THE LIST: DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores week of March 3

DVDS
  “Australia” (PG-13): Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star in “Moulin Rouge!” director Baz Luhrmann’s sprawling saga, set on the eve of World War II, about a starchy British aristocrat who inherits a cattle station and teams up with a hard-riding drover to save it from a rival cattle baron. Defiantly old-fashioned, this over-the-top, Down Under Western-meets-war-movie scrambles romance, action, melodrama and historic revisionism into a crazy cinematic salad that’s often utterly ridiculous — and often ridiculously delicious.
  From Australia we move to “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” (PG), as the pampered title pooch (voiced by Drew Barrymore), vacationing in Mexico, finds herself lost — and needs the help of the local canine contingent to get home. Andy Garcia, George Lopez, Paul Rodriguez, Edward James Olmos, Luis Guzman, radio’s Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo and (believe it or not) Placido Domingo round out the vocal cast of this Disney comedy.
  Our international tour continues in France’s “I’ve Loved You So Long” (PG-13). Kristin Scott Thomas delivers a quietly wrenching, Oscar-caliber performance as a a woman who moves in with her sister’s family as she attempts to restart her life after 15 years away — in prison. And “Ashes of Time Redux” (R) serves up a restored, recut version of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai’s third film, a stylized 1994 martial-arts epic (filmed in the deserts of western China) featuring a who’s-who of Asian stars.
  Turning to movies that never made it to local theaters, “In the Electric Mist” (R) casts Tommy Lee Jones as James Lee Burke’s detective Dave Robicheaux, who explores the treacherous world of a New Orleans mobster (John Goodman). Another Southern drama, “Lake City” (R) focuses on a mother-and-child reunion years after a family tragedy. Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity (Jane Fonda’s real-life son), Rebecca Romijn, Dave Matthews, Keith Carradine and Barry Corbin lead the cast.
  A crotchety, old-school Reno barber (John Ratzenberger), meanwhile, struggles to adjust to changing times — and a younger female co-worker (Shelly Cole) — in the comedy “The Village Barbershop” (not rated). A jilted fiance (Christopher Masterson) finds adventure on a South American jungle trek in “The Art of Travel” (R). A mild-mannered businessman (Joey Piscopo) discovers a new world in the comedy “Saturday Morning” (not rated). Louis Mandylor and George Wendt co-star. And a hit man gives a compulsive gambler one hour to live in “Real Time” (R), with Randy Quaid and Jay Baruchel (“Tropic Thunder,” “Knocked Up”).
  Topping today’s foreign lineup: the award-winning “Wonderful Town” (not rated), about a a young Bangkok architect and an innkeeper at a seaside Thai resort, whose romance blossoms following the 2004 tsunami.
  In our vintage title file, swashbuckling pirate Jean Lafitte (Fredric March) comes to life in director Cecil B. DeMille’s 1938 “The Buccaneer” (not rated). And the delightful 1971 version of “Tales of Beatrix Potter” (G), featuring Britain’s Royal Ballet, returns to DVD.
  A made-in-Vegas romp, meanwhile, leads today’s list of TV-to-DVD transfers: 1983’s “The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. — The 15 Years Later Affair” (not rated), which returns agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin (Robert Vaughn, David McCallum) to duty. And an Emmy-winning 1981 miniseries version of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” (not rated) stars Jane Seymour, Lloyd Bridges, Warren Oates, Bruce Boxleitner, Timothy Bottoms, Anne Baxter and Karen Allen.
  Series hitting DVD (all unrated) include “My Two Dads: Season One,” “Nash Bridges: The Second Season,” “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares,” “Wildfire: Season Three,” “The Hills: The Complete Fourth Season,” “Seventh Heaven: The Eighth Season,” “ER: The Complete 10th Season” and “Stargate: The Ark of Truth/Continuum.”

CDS
  U2, “No Line on the Horizon”: Hey, Bono’s gotta eat, right?
  And so to help earn some Taco Bell money in this slumping economy with CD sales down year in, year out, U2 is releasing their new disc in five different versions so that real fans can buy all of them and thereby help offset the music industry’s declining numbers.
  The record should please the U2 faithful, as it has both moments of electronica-based experimental boundary pushing and plenty of climactic, fist-in-the-air, arena rock battle cries.
  So, be a pal and pony up some dough already. 
  C’mon, these dudes could use a Chalupa, pronto.
  Also in stores: Neko Case, “Middle Cyclone”; Faust, “C’est ... Com ... Com ... Compliqué”; Grandmaster Flash, “The Bridge: Concept of a Culture”; Raul Malo, “Lucky One”; Nashville Pussy, “From Hell to Texas”; The Prodigy, “Invaders Must Die”; Say Hi, “Oohs & Aahs”; and The Soundtrack of Our Lives, “Communion.”

BOOKS
  “Handle with Care” by Jodi Picoult: Best-selling author Jodi Picoult is known for writing poignant family dramas filled with twists. Her latest, “Handle with Care,” centers around two parents caring for a daughter who suffers from brittle bone disease.
  Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe face overwhelming bills and maddening heart-wrenching decisions as they care for their ailing daughter Willow. The burden of Willow’s illness strains the whole family, including her teen sister. After a series of events lands them in the courtroom, the family is pushed to its breaking point, confronted with perplexing questions about the value of life.
  Also hitting shelves: “The Kindly Ones” by Jonathan Littell; “Angels of Destruction” by Keith Donohue; “Paths of Glory” by Jeffrey Archer; “Peaks and Valleys: Making Good And Bad Times Work For You — At Work And In Life” by Spencer Johnson; “The Sword Thief (39 Clues, Book 3)” by Peter Lerangis; “Bleeding Heart Square” by Andrew Taylor; “The Tourist” by Olen Steinhauer; “A Magic of Nightfall (Nessantico Cycle, Book 2)” by S.L. Farrell; and “The Missing” by Tim Gautreaux.