Here's a selection of the best new movies on DVD for March 2008.
March 4, 2008
Into the Wild Written and directed by Sean Penn and featuring a fine performance by Emile Hirsch, this drama is adapted from the nonfiction bestseller by Jon Krakauer. The story is about a young man named Chris McCandless (Hirsch) who becomes estranged from his affluent parents (Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt). After graduating Emory University, Chris severs ties with his family and goes on the road for two years, meeting eccentric people and having unusual experiences. But his odyssey comes to an end when he dies after living alone for a few months in the Alaska wilderness.
March 11,2008
Dan in Real Life
Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche are paired in this low-keyed romantic comedy. A father of three, widower Dan Burns (Carell) goes to a family gathering at the home of his parents (Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney). At a local bookstore, he meets Marie (Binoche) and there's mutual attraction, but when he returns to his parents' place, he finds out she's dating his brother (Dane Cook). As Dan and Marie begin to fall for each other, they try to figure out how to deal with the situation. But Marie gets jealous when Dan's mom sets him up on a date with Ruthie (Emily Blunt).
No Country for Old Men
Written and directed by the Coen brothers and based on Cormac McCarthy's novel, this crime drama features strong performances by Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones. In 1980 West Texas, a welder named Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) is out hunting one day and happens upon the scene of a drug deal gone wrong. He takes a briefcase containing $2 million and goes on the run, doggedly pursued by cold-blooded hit man Anton Chigurh (Bardem). Aging sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Jones) works the case as best he can, but he's troubled at what has become of his job as lawman.
March 18, 2008
Atonement
Keira Knightley and James McAvoy star in this drama adapted from Ian McEwan's novel. The movie opens in 1935 at the Tallis family's British country estate, where college-aged Cecilia Tallis (Knightley) becomes aware that she and Robbie Turner (McAvoy), the son of a servant, are sexually attracted to each other. But 13-year-old Briony gets upset and confused about what's going on between her sister Cecilia and Robbie, and the younger girl does something that ruins all three of their lives. The story takes decades to fully play out, and three actresses play Briony as she ages.
Enchanted
This is a Disney musical romantic comedy. The first several minutes of the film are animated and take place in a fairy-tale land. There the evil queen becomes displeased with a sweet-natured princess named Giselle and pushes her down a well. Then the movie switches to live action, and Giselle (Amy Adams) pops out of a manhole in modern-day Manhattan. She has trouble dealing with the bustling metropolis, but is rescued by single dad Robert Phillip (Patrick Dempsey). As others from the fairy-tale land arrive in New York, an attraction develops between Giselle and Robert.
I Am Legend
Will Smith stars in this adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 sci-fi novel. The film opens in a desolate Manhattan where weeds are growing and there are lots of abandoned vehicles. It's 2012, and three years earlier an epidemic caused the city's evacuation, but not before many people became infected and transformed into bloodthirsty zombies. But Robert Neville (Smith) turned out to be immune, and he now lives alone with his German shepherd in a Washington Square townhouse. Neville battles loneliness as he searches for a way to reverse the disease in the zombies.
March 25, 2008
The Kite Runner
Adapted from Khaled Hosseini's bestselling novel, much of this drama is set in Afghanistan and a lot of the dialogue is in Dari (with English subtitles). The cast is made up of actors of Middle Eastern ancestry who are not well known to the English-speaking public. The early part of the story takes place in Kabul before the Soviet invasion and is about two 12-year-old boys. One of them is the privileged Amir, and the other is Hassan, a family servant. A nasty incident occurs, and Amir betrays Hassan. Amir eventually moves to the US, but years later he returns to Afghanistan and has a chance at redemption.
The Mist
Written and directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile), this is a horror film based on a Stephen King novella. In Maine, illustrator David Drayton (Thomas Jane) and his nine-year-old son go the local supermarket with their neighbor, attorney Brent Norton (Andre Braugher). A mist descends on the store, and someone comes in screaming and bloody. When it becomes apparent there are terrifying creatures in the mist, the people in the market try to figure out what to do. Meanwhile, a religious fanatic (Marcia Gay Harden) goes on a rant.
Wristcutters: A Love Story
The conceit of this offbeat, low-budget comedy is that everyone who commits suicide goes to the same special netherworld. The main character is Zia (Patrick Fugit), who kills himself, but then finds himself in an afterlife populated by other suicides. He befriends Eugene (Shea Whigham), a Russian whose entire family has reunited in this world. When Zia learns that his old flame has killed herself, he and Eugene set out in the Russian's car to find her. On their journey, they pick up a hitchhiker (Shannyn Sossamon) and end up at a camp run by Kneller (Tom Waits).
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