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Noteworthy DVDs released 2/3/09
Pick of the week
“Office Space” (Fox): Call us shameless local boosters, but any chance to celebrate this lovable Mike Judge comedy — one of those fortunate films whose audience grows on home video — is one we’ll take.
Other top picks
“Being There” (Warner Bros.): Peter Sellers’s enigmatic outing as “Chauncey Gardiner,” arguably the last great Hal Ashby film, gets the Blu-ray treatment in addition to a standard DVD reissue.
“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (Weinstein Co.) & “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist” (Sony): Two romantic comedies for those fed up with the usual generic fare.
Natalie Wood: Warner Bros. celebrates the actress not only with “The Natalie Wood Signature Collection,” which includes numerous new-to-DVD titles, but with a standalone version of the sci-fi flick “Brainstorm,” directed by Douglas Trumbull — best known for the trippy effects in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
“I Love the 80’s”: Paramount’s odd reissue series continues, using a VH1 marketing tie-in, corny graphic design, and bonus music CDs to sell both titles that fit its silly retro vibe (“Flashdance,” “Staying Alive”) and those that don’t fit in the least (“Gallipoli,” “Ragtime”).
“Martini Movies”: Sony offers its own odd series of catalog titles, presumably suggesting that everything from the Jeff Goldblum/Cyndi Lauper vehicle “Vibes” to Stephen Frears’s tongue-in-cheek “Gumshoe” either revolves around — or would benefit from — free-flowing intoxicants.
“Rent” (Filmed Live on Broadway) (Sony): For fans of the original musical who thought the Hollywood adaptation left something to be desired.
“The Cure: Trilogy” (Eagle Rock): The hardest working goths in eyeliner take to the stage for straight-through performances of three albums: “Pornography,” “Disintegration,” and “Bloodflowers.”
New on Blu-Ray
“Assault On Precinct 13” (1976), “Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself,” “K.D. Lang: Live in London” (Image); “Clerks 2” (Weinstein Co.); “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Sideways” (Fox)
Fresh from the multiplex
“The Secret Life of Bees” (Fox)
Arthouse/Foreign
“Ben X” (Film Movement)
From the vaults
“Inside Moves” (Lions Gate); “The Magnificent Trio” (Image); “Oliver & Company” (Walt Disney); “Yentl” Extended Director’s Edition (MGM)
Best of TV
“Afro Samurai: Resurrection” (FUNimation); “The Berenstain Bears: Springtime Surprises,” “Bewitched” Season 7, “The Partridge Family” Season 4 (Sony); “Columbo” Mystery Movie Collection (Universal); “Mystery Science Theater 3000” Vol. XIV (Shout! Factory); “Tom and Jerry Tales” Vol. 6 (Warner Bros.)
Reissue/Repackage
“Alec Guinness Collection,” “Peter Sellers Collection” (Lions Gate); “Friday the 13th” Parts 1, 2, and 3-D (Paramount)
Straight(ish) to video
“Space Buddies” (Walt Disney); “Bottle Shock” (Fox)
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