October 23, 2007

Disney's Newest

Disney scored a big hit this year with Meet the Robinsons, the story of a young orphan inventor that travels to the future and meets the offbeat Robinson family. This CGI-epic contains dinosaurs, robots, superhero pizza delivery men, musical frogs and devious mechanical bowler hats, and features the voices of Angela Bassett (How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Strange Days), Tom Selleck (Three Men and a Baby, Jesse Stone: Stone Cold), and Adam West (Batman: The Movie). Also new for the kids are the first two volumes of Charlie and Lola, about a boy and his imaginative little sister.

Keeping with the October theme, Kevin Costner (Dances With Wolves, Dragonfly) turns in a creepy performance as Mr. Brooks, an all-American family man with a secret life as a serial killer, embodied by William Hurt (A History of Violence, Dark City). Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) lures another group of tourists into the charnel house in Hostel Part II, and Billy Connolly plays Fido, a domesticated zombie in a Leave It To Beaver suburb who bonds with his adopted family despite a few devoured neighbors. David Arquette (Eight Legged Freaks, Scream) directs and stars in The Tripper, a city-versus-country slasher picture that features Jamie King (Bulletproof Monk, Sin City), Lukas Haas (Alpha Dog, Brick), Tom Jane (The Punisher, Arrested Development), Paul Reubens (Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Mystery Men) and Jason Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks).

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama poses difficult questions to the Tibetan leader in an interview, and Commune is a documentary about the Black Bear Ranch, the prototypical 1960's commune. Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East is the story of a Zen master, his apprentice, and an orphan in a secluded mountain monetary.

The final chapter of The Sopranos is hitting the shelves this week, releasing the second half of season six and bringing to a close the story of Tony Soprano. The Spielberg-produced series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones has just been released on DVD, as well as The Company, the miniseries that documents the rise of the CIA. We also have the fourth seasons of both Showtime's popular The L-Word, and the Navy themed procedural NCIS. Teen detective Veronica Mars has also just released season 3, and we have the first season of the cult favorite 1991 show Eerie Indiana.