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Best Picture
Director Danny Boyle's (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) Slumdog Millionaire practically swept the Oscars this year, claiming Best Picture and Best Director, as well as Oscars for Cinematography, Editing, Writing, Sound, and Music. The film tells the story of two brothers, Jamal and Salim, orphaned in the slums of Mumbai, and the incredible journey that leads the younger brother to become a famous contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Accused of cheating to become the game's most successful contestant, Jamal's begins telling his life story, from his homeless childhood to begging in the streets to Salim's rise in the local gangs, and the girl he left behind... a strange life that provided him with the answers that could make his dreams come true. On DVD and Blu-Ray.
The other high profile drama this week is Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith (I Robot, Hancock) as Tim Thomas, a man wracked with guilt after causing the deaths of seven people in a car accident. After donating a part of his lung to his brother and a part of his liver to a child services worker, he begins to work out a plan to save seven lives to atone for the seven he took. Entrusting his plan to his friend (Barry Pepper: Flags of Our Fathers, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada), he begins to find people he can help, including Rosario Dawson (25th Hour, Eagle Eye) and Woody Harrelson (Semi-Pro, A Scanner Darkly).
Foreign Films
The French thriller Tell No One stars Francois Cluzet (French Kiss, Ready to Wear) as a man still grieving over the murder of his wife (Marie-Josee Croze: Munich, Battlefield Earth), eight years ago. After two bodies are found on his property, and the deaths seem to be linked to the murder years ago, he receives an email with a video of his wife that shows her still alive, and a 
message to "tell no one-- they are watching." On the run from the police and determined to find his wife, he finds himself entangled in a mystery deeper than he could have imagined. With Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long, The English Patient) and Marina Hands (Lady Chatterley, The Barbarian Invasions).
Centered on a post-War Jewish family in France, A Secret stars Cecile De France (Russian Dolls, High Tension) and Patrick Bruel (Sabrina) as a high profile couple in the 1950s, but their young son, nowhere near as glamorous as his parents, daydreams a fantasy life with a successful, imaginary brother and imagines the scenario that brought his glamorous parents together... but not guessing the secrets that brought them through the 30s and 40s. With Ludivine Sagnier (Moliere, Swimming Pool), Julie Depardieu (Rush Hour 3, A Very Long Engagement), and Mathieu Amalric (Quantum of Solace, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).
The Spanish Timecrimes is a smaller-budget time travel film, somewhat similar to 2004's cult hit Primer, focusing more on the thorny implications of traveling into one's own past than on elaborate special effects. When Hector's binoculars happen upon a naked woman, he tries to get a closer look... but someone attacks him from behind. When he hides from his attacker in a mysterious machine, he emerges a few hours earlier, and finds himself tracking the events that led him there through strange clues: surveillance cameras, walkie talkies, and people that may or may not know him.
Much like The Bank Job, the Japanese Attack Girls' Swim Team vs. The Undead tells you all you need to know in the title: a low budget, exploitation, zombie film that pits a high school girls' swim team against their classmates and faculty that have been turned into zombies... The rest of the story is fleshed out by mad scientists, orphans with commando training, an evil flautist, and weaponized swim fins and nose plugs.
Comedy
Owen Wilson (Drillbit Taylor, Zoolander) and Jennifer Aniston (The Break-Up, Bruce Almighty) team up with a puppy in Marley & Me, this week's PG new release. As the couple contemplate starting a family, they get a dog named Marley to see if they're ready to take care of a life... which becomes a comic misadventure they weren't quite prepared for. Marley might be lovable, but he's also a lot of trouble. With Eric Dane (Open Water 2, Grey's Anatomy), Kathleen Turner (Serial Mom, Monster House), and Alan Arkin (Get Smart, America's Sweethearts).
Reckless also has two new standup comedy DVDs: Out of England, a performance by Ricky Gervais (Ghost Town, The Office), and the new Jim Gaffigan (The Love Guru, 13 Going on 30) standup King Baby.
Smaller Titles
Having a strange reaction to an experimental medication designed to eliminate self doubt, Michael Rapaport (Hitch, Higher Learning) develops super-powers in the independent film Special. When his doctor (Jack Kehler: Pineapple Express, Point Break) tells him to stop taking his pills, he refuses to give up his powers... though they may be doing him more harm than good. He may have to fight an evil conspiracy or it may all be a hallucination, but if he has to fight, there's no way to know what he can or can't do.
The Other End of the Line is a romantic comedy where a woman in a call center falls for a man on the phone (James Metcalfe: John Tucker Must Die, Desperate Housewives)... but, though she uses her best American accent on the job, she's actually in India. Traveling to San Francisco to meet the man of her dreams, her would-be romance is fraught with obstacles. With Larry Miller (For Your Consideration, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang).
A documentary about the American Roller Derby League, Jam recounts the sport's history, and the stars of the 1970s sport and their return to the rink in the 1990s. Filmed over seven years, the doc follows the reunions of the veteran players, their personalities, conflicts, trials, and the long journey of a unique sport.
New to Reckless Video's TV section is the first season of the federal marshal, witness protection agency dram In Plain Sight with Mary McCormack (Deep Impact, 1408), the first and second seasons of Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People), Mark Heap (Spaced, Scoop), and Kevin Eldon's (High Heels and Low Lifes, Hot Fuzz) sketch comedy show Big Train. We also have the first season of the BBC tech support sitcom The I.T. Crowd, and a new disc of the children's classic Schoolhouse Rock!
