More About DVD Releases • New Releases • More New DVD Releases - December, 2005

by Ivana Redwine

Let's take a look at the best new movies on DVD for December, 2005.

December 6, 2005

"Cinderella Man"
Russell Crowe stars in the title role of this biopic about boxing great James J. Braddock. The movie reunites Crowe with key members of the "A Beautiful Mind" team, notably director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman. Renée Zellweger portrays Braddock's wife, and Paul Giamatti plays his manager. Set during the Great Depression, the story is about how the down-on-his-luck Braddock managed to fight his way to a heavyweight title bout, becoming a symbol of hope for working-class Americans.

"Ladies in Lavender"
Two of Britain's greatest actresses, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, star in this low-keyed drama set in 1936. They play elderly sisters who find an unconscious man washed ashore near their Cornwall home. They nurse him back to health, discovering he's a Pole who speaks German and a gifted violinist. One of the sisters (Dench) gets jealous when the man spends time with a young painter (Natascha McElhone) who is also fluent in German. With the storm clouds of World War II gathering, the sisters feel uneasy.

December 13, 2005

"The 40 Year-Old Virgin"
Steve Carell plays the likable main character in this laugh-out-loud-funny comedy. Andy (Carell) is a 40-year-old guy who is employed at an electronics store, where his work buddies get on his case about still being a virgin. Andy's coworkers try to arrange ways for him to lose his virginity, but all turn out to be comically unsuitable. Eventually, Andy gets to know the sympathetic Trish (Catherine Keener), who runs a shop where she sells people's stuff on eBay, and he gradually comes to feel comfortable with her.

"Roll Bounce"
Bow Wow (who has removed the prefix Li'l from his name) and Chi McBride star in this drama set against the backdrop of jam skating, a form of dancing on roller skates to disco music. In 1978 Chicago, Xavier ("X") Smith (Bow Wow) is mourning the recent death of his mom, and his grieving dad (McBride) has his own problems. Much of the movie is about X and his South Side buddies preparing for and competing in a big skate-off, but there are also issues between X and his dad that must be addressed.

December 20, 2005

"Serenity"
Joss Whedon's TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ran for several seasons, but his "Firefly" got canceled before it finished even one. "Serenity," which was written and directed by Whedon, is a feature-length sci-fi movie based on "Firefly" with most of the key actors reprising their roles. It's about a ragtag group of rebels who roam around in a beat-up old spaceship named Serenity. When they rescue a psychic from the clutches of the Alliance, they are pursued by the Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

December 26, 2005

"2046"
Wong Kar Wai directed this beautiful, moody Chinese-language art-house drama. It's Wong's follow-up to "In the Mood for Love" (2000) and continues the story of Chow Mo Wan (again played by Tony Leung) from that earlier film. This time around, Chow gets involved romantically with three women (Gong Li, Ziyi Zhang and Faye Wong), and he's writing a novel about a Japanese adventurer taking a train ride to the future. "2046" is difficult to interpret, but it captures the feeling of yearning for the past.

"Grizzly Man"
Werner Herzog directed "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" and "Fitzcarraldo," both movies about obsessive adventurers, and his documentary "Grizzly Man" about Timothy Treadwell is in the same vein. Treadwell lived for 13 summers among brown bears (grizzlies) in Alaska's Kitmai National Park, where in 2003 he and his girlfriend were killed and eaten by a grizzly. Herzog mixes interviews with footage shot by Treadwell to present a compelling character study of a troubled man.

December 27, 2005

"The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill"
This documentary is a portrait of a middle-aged bohemian guy named Mark Bittner and his relationship with a flock of birds in San Francisco. The green-bodied, red-headed birds are cherry-headed conures, also known as red-masked parakeets. Presumably they were imported from South America, escaped captivity and established a colony. They roost near Embarcadero Center and fly around to various city locations, including Telegraph Hill. But the film is more about Bittner, who's a sort of modern-day St. Francis.