New DVD Releases for the Week of August 18 2009

Here is a list of the new DVD Releases for the week of August 18 2009, as well as my intentions to buy, rent, watch on TV, or skip (for TV on DVD releases head over to Daemon’s TV):

The Poker House

Synopsis: An ordinary day in young Agnes’ life is anything but. With a strung-out mother, a pimp father and a home overrun by gamblers, thieves and johns, Agnes is simply trying to survive, along with her two younger sisters.

Cast: Selma Blair, Jennifer Lawrence, Bokeem Woodbine, David Alan Grier

Director: Lori Petty

Recommendations: One of my friends saw this a couple of years ago at a Festival (can’t remember which one), and she told me it was really good, so I think I’m going to add The Poker House to my Netflix queue.

Surveillance

Synopsis: It’s been a hell of a day on the highway.
When Federal Officers Elizabeth Anderson (Julia Ormond) and Sam Hallaway (Bill Pullman) arrive at Captain Billing’s office, they have three sets of stories to figure out and a string of vicious murders to consider.
One zealot cop, a strung out junkie and an eight year old girl all sit in testimony to the roadside rampage, but as the Feds begin to expose the fragile little details each witness conceals so carefully with a well practiced lie, they soon discover that uncovering ‘the truth’ can come at a very big cost…

Cast: Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins

Director: Jennifer Chambers Lynch

Recommendations: I was very intrigued by the trailer, and so Surveillance is definitely added to my Netflix queue.

The Last House on the Left

Synopsis: A remake of the 1972 film “The Last House on the Left” directed by Wes Craven. A pair of adventurous teen girls are kidnapped, raped and murdered by a gang of thugs. The killers unwittingly hole up in the home of one victim’s parents, who, upon realizing what their guests did, devise gruesome revenge.

Cast: Tony Goldwyn, Monica Potter, Sara Paxton, Rhys Coiro, Garret Dillahunt, Aaron Paul

Director: Dennis Iliadis

Recommendations: I am usually not a horror fan, but I don’t know why, the trailer made me want to see this. I guess I just want to find out how it all ends. So I might give it a look when it airs on TV.

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Synopsis: Walt Disney Pictures takes the Disney Channel phenom to the big screen in a feature film extravaganza. Miley Stewart (MILEY CYRUS) struggles to juggle school, friends and her secret pop-star persona; when Hannah Montana’s soaring popularity threatens to take over her life—she just might let it. So her father (BILLY RAY CYRUS) takes the teen home to Crowley Corners, Tenn., for a dose of reality, kicking off an adventure filled with the kind of fun, laughter and romance even Hannah Montana couldn’t imagine.

Cast: Miley Cyrus, Mitchel Musso, Melora Hardin, Margo Martindale, Vanessa Williams, Billy Ray Cyrus, Barry Bostwick

Director: Peter Chelsom

Recommendations: This is just not for me.

Tyson

Synopsis: Tyson is acclaimed indie director James Toback’s stylistically inventive portrait of a mesmerizing Mike Tyson. Toback allows Tyson to reveal himself without inhibition and with eloquence and a pervasive vulnerability. Through a mixture of original interviews and archival footage and photographs, a startlingly complex, fully-rounded human being emerges. The film ranges from Tyson’s earliest memories of growing up on the mean streets of Brooklyn through his entry into the world of boxing, to his rollercoaster ride in the funhouse of worldwide fame and fortunes won and lost. It is the story of a legendary and uniquely controversial international athletic icon, a figure conjuring radical questions of race and class. In its depiction of a man rising from the most debased circumstances to unlimited heights, destroyed by his own hubris, TYSON emerges as a modern day version of classic Greek tragedy.

Cast: Mike Tyson

Director: James Toback

Recommendations: This doesn’t really interest me, so I’ll skip it altogether.