Week of December 7

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The World of the Mind

Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) stages elaborate heists in Christopher Nolan's Inception, but instead of bank vaults he breaks into dreams, stealing secrets instead of physical wealth. Few people believe an idea can be put in to someone's mind (as opposed to taking one out), but he's hired by an entrepreneur (Ken Watanabe) to place a new thought into the mind of a competitor (Cillian Murphy) because Cobb is the only person who's ever effectively implanted an idea into someone's dream. With such a delicate (and dangerous) job, he needs to put together an expert team of his "point man" (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a forger (Tom Hardy) who can take on different identities within dreams, an architect (Ellen Page) to design the worlds inside minds, and a chemist (Dileep Rao) to design the custom sedatives to keep them all in the dream world. Cobb is the only one who can lead the near-impossible mission, but his jobs are haunted by a ghost (Marion Cotillard) in his own mind that could destroy the entire team. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Holidays

Based on the holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life, Mike Myers stars in Shrek Forever After where he feels less like a "real ogre" and more like a suburban dad, but a wish brings him to an alternate world where he's still feared by villagers but never met the people he loves in his real life. Helped by a Donkey (Eddie Murphy) who doesn't recognize him (but believes his story), Shrek has to fight against fate and once again win the heart of Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) to reverse the wish and get his life back. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Zeus is a former police dog is adopted from the pound as an early Christmas present in The Dog Who Saved Christmas, but when he's left alone on Christmas Eve and burglars try to break in, the dog has to protect his new house, Home Alone-style. When the family goes to a ski resort in The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation, Zeus has a hard time fitting in with the other dogs but gets to prove his worth when the burglars return for another robbery, and Zeus gets to save the day. With Dean Cain.

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Being a responsible adult

Barry Munday (Patrick Wilson) is a commitment-free womanizer when a girl's father catches them in a movie theater and beats him so badly that Barry's hospitalized and has to have his testicles removed. When a woman from a one-night stand he doesn't remember (Judy Greer) files a paternity suit against him, Barry sees it as his only chance to be a father. Even though she can't stand him, Barry tries to be a part of her life and be useful parent-to-be. With Mae Whitman, Malcolm McDowell, and Chloe Sevigny.

Jeff Bridges is a frustrated writer in A Dog Year when he adopts a border collie named Devon who seems, at first, to be the "dog from hell." Devon acts out and seems untrainable because of his troubled past, but if Bridges is going to help the dog, he has to become a more compassionate man to have any effect. With Lauren Ambrose, Lois Smith, and Welker White.

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Documentaries

A pair of documentary filmmakers joined a US Army platoon for a year to film Restrepo, even accompanying them into the Korengal Valley, known as "the most dangerous place in the world," in 2007. The documentary is cut together from over 150 hours of footage, creating a critically acclaimed and realistic portrait of modern warfare and the soldiers in the field.

Best Worst Movie looks into the phenomenon of Troll 2, considered by some to be the worst movie ever made. Focusing on the festivals and screenings put on by the film's rabid cult following, the documentary reunites the cast and crew and gets behind the scenes of a well loved (but terrible) movie.

The story of Pacific Northwest Ballet's Sokvannara "Sy" Sar, discovered doing traditional dance in Cambodia, and Anne Bass, the dance patron who saw Sy's talent and took him to America. Considered too old to begin studying ballet, Dancing Across Borders follows Sy to school in New York and his eventual success in Seattle, covering his unique rise to acclaim in the dance world.