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The Continuing Establishment of the Modern Western and Dedication to Verbose Titles
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford arrives this week, hot on the heels of the recent release of 3:10 to Yuma. Brad Pitt (Fight Club, Interview with the Vampire) plays the wanted outlaw and folk hero Jesse James and Casey Affleck (Ocean's Eleven, Good Will Hunting) plays James' one time companion and eventual competitor Robert Ford in this beautifully shot western epic, one of this year's contender for the 
cinematography Oscar. Jodie Foster (Flightplan, The Silence of the Lambs) stars in The Brave One as a victim-turned-vigilante after losing her fiance to a mugging, as Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow, Pride) investigates the dead criminals she leaves in her wake.
Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, Heaven) reprises her Elizabeth role in Elizabeth: the Golden Age, as the queen's reign continues, is threatened by the Spanish armada, and she forms a relationship with Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen: Children of Men, Gosford Park). Julie Taymor's (Frida, Titus) newest picture, Across the Universe, places its Beatles-named Jude and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood: King of California, Down in the Valley) in Greenwich Village as it re-imagines the 60's as a psychedelic musical. An ensemble cast makes up The Jane Austen Book Club, including Maria Bello (The Cooler, A History of Violence) and Kathy Baker (All the King's Men, Cold Mountain), as the members of the book club realize their lives share a lot with the Austen novels they read. Feast of Love focuses on an Oregon town and the various forms of love that flourish there, with another ensemble cast featuring Morgan Freeman (10 Items or Less, The Shawshank Redemption), Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine, Nurse Betty), and Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland, Pitch Black).
Julie Delpy (Before Sunrise, Blue) directs and stars in 2 Days in Paris, a romantic comedy where she vacations with her hypochondriac boyfriend (Adam Goldberg: Zodiac, Dazed and Confused), and takes him on a tour of her Parisian past that might shake up her tightly wound man. Blind Dating focuses on a blind man whose love life is a series of misadventures as his partners only see him as "a blind guy," until he meets a girl that sees him as a real person... but has obstacles all her own.
A man gets a job for a record company in Great World of Sound, and ends up with a wild partner as they strike out in search of musical talent to sign in this Official Selection from both the Sundance and SXSW film festivals. Alan Moyle (Pump Up the Volume, Empire Records) directs the caper-gone-wrong comedy Weirdsville, as small time crooks try to overcome Satan worshippers and a gang of dwarves led by Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent, Living in Oblivion). A misfit in a small Japanese town who dresses in 18th century French garb finds a kindred spirit when a rebellious punk arrives in town in Kamikaze Girls.
Richard Gere (Final Analysis, The Hoax) stars as a journalist in Eastern Europe as his impulsive search for a war criminal takes him into more and more dangerous situations in Hunting Party. Launching a television series, Blade: House of Chthon sets half-vampire Blade on another adventure, seeking to destroy a vampire sect that seeks to enslave humanity. 
Disney's The Aristocats receives its first-ever DVD release this week, as well as the newest in the Air Bud series, Snow Buddies, where the Air Buddies puppies help to win a dogsled race.
Deep Water is a documentary detailing the adventurous tale of Donald Crowhurst, who risked his family and finances to compete in the first solo, round-the-world sailboat race in 1967. An investigation into human longevity, Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality explores death and human relationships with the inevitable.
A number of new TV releases are available this week, including the 6th season of the HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, the first season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, City of God related miniseries City of Men, and the fourth season of BBC's Wire In the Blood.
