Week of December 6

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More Comedies

The gang from the first movie reunite for The Hangover Part II, this time traveling to Thailand to celebrate Stu's (Ed Helms) approaching wedding. After a night of celebrating, Stu, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha) wake up with no memory of how they wound up in a dirty Bangkok hotel room, why Stu has a copy of Mike Tyson's face tattoo, or how they acquired a chain-smoking monkey. Worse, Stu's brother-in-law-to-be has vanished, and the guys have to undertake another comic misadventure to find the missing member of their bachelor party. On DVD and Blu-Ray.

The last thing Mr. Popper (Jim Carrey) receives from his father is a crate with a penguin inside in Mr. Popper's Penguins. Through some wacky misunderstandings, one penguin becomes six, and Popper's apartment is suddenly full of mischievous but lovable penguins... and he can't get rid of them because his son and daughter (Madeline Carroll) love the birds. The penguins help Popper reconnect with his kids and reunite with their mother (Carla Gugino), but a penguin expert (Clark Gregg) from the New York Zoo wants to take them away from him. With Angela Lansbury. On DVD and Blu-Ray.

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Dramatic

Set in the early 60's, Emma Stone stars as recent university graduate Skeeter Phelan in The Help. Returning to her Georgia home to find her childhood nanny quit while she was away, Skeeter, who wants to be a writer, begins writing a book about black housekeepers in white households. Though reluctant to be interviewed at first, she begins to learn the stories of Aibileen (Viola Davis), who has spent her life raising other people's children, and Minny (Octavia Spencer), who has a reputation for being a difficult employee and is often fired. Though Skeeter's book could be a rare opportunity for Aibileen's and Minny's voices to be heard, her friends (including Bryce Dallas Howard) have very different views of their hired help, seeing nothing wrong with the status quo. On DVD and Blu-Ray.

12-year-old Chanda takes responsibility for keeping her family together in the South African Life, Above All. With her family in shambles because of the loss of her baby sister, Chanda cares for her siblings and handleS funeral arrangements... with her mother unable to cope with her grief and her stepfather consistently drunk, Chanda fights for the survival of her family during a difficult time. On DVD and Blu-Ray.

For his final video project, high school senior Archie (Gabriel Sunday) announces that he will film his own suicide in Archie's Final Project. The formerly-invisible Archie is suddenly the most talked about boy in school as he films what will be his last days, documenting the frustrations of his age group with school, society, and suburban America's "everything all the time" culture. Between criticisms of his parents, classmates, police, and doctors, he captures the imagination of the prettiest girl in school (Brooke Nevin) who has dark musings of her own. With David Carradine.

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Mysteries and Gunfire

Daniel Craig wakes up in an old west desert with no memory and a strange, alien device strapped to his wrist in Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens. He wanders into a town run by the severe Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) and immediately gets into trouble with the Colonel's spoiled son (Paul Dano)... but before he can be carted off to jail, aliens attack and capture half the town. Now the amnesiac cowboy, the Colonel, the saloon owner (Sam Rockwell), the priest (Clancy Brown), and a woman with a mysterious past (Olivia Wilde) have to form a posse, find the invaders from space, and rescue their friends and family. On DVD and Blu-Ray.

Made famous by writing about her exploits as a Mossad agent, Rachel (Helen Mirren) looks back on the event that changed her life in The Debt. As a young woman, Rachel (Jessica Chastain), David (Sam Worthington), and Stefan (Marton Csokas) planned a mission in 1960's East Berlin to capture a Nazi war criminal (Jesper Christensen) and bring him to justice. As they execute their plan, the consequences of their success or failure weigh on them, and the divisions between their story in the 90s and the events in the 60s threaten to tear their lives apart. With Ciaran Hinds and Tom Wilkinson. On DVD and Blu-Ray.

A married couple investigate an inn that is supposedly haunted in the short film A Penny Earned, but they soon learn that some ghosts don't like having their story told. T.J. Mino, one of our Maple Leaf neighbors, made this short film, and it has been accepted at the Sundance Film Festival. See it here first!

Training to be a nurse, Samuel (Gilles Lellouche) intervenes in an attempt on a patient's life in the French Point Blank. Samuel's good deed has repercussions, though-- a group of criminals abduct his pregnant wife (Elena Anaya), and now he has to deliver the man he saved (Roschdy Zem) -- now under police guard-- to the kidnappers as an exchange for his wife. In over his head, Samuel has to navigate a criminal underworld and corrupt police to reclaim his life. On DVD and Blu-Ray.

Investigating the death of his boss and best friend (Michael Gambon), career MI-5 Agent Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) finds himself deep inside a conspiracy in Page Eight. Teaming up with Rachel Weisz, Worricker uncovers secrets that could shake the foundations of the MI-5 organization and may reach all the way to the Prime Minister (Ralph Fiennes).

Based on the popular book series, Three Investigators: The Secret of Skeleton Island has three boy adventurers, Jupiter, Pete, and Bob, help a girl escape Cape Town, South Africa, pursue an evil treasure hunter, and face off against a mysterious monster called "The Tokolosh."

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Big Love Season 5	The final season of HBO's Mormon plural marriage drama follows Bill to his seat in the Utah state senate.		The Simpsons Season 14	Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie continue to have madcap comic escapades with a variety of guest stars.
	Portlandia Season 1	The Pacific Northwest-based sketch show satirizes the personalities and attitudes of Portland from outdoor movies to organic farming.		Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXII	Volume 22 of MST3K includes Time of the Apes, Mighty Jack, The Violent Years, and The Brute Man
	The Hour Series 1	A new BBC show set in the 1950s dramatizes the events behind the scenes of a fledgling news program during the Suez crisis.		Curious George Gets a New Toy	Eight episodes of Curious George hijinks where George discovers new playthings.