This Week in DVD

Dear readers, I know how important this column is to those of you planning your purchases--in fact, not to brag, but I have it on good authority this column is a "must-read" for the Supreme DVD Buyers at Gimbels, Gee-Bees, and Hills department stores--but I want to use this space to do a little editorializing/begging for info. First, let's dispense with the high-profile releases arriving on shelves physical and virtual today:

Whip It: I don't really want to see a Drew Barrymore movie about roller derby. I want to see actual vintage roller derby. Sadly, "Whip It" didn't spark a groundswell of support to get old T-Birds footage on the tube every week. Therefore, I have little use for it, though I must admit that Barrymore would be a fearsome competitor on the track if she led with that jaw of hers.

Michael Jackson's This Is It: Is it too soon to start disrespecting Michael Jackson again? Hey, it sounds mean, but I'm still a little sore over this title. The only TRUE "This Is It," as any serious pop music fan will tell you, was sung by Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, but those guys don't get worshipful concert movies built around them.

Saw VI: According to current projections, this franchise will catch up to the number of Super Bowls sometime in the 2030s. By then, you will have a chance to literally leave your brain at the door while the rest of you enters a hyperbaric chamber to watch the latest "Saw."

Surrogates: Bruce Willis stars in like 4 movies a year now, but the nation notices only about half of them. This one has a decent premise, though: It's set in the near future, a world in which people live safe in their homes and control surrogate forms who live life for them so they don't have to. This presumably includes seeing "Saw" movies at the theater.

I Hope They Serve Bell in Hell: What is this, "Maxim: The Movie"?

WWII in HD: Hmm. I think I just figured out why History Channel yanked this show from On Demand before I got to see it.

Paris, Texas: Criterion presents this movie that I should probably have seen in the nineties when I tried to see a bunch of movies I should have seen, but I never got "into" Wim Wenders, so I didn't really try too hard.

The Donner Party: I know nothing about this except that it stars Crispin Glover, but I figure a movie with this topic AND Glover rates at least a mention.

I spent so much "ink" talking about these discs, that I'm gonna leave my discussion of two other releases for my next post. Stay tuned, true believers!