. Made in 1982 and set in 1954, this movie feels dated, but O'Toole's performance is vintage quality. Grade: B

Flags of Our Fathers (DVD)

Flags of Our Fathers (2006) starring Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper, Tom Verica, Paul Walker, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough. Clint Eastwood directed this World War II drama that tells the story of the small band of soldiers that were famously photographed raising the American flag on a mountain on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. Based on the book of the same name, the film reconstructs the events that preceded and followed the snapping of the photo. The parts of this movie are admirable, but it's a little over-ambitious, overlong and over-stuffed. Grade: B+