Let's take a look at the best DVDs for March 2010.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, this is a British indie drama. The story, based on a memoir by Lynn Barber, is a coming-of-age tale set in drab, repressive 1961 London. It's basically a character study of Jenny (Carey Mulligan, nominated for a Best Actress Oscar), a middle-class young woman who's 16 when the film opens. She wants to grow up and seizes her opportunity when she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man twice her age. She gets into a romance with him and learns a lot about herself and the world, but he turns out to be involved in unsavory activities.
Sandra Bullock gives a fine performance in this uplifting, feel-good sports drama based on a true story. The movie is a dramatization of the life of Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron), who is currently an offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. Bullock portrays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a well-to-do woman living in Memphis with her husband (Tim McGraw) and their two kids. The story is that the white Tuohy family adopts Michael, a homeless black teenager, and provides him with a supportive environment while he develops as a football player.
Hayao Miyazaki (
Spirited Away,
Princess Mononoke) wrote and directed this hand-drawn animated movie. Among the voices heard are Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Tina Fey and Betty White. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid,"
Ponyo is set in modern-day Japan. Sosuke (voice of Frankie Jonas of the Jonas Brothers family) is a little boy who lives with his mom (voice of Tina Fey) by the sea. There he befriends a half-human, half-fish female named Ponyo (voice of Noah Cyrus, Miley's sister), and they have adventures, including a tremendous typhoon.
Nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, this nonformulaic mix of comedy and drama stars George Clooney. He and his two costars, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, all received Oscar nominations for their performances. The story centers on Ryan Bingham (Clooney), who gets paid to tell people in face-to-face meetings that they're being laid off. He flies from city to city, spending nearly all his time in airplanes, airports and hotels. He likes the lifestyle, but his outlook is affected in different ways by two women (Farmiga and Kendrick) who come into his life.
Adapted from Maurice Sendak's illustrated children's book, this live-action movie was directed by Spike Jonze and written by Jonze and Dave Eggers. The main character, who is about nine years old in the film, is a boy named Max, played by child actor Max Records. After an argument with his mom (Catherine Keener), Max escapes into his imagination, where he flees to an island inhabited by six creatures with horns, claws and teeth. Their faces are animated via CGI, and they are voiced by well-known actors, including James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose and Chris Cooper.
