New on DVD: February 7

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn

In the first part of the two-part fourth book in the series (are you with me so far?), Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) finally get married and immediately find themselves with child (or with something anyway). This sets off the war between the Quileute and the Volturi (that’s werewolves and vampires to us laymen) that won’t be settled until the second part of this film opens next year.

Anonymous

Director Roland Emmerich takes a 180 degree turn from his usual fare (Godzilla; 2012) to make this historical mystery about whether or not William Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) was actually the authour of all of those famous plays or if it was really Edward De Vere, the Earl of Oxford (Ryhs Ifans) who did as part of a master plan for the government to subtlety use the content of the plays to get across certain political messages to the public. (Columbia TrStar)

Geek Charming

Sarah Hyland (Modern Family) stars as spoiled popular teenager Dylan, who agrees to be the subject of film geek Josh’s (Matt Prokop of High School Musical 3) documentary even though both of them have ulterior motives. She believes it will help her win the Blossom Queen pageant and he wants to dissect the social hierarchy of high school. (Disney)

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas

It’s all there in the title, but if you need to know more this film is about the further adventures of the stoner friends (Kal Penn and John Cho), who after six years since their experience at Guantanamo Bay (but only three years since the film), find themselves facing all sorts of holiday hilarity (including the requisite run-in with Neil Patrick Harris) after accidentally burning down Harold’s father-in-law’s Christmas tree. (Warner)

Texas Killing Fields

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) and Sam Worthington (G.I. Joe) star in this leisurely-paced thriller as rural Texas cops investigating a series of brutal murders in which the killer mutilates and dumps the bodies in a local field. Things get personal for the detectives when the killer begins to taunt them with clues after each crime. Chloe Grace Moretx (Kick-Ass) co-stars as a local girl who becomes a target for the killer. (eOne)

The Rebound

A woman (Catherine Zeta Jones) leaves her cheating husband and moves her and her children into an apartment in the city. After hiring a young man (Justin Bartha) as her nanny, she soon finds herself attracted to him despite their age difference in this romantic comedy. (Fox)

Mama I Want To Sing

Pop singer Ciara stars in this classic story of a talented singer from a religious background that wants to take her talent to the Big Time without offending or losing her religious beliefs. It’s the urban R&B version of The Jazz Singer.  (Fox)

Another Happy Day

Ellen Barkin, who was a huge star in the 1980s with films like Sea of Love and The Big Easy, returns to the forefront with this drama about a woman’s return to her rich but aloof family’s estate for the wedding of her son and the emotional battleground it becomes when she is forced to confront the many dark demons of her past like her ailing father (George Kennedy), her ex-husband (Thomas Hayden Church) and his volatile new wife (Demi Moore).  (eOne)

Fred 2: Night of the Fred

Sure, it’s all fun and games to make an internet sensation out of someone by making their videos go viral, but there is a dark side to all of that when we are all made to suffer. This is a perfect example of that. That annoying rubber-faced teen Fred Figglehorn (Lucas Cruikshank) is back with his second film, this time out a horror spoof in which Fred suspects that the black-clad substitute teacher may be a vampire that offed his favourite music teacher.

The Song of Lunch

Based on the poem by Christopher Reid, Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee) and Alan Rickman (the Harry Potter films) meet for lunch after many years apart. Told with very little dialogue and with the poem being read as narration by Rickman’s character, this film allows the actors silent expressions to speak the rest.

I Heart Minnie

Its Minnie Mouse’s birthday in this latest DVD from the Mickey’s Clubhouse series and the whole gang is there to celebrate with her with songs and fun. (Disney)

Die Six

John Pyper Ferguson and Elias Koteas star in this strange thriller about a group of strangers who awaken in a locked building and are forced to face their greatest fears and test their limits of humanity all at the roll of the dice. (eOne)

Lady and the Tramp: Diamond Edition

This classic Walt Disney animated film from 1955 in which Lady, a well-bred cocker spaniel gets jealous of the attention her masters pay to their new baby and runs away. She is instantly in trouble and rescued by a mutt named Tramp from the wrong side of the tracks and despite their differences they fall in love. This new DVD (and Blu-ray) edition (which comes in a combo pack with both discs as well as a digital version) features deleted scenes, a song that was written for the film but never used and much more. It also includes over two-hours of other bonus features from other DVD releases as well. (Disney)

Love Story (Blu Ray)

This 1970 tear-jerker gets the high-def treatment with this new release. In a plot similar to Lady and the Tramp, uppercrust Olvier Barrett IV (Ryan O’Neal) falls in love with working-class girl Jennifer Cavalleri (Ali McGraw) while they are in college. And that’s where the similarity ends due to the tragic turn this story takes. SPECIAL FEATURES include audio commentary from director Arthur Hiller and more. (Paramount)

MUSIC ON DVD

Owl City: Live from Los Angeles

Singer-songwriter Adam Young began his musical career at home in Minnesota using the power of the internet to get a wider audience before breaking it big in 2009. This concert DVD (also available on blu-ray) captures him and his band Owl City live from Club Nokia in L.A. where they perform songs from their latest album All Things Bright and Beautiful including “Swimming in Miami” and “The Real World”. (Eagle Rock)

The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall: 25^th Anniversary

As part of the celebration of this superhit musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber comes this live concert version of the long-running show. Ramin Karimloo plays the title character with Sierra Boggess as Christine, but the real treat comes after the initial performance when Sir Andrew takes the stage with some of the former cast members (including Michael Crawford, Colm Wilkenson and Sarah Brightman) who share a few words and sing. (Universal)

TV ON DVD

The Sunset Limited

Authour Cormac McCarthy has been famous for his novels since the 1960s, but it’s only with Hollywood’s more recent interest in him through film versions of his works The Road and the Academy-Award-winning Coen Brothers adaptation of No Country for Old Men that his fame has crossed media boundaries. Now, HBO has taken his wordy 2006 play and cast superstars Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones in this story about an ex-con (Jackson) who stops a professor (Jones) from killing himself by throwing himself in front of a train. The two then spend the next ninety minutes discussing the spiritual and personal ramifications of each of their acts in a film that will appeal to fans of watching actors act, not shoot guns and blow things up. (Warner)

The Hour

The Wire’s Dominic West stars in this BBC thriller set around a busy TV news studio in 1950s England. Freddy Lyon (Ben Whisaw) is an eager, young reporter who is passed over for a producing job but takes a lesser position on a new news magazine program called The Hour. While he is there, he uncovers a suspicious murder of a college professor which he is led to by a family friend (who she herself ends up dead). This 6-episode drama (on two discs) starts off hot and never slows down inspiring a second season which will air later this year on TV.

Robot Chicken Star Wars III

It’s more of the vulgar, occasionally hilarious antics of Seth Green (Family Guy) and company as they warp their little action figures into a third spoof of the sci-fi franchise which seems to have an endless amount of material to be made fun of.  (Warner)

The Father Dowling Mysteries: The First Season

After the success of his role of Mr. Cunningham on Happy Days, Tom Bosley quickly returned to the small screen with this gentle mystery series in the vein of Murder, She Wrote and Diagnosis: Murder. Here he plays Father Dowling, a Chicago priest with a nose for trouble who, along with a feisty young nun named Steve (Tracy Nelson), solves a seemingly endless series of murders. This 2-DVD set contains all 7 episodes from the first season of the show as well as Fatal Confession, the TV movie pilot that started it all. (Paramount)

Downton Abbey Season 2

The award-winning British drama Downton Abbey starring Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville begins its second season in 1916, two years after the conclusion of its last season. While Matthew and Thomas are away fighting in France, the remaining residents of Downton Abbey including Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) organize a benefit concert to help raise funds for the local hospital.