Unforgiven (DVD)

Unforgiven (1992) starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Frances Fisher. Long-retired gunslinger William Munny (Eastwood) takes one last job because he needs the money. Heading into the town of Big Whiskey, he's on a collision course with a mean sheriff called Little Bill (Hackman). When Little Bill tortures and kills Munny's partner Ned (Freeman), Munny rides into town to seek revenge. Eastwood directed this meditation on killing and being killed, which won multiple Oscars, including Best Picture and Director. My main complaint: At over two hours, it's a bit long. The subtitles are just adequate. Grade: A-

Marley & Me (DVD)

Marley & Me (2008) starring Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Alan Arkin, Kathleen Turner. John Grogan (Wilson) surprises his wife Jenny (Aniston) with a puppy for her birthday. The puppy -- named Marley, after the musician -- grows into the "worst dog in the world." John writes newspaper columns about Marley, and the dog becomes part of the family. But as the family grows, tensions mount, and at one point Jenny says they have to get rid of Marley. Things never go that far, of course. The ending is kind of weepy, but what can you expect from a movie about a dog? Arkin plays John's boss, a newspaper editor, and Turner has a cameo as the leader of an obedience school to which the Grogans take Marley. The subtitles are excellent, by the way. Grade: B

Not Another Teen Movie (DVD)

Not Another Teen Movie (2001) starring Chyler Leigh, Jaime Pressly, Chris Evans, Mia Kirshner, Randy Quaid, Ed Lauter, Cerina Vincent. Meant to be a joke-a-second send-up like "Airplane!" or "Police Squad," this movie fails only by the fact that it's not very funny. The script is lame, and the jokes are not very original. A gratuitous cameo by Mr. T doesn't really help things. I did enjoy the exchange student who always walked around nude, though. Grade: D

Weeds (DVD)

Weeds, Season 4, Disc 3 (2008) starring Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon. Nancy Botwin, pot-dealing mom (Parker), goes on a hallucinogenic trip with her lover, the mayor of Tijuana. Later, she finds that the tunnel that terminates in her maternity store is being used to smuggle guns to Mexico, and -- in the other direction -- hard drugs and underage girls to America. Meanwhile, her friend Celia (Perkins) is the object of an intervention, and Doug (Nealon) smuggles his "Mermex" from south of the border. While Nancy is suffering a crisis of conscience, the show has gotten far away from its original premise. Not that that's a bad thing. Grade: B

True Blood (DVD)

True Blood, Season 1, Disc 1 (2008) starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer. Since I don't subscribe to HBO, I've never seen this show before. In general, I'm not enthusiastic about vampire stories, but this one has good buzz, so I thought I'd give it a try. In this first installment, Sookie, a mind-reading waitress (Paquin), meets Bill, a vampire (Moyer). She saves him from some low-life humans who are trying to steal his blood; later, he returns the favor and saves her from a vicious attack. Meanwhile, a woman in the town is murdered by a person or persons unknown. And the people who attacked Sookie turn up dead. Altogether, I was pleasantly surprised and entertained. I'll be renting more discs in the "True Blood" series. Grade: B+

Waltz with Bashir (DVD)

Waltz with Bashir (2008), animated. Utilizing muted colors in the animation, director Ari Folman documents his quest to explore the memory gaps in his life during his service for the Israeli army in the Lebanese war of the early 1980s. In several vignettes based on interviews with colleagues and friends, Folman uncovers a shocking truth: There was a massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by right-wing Christian militias during the military campaign; defenseless men, women and children were killed in a genocidal attack. This film asks the question: Who was responsible? Was it just those pulling the triggers, or was it also those who observed and did nothing? The movie was a Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Grade: B+

Confessions of a Shopaholic (DVD)

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) starring Isla Fisher, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, Krysten Ritter. Fisher plays Rebecca Bloomwood, a journalist with dreams of working for a top fashion magazine, and a serious shopping addict. She has 12 credit cards, and all of them are maxed out. By chance, she lands a job working at a financial magazine, where the editor is inexplicably impressed by her work. This movie hangs mostly on Fisher's charm, and she is cute, but not enough to make up for a hit-or-miss script. Grade: B

Farewell My Concubine (DVD)

Farewell My Concubine (1993) starring Zhang Fengyi, Leslie Cheung, Gong Li. Epic Chinese film starts in an opera school for boys in the 1920s and '30s. The boys are routinely beaten, and no punishment short of death seems too severe. Two of the boys (Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi) become opera stars and lifelong friends, and their friendship spans over 50 years of Chinese history. One of them marries a courtesan (Gong Li), and the other must deal with his jealousy. The movie covers the period from the Warlord Era in the 1920s, through the Japanese occupation during World War II, through the short-lived Nationalist Republic, the Communist takeover, the 1966 Cultural Revolution, and on to its tragic denoument in 1977. Though this film is very long, at nearly three hours, I found myself engaged by all of it. It's beautifully filmed; however, the pleasures of Chinese opera still escape me. Extras: None Grade: A

The Reader (DVD)

The Reader (2008) starring Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross. In 1958 in West Berlin, young Michael (Kross) has a surprising love affair with an older woman, Hanna (Winslet). But Hanna abruptly disappears. Eight years later, as a law student, Michael attends a trial where he is surprised to see Hanna charged as a Nazi death camp guard. Fiennes plays the mature Michael, who communicates with Hanna while she is in prison. Winslet won an Oscar for her portrayal of Hanna. Although Fiennes' portion of the movie (approximately the final third) is weak, it is still worth seeing "The Reader" to witness Winslet's performance. Grade: A-

Weeds (DVD)

Weeds, Season 4, Disc 2 (2008) starring Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon. Parker stars as Nancy Botwin, a suburban California mom who goes into the pot business after her husband dies. On this disc, she discovers that there is a tunnel to Mexico starting in the back room of the maternity shop she manages. She is kidnapped by a man she saw in the tunnel, and he turns out to be the mayor of Tijuana. She uses her feminine wiles to get him to supply her with "product" to sell. Then they have sex. There are several side-plots, all with interesting characters. It makes for an amusing couple of hours of viewing. Grade: B+

Singin' in the Rain (DVD)

Singin' in the Rain (1952) starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen. Arguably the greatest movie musical ever made, combines humor, music and dancing to make a great entertainment. The year is 1927, and the backdrop is Hollywood's need to shift from silent films to talkies. Hagen portrays a silent-movie queen whose voice makes it impossible for her to make the switch. Kelly and Reynolds provide the romance, while O'Connor brings the laughs with his standout number, "Make 'Em Laugh." The highlight of the film is Kelly performing the title number, dancin' and singin' in the rain. The transfer to DVD is gorgeous, and the subtitles are good. Grade: A

In Treatment (DVD)

In Treatment, Season 1, Disc 9 (2008) starring Gabriel Byrne, Dianne Wiest, Melissa George. The season finale of the HBO series ties up all the stories rather neatly, as we expect TV shows to do. One patient leaves town, one couple in therapy decide to divorce, and Dr. Paul Weston (Byrne) decides he can't follow through on his love for a former patient. The disc is a little disappointing, as it offers up only three episodes, with a running time of less than 90 minutes, and seems rather slender compared with the content of previous discs. Extras: None. Grade: B+

Californication (DVD)

Californication, Season 1, Disc 1 (2007) starring David Duchovny, Natascha McElhone, Madeleine Martin, Madeline Zima, Evan Handler. Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a sexy best-selling author who is irresistible to the ladies. After moving to Los Angeles from New York, he finds himself suffering from writer's block. But that doesn't stop him from having sex with a succession of beautiful women (frequently appearing nude). With dialogue like "Shut up and fuck me," this is obviously no "Little Dorrit." The series is saturated in sex, and the writing is not all that clever. Plus, this disc lacks subtitles for the hearing-impaired, although it does have closed captions -- which can only be viewed on a TV with closed-caption capability. Grade: C

Little Dorrit: Disc 4 (DVD)

Little Dorrit: Disc 4 (2008) starring Claire Foy, Matthew Macfadyen, Andy Serkis. Amy Dorrit's (Foy) father and uncle both die in Venice, and she comes home to England to mourn. Kindly Arthur Clennam (Macfadyen) continues to delve into the mystery of his father's dying words. Mr. Merdle, a highly regarded financier, commits suicide. Having lost all his money in Merdle's Ponzi scheme, Clennam finds himself consigned to the same debtors' prison from which the Dorrits had so lately emerged. A series of events then follows, which somehow manages to resolve all the strands of plot, eliminate the villains, and bring us to a surprising happy ending. Grade: A This disc also features an excellent Extra, which is an hour-long background study, told by the actors and producers, about Dickens and his time.

Weeds (DVD)

Weeds, Season 4, Disc 1 (2008) starring Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Albert Brooks, Kevin Nealon. Parker plays Nancy Botwin, a suburban California mom who turned to growing pot when she was in financial straits after her husband died. Brooks joins the cast as Nancy's neurotic father-in-law, who spends all his spare time at the track. Perkins is funny as Nancy's former friend who at first takes the rap for her, then rats her out. In Season 4 of the Showtime series, Nancy and her clan move south to set up shop in the beach town of Ren Mar, near the Mexican border. The action includes a drug run to Tijuana, a mercy killing, a lot of pot smoking, corrupt police, illegal aliens sneaking across the border in a pudding truck, and oh, did I mention the pot smoking? Grade: For pure entertainment value, A

In Treatment (DVD)

In Treatment, Season 1, Disc 8 (2008) starring Gabriel Byrne Dianne Wiest, Melissa George, Blair Underwood. This would have been Week 8 of the HBO series, and major changes are afoot. Alex (Underwood) has died in a training accident, and Dr. Weston (Byrne) is no longer seeing Laura (George) as a patient. Furthermore, Weston is having doubts about the efficacy of psychotherapy, as he reveals to his own therapist, Dr. Gina Toll (Wiest). And Dr. Toll reveals intimate details about her own life. For the series overall, Grade: A-

Ashes of Time Redux (2008)

Ashes of Time Redux (2008) starring Leslie Cheung. In ancient China, a swordsman retreats to the desert to recover from the sting of an affair gone wrong. There, he acts as a middleman, hiring warriors for various tasks. This recut of the director's 1994 wuxia epic eventually features lots of stylized swordplay, but the Chinese philosophy, language and mindset behind the film make it confounding, at least to me. The movie is poetic and beautifully photographed, and after I saw it I felt that I had seen something, but I just wasn't sure what. Grade: B-

Little Dorrit: Disc 2 (DVD)

Little Dorrit: Disc 2 (2008) starring Claire Foy, Matthew Macfadyen, Andy Serkis. This disc includes episodes 5-8, in which the Dorrit family discover that they are heir to a large estate, and are thus saved from debtors' prison. Mr. Dorrit's reaction to his new-found wealth is quite surprising, and not very pleasant. Meanwhile, Arthur Clennam (Macfadyen) remains a good friend to the Dorrits, while they (except Amy [Foy]) turn their backs on him. The coming into wealth of the Dorrits is not the happy ending to this Dickensian tale. Grade: A-

Revolutionary Road (DVD)

Revolutionary Road (2008) starring Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Shannon. Set in the mid-1950s, this story follows the Wheelers (Winslet and DiCaprio), a young couple in suburban Connecticut who try desperately to confront the problems in their relationship while raising two children. Early on, the Wheelers decide that they will chuck their stifling existence and move to Paris. But right after the decision is made, Frank Wheeler (DiCaprio) gets an enticing business offer. And April Wheeler (Winslet) becomes pregnant. Then the two begin a series of escalating arguments; they both have affairs. If you're looking for a happy ending, forget it. The film's main weakness is DiCaprio, who doesn't seem mature enough as an actor or as a person to fill his role. Otherwise, it's a fine movie. Grade: B+

Defiance (DVD)

Defiance (2008) starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, George McKay. In 1941, four Jewish brothers flee the Nazi death squads in Belorussia and take sanctuary in the forest. Soon, they are joined by other surviving Jews, young and old, male and female, and a partisan community is formed. With their intimate knowledge of the countryside, the partisans are able to survive and fight back against Nazis and Nazi sympathizers who come hunting for them. But the two oldest brothers, Tuvia (Craig) and Zus (Schreiber) find that they have different philosophies on how a resistance should be fought. They go their separate ways -- but they are brothers, and end up back together. This movie is at times exciting (the battle scenes) and at times moving, and well worth renting. Grade: A-

Yes Man (DVD)

Yes Man (2008) starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel. Carl (Carrey) is unhappy, still pining for his ex-wife three years after his divorce. After attending an inspirational rally, he resolves to say "yes" to everything that comes his way. At first, the Philosophy of Yes seems to be working for him. He meets a girl named Allison (Deschanel) and she invites him to attend her 6 a.m. photography-jogging class. Naturally, he says yes. Things go well between them -- until Homeland Security takes an interest in Carl's varied activities. Ultimately, Carl comes to the pretty obvious conclusion that you don't have to say yes to everything for the philosophy to work, and the movie's ending is a bit of an anticlimax. Still, it's an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. Grade: B