The Soloist : DVD released on Aug.4, 2009

Sometimes people randomly cross paths, and always will be amended. That is the subtle, but profound, message of the soloist, a deeply moving and deeply human film about people and what and who they connect with. Robert Downey Jr, who effortlessly charismatic, plays Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, whose job it is to report on the character and characters of Southern California. But even a (slightly) jaded reporter is deeply touched by a story that he, and then unfold in real time. The subject of Lopez column is Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx, also a stellar turn), a homeless street musician whose beautiful music - played on a battered two-string violin - Lopez is a day for a walk not far from the Times office. Lopez teaches Ayers once attended Juilliard before mental illness sent him into a spiral, and the column that Ayers' travel affects the community - and the two men. The film (based on the book by Lopez, following the stop of the journey of their friendship, and how sometimes people's lives can not be determined. Director Joe Wright (Atonement) cast real homeless Angelenos in the many street and social services scenes, making the film an even more heart-wrenching and realistic patina. If the movie does not always meet the high expectations (the trippy effects that supposedly show what Ayers sees when he hears Beethoven, his right to a light show 1968), but nevertheless has a big heart. And in a time when newspapers are struggling to survive, it is encouraging to see a contemporary story about a newspaper that still affect change.

Actors: Jr. Robert Downey, Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener, Stephen Root, Lisa Gay Hamilton
Directors: Joe Wright
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Number of discs: 1
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Dreamworks Video
DVD Release Date: August 4, 2009
Run Time: 116 minutes

Race to Witch Mountain : DVD released on 8/4/09

Loosely based on the novel by Alexander Key Escape to Witch Mountain, Race to Witch Mountain is not so much a remake of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain as a new film is based on a number of important plot points of the former film. When two innocent-looking teens seem's Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) cabin and tell him that "we must travel in that direction," Jack thinks that it is a bit strange, but Shrug it off and start driving. Soon they are followed and pursued the road, but Jack's past is catching up with him or something bigger? Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) reluctantly admit that an alien from another planet, but Jack refuses to accept their explanation to Sara starts moving things with her eyes and Seth slips through the body of the car and that deflects the SUV's pursuit of them. Sara and Seth tells Jack that they must repair their crashed spaceship to save the earth is taken over by foreigners, so Jack takes them to see Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino), a scientist who he met by chance and who believes the possible existence of extra-terrestres trials. While the four initially wary of another, Dr Friedman provides a number of valuable contacts they trust each other and start from pure necessity. Soon, they fight secret government, heavily armed personnel, and even a cybernetic siphon (which looks a lot like a CYLON from Battlestar Galactica) in a desperate attempt to gain access to the heavily fortified Witch Mountain and the spacecraft crashed. Action-packed pursuits dominate the film (a bit exaggerated, in this reviewer's opinion), but the acting and the chemistry between the players is good, and the excitement and intrigue. Rated PG due to sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations and some thematic elements.

• Actors: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, Ted Hartley
• Directors: Andy Fickman
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• DVD Release Date: August 4, 2009
• Run Time: 99 minutes

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Mad Men :Season 2 : DVD released on July 14, 2009

Set in 1960 New York City, Mad Men explores the glamorous and ego-driven "Golden Age" of advertising where everyone sells something and nothing is ever what it seems. And nobody plays the game better than Thursday Draper (Golden Globe ® - winner Jon Hamm), Madison Avenue's largest ad man - and ladies' man - in the company. Returning for its second season, the Golden Globe ®-winning series for Best TV drama and actor will continue to blur the lines between truth and lies, perception and reality. The world of MAD MEN is a new direction - can Sterling Cooper keep? Meanwhile, the private life of Don Draper is complicated in a new way. What is the cost of his secret identity?

• Actors: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks
• Directors: Matthew Weiner
• Writers: Robin Veith, Christopher Manley
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: July 14, 2009
• Run Time: 611 minutes

Watch Mad Men Season2 clips