Let's take a look at the best new movies on DVD for October, 2006.
October 3, 2006
Changing Times
Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu star in this drama that was co-written and directed by André Téchiné. Antoine (Depardieu) is a bachelor who comes to Tangier to supervise a construction project, but his main interest is in rekindling a relationship with a woman he hasn't seen for three decades. His old flame is Cécile (Deneuve), who is in a problematic marriage to a Moroccan. She is the mother of an adult son, who has both a girlfriend and a male lover. The film explores issues in multiculturalism.
Thank You for Smoking
This comedy is a satire about lobbying. Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a lobbyist for the tobacco industry who is a brilliant spin artist with no moral compunction. He's on good terms with alcohol and firearms lobbyists, and with them constitutes the M.O.D. Squad, where M.O.D. stands for Merchants of Death. Naylor's main opponent is Senator Finistirre (William H. Macy), who wants a skull-and-crossbones on cigarette packaging. Maria Bello, Robert Duvall, Sam Elliott and Katie Holmes are also in the movie.
October 10, 2006
A Prairie Home Companion
Robert Altman directed this good-natured movie about the final show of a folksy radio program that's been on the air for three decades. The fictional program is quite similar to the real-life one hosted by Garrison Keillor, who plays a version of himself called G.K. in the film. In the movie, corporate interests plan to raze St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theater to put in a parking lot. The film's ensemble cast includes Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Tommy Lee Jones and Lindsay Lohan.
October 17, 2006
Over the Hedge
Adapted from a comic strip, this is a computer-animated comedy. Voices heard include those of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Avril Lavigne, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Nick Nolte, Allison Janney and Thomas Haden Church. The story centers around a group of various forest-dwelling animals going over a hedge to forage for food in a new housing development. The forest dwellers find suburbia to be enticing, but puzzling and hazardous to their well-being.
October 24, 2006
Monster House
This animated family movie was made by first capturing the movements of live actors. DJ (voice of Mitchel Musso) is a 12-year-old boy who lives in a nice suburban neighborhood, except for the rundown house owned by old Mr. Nebbercracker (voice of Steve Buscemi). When it appears that Nebbercracker's lawn can disappear toys and his house is capable of eating people, DJ and his pals set out to get to the bottom of things. Other voices heard include Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Slither
This is a horror-comedy, the kind of movie that mixes shocks with humor. The setting is some American jerkwater called Wheelsy where a meteorite has recently crashed. When one of the locals goes near the meteorite, he finds a slimy slug that attacks him. Now infected with some extraterrestrial organism, the local turns into a hideous zombie-like creature who spawns slugs. The film then follows the sheriff (Nathan Fillion), the town beauty (Elizabeth Banks) and others as they deal with the slugs and the zombies.
October 30, 2006
Mission: Impossible III
Tom Cruise reprises his role as agent Ethan Hunt in this actioner, the third in the series that began with Mission: Impossible (1996) and Mission: Impossible II (2000). Hunt's assignment this time around is to go after a malevolent international arms dealer named Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and things get personal when Hunt's fiancée is abducted by Davian. The story takes us to Berlin, the Vatican, Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Shanghai. Actors in the movie include Ving Rhames and Maggie Q.
October 31, 2006
Down to the Bone
Much admired by festival juries and critics, this low-budget drama earned awards at Sundance for first-time director Debra Granik and lead actress Vera Farmiga. Set in winter in upstate New York, the story centers around Irene (Farmiga), an unhappily married mother of two who works as a grocery clerk. When Irene realizes she needs to deal with her cocaine addiction, she goes to rehab and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, only to face a new set of problems. The film avoids clichés and has the feel of authenticity.
