for Feb 5 DVDs

  • FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

    John Travolta is the bad guy in this action-cop-thriller

  • DEAR JOHN

    Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried in a tear-jerker romance from the writer of “The Notebook.”

  • 1. AMELIA:

    It was a bomb at the box office, which surprised me, as this Hilary Swank-as-the-lost-aviatrix film was, I thought, a pretty decent movie.  Richard Gere stars as Amelia Earhart’s husband George Putnam.  The period sets, costumes, and dialogue is great, and Swank’s take on Earhart’s leading-edge feminism is outstanding.  Some nice aviation shots too.  We know how it ends … but we knew that about Titanic too, and it didn’t prevent that one from being a fine picture.  Rated PG.

  • 2. COUPLES RETREAT:

    Vince Vaughn and Kristin Bell in a contrived rom-com that tries hard for laughs, finds a few, but falls short as often as not.  If you’re interested in just turning of your brain for a couple of hours, this will work for you … four couples go to a tropical location, three of the couples thinking it’s a discount vacation, one there to work on their failing marriage … and then learn that everyone has to participate or … off they go.  Rated PG.

  • 3. ZOMBIELAND:

    The title says it all … yet another post-apocalyptic story in which most people are flesh-eating zombies, and a handful of humans works hard not to have the bite put on them.  Woody Harrelson, Jessie Eisenberg, and Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin star … remember, the only way to stop a zombie is to shoot it in the head.  There’s a lot of that going on! Rated 18A

  • 4. AMELIA:

    If I don’t pick this underrated story, the film will have no chance of breaking even with the DVD release.  The Santa Monica-to-Cleveland air derby is a highlight with some great vintage planes.
THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS  (1957): 

Another aviation bio-pic, this time about Charles Lindberg’s 1927 trans-Atlantic flight, the first solo across the Atlantic.  Like “Amelia” this one was a box office flop when originally released 43 years ago.  I liked it then … I like it now

  • WHEN IN ROME  

    A throw-away rom-com with Kristin Bell as a girl unlucky in love … until the end

  • EDGE OF DARKNESS

    Outstanding action-adventure thriller with Mel Gibson superb as a Boston detective on the trail of the evil-doers who murdered his daughter.
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