Talk to Me

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. In addition to the following titles, you can also check out License to Wed on DVD today, as well as the sixth season of Scrubs and, if you're so inclined, the first season of October Road.

Spider-Man 3
The third Spider-Man movie may not win tons of awards, but for those of you whose collections are not complete without all the superhero movies, Spider-Man 3 is now available on DVD. Along with the Peter Parker's shenanigans, more drama with Harry/Goblin and romantic troubles involving Mary Jane and a new lovely lady, there's the addition of Sandman and Venom to shake things up.

The DVD offers your garden variety special features like bloopers, commentaries, photo galleries and a Snow Patrol music video. If you spring for the 2-disc special edition thing, though, there's a crazy number of featurettes on the second disc, almost all of which focus on the special effects utilized in the film. You know, "making movie magic!"-type stuff.

For two more new releases, read more

As a way of depicting an important slice of history, Talk to Me is successful. As a vehicle for Don Cheadle to amaze us once again with his utter transformation, it's excellent. As a work of storytelling, however, the movie falls short. Director Kasi Lemmons is fantastic at setting up artful shots and creating scenes full of tension. But these great pieces put together somehow don't add up to a satisfying, complete work.

Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene was a prisoner in the 1960s, acting as radio DJ for his fellow cell mates. When he was released from jail he went straight to D.C. radio station WOL-AM to claim what he thought was his rightful job as a radio host. Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the only black man holding a high position at the R&B station, initially resisted hiring Petey — he was an ex-con after all — which led Petey to stage demonstrations in front of the radio station, accusing Hughes of not supporting a fellow black man. After much hemming and hawing on the part of the station manager (Martin Sheen), Petey was brought on board and he became the voice of the people. In turn, the radio station became the peoples' radio station. That's just the beginning, though, so read more

Opening this Friday July 13 in select cities, Talk to Me is one of the movies I was most looking forward to this summer. It stars the awe-inspiring Don Cheadle as well as Chiwetel Ejiofor for whom I've professed my love. Cheadle plays the real-life Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who takes over the radio airwaves during a time of social and political unrest, bringing humor and inspiration to the citizens of Washington D.C. in the 1960s. From the looks of the trailer, this is just the sort of thing the Academy eats up with a spoon. Check out my review this Friday, and to watch the trailer, read more

Earlier this week I brought you glimpses of some of this summer's big-budget films and then asked you which one interested you most as the first part of my summer movie preview. Now, check out the dramatic films that promise to be most arresting.

A Mighty Heart
This story shocked and saddened me when it first appeared in the news, and while I'm not eager to relive that, A Mighty Heart seems more likely to be a tender homage to the memory of Daniel Pearl, which is important. Pearl was a journalist working in the Middle East in 2002 when he was kidnapped and ultimately beheaded, his murder recorded on videotape and sent around the Internet. A Mighty Heart chronicles his wife Mariane's (Angelina Jolie) desperate search for him when he goes missing. The film opens June 22.

Many more if you read more