The new DVD releases include Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Tropic Thunder and WALL-E. In addition, we'll take a sneak peek at next week's movies on video/DVD.
November 18, 2008 - New DVD Releases:
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson DVD
Length: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for drug and sexual content, language and some nudity
This is a documentary made by Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) about Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005), a colorful journalist and author best known for his 1972 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . Thompson's work popularized the term "gonzo journalism," an exaggerated, highly subjective, sometimes-metaphorical style of reporting with an emphasis on the journalist as an active participant in the subject matter. In the documentary, Gibney uses evocative archival materials, and Johnny Depp reads from Thompson's work.
- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check with your video store/online rental service for availability in other formats, including streaming video/digital download.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 DVD
Tagline: "Some friends just fit together."
Length: 117 minutesMPAA Rating: PG-13 for mature material and sensuality
Based on novels by Ann Brashares, this is the sequel to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), and Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Blake Lively and Alexis Bledel are all back. This time around the four main characters have just finished their first year in college. Tibby (Tamblyn), an NYU film student, works in a video store in New York. Carmen (Ferrera), now at Yale, gets involved in summer theater in Vermont. Bridget (Lively), a student at Brown, goes to Turkey on an archaeological dig. Lena (Bledel), studying at Rhode Island School of Design, has a romance. Selected DVD Special Features:
- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check with your video store/online rental service for availability in other formats, including streaming video/digital download.
Tropic Thunder DVD
Length: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material
Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. star in this politically incorrect action comedy that lampoons everything Hollywood. The story concerns a group of actors who go to Vietnam to do a war movie and end up running afoul of drug dealers. Downey plays a white method actor who has his skin darkened to portray an African American. Stiller's character generally plays action heroes, except for his role as an intellectually disabled person in Simple Jack. Actor-comedian Brandon T. Jackson portrays a rapper named Alpa Chino, who markets the energy drink Booty Sweat.
- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check with your video store/online rental service for availability in other formats, including streaming video/digital download.
WALL-E DVD
98
Length: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Set hundreds of years in the future, this is a Pixar animated movie. The story opens on an abandoned city whose only remaining inhabitants seem to be a robot and a cockroach. The robot is WALL-E, an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter — Earth Class. He collects, compacts and stacks trash all day, and in the evening he watches a videotape of Hello, Dolly!. Humans have become fat and lazy, living in space stations, where they move about in chairs while watching video screens. They send a probe robot called EVE to Earth, and WALL-E gets into a romance with her.
- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check with your video store/online rental service for availability in other formats, including streaming video/digital download.
Next Page - Additional Video/DVD Releases of Interest This Week