Let's take a look at the best new movies on DVD for January, 2007.
January 2, 2007
Snakes on a Plane
Samuel L. Jackson stars in this disaster movie about hundreds of poisonous snakes being on the loose in a commercial jetliner. A young man is biking in rural Hawaii when he happens to see a mobster commit a murder. F.B.I. agent Neville Flynn (Jackson) takes on the task of escorting the witness to California to testify. Flynn and the witness board a flight, and the film introduces some of the crew and passengers. But as prearranged by the mobster, deadly snakes are released at high altitude, causing pandemonium.
January 9, 2007
The Illusionist
Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti star in this drama about a magician in Vienna circa 1900. Eisenheim (Norton) puts on astounding magic shows, and Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and his fiancée Sophie (Jessica Biel) attend a performance. It turns out Eisenheim and Sophie were childhood sweethearts, and they become lovers, but try to keep it hidden from Leopold. Meanwhile, the Crown Prince assigns Chief Inspector Uhl (Giamatti) to uncover Eisenheim's secrets and expose him as a fraud.
January 16, 2007
No DVD recommendations.
January 23, 2007
Jesus Camp
This documentary was made by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, the filmmakers who previously did The Boys of Baraka. Jesus Camp is about Kids on Fire, a facility in North Dakota where children go in the summer to receive intense indoctrination in charismatic-evangelical dogma. The film focuses on three campers: a 12-year-old boy and two girls, one 9, the other 10. The documentary is unsettling to many viewers because it raises the issue of the extent to which the Kids on Fire approach fosters intolerance.
January 30, 2007
No DVD recommendations.

