New on DVD, April 15, 2008

by POPSUGAR Entertainment 16

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

Juno
Yes, the day has come. Ladies and gentlemen, Juno is now available to rent or own. Me? I'll own this one because before all the hype and all the Oscar nods (and win), I went to a little movie that warmed my heart and cracked me up, and I knew then that I'd want to take it home and love it forever.

Juno stars Ellen Page, a Minnesota teenager who grows up quickly when she accidentally gets pregnant. The film is just littered with endearing performances from Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons and Jennifer Garner, but some would argue the real star of the film is the snappy script written by Diablo Cody (one of the few screenplay writers to ever become a household name, thanks to this little movie).

The two-disc special edition is loaded with extras for anyone looking to squeeze more goodness out of it. There's audio commentary by director Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, a gag reel, screen tests (can you imagine Michael Cera doing one of these? So cute!), and a couple of featurettes including one titled, "Cast & Crew Jam."

Two more good ones out this week, so read more.

Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl is a refreshing take on the age-old subject of love. The very talented Ryan Gosling stars as Lars, a man who falls in love with a blow-up doll. He falls so freely into his delusion that he begins to insist that everyone in his life treat the doll as his girlfriend and call her "Bianca." One of the most endearing movies of 2007, it's a quirky tale about embracing life, as scary as it can seem, and accepting the good with the bad lest it all pass you by. The film also stars Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Kelli Garner and Paul Schneider.

Special features include deleted scenes and a featurette titled, "The Real Story of Lars and the Real Girl."

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Here is a crime melodrama that received some high critical praise but little attention otherwise. Sometimes that's the best kind of weekend rental treasure — something you (and your friend/date/better half) haven't seen before that's actually really good. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Marisa Tomei and follows two brothers who, as IMDB puts it, "conspire to pull off the perfect, victimless crime. No guns, no violence, no problem. But when an accomplice ignores the rules and crosses the line, his actions trigger a series of events in which no one is left unscathed."

Special features include filmmaker and cast commentary and a featurette on the making of the film.