New DVD Releases

This children's adventure comedy features a youthful cast that includes Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical). The story takes place at a rural Michigan house rented by an extended family for their vacation. But four extraterrestrial aliens, bent on world domination, arrive and take over the attic of the house. The aliens have a mind-control device for use against the Earthlings, but it only works on adults. That means it's up to the teenagers and younger kids to stop the aliens. Luckily, there's a brainy high schooler (Carter Jenkins) and a ninja grandma (Doris Roberts).

Since the 1960s, the toy company Hasbro has been producing the G.I. Joe line of action figures, and they have given rise to movies, TV shows, comics and video games. Now comes this 2009 entry to the franchise, a live-action feature film starring Channing Tatum. Here Duke (Tatum) and his sidekick Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) join G.I. Joe, an elite military team of good guys who have special training and technology. The G.I. Joe team must battle an evil organization called Cobra over a deadly weapon. The movie is mainly about hi-tech gadgets and nonstop action.

Denzel Washington and John Travolta star in this updated version of the 1974 thriller that featured Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Directed by Tony Scott, the new film has more action. Four thugs led by Ryder (Travolta) hijack a New York City subway train, take hostages and demand $10 million be paid in one hour. Caught up in this crisis is Metropolitan Transportation Authority dispatcher Walter Garber (Washington). The heart of the movie is the cat-and-mouse game between Garber and Ryder. John Turturro plays a hostage negotiator, and James Gandolfini portrays the mayor.