Macy Gray "Obsession"

DVDS

"Children of Men" (R) This audacious, sweeping, sobering and finally exhilarating film by Alfonso Cuaron ("Y Tu Mama Tambien") stars Clive Owen as a bureaucrat in 2027 London, the last outpost of the closest thing to civilization in a world gripped by pandemic infertility and a worldwide immigration crisis. When Owen's character, Theo, is pulled back into his activist past by his former lover, Julian (Julianne Moore), he embarks on an epic chase adventure in which the motivation is nothing less than the survival of the human race. Adapting P.D. James' futuristic novel, Cuaron makes masterful use of cinematic grammar to create a story, a mood and an atmosphere that feels eerily contemporary.

Also available today: "Curse of the Golden Flower" (R); "Candy" (R); "The Pursuit of Happyness" (PG-13); "Happy Feet" (PG); "Color Me Kubrick" (Unrated); "Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection, Volume 2" (Unrated); "The Judi Dench Collection" (Unrated); "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" (Unrated); "Best of the Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Vols. 1 and 2" (Unrated); "Whose Line Is It Anyway? The Complete Seasons 1 and 2" (Unrated); "National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj" (Unrated); "Turistas" (Unrated); "John Prine Live on Soundstage 1980" (Unrated); "The Shield: Season 5" (Unrated); "7th Heaven: The Complete Fourth Season" (Unrated).

CDS

Macy Gray's wide-eyed funk is as untamed as her blown-out 'fro.

Manic and unpredictable, you never really know what you're going to get with a new album from the soul spark plug.

On her latest disc, "BIG," Gray attempts to rebound from the slow sales of her previous album, 2003's "The Trouble With Being Myself," by teaming up with such big-names as will.i.am. from the Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake.

What results is an eclectic, ballsy effort from this invigorated R&B firestarter.

Also out today: Clutch, "From Beale Street to Oblivion"; Good Charlotte, "Good Morning Revival"; Kaiser Chiefs, "Yours Truly Angry Mob"; Tim McGraw, "Let It Go"; Mika, "Life in Cartoon Motion"; Stevie Nicks, "Crystal Visions: The Very Best of Stevie Nicks"; Various, "The British Beat: Best of the '60s."

BOOKS

"Obsession" (Ballantine) by Jonathan Kellerman, the 21st entry in the author's Alex Delaware series, kicks off when Tanya's aunt Patty Bigelow hints on her deathbed that she killed someone. That sets in motion an investigation by criminal psychologist Delaware and his friend Milo Sturgis.

Also out today, "The Alibi Man" (Random House) by Tami Hoag; "I Am a Strange Loop" (Basic Books) by Douglas Hofstadter; "Physik" (Katherine Tegen Books) by Angie Sage and Mark Zug; "Walking on Eggshells: Navigating the Delicate Relationship Between Adult Children and Parents" (Doubleday) by Jane Isay; "Simply Magic" (Delacorte) by Mary Balogh; "Hunter's Moon" (Penguin) by Randy Wayne White; and "Absolute Fear" (Kensington) by Lisa Jackson.