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Michael Vartan stars in Rogue, a thriller about a killer crocodile in Australia.
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Published: August 7, 2008
Maria del Mar shines in Terminal City, a hit among critics
Terminal City (Unrated): This charming Canadian miniseries follows Katie (Maria del Mar), a woman in the midst of an emotional crisis after she is diagnosed with cancer. At the hospital, she runs into a film crew working on a live reality show. Captivated by her, they recruit her for the show and she soon becomes a TV star, exposing her struggle against cancer to a growing television audience. The miniseries drew critical acclaim and awards in its Canadian broadcast, and earlier this year was shown on The Sundance Channel.
Nim's Island (PG): Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin team up for this family adventure about the e-mail friendship between a fearless young girl (Breslin) who lives on an exotic island and a neurotic writer (Foster). The DVD includes deleted scenes, featurettes and commentary.
The Counterfeiters (R): This Austrian movie, the 2007 Academy Award winner for foreign-language film, follows a master counterfeiter (Karl Markovics) who is thrown into a Nazi concentration camp but gets preferential treatment by leading a team that prints phony Allied currency to weaken the economies of Germany's adversaries. Extras include delted scenes and interviews.
Rogue (Unrated): Michael Vartan and Radha Mitchell star in this thriller from director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) about tourists in the Australian wilderness who run afoul of an enormous crocodile. "If you must see one killer croc movie before you die," one Australian film critic wrote, "then it may as well be Rogue."
Wasted (Unrated): Eddie Kaye Thomas, Kip Pardue and Josh Cooke star in this coming-of-age drama about friends who reminisce about their youth while attending the funeral of a pal from high school.
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (Unrated): This straight-to-DVD sequel continues the story of humankind's battle against insect-like aliens.
Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers: 20th Anniversary Edition (Unrated): Horror-film favorites Gunnar Hansen (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead) star in this campy 1988 film from B-movie director Fred Olen Ray.
Joy House (Unrated): Jane Fonda, Alain Delon and Lola Albright star in this 1964 French romantic thriller about a con artist on the run from a gangster.
Biography: Barack Obama and John McCain (Unrated): The two presumptive presidential nominees are profiled in these separate DVD releases from the Biography Channel.
Star Trek: Season Two (Unrated): The classic TV series that started the long-running franchise gets a makeover with this digitally-remastered DVD set, with new, cutting-edge special effects replacing the 1960s stock footage. Fortunately for fans, the approach is handled carefully; rather than jarring new effects, as in the remastered versions of the Star Wars films, these effects fit nicely with the style of the original series, enhancing the episodes. This season's highlights include "The Trouble With Tribbles," one of the most popular episodes of the series, which gets its own disc complete with the sequel episodes from the animated Trek and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Doctor Who (Unrated): Three new volumes of the long-running British favorite come to DVD. In The Time Meddler, the original Doctor (William Hartnell) clashes with a mysterious monk during the Battle of Hastings. In Black Orchid, the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) investigates a mystery in 1925 England. And in The Five Doctors, five incarnations of the Doctor join forces. Hartnell had died by then, so the first Doctor was played by another actor, and fourth Doctor Tom Baker declined to participate, so his scenes were spliced-in outtakes from an incomplete episode. All three DVD releases are loaded with extras, including commentaries, deleted scenes and documentaries.
Lonesome Dove (Unrated): The 1989 Western miniseries returns to DVD in a digitally remastered two-disc set with new bonus features. The cast includes such stalwarts as Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Steve Buscemi and Robert Urich.
Executioner's Song: Director's Cut (Unrated): Another 1980s miniseries featuring Tommy Lee Jones, this is the story of the execution of killer Gary Gilmore.
Sensitive Skin: Seasons 1 and 2 (Unrated): Joanna Lumley, best known for her bombastic role in Absolutely Fabulous, stars in this melancholic comedy-drama about a married couple coming to terms with their own mortality. The DVD set has 12 episodes.
Masters of Science Fiction (Unrated): This short-lived anthology series featured adaptations of stories by prominent sci-fi writers, including Harlan Ellison, Robert A. Heinlein, and Raleigh-based writer John Kessel. The DVD set has six episodes, two of which never aired.
Life in Cold Blood (Unrated): David Attenborough is the host of this five-episode documentary series about reptiles and amphibians, including crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, frogs and more.
Ben 10: The Complete Season 4 (Unrated): The final season of Cartoon Network's adventure cartoon comes to DVD with four versions of the TV-movie Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix.
Sunset Tan: Season One (Unrated): Ever wondered about the lives of people who work in a Hollywood tanning salon? Thanks to this reality show, you don't have to wonder anymore.
Growing Up Safari (Unrated): This series of documentaries from Animal Planet looks at baby animals, following the youths of elephants, zebras, giraffes and hyenas.
Clash of the Cavemen (Unrated): This History Channel documentary examines the prehistoric struggle for supremacy between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons.
Wire in the Blood: Prayer of the Bone (Unrated): This movie version of the long-running British series follows investigator Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green) across the pond as he travels to the United States to work on a particularly troubling case.
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