THE LIST: DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores week of Nov. 10
November 10, 2009 - 5:00 am
DVDS
“Up” (PG): The latest winner from the animation wizards at Pixar, this buoyant tale follows an elderly widower (voiced by Ed Asner) and a stowaway kid (Jordan Nagai) who take to the skies — in a house buoyed by balloons — to explore exotic climes.
The battle of the sexes, meanwhile, heats up in “The Ugly Truth” (R), as a romantically challenged TV producer (Katherine Heigl) clashes with her morning show’s misogynistic new correspondent (Gerard Butler). And in “Spread” (R), Ashton Kutcher plays a jaded L.A. gigolo who sponges off a wealthy cougar (Anne Heche) — until a sassy younger woman catches his eye.
Turning to titles that never made it to local theaters, “The Accidental Husband” (PG-13) focuses on a radio love doctor (Uma Thurman) whose advice triggers romantic complications for the men in her life (Colin Firth, Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Michael Keaton directs and plays a morose hit man in “The Merry Gentleman” (R), featuring Kelly Macdonald and Bobby Cannavale. A British writer (David Tennant) pursues a young actress (Vinessa Shaw) to Hollywood in “L.A. Without a Map” (not rated). In “The Line” (R), an assassin (Ray Liotta) tracks a Mexican drug cartel’s unstable new boss (Esai Morales); Andy Garcia and Armand Assante co-star. A Mississippi Delta suicide impacts three other lives in the award-winning “Ballast” (not rated). And the acclaimed documentary “Must Read After My Death” (not rated) explores a family’s dark history.
Leading today’s Blu-Ray Disc debuts: Buster Keaton’s 1926 silent comedy classic “The General” (not rated), Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Mann’s “Heat” (R), Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.” (G), “Near Dark” (R), “Scream” (R), “Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut” (R) and “Logan’s Run” (PG). On today’s TV-to-DVD transfer list (all titles unrated): the comedy Western “The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger,” “Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days,” “Dawson’s Creek: The Complete Series,” “Touched by an Angel: Inspiration Collection — Hope,” “Nash Bridges: The Third Season,” “The Untouchables: Season Three, Vol. Two” and “JAG: The Ninth Season.”
CDS
Bon Jovi, “The Circle”: Their last record was a little bit country; their new is a lot more rock ’n’ roll.
Bon Jovi went the Nashville route for their previous album, “Lost Highway,” but have returned to their roots for the adrenalized “The Circle.”
Full of the kind of economy-sized choruses and huge sounding, climactic anthems meant to be blared in sold-out arenas, the album sees these dudes partying like it’s 1986 all over again.
Also in stores: Tori Amos, “Midwinter Graces”; The Clipse, “Til the Casket Drops”; Dashboard Confessional, “Alter the Ending”; Ray Davies and the Crouch End Festival Chorus, “The Kinks Choral Collection”; Echo & The Bunnymen, “The Fountain”; Flyleaf, “Memento Mori”; Wyclef Jean, “DJ Drama Presents Wyclef Jean — Toussaint St. Jean: From The Hut, To The Projects, To The Mansion”; Katatonia, “Night Is the New Day”; and Switchfoot, “Hello Hurricane.”
BOOKS
“Under the Dome” by Stephen King: Iraq vet Dale Barbara along with some other residents of Chester’s Mill, Maine, are in a fight for their lives when the town is sealed off by an invisible force field. Planes crash, cars explode and families are divided when the barrier comes down, and no one knows what it is or whether it will ever go away.
In another highly anticipated release, Las Vegas’ own tennis champ Andre Agassi recounts his early struggles, rise to sports icon status, relationships and marriages in his autobiography, “Open.”
Also hitting shelves: “Believe It, Be It: How Being the Biggest Loser Won Me Back My Life” by Ali Vincent; “Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays” by Zadie Smith; “Fall to Pieces: A Memoir of Drugs, Rock ’n’ Roll, and Mental Illness” by Mary Forsberg Weiland; “Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson” by William Langewiesche; “Generation A” by Douglas Coupland; “Ice: A Novel” by Linda Howard; “Last Words: A Memoir” by George Carlin; “New York” by Edward Rutherfurd; “The Shadowmask (Stone of Tymora, Book 2)” by Geno Salvatore and R.A. Salvatore; “When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Rise of the Middle Kingdom” by Martin Jacques; and “Wishin’ and Hopin’: A Christmas Story” by Wally Lamb.