Home movies

By BY KAREN MARTIN SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LITTLE ROCK — Recent DVD releases:

American Son (R, 90 minutes) This solid, sad story concerns a young Marine (Nick Cannon) who, while spending four days at home over Thanksgiving before deploying to Iraq, struggles to make sense of the complicated relationships he has with his family and others. Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes featurette, audio commentary with director Neil Abramson, and deleted scenes. Grade: 87

Burning the Future: Coal in America (not rated, 89 minutes) This motivated but underpowered documentary follows residents of West Virginia who take action against the devastation caused to their state by the coal industry. Bonus featurette topics include the role coal plays in the U.S. economy, coal and climate change, pollution and public health, and how social movements function as the historic foundations of change in America. Grade: 80

Duplicity (PG-13, 125 minutes) Tony Gilroy directs this lame caper mystery that stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen as corporate spies who look terrific while making myriad attempts at witty, caustic banter but don't do much else. Grade: 78

Goodbye Solo (R, 91 minutes)A lean, muscular and memorable story of friendship and redemption that concerns Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane), a cheerful taxi driver from Senegal trying to put together a good life in Winston-Salem, N.C. When grumpy, elderly William (Red West) climbs into the cab with an unusual request, Solo goes along for the ride, not knowing that their lives will be changed forever. The DVD includes audio commentary with director Ramin Bahrani. Grade: 88

The Informers (R, 98 minutes) Based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, this dreary downer is a bunch of truncated narratives about a gang of thoroughly despicable people - among them a movie studio head (Billy Bob Thornton), a troubled rock star (Mel Raido), a wannabe actor (the late Brad Renfro), a criminal (Mickey Rourke), and a TV newscaster and the studio head's mistress (Winona Ryder) - who have a lot of money and gobs of unearned self-esteem. It doesn't care if you hate it. In fact, that's exactly what it wants; you aren't hip enough to get it. The DVD and Blu-ray versions include director and cast commentary and a making-of featurette. Grade: 70

Nights and Weekends (not rated, 79 minutes) A low-budget, sexually charged story that you'll either love or hate about the challenges of maintaining a long-distance relationship. It stars and is directed by Joe Swanberg, considered a principal player in the so-called "mumblecore" film movement. Grade: 80

Rudo Y Cursi (R, 103 minutes) A bright, lively and unpredictable comedic drama written and directed by Carlos Cuaron, Rudo Y Cursi deals with the tragic-funny rivalry between two Mexican brothers (Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal) that goes from a rural banana plantation, where they play soccer for the village team, to the big city stadiums where they battle on opposing sides. On DVD and Blu-ray with bonus features such as deleted scenes, director and actor commentaries and a making-of featurette. In Spanish with English subtitles. Grade: 89

Sunshine Cleaning (R, 99 minutes) This is an intelligent, often touching, sometimes pedestrian drama about two Albuquerque sisters struggling to keep afloat in a dead-end economy by cleaning up crime scenes. It's an honest movie, well written by Megan Holley, well directed by Christine Jeffs, and very well played by Amy Adams and Emily Blunt as the sisters. Grade: 82

MovieStyle, Pages 37 on 08/28/2009