THE LIST: DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores week of Aug. 12

DVDS
  Family ties, functional and dysfunctional, inspire the week’s top titles.
  In “Smart People” (R), an arrogant literature professor (Dennis Quaid, having a blast as a rumpled misanthrope) finds his world turned upside down when his bad-penny brother (a sly Thomas Haden Church) turns up — and so does a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) who’s still got a bit of a crush on the old prof. “Juno’s” Ellen Page (as Quaid’s high-achieving, Young Republican daughter) rounds out the starring quartet.
  And in “How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer” (R), three generations of Latinas — a 70-something grandmother (Lucy Gallardo), her divorced daughter (Elizabeth Peña) and her 17-year-old granddaughter (“Ugly Betty’s” America Ferrera) — experience various stages of romance In their sleepy Arizona hometown.
  From the offbeat indie file, “Kung Fu Hustle’s” actor-director Stephen Chow gives the sci-fi genre a family-friendly twist with this tale of a poor schoolboy (Xu  Jiao ) who discovers an alien toy puppy with special powers in “CJ7” (PG). A pre-”Lord of the Rings” Aragorn Viggo Mortensen stars in the surreal 1992 “The Gospel According to Harry” (Unrated), while David Duchovny and Lili Taylor headline the supernatural drama “The Secret” (R), featuring “Juno’s” Olivia Thirlby. And Canadian cult filmmaker Guy Maddin concocts a comic science-fiction nightmare, in glorious black-and-white, in “Brand Upon the Brain!” (Unrated).
  In the documentary file, Australia’s “Bra Boys” (R) focuses on an infamous surfing gang from the Sydney beach suburb of Maroubra.
  Topping today’s TV-to-DVD transfers: the standout British drama “The Glittering Prizes” (Unrated), which follows six Cambridge University students from their idealistic 1950s student days through the upheavals of the ’60s and the disillusionment of the ’70s. Tom Conti stars. HBO’s acclaimed drama “The Wire: The Complete Fifth Season” (Unrated) leads the recent series lineup, along with “Prison Break: Season Three” (Unrated), “Tru Calling: The Complete Series” and “South Park: The Complete 11th Season” (all Unrated).
  And on the nostalgia front, “Caroline in the City: The First Season” joins“Dave’s World: The First Season,” “The Love Boat: Season One, Vol. 2,” “That Girl, Season 4” (Unrated) also turn up on DVD.

CDS
  Various Artists, “Beer for My Horses”:  We haven’t see it yet, but it’s most likely The Greatest Movie Of All Time: “Beer for My Horses,” the new red state, redneck comedy starring Toby Keith, Rodney Carrington and Ted Nugent has more onscreen talent than any of us have a right to deserve.   
  And as if that wasn’t enough to make you vomit with joy, the film boasts a butt stompin’ soundtrack too, featuring Keith (of course), Willie Nelson, David Allan Coe and a bunch of other Real Americans.
  That’s right commies, liberals and mamby pamby vegetarians, kiss it goodbye.
  Your day of reckoning has come.
  Also in stores: Bigelf, “Cheat the Gallows;” Clique Girlz, “Not Too Young;” Extreme, “Saudades de Rock;” Jonas Brothers, “A Little Bit Longer;” David Sanborn, “Here & Gone;” Sick of Sarah, “Sick of Sarah;” S.M.V., “Thunder;” Irma Thomas, “Simply Grand.”

BOOKS
  “Smoke Screen” by Sandra Brown: The best-selling author returns with a new thriller peppered with romance featuring TV reporter Britt Shelley and ex-fireman Raley Gannon, who share the uncommon experience of waking up next to a dead body.
  Also hitting shelves: “Off Season” by Anne Rivers Siddons; “Confessions of a Contractor” by Richard Murphy; “The Mercedes Coffin” by Faye Kellerman; “Monsterology: The Complete Book of Monstrous Creatures” by Ernest Drake; “Faces of Fear” by John Saul; “Legally Dead” by Edna Buchanan; “Tethered” by Amy MacKinnon; and “Going, Going, Gone (Pain and the Great One)” by Judy Blume.