New DVD Tuesday

If you feel like bumming around this week, I have the perfect couch potato companion: new DVD releases! Here are my three picks, but Sorority Row and Everybody's Fine also hit shelves today if you want to add them to your queue.

The Informant!

Part crime caper, part silly comedy, The Informant! stars Matt Damon as the bumbling vice president of a major agricultural corporation who goes undercover with the FBI to expose the company's shady price-fixing. Damon's mustache and his inner ramblings are good for laughs — and he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance — but I was left scratching my head over the jumbled plot towards the middle of the movie. Maybe it'd be easier to follow a second time around?

Extras include deleted scenes.

77%

The September Issue

Giving us an insider look into the secret world of Vogue, The September Issue is full of flashbulbs, celebrities, gorgeous gowns, and (somewhat surprisingly), heart. Yes, we get to see the infamous Anna Wintour without her trademark glasses, but I admittedly fell even more in love with her coworker, friend, and nemesis Grace Coddington. The film is style and substance – and a great watch for the weekend.

Extras include 90 minutes of extra footage, including Wintour putting together the high profile Met Ball.

84%

One more release when you read more

Welcome back from your holiday hibernation! If you still feel like being a couch potato, settle in and prolong that vacation with these new movie releases. Or if you're in the mood for a marathon, catch up on your TV (and prep for the upcoming episodes) with Big Love: Season 3 or Chuck: Season 2, which also hit shelves today.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

After a strong showing at the box office and solid reviews, I'm curious to check out Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs — even if it's not the most grown-up of movies. The film follows Flint (Bill Hader), an inventor whose creations get him into trouble. His latest is a contraption that changes water into food, and Flint accidentally launches it into the sky, causing hamburgers and the like to rain down. Seems like a cute, kooky pick if I want something light. Plus, Anna Faris voices one of the characters.

Special features include a Director's Commentary with Hader, but if you get the Blu-Ray/DVD combo, you can use the "Splat" button to simulate throwing food at the screen, which sounds fun if you're a kid (or not a kid).

85%

The Final Destination

It's the fourth installment in the horror franchise, so you know the premise by now: a teen sees a deadly vision and tries to protect those around him, but death still comes calling in a series of over-the-top gruesome setups. It may be campy, but The Final Destination did well in theaters, probably thanks to its new 3-D effects. The DVD version includes special 3-D glasses, so you can watch it in all its gory glory home. I doubt it'll capture the magnitude you get on the big screen, but it's kind of an entertaining novelty, none the less.

Special features include deleted scenes.

28%

Looking for some fresh picks to add to your Netflix queue? I've got you covered. Just take a peek at these three new releases coming out on DVD today.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra

Many of you said that you weren't psyched to see the slick action update on the classic toy in theaters, but perhaps you'll feel differently now that it is available to watch at home. G.I. Joe has that loud, flashy, blockbuster appeal which can make for a perfect weekend rental — even if it's pretty much mindless entertainment. (Plus, I know how much you love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Channing Tatum!) Bonus: If you're a CGI geek, the special two-disc version includes a behind-the-scenes look at the special effects.

37%

Two more new releases when you read more

It's Tuesday, which means new DVDs hit shelves to fatten up your entertainment library! Trying to decide which to add to your Netflix queue? Check out these three releases.

Orphan

All right, so it's not the best horror film ever — for that, take a peek at my scary movie bracket — but who doesn't love a good spook just in time for Halloween? In Orphan, Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard star as parents who adopt a destructive little girl with a huge secret. The movie borders on ridiculous, but if you like to laugh during your fright flicks, it's got a bit of dark humor and over-the-top slasher scenes. Bonus features include deleted scenes and an alternate ending — which should be good for keeping things fresh, seeing as how the big twist has already been spoiled by pretty much anyone who's seen it.

55%

See two more new releases when you read more

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. Check out this week's picks!

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
I admittedly wasn't a fan of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past when it came out in theaters, but it may be worth considering if you're in the mood for a romantic comedy that doesn't make you think too much. The premise: When playboy Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) attends his brother's wedding, he runs into his first love Jenny (Jennifer Garner), setting off a Christmas Carol-like chain of events, complete with ghosts. Yes, the plot's contrived and Connor is incredibly smarmy, but I enjoyed the supporting cast of characters, especially Emma Stone as an 80's ghost with a bad perm and Michael Douglas as Connor's Lothario uncle.

27%

Two more up next, so read more

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. Check out this week's picks!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Critics panned X-Men Origins: Wolverine when it first came out in theaters — and it got a rough start when an early version leaked online — but that didn't stop it from hitting it big at the box office.

The film, which serves as a prequel for X-Men favorite Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), gives us a peek at the mutant's childhood, his first love, and his brother Victor (Liev Schreiber). Overall, it's entertaining and fun, even though the storyline is hard to follow. Add to that a cast that includes Taylor Kitsch and Ryan Reynolds, and you have a movie that's easy on the eyes for what it lacks in substance — the perfect requisites for at-home viewing.

Special features include a segment called "The Roots of Wolverine" with Len Wein (co-creator of Wolverine) and Stan Lee (co-creator of the X-Men).


36%

Two more up next so read more

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.

Flight of the Conchords: Season Two
If ever there was a DVD set to bring home and enjoy over and over again it's one for Flight of the Conchords! This show is a neverending source of joy because Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie are so very funny. Plus the songs are actually quite catchy.

In the second season of their HBO show, the two guys continue to struggle to make it in the music industry and meet the ladies of Manhattan. Some of the DVD extras include outtakes, deleted scenes, and Dave's Pawn Shop commercials.

Two more up next so read more

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. HBO's The Alzheimer's Project is also out on DVD.

Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5
One of SciFi's (or, sorry, SyFy's) signature and most critically acclaimed series, Battlestar Galactica, ended this year. Now you can own the DVD and complete your collection, or if you're catching up with the series, you can add to your queue and witness the wrap-up for yourself.

Since I haven't seen it yet, here's how Netflix describes the final season: "Dire new challenges to the tenuous human-Cylon truce that has enabled them all to reach Earth, where they encounter a world vastly different than they expected. As revolt spreads throughout the fleet, the final Cylon model is revealed, and the ultimate fate of both races hangs in the balance. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell star."

There are DVD extras aplenty, including deleted scenes, several unaired extended episodes, commentary with producers and show directors, David Eick's video blogs, and a featurette titled "A Look Back."

Two more up next, so read more

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. Also out this week: The Great Buck Howard, Monk: Season Seven, and Psych: Season Three.

Watchmen
Do you guys remember when it was all Watchmen hype, all the time? It seems like that went on forever and then finally the movie, based on the critically acclaimed comic book series by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore, hit theaters. And it was fun, especially for those of us who had read the book. Director Zack Snyder made a faithful adaptation, which has its benefits and drawbacks. Visually it is a feast for the eyes, especially the opening sequence, and I think it's definitely worth taking home if you didn't catch it on the big screen. The cast is pretty cool, too, and includes Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, and Patrick Wilson.

There are lots of DVD extras, like a director's cut of the film (186 minutes) on some versions, a featurette titled "The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics," and webisodes.

64%

Two more DVDS to check out if you read more

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. Also out this week: The Haunting in Connecticut and ER: Season 11.

Grey Gardens
Like so many others, I am endlessly fascinated by the Beale women whose lives were captured in a 1975 documentary film by Albert and David Maysles. Between their odd lifestyle on a once lavish estate and their familial connection to Jackie Kennedy Onassis, the stories of both Edith Beales beg for a biopic. Now the HBO movie starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange is out on DVD and both turn in outstanding performances as daughter and socialite mother. If you didn't catch this when it aired on television, now's your chance to settle in and enter the bizarre and transfixing world of the Beales.

Special features include audio commentary with executive producers Michael Sucsy, Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Rachael Horovitz, a featurette titled "Grey Gardens: Then and Now," interviews with Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange and the Emmy-winning director of the documentary, Albert Maysles.

100%

Two more up next, just read more