VIDEO PREVIEW:
Variety the spice of life with week's top video debuts
Host Garrison Keillor welcomes the Johnson family (Lily Tomlin, left, Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan) to "A Prairie Home Companion."
Adam Sandler, left, and Christopher Walken star in the comedy "Click," which hits video stores this week.
From a toe-tappin', knee-slappin' treat to a kitty for the kiddies, an eclectic array of titles awaits on ...
The big screen scene: Radio's magical theater of the mind comes to life in "A Prairie Home Companion" (Picturehouse), a beguiling backstage fable (dreamed up by director Robert Altman and National Public Radio's Garrison Keillor) about an old-timey radio show's final broadcast. Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin star as singing sisters; Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen and Tommy Lee Jones join the fun.
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For more mainstream laughs, Adam Sandler stars in "Click" (Sony), about an ambitious architect -- and the magical remote-control device that enables him to fast-forward, rewind and otherwise manipulate his life. Christopher Walken co-stars as his personal gadget guru.
Back on the art-house beat, the satirical "Art School Confidential" (Sony) follows a freshman (Max Minghella) as he confronts a variety of poseurs, artistes, druggies and burnouts (played by, among others, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich, Anjelica Huston and Jim Broadbent).
And Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal (currently on the big screen in "The Science of Sleep") makes his American movie debut in "The King" (Velocity/Thinkfilm) as a recently discharged Navy veteran who heads to Texas to track down his long-lost father (William Hurt).
On the urban thriller front, an ex-con trying to go straight (Tyrese Gibson) finds himself outside the law once again when gang members hijack his car -- with his young son inside -- in "Waist Deep" (Universal).
And for kids of all ages, Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Paw-purr" inspires "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties" (Fox), the fur-ther cinematic adventures of Jim Davis' chatty catty (voiced once again by Bill Murray), who travels to Britain to surprise his master (Breckin Meyer) and winds up trading places with a regal feline.
Critic's choice: At-long-last DVD debuts make this a red-letter day for movie buffs. And what better title to lead the honor roll than "Reds: 25th Anniversary Special Collector's Edition" (Paramount), Warren Beatty's Oscar-winning epic of radical journalist John Reed (played by Beatty himself), who becomes embroiled with Russia's Communist revolution -- and free-spirited writer Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton).
The "Movie Masterpieces Collection" (Warner), meanwhile, spotlights golden-age Hollywood literary adaptations, from Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield" (1935), with W.C. Fields as the inimitable Mr. Micawber, to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (1940), starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier.
Also on tap: Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" (1935), with Ronald Colman caught up in France's 18th-century Reign of Terror, and Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" (1934), starring Wallace Beery as quintessential buccaneer Long John Silver.
Just in time for Halloween, "Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection" (also from Warner) spotlights such vintage creepfests as 1935's "The Devil Doll" and "The Mark of the Vampire," both with Lionel Barrymore, and "Mad Love," featuring Peter Lorre. Boris Karloff takes on the sinister title role in "The Mask of Fu Manchu" (1932), while more mad-scientist mayhem ensues in "Doctor X" (1931) and "The Return of Doctor X" (1939), the latter starring Humphrey Bogart as the eerie title character.
Kidvid corner: A doggone animated favorite returns in "The Fox and the Hound: 25th Anniversary Edition" (Disney). And a longtime storybook star returns in the animated "Me, Eloise" and "Eloise: Little Miss Christmas" (both from Anchor Bay).
There's more family-friendly fun in store with "Harry & His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs: To Dino World and Back!" (Warner), "Dora the Explorer: World Adventure" (Paramount) and "The Backyardigans: Mission to Mars" (also from Paramount).
TV transfers: One of TV's landmark miniseries returns to DVD in a 25th-anniversary edition of "Brideshead Revisited" (Acorn), based on Evelyn Waugh's novel about the life-changing friendship between an Oxford student (Jeremy Irons) and a young aristocrat (Anthony Andrews) in 1920s Britain. John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and Claire Bloom co-star.
In the new-to-DVD department, Chris Rock's teenage years in '80s Brooklyn inspire the sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris: The Complete First Season" (Paramount), while the '80s romp "Simon & Simon: Season One" (Universal) focuses on couldn't-be-more-different brother detectives (Gerald McRaney, Jameson Parker).
Other series hitting DVD today: "The A Team: Season Five -- The Final Season" (Universal), "Magnum, P.I.: The Complete Fifth Season" (Universal), "Numb3rs: The Complete Second Season" (Paramount) and "Scrubs: The Complete Fourth Season" (Touchstone).