New DVDs: TV Series and Feature Length Films – May 2009

Affairs of the Heart

Romantic tales from the late Victorian high society of love and loss. These unfold from the country houses of England to the drawing rooms of New York, from the palazzos of Venice to the art studios of London. Scoundrels and schemers collide with ingénues and admirers in the terribly intricate affairs of the heart. Cast: Lynn Farleigh, Anna Calder-Marshall, Margaret Tyzack, Diana Rigg, Rosalind Ayres, Gayle Hunnicutt, Pamela Brown, Faith Brook, Anton Rodgers. Based on works by Henry James. (1974) Not Rated

Bernadette

In February of 1858, at the Massabielle grotto, 14-year old Bernadette, sees a light she later distinguishes as a beautiful young woman. The girl converses with the woman over the next few months. Crowds follow her and people are cured by the waters from a spring Bernadette has cleared. Secular authorities are threatened by the popular gatherings and subject the girl to police inquiry and medical review.  Cast: Sydney Penny, Roland Lesaffre and Michele Simonnet. Shot on location in France, this is the film that was chosen to be shown daily at the shrine in Lourdes. Not Rated

Berkeley Square

Three young nannies grow to be close friends as they manage the unpredictable road to love and happiness in the posh world of turn-of-the-century, upper-crust London. Cast: Clare Wilkie, Victoria Smurfit, Tabitha Wady. A BBC-TV production. (1998) Not Rated

Big Love: The Complete First Season

A polygamist and independent businessman lives in Salt Lake CIty with his three wives and seven children. He faces many challenges in meeting the emotional, romantic, and financial needs of his wives. Cast: Bill Paxton, Bruce Dern, Chloe Sevigny, Harry Dean Stanton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ginnifer Goodwin. Originally broadcast on HBO in 2006. Rating: TV-MA.

Big Love: The Complete Second Season

Season two finds the modern-day polygamist Bill Henrickson and his three wives struggling to pick up the pieces after first wife Barb’s outing at the Beehive Mother of the Year Ceremony. Second wife Nicki, learning that it was her father, Roman Grant, Prophet of the Fundamentalist Juniper Creek compound, who betrayed them, battles conflicting family loyalties. And third wife Margene, newly pregnant, fights for a bigger piece of the family pie with an eye toward bringing a new wife and confidante into the fold. Cast: Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin, Amanda Seyfried, Douglas Smith, Shawn Doyle, Melora Walters, Joel McKinnon Miller, Daveigh Chase, Jolean Wejbe, Grace Zabriskie, Matt Ross, Harry Dean Stanton. Originally broadcast on HBO in 2007.  Rating: TV-MA.

Brown Is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream

This PBS film examining how efforts to profit from Hispanic American culture have contributed to the shaping of its contemporary identity. The documentary’s focal point is comedian George Lopez, an icon and advocate for Hispanic Americans’ move into the mainstream. Features conversations with members of the Hispanic American youth market. Also includes interviews with Lopez and other Hispanic Americans. Not Rated

City Lights

A tramp wins the love of a blind flower girl and attempts to obtain money from a millionaire to help her regain her sight. Cast: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Allan Garcia, Hank Mann. Originally released as a motion picture in 1931. Rated G

Crazy Mama

A celebration of ’50s America, following three women and the men they pick up on an absurd crime spree. Cast: Cloris Leachman, Stuart Whitman, Ann Sothern, Jim Backus, Tisha Sterling, Donny Most, Linda Purl, Bryan Englund, Merie Earle. (1975) Rated PG

Down from the Mountain

A documentary about the musical artists who performed the songs in the Coen Brothers’ film O Brother, Where Art Thou? Performers include: The Cox family, Fairfield four, Emmylou Harris, John Hartford, Chris Thomas King, Alison Krauss, David Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, The Whites. (2000) Rated G

Ellis Island

In this History Channel documentary narrated by Mandy Patinkin, immigrants of every ethnic background recall their extraordinary adventures, historians explore the sometimes insensitive national policies, and the Ellis Island Oral History Project reveals what the immigration experience was actually like. Features rare photographs and film. Not Rated

Heroes: Season Two

Season Two finds Hiro (Masi Oka) transported to 17th-century Japan and surrounded by samurai warriors — just in time for a solar eclipse. Can he fight his way back to the 21st century? Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Masi Oka, James Kyson Lee, Milo Ventimiglia, Greg Grunberg, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Zachary Quinto. Originally broadcast by NBC during the 2007 season. Not Rated.

Hill Street Blues: The Complete First Season

Follow the lives of cops at an urban police station, from the traffic cops to the police chief himself, as they hit the streets of the city. Originally broadcast on television during the Winter 1981 season. Cast: Daniel J. Travanti, Barbara Babcock, Taurean Blacque, Michael Clohessy, Jon Cypher, Charles Haid, Veronica Hamel, Mimi Kuzyk, Kiel Martin, Michael Conrad, Robert Hirschfeld, Barbara Bosson. Not rated.

Hill Street Blues: The Complete Second Season

A very realistic view into the lives of the dedicated cops and detectives of an urban police station. Originally broadcast on television during the 1981-1982 season. Created by Steven Bochco. Cast Daniel J. Travanti, Veronica Hamel, Bruce Weitz, Charles Haid, Betty Thomas, James Sikking. Not rated.

How I Met Your Mother: Season Three

Thirty-year-old Ted is still looking for Miss Right, but his road to domestic bliss is improbably paved with punk rock girls, tattoos, adult video expos and an epic St. Patrick’s Day bender. Meanwhile, as Marshall and Lily adjust to the quirks of married life, the outrageously incorrigible Barney commits a major violation of “The Bro Code.” Cast: Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders. Originally broadcast on television during the 2007-2008 season.  TV rating: G

In Treatment

Paul is a therapist who exhibits great insight and confidence when treating his patients. But Paul suffers crippling insecurities and is counseled by his own therapist, Gina. Adding to his list of growing concerns, his wife, Kate, who is overcome with feelings of neglect and resents competing for his attention. Paul’s patients undergoing treatment include: a young doctor who is in love with Paul; a Navy pilot who is reevaluating his life after a failed mission in Iraq; a teenage gymnast with suicidal tendencies; and a passionate couple who are troubled in all other areas of their lives. Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Forbes, Melissa George, Blair Underwood, Mia Wasikowska, John Charles, Embeth Davidtz. Originally broadcast on HBO in 2008. TV-MA

The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice

On a deadly mission to recover the historic Judas Chalice, Flynn is saved by—and falls in love with—Simone, a dazzling French woman who harbors a terrifying secret. Cast: Noah Wyle, Bruce Davison, Stana Katic, Jane Curtin, Bob Newhart.  Based on characters created by David Titcher. Not Rated

Lion of the Desert

In the war waged by Bedouin patriots to combat Benito Mussolini’s Italian colonization in Libya, Omar Mukhtar, the Bedouin resistance guerrilla leader, has committed himself to a war that cannot be won in his lifetime. Cast: Oliver Reed, Anthony Quinn, Rod Steiger, John Gielgud, Irene Papas. (1979) Rated PG

Master of the Game

Sydney Sheldon’s lavish international saga spans a century and focuses on the Blackwell family’s rise to wealth, from 1890s South Africa where the family’s fortune is made in diamonds to the primary story of iron-willed Kate Blackwell, the driven, power-hungry head of the family’s embattled corporate empire. Cast: Fernando Allende, Dyan Cannon, David Birney, Harry Hamlin, Leslie Caron. (1984) Not Rated

Nashville

This Robert Altman film interweaves the stories of 24 characters over 5 days during a political rally in the capital of country music. Cast: Henry Gibson, Lily Tomlin, Ronee Blakley, Keith Carradine, Geraldine Chaplin, Barbara Harris, Karen Black. (1975) Rated R

The Passion of Bernadette

The saint of Lourdes enters the convent and endures various trials. Through it all, Bernadette trusts in God and remembers the Virgin Mary’s words to her: “I cannot promise you happiness in this life, only the next.” Based on actual testimony taken from the canonization investigation. Cast: Sydney Penny, Emmanuelle Riva, Catherine de Seynes, Malka Ribowska. (1989) Sequel to: Bernadette. Not Rated

The Riches: Season 2

The Malloys are consummate con artists who are posing as a wealthy suburban family. They are stealing the American dream, but their elaborate ruse may be stealing their very souls. Facing near-certain detection, the family is torn asunder as Dahlia and the children hit the open road, and embattled patriarch Wayne remains in Eden Falls, desperately scheming to pull off one last impossible con. Cast: Eddie Izzard, Minnie Driver, Shannon Marie Woodward, Noel Fisher, Aidan Mitchell, Todd Stashwick, Gregg Henry. Originally broadcast on television in 2008. Not rated.

Shane

A drifter and retired gunfighter assists a homestead family terrorized by an aging cattleman and his hired gun. Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson, Edgar Buchanan. (1952) Not Rated

Shirley Valentine

An English housewife, bored with her life, goes on a vacation with a friend to Greece and finds that there’s more to life than just dishes and laundry when she has a fling with a handsome man. Cast: Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Julia McKenzie, Alison Steadman, Joanna Lumley, Sylvia Syms, Bernard Hill, George Costigan, Anna Keaveney, Tracie Bennett. (1989) Rated R

Sister Wendy: The Complete Collection

A collection of Sister Wendy’s art programs. Sister Wendy travels to museums in England and Europe and discusses some of the world’s finest art. Contents: Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting, Sister Wendy’s Grand Tour, Sister Wendy’s Odyssey, and Sister Wendy’s Pains of Glass. Hosted by Wendy Beckett. Originally produced for television broadcast in 1992-1996. Not Rated

Some Like It Hot

When two unemployed musicians accidentally witness the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, they trade in their union suits for flapper frocks and flee to Miami disguised as female musicians in an all-girl jazz band. Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown.  (1959)  Not Rated

Sunset Boulevard

The story of an aging film queen who prepares for her grand comeback to stardom. Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper. (1950) Not Rated

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season One

Sarah and her son John, tired of running from the agents sent from the future to kill them, try to stop the formation of the agency in the present, with the help of a girl with a mysterious link to the future. Cast: Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Richard T. Jones. Based on the world created in the motion picture written by James Cameron and William Wisher. Not rated.

Weeds: Season One

After her husband’s unexpected death and subsequent financial woes, suburban mom Nancy Botwin embraces a new profession: the neighborhood pot dealer. As it seems like everyone secretly wants what she’s selling, even city councilman Doug Wilson, Nancy is faced with keeping her family life in check and her enterprise a secret from her best friend/PTA president, Celia Hodes. Cast: Mary-Louise Parker, Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, Romany Malco, Tonye Patano. Originally broadcast on the Showtime Channel in 2005.  Rated TV-MA

Weeds: Season Two

Nancy Botwin is a soccer mom who had to learn how to deal – pot, that is – after the death of her husband. Now, her business is a hit. But keeping up with the neighbors in this suburban utopia isn’t easy. She is joined up with a few of her closest friends, and together they face life’s ups and downs – because even in paradise, nobody’s perfect. Cast: Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Romany Malco, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Andy Milder, Justin Kirk.  Originally broadcast on Showtime television in 2006.  Rated TV-MA

Weeds: Season Three

America’s favorite pot-dealing, single soccer mom, Nancy Botwin, is more addictive than ever in the third season. But, when an offbeat way to make ends meet grows into a mini-empire, the mother of all dealers finds she may be in over her head –and on the verge of taking everyone one else with her. Cast: Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Romany Malco, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Andy Milder, Justin Kirk. Originally broadcast on Showtime in 2007. Rated TV-MA

The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd

When Lizzie Holroyd falls in love with another man, she wishes her boorish husband dead, a wish that comes horribly true. Cast: Zoë Wanamaker, Stephen Dillane, and Colin Firth.  Originally broadcast on BBC Television in 1988.  Not Rated

Wuthering Heights

Set against the stark beauty of the English moor, the mysterious gypsy boy Heathcliff, who has been adopted by the Earnshaw family, discovers his soul mate in his stepsister Cathy. As a man unable to have the love of his life, he seeks vengeance against anyone who comes between them. Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlotte Riley, Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Lancashire, Burn Gorman, Rosalind Halstead. Based on the novel by Emily Brontë. Originally released as a television motion picture in 2008. Not rated.