Let's take a look at the best new movies on DVD for May, 2007.
May 1, 2007
Dreamgirls
Beyoncé Knowles, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy star in this adaptation of the 1980s Broadway musical. The story is set in the 1960s and is based loosely on the Supremes. A struggling trio (Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose) meets a music producer (Foxx) who gets them a job backing up an established singer (Murphy). The trio eventually achieves stardom, but there are personal and professional problems along the way. The showstopper song is Hudson's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."
Little Children
Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley give Oscar-nominated performances in this drama that was adapted from Tom Perrotta's novel. Set in American suburbia, the movie was directed by Todd Field (In the Bedroom). Winslet plays a woman who went to grad school and is now uneasy in her role of wife and mom. She gets into an affair with a hunky married guy (Patrick Wilson), a stay-at-home dad who's failed the bar exam twice. Meanwhile, a pedophile (Haley) is released from prison and comes back into the community.
May 8, 2007
Music and Lyrics
Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore are paired in this romantic comedy. In his youth, Alex (Grant) was in a popular band, and now he plays class reunions and fairgrounds. He gets a chance for a comeback when a young pop diva asks him to write a new song that he and she can sing together. He's okay at composing tunes, but is having trouble coming up with the words when he discovers that Sophie (Barrymore), the woman who tends his plants, has a knack for lyrics. Soon Alex and Sophie find themselves falling in love.
The Painted Veil
Naomi Watts and Edward Norton star in this drama based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. In the 1920s, Kitty (Watts) is a self-absorbed woman who marries the emotionally distant bacteriologist Walter (Norton) in London and goes with him to Shanghai. When he discovers she's having an affair with a British official, he forces her to accompany him deep into rural China where there's a cholera outbreak. As Walter battles the epidemic and Kitty works with orphans at a convent, they begin to find renewal.
May 15, 2007
Pan's Labyrinth
Brilliantly intercutting reality and fantasy, this violent Spanish-language drama won Academy Awards for its cinematography and art direction. The story is set in 1940s Spain and centers around a girl named Ofelia (11-year-old Ivana Baquero). Her cruel stepfather commands an army unit charged with killing guerrillas, but she bonds with the housekeeper (Maribel Verdú), who is secretly working with the rebels. Ofelia deals with her dreadful real life by escaping into a fantasy world where a faun tells her she may be a princess.
May 22, 2007
Apocalypto
Mel Gibson directed this violent action-adventure film set in 16th-century Central America. The dialogue is in Maya, and English subtitles are provided. The main character is Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), who lives a simple village life with his pregnant wife and their little boy. But warriors attack, and Jaguar Paw is captured. He is taken to a city where hearts are ripped from human chests and severed heads are rolled down a tall pyramid. He escapes and is chased through the jungle as he tries to get back to his family.
Letters From Iwo Jima
Clint Eastwood directed this Japanese-language World War II drama, a companion piece to his Flags of Our Fathers. In Letters, General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) is tasked with readying 20,000 Japanese soldiers on a tiny Pacific island for an attack by an overwhelming American force. The Japanese high command decides to provide no support and orders its troops on Iwo Jima to fight to their deaths. The movie follows a handful of the Japanese soldiers as they prepare as best they can to die with honor.
Venus
Peter O'Toole received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in this little British movie set in London. O'Toole plays Maurice, an elderly actor who is friends with the grumpy Ian (Leslie Phillips), another aged trouper. Maurice's health is fragile, but he's still randy, and he's concerned about needing prostate surgery. When he meets Ian's sullen, low-class 19-year-old grandniece (Jodie Whittaker), Maurice is attracted to her. An odd relationship develops that benefits both the old man and the young woman.
May 29, 2007
Lost In Translation (DVD/HD DVD)
Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, this is a movie both sad and funny that features fine performances by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson. The story is about two lonely Americans visiting Tokyo—Bob (Murray), a middle-aged actor making whiskey commercials, and Charlotte (Johannson), the young wife of a photographer who's always off working. The charm of the film lies in its subtle handling of an unusual friendship.
