New DVDs

Action

Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Kenan Thompson. Venomous snakes unleashed on a plane to kill a federal witness. Yeah. Yeah. I know. But, I haven't seen it either.

The Hexer starring Michal Zebrowski. Polish action-adventure story with swords, magic, monsters, and villains. Geralt - the White Wolf - is a weapons expert who fights any opponent. Geralt fights evil for humanity's sake and meets his destiny as a hero.

Bandidas starring Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz, Steve Zahn, Sam Shepard and Dwight Yoakam. Penelope and Salma look pretty in Mexico while avenging the deaths of their fathers and "seizing the ill-gotten gains of [a] robber baron." Comedy action adventure with the always good Steve Zahn.

Horror

The Hills Have Eyes starring Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan and Ted Levine. Unrated edition with extra gore. A normal family is stranded in the New Mexico desert and attacked by a family of mutants.

Slither starring Nathan Fillion, Michael Rooker, and some other people. A meteor infected with alien plague crashes outside of a small town infecting the local rich guy. The local rich guy mutates into a hungry monster as his fellow space slugs start to infect other locals. Space zombies, worms, threats to humanity, that guy from Serenity (Nathan Fillion), how can you lose?

Comedy

Idiocracy starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard. Directed by Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill and Office Space. In 2005, Army Private Joe Bowers is chosen for a secret hibernation experiement. Chosen because he is statistically average, Joe is forgotten when the army base hosting the experiment is closed. Awakened in 2505, Joe discovers that "society is so dumbed-down by mass commercialism and mindless TV programming that he's become the samrtest guy on the planet."

Wrong Guy starring Dave Foley, Jennifer Tilley. This film was lost in the ether after it's 1996 Canadian release. But, thanks to your brilliant Library Director, you can now laugh until you hurt at the antics of star Dave Foley. Foley plays a businessman convinced he will be getting a huge promotion. When he doesn't get the promotion, Foley stages a hissy-fit and threatens his boss. When Foley later discovers his dead and bloody boss he goes on the lam, afraid he will be arrested as the murderer.

Drama

Manderlay starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe and Chloe Sevigny. Grace is traveling across America and discovers isolated Manderlay, an old plantation where no one knows slavery has been abolished. "Grace tries to emancipate the slaves and open the residents' eyes to the truth...with surprising results."

Wah-Wah starring Gabriel Byrne, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson. Based on actor-director Richard E. Grant's childhood experiences in colonial Africa. Ralph Compton's parents divorce in British Swaziland in the 1960s. "Faced with the emotional fallout of the divorce, boarding school, and his father's re-marriage, Ralph manages to find solace through friends, acting and the love of a beautiful young girl."

Conversations with Other Women starring Aaron Eckhart, Helena Bonham Carter. Two guests, and strangers, at a wedding reception become entangled in a battle of wits. As they continue talking you discover they are not strangers and used to be lovers. Told in a split screen with the present reception directly compared to their past.

One Knight with the King starring Peter O'Toole, Tiffany DuPont, Omar Sharif, John Rhys-Davies, and Tommy "Tiny" Lister. The title implies an Elvis connection but there is none is the biblical drama about Hadassah who becomes Esther, Queen of Persia. Born in poverty, Jewish Hadassah marries King Xerxes. When Judaism is decreed illegal, and punished by death, Esther defends her people.

Flags of our Fathers starring Ryan Phillipe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach. Story of the raisers of the Iwo Jima flag and how their lives changed from the experience.

Documentary

An Inconvenient Truth. Documentary about global warming featuring Al Gore. Depending on your politics you can watch this and be scared, or you can watch it and grind your teeth.

Music

From Tokyo to You: Live in Japan by Cheap Trick. Sixteen tunes in Cheap Trick's 25th anniversary to the Budokan.