THE LIST: DVDs, CDs, books hitting stores week of Nov. 18
DVDS
“Wall-E” (G): A lonely garbage-compactor robot, stranded on an abandoned 29th-century Earth, follows an alluring probe droid back to her mother ship — and discovers what happened to the humans who used to occupy the planet in Pixar’s latest animated triumph, a wonderful tale that skips from poignant comedy to sly satire. “Wall-E” deftly synthesizes cinematic influences from Charlie Chaplin to “Star Wars’ ” R2-D2, yet never feels derivative, thanks to a magical blend of soaring imagination and down-to-earth emotions.
Another of the year’s top movies, the Hollywood satire “Tropic Thunder” (R) casts Ben Stiller (who also directs), Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as three self-absorbed stars who bungle into the jungle — and wind up battling real-life bad guys — when the studio pulls the plug on their bloated Vietnam War epic.
And the magic jeans prove an even better fit in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” (PG-13), as the title characters (America Ferrara, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn) face summer on their own — before reuniting on a picturesque Greek isle.
On the foreign-language front, “Amélie’s” Audrey Tautou stars as a serial gold-digger on the Riviera who mistakes a hotel bartender (“The Valet’s” Gad Elmaleh) for a wealthy guest, igniting his passions in the frothy French comedy “Priceless" (PG-13).
Three see-worthy documentaries also arrive on DVD. In “Encounters at the End of the World” (G), filmmaker Werner Herzog investigates Antarctica — and the thousand or so people, from physicists to plumbers, who (like Herzog) gravitate to life on the edge. “Gonzo” (R), which played CineVegas in June, revisits the curious case of Hunter S. Thompson, the self-styled gonzo journalist who gave the world, among other indelible works, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” And in “Up the Yangtze” (not rated), Canada’s Yung Chang focuses on culture clashes and disappearing history amid China’s economic boom.
For movie buffs, “Griffith Masterworks 2” (not rated) salutes pioneer filmmaker D.W. Griffith (who invented everything from the flashback to cross-cutting) with the documentary, “D.W. Griffith: Father of Film” and such dramas as “Way Down East” (starring Lillian Gish) and “Sally of the Sawdust” (with W.C. Fields). And a very different but equally distinctive filmmaker, David Lynch, gets a tribute all his own in “The Lime Green Set” (not rated), including a remastered “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet,” “Wild at Heart,” “The Elephant Man,” the animated serial “Dumbland” and, making its DVD debut, “Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted,” plus a mystery disc with even more Lynch originals.
Overseas classics arriving on DVD range from 1953’s swashbuckling French delight “Fanfan the Tulip” (not rated) to Australian director Fred Schepisi’s 1978 international breakthrough, “The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith” (not rated), based on a novel by “Schindler’s List” author Thomas Keneally, about a young Australian torn between his aboriginal roots and white society.
Tuning in to TV transfers, “Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years” (not rated) revives the former Strip headliner’s annual song-and-dance extravaganzas. And for something completely different, “The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Collectors Edition Megaset” (not rated) rounds up Brit wit (and nitwit) comedy from the title madmen. (The PG-rated “Monty Python Holy Trinity” offers collector’s editions of their movies “Monty Python and the Meaning of Life,” “The Life of Brian” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” — which later begat the stage hit “Spamalot.”)
Elsewhere in (unrated) TV-on-DVD land, “Charmed: The Complete Series” (not rated) joins “Bones: Season 3,” “Burke’s Law: Season One, Volume Two,” “Daniel Boone: Season 6,” “Hannah Montana: The Complete First Season,” “McHale’s Navy: Season Four,” “The Odd Couple: The Final Season” and — book ’em, Danno! — “Hawaii Five-O: The Fifth Season.”
CDS
Beyonce, “I Am ... Sasha Fierce”: Has Chris Gaines taught us nothing?
Garth Brooks’ ill-fated alter-ego tanked like a brick tossed into a septic tank — which is where “Gaines’ ” debut belonged.
And yet here we go again with Beyonce, whose new two-disc set sees the pop diva adopting a new persona.
“I have someone else that takes over when it’s time for me to work and when I’m on stage, this alter ego that I’ve created that kind of protects me and who I really am,” Beyonce says in a statement.
Ah well, at least she looks better in a skirt than ol’ Garth.
Also in stores: David Cook, “David Cook”; Dido, “Safe Trip Home”; Sammy Hagar, “Cosmic Universal Fashion”; Il Divo, “The Promise”; Ricky Martin, “17”; Mudvayne, “The New Game”; and Nickelback, “Dark Horse.”
BOOKS
Readers who have missed Alex Cross can look forward to picking up James Patterson’s “Cross Country,” the latest in the popular series featuring the detective.
A murder at a friend’s home has Alex on the hunt for a killer, eventually leading him and his girlfriend to a shocking discovery: a gang of violent teenagers lead by an African warlord known as the Tiger. Tracking the warlord proves to be a difficult task, and Alex realizes he must follow the elusive criminal to Africa.
For something different, readers can pick up “Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Lazy, and Stupid” by Denis Leary.
With his biting wit, the comic and actor takes aim at, well, everyone: the politically correct, the obese, the thin, the hypocritical, politicians and celebrities. He has some credentials to back up his social commentary — he received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Emerson College.
Leary acknowledges it’s a celebrity thing, but says it’s legal. “It means I get to say I’m a doctor — just like Dr. Phil.”
Also hitting shelves: “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell; “Dashing Through the Snow” by Mary Higgins Clark; “Do the Right Thing: Inside the Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America” by Mike Huckabee; “Dying for Revenge” by Eric Jerome Dickey; and “Private Patient” by P.D. James.
