This Week in DVD

We're still digging out from this past week's storms here at Cultureshark Tower, but I am resolved not to turn This Week in DVD into a long post bitching about the weather. So let's get right to it.

Couples Retreat: An inane-looking Vince Vaughn comedy about couples heading off to a vacation resort to have therapy or group sex or whatever. Hmm, must be nice going to a tropical climate. With no snow. I'm just saying.

The Stepfather: I'm sick and tired of all these horror remakes clogging theaters lately. Asking us to relive every mediocre scare flick of the last 3 decades is like--is like...Well, it's like asking me to shovel snow and ice 7 days in a row.

The Time Traveler's Wife: A lot of renters won't be able to see this Eric Bana/Rachel McAdams flick for Valentine's Day because it's a Warners title and therefore not available on Netflix or at Redbox for 28 days. By that time, incidentally, maybe all the snow in front of my car will be gone.

A Serious Man: Looks like another well-reviewed but (to many) inscrutable Coen brothers film. The brothers grapple with issues of faith in this one. I wonder if the lead character ever looks at the sky and wonders what kind of God would dump so much snow on one area.

My One and Only: Has anyone heard of this Renee Zellweger/Kevin Bacon movie before? Seriously, has she just been exiled to direct-to-video efforts lately? I mean, I've been snowed in for a while, but I didn't lose contact with the outside world when "Miss Potter" was released.

Bad Girls of Film Noir Volumes 1 & 2: These movies may not all be "noir"--most of them may not be, in fact--but is it really so bad if Sony wants to slap a label on its old movies to get them out there? Sit back and enjoy some old dramas, even if not all of the dames in these collections have hearts as cold as blizzard-like gusts during a snowstorm.

Ice Castles: A remake of the old figure skating romance. Sorry, I can't think of anything else to say about this one.