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The Chosen One
Forced to stay anonymous and move to a new town, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) tries to blend into a small midwestern high school in D.J. Caruso's I Am Number Four. Kept safe by his protector (Timothy Olyphant) he deals with school: making a friend (Callan McAuliffe), meeting a girl (Dianna Agron), and butting heads with her ex-boyfriend (Jake Abel)... but when his powers start to emerge, John's destiny becomes clear-- he's an alien, hiding on Earth from the creatures that conquered his home planet. While John becomes more powerful, the people in his life are in danger as the commander (Kevin Durand) of his enemies closes in on him. On DVD and Blu-Ray.
Gnomance
Mrs. Montague's yard is filled with blue garden gnomes, Mr. Capulet's gnomes are red, and when the owners are away, the gnomes come alive in the animated Gnomeo and Juliet. The red and blue rivalry doesn't stop Gnomeo (James McAvoy) from pursuing Juliet (Emily Blunt) and aggravating her cousin, Tybalt (Jason Statham), but the story is less interested in Shakespearian tragedy and focuses on being a light hearted family adventure instead. On DVD and Blu-Ray.
The City of Angels
Ned Cruz (Antonio Banderas), a hard bitten, classic noir detective, is held in a police interrogation room in The Big Bang, and he begins to tell the cops his tale... Cruz's story drags him from lead to lead, hired to track down a missing girl but ending up on a bigger case than he suspected, from a hollywood star (James Van Der Beek) with a secret, to a pornographer (Snoop Dogg), to an over-educated waitress (Autumn Reeser), to a reclusive billionaire (Sam Elliott), but the cops want to know why everyone Cruz talks to turns up dead.
When a director (Todd Berger) documenting crime scenes finds himself in the middle of a serial murder investigation, he brings his producer
(Jeff Grace) on board to make their break-out film in The Scenesters. They discover Charlie, who cleans up crime scenes and notices clues the police miss, and make him the lead in their movie... but while Charlie wants to solve the case, the filmmakers are trying to make the most compelling film they can, which includes reuniting Charlie with Suzanne May, his ex-girlfriend and TV news personality covering the killings.
Five short stories, each satirizing a Los Angeles stereotype, unfold over the course of Burning Palms: Rosamund Pike has trouble relating to her fiance's (Dylan McDermott) odd relationship with his overtly sexual daughter (Emily Meade), Jamie Chung does something she regrets and can't wash off the stain, a gay couple (Peter Macdissi and Anson Mount) adopt a 7-year-old girl but aren't prepared for what they get, Lake Bell discovers the strange secrets surrounding her new job as a nanny for neglected children, and Nick Stahl and Zoe Saldana reconnect after a brutal assault for suspicious reasons.
Historical Drama
Anton Chekhov's The Duel is the story of Laevsky (Andrew Scott), a selfish aristocrat who seduced Nadia (Fiona Glascott) away from her husband. When Nadia's estranged husband dies, Laevsky dreads his obligation to marry the girl... but his escape puts him in the path of Von Koren (Tobias Menzies), a Darwinian who sees the challenge of a duel as a way to rid the world of lazy men who aren't fit to walk the earth.
Romola Garai stars in The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant as Mary, sent to the prison colony of New South Wales as a thief. Mary has to survive the prison ship journey to Australia, but perseveres with her charisma and a fierce determination for a better life, staking out a future in the new colony and keeping an eye toward returning home. With Alex O'Loughlin, Jack Davenport, and Sam Neill.
Smaller
11-year-old Lucy is taken out of her abusive household in The Unloved, leaving her parents (Robert Carlyle and Susan Lynch) and finding her way in a British children's home. The story is told from Lucy's perspective, as she adapts to being a ward of the state.
A verite interpretation of the MGM musicals of the 40's, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench is set in the jazz-fueled bohemian subculture of Boston. As trumpeter Guy's relationship with Madeline has lost some of its spark, he meets a new girl, and the drama plays out in jazz ballads and tap numbers.
Detective Lampkin (Orlando Jones) is investigating mysterious deaths at a Catholic high school in Seconds Apart, and, though he can't prove it, he suspects twin brothers Jonah and Seth (Edmund and Gary Entin). The brothers are always present when the tragedies occur, though no one ever seems to remember them after the fact... but their influence wanes when they're apart, and they spend more time apart when Eve (Samantha Droke) arrives at their school.
A painter finds out his sight is deteriorating in La Ultima Mirada, and he uses his remaining time with vision memorizing texts to read to his blind father. While the painter falls in love with his reading instructor, a young woman is abandoned by her prostitute mother and the two lost souls eventually find each other.
Reckless Video's documentaries this week include Martin Scorsese's documentary Public Speaking, about writer Fran Lebowitz, and Animals and More Animals and Nenette, two nature documentaries by Nicolas Philibert.
Kathleen Madigan: Gone Madigan is Madigan's stand-up comedy DVD, a live comedy performance recorded at the Gramercy Theater in New York.
New this week in Reckless Video's TV New Releases is a new Kids in the Hall miniseries The Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town, where Death (Mark McKinney) arrives in a sleepy Canadian town and claims the life of the mayor (Bruce McCulloch). The mayor's wife (Dave Foley) profits most from the death, but the local burnout (Scott Thompson) accused of the crime has a well-meaning attorney (Kevin McDonald) without a hint of jury-winning flash.
The complete Children's Hospital provides two seasons of the medical drama parody as a series of 15-minute mini-episodes, lampooning the dramatic conventions of hospital soap operas. With Rob Corddry and Megan Mullally.
To Be and To Have
The 13th Warrior, Take the Lead
In Her Shoes, Crossroads
Alex Ryder: Operation Stormbreaker, Wild Child
Justified, Deadwood
Mad Men
The Full Monty, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
From Hell, The Secret of Roan Inish
Dick, Stealing Harvard
Sky High, Invader Zim
Slings & Arrows, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
The Pacifier, Another Gay Movie

