NEW ON DVD AND BLU-RAY

“DATE NIGHT,” starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey. A married couple attempting to break out of their ultra-domestic rut decide to take a no-show couple’s reservation after being prevented access to a fancy restaurant. This mild act of rebellion snowballs into a hilariously harrowing situation when the diners they’re impersonating turn out to have engaged in some shady dealings with less-than-reputable men — all of whom pick tonight to confront our hapless, oblivious heroes. Rated PG-13. Running time: 1:28.

Suggested retail price: DVD $29.98; Blu-ray $39.99 

“DEATH AT A FUNERAL,” starring Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence. It’s hard to see the logic behind remaking an English film that was released just three years ago, but Rock and director Neil Labute (“In the Company of Men”) aren’t historically guys who care a whole lot about convention. In a slapstick, ribald comedy of errors involving a funeral for a patriarch who kept more than a few scandalous secrets from his family, Rock and company (also including James Marsden and Danny Glover, among others) do their best to inject new life into the proceedings, but given that the plot and the screenwriter have both been lifted intact from the original 2007 comedy, it’s difficult to fully recommend this effort when its hilarious predecessor really didn’t leave a lot of room for improvement. Rated R. Running time: 1:32.

Suggested retail price: DVD $28.95; Blu-ray $34.95. 

“THE JONESES,” starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny. Moore and Duchovny are clearly having a ball playing the heads of the new family in the neighborhood, whose trendsetting style and effortless harmony are the envy of the block until the truth behind their seemingly perfect lifestyle comes out. A clever and unjustly overlooked drama with a point to make and a refreshingly non-preachy way of making it. Rated R. Running time: 1:36.

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Suggested retail price: DVD $29.99; Blu-ray $27.98. 

NEW ON DVD

“TAPPED,” documentary. Eye-opening, altogether troubling film that effectively casts a very doubtful shadow on the big business of bottled water, with the citizens of our very own town of Fryeburg playing a pivotal role in the story. Tap water starts to look a lot more tempting after viewing this well-presented, blatantly damning film. Running time: 1:16.

Suggested retail price: $19.98. 

NEW ON BLU-RAY

“CRUMB,” documentary. Fascinating study and retrospective of revolutionary cartoonist and notorious recluse Robert Crumb, whose outrageous characters and caustic take on 1970s-era American life remain popular to this day. Widely regarded as one of the best docs ever made, “Crumb” (both the movie and the man himself) just gets better with age. Rated R. Running time: 1:59.

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Suggested retail price: $39.95. 

VIDEOPORT PICKS

“MY NAME IS KHAN,” starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. Largely unknown to American audiences, the talented and boundlessly charismatic Khan is often dubbed “the Tom Cruise of Bollywood,” and his movies continuously break box-office records in India. In what is not an autobiographical film — despite the title — Khan plays Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man afflicted with Asperger’s syndrome who is detained at LAX when his symptoms are interpreted as suspicious behavior following 9/11. Years after this ordeal, Khan sets out to meet President Obama and clear his name. Running time: 2:45.

Suggested retail price: $27.98 

“MAX HEADROOM: THE COMPLETE SERIES,” starring Matt Frewer and Amanda Pays. If one remembers Max Headroom at all, it’s most likely for an avant-garde series of Coca-Cola commercials that took 1980s airwaves by storm. Headroom, the brainchild of actor-comedian Matt Frewer (“Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”), became a brief media sensation, enough to warrant him his own show back in 1987, and the pop culture excavators at the Shout! Factory have been kind enough to release this consistently funny and well-ahead-of-its-time comedy/sci-fi series, taking place in a sadly believable future world in which it’s illegal to turn off your television and nothing takes place without it being seen by millions. Running time: 11:00.

Suggested retail price: $49.97.

 


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