Week of December 18th

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Flash, Spectacle, and Chase

Total Recall
Now & Then

Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) is unsatisfied with his life as a factory worker post-WWIII, traveling from his home in the United Federation to work in The Colony through the planet's core, in Len Wiseman's Total Recall. When he visits Recall, his memory-alteration vacation goes awry, and he's suddenly capable of taking down ten armed men single-handedly. Quaid still thinks of himself as an average guy, but his wife (Kate Beckinsale) of seven years reveals their whole life was implanted into his mind: she was assigned to watch him six weeks ago, and now she's trying to kill him. With a war brewing between the Federation's Chancellor (Bryan Cranston) and the Colony, Quaid has to find the only people that can help him (Jessica Biel) and figure out which side he's actually fighting for... chased the whole way by the woman he thought was his wife. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Taking place immediately after the events of Resident Evil: Afterlife, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is held captive by the Umbrella Corporation in Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Retribution. Rescued by Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez), returning from the first Resident Evil movie, Alice plans to escape Umbrella by infiltrating the base under the polar ice caps they use to test their zombie-making T Virus. Pursued by Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), brainwashed by Umbrella to side against Alice, she has to put her more-than-human skills at fighting, running, and shooting to work to prevent an Umbrella Corporation apocalypse from wiping out what's left of humanity. On DVD and Blu Ray.

New York bike messenger and fixie enthusiast Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) makes his living dodging city traffic in Premium Rush, but he's got a lot more to out-maneuver when he picks up a hotly contested package. When Michael Shannon demands Wilee give up his cargo, something a courier can't do, Wilee just bikes away... but he doesn't know how dangerous the man chasing him really is. Using real bicycle stunts instead of CGI, what follows is a break-neck chase through New York city as Wilee has to contend with New York bicycle cops, rival messengers, and the pursuer that seems to want him dead. With Dania Ramirez. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Just out of prison, master thief Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage) wants to leave the life of crime behind him and focus on his family in Simon West's Stolen, but no ex-con is ever allowed to do that: he gets drawn into one last job. His former partner (Josh Lucas), wanting compensation for the failed job that sent him away has kidnapped Will's daughter. If he's going to have a family to live a clean life with, Will has to pull one more heist, even if the cop that busted him (Danny Huston) is waiting and watching for his return to capers.

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Comedies

from high-strung to low-key

Read the Review

Meredith reviews
Sleepwalk with Me

Based on his one-man show, comedian Mike Birbiglia writes, directs, and stars in the semi-autobiographical Sleepwalk with Me. Telling the story of his reluctance to marry his girlfriend of eight years (Lauren Ambrose) and the stress that caused him to sleepwalk in more and more dangerous ways (falling off furniture, jumping through windows), Birbiglia's fears and neuroses also move him past the hacky jokes he had been telling since college and help him find his comic voice. On DVD and Blu Ray.

35-year-old Jesse (Josh Radnor, who also writes and directs) returns from New York to his Ohio alma mater for his second-favorite professor's (Richard Jenkins) retirement in Liberal Arts. While there, he re-discovers college life, the campus, the parties... and meets Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen), a bright, thoughtful, 19-year-old student. He writes Zibby when back in New York, and she's inspired him to look at his life in a new way. She asks him to come back to campus, but Jesse has a lot to consider before starting a relationship with a girl 16 years his junior. With Allison Janney. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Aspiring DJ and remixer Beca (Anna Kendrick) is reluctantly attending college in Pitch Perfect where she's talked into joining the Bellas, an all-girl a cappella group. Though the Bellas' leader, Aubrey (Anna Camp), keeps a tight grip on the group, Beca knows they'll have to diversify the music if they want to contend with rival campus vocal group the Treble Makers and their showboating front man (Adam DeVine). Aubrey's control of the group goes so far as to forbid dating rivals, keeping Beca from a Treble Maker (Skylar Astin) who could be worth her time, but the Bellas need Beca's fresh ideas to stay competitive. On DVD and Blu Ray.

An ensemble cast gathers for their ten year high school reunion in 10 Years, mingling the stories of a group of friends that kept in touch after school. Prom king turned successful mortgage broker Jake (Channing Tatum) is considering proposing to his girlfriend when his prom queen (Rosario Dawson) unexpectedly arrives. Marty (Justin Long) tries to impress their class' party girl (Lynn Collins) with tales of New York success, but he's stuck with the worst wing-man ever (Max Minghella). Former bully Cully (Chris Pratt) tries to apologize to his former victims, but the more he drinks, the more his apologies sound like harassment as his boorishness embarrasses his wife (Ari Graynor). Reeves (Oscar Isaac) has a song on the pop charts but ignores his classmate-fans to spend time with the wallflower (Kate Mara) no one ever seems to notice. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Greg (Zachary Gordon) could be in real trouble in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days-- Roderick (Devon Bostick) is a model student after being sent to military school, and if Greg doesn't stop causing trouble, his father (Steve Zahn) will send him too. This doesn't stop Greg and Rowley (Robert Capron), his best friend, from finding a way into the country club where Holly (Peyton List) works, because he'd do anything to get her number. Greg, Rowley, and country clubs don't mix, and trouble is guaranteed, but maybe Greg can earn some good behavior points in the Wilderness Explorers. With Rachel Harris. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Sticky Situations

Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is a hedge fund power player about to sell his company and retire, spending more time with his wife (Susan Sarandon) and family in Arbitrage. When he crashes a car, killing his mistress (Laetitia Casta), he flees the scene, and the detective (Tim Roth) looking into the death would love to make a manslaughter arrest involving such a rich, high profile suspect. With his daughter (Brit Marling), also his chief investment advisor, questioning some unorthodox numbers in the company records and the police suggesting murder, the walls are closing in on Robert's life from all sides. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Chris (Emile Hirsch) is a small-time Texas loser with big-time gambling debts in William Friedkin's Killer Joe, but he comes up with an easy way out. He proposes to his father (Thomas Haden Church) and step-mother (Gina Gershon) to hire an assassin: a cop who moonlights as a hit man called Killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey). If Joe kills Chris' mother, her life insurance policy will pay out to his little sister Dottie (Juno Temple), and Dottie's inheritance will pay Joe's fee, Chris' debt, and earn the family some spending money... but there's never been a scam that Chris couldn't botch. If the deal goes south and they can't pay Joe, they've still got something the killer wants: Dottie. On DVD and Blu Ray.

British Doctor Martin Blake (Orlando Bloom) transfers to a Southern California hospital in The Good Doctor to begin his residency, but the day-to-day grind of medical work isn't everything he imagined. A young patient (Riley Keough) forms a bond with Doctor Blake, and though he treats her successfully, he doesn't want to lose the one face in the hospital that makes him happy... so he alters her treatment to keep her dependent on him. Though his superiors (Rob Morrow) have faith in Martin, one orderly (Michael Pena) knows the truth, and he has to decide how far he'll go to keep his secrets. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Family

Georgia teenager Flik is sent to Brooklyn to spend a summer with his grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters), in Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer. Though Flik's new environment is a little rough-- his grandfather's tenement isn't exactly grandiose-- his grandfather's world exposes him to the moral implications of pollution, poverty, and cultural disintegration. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Gus (Clint Eastwood) is an aging baseball scout with a questionable recent record in Trouble with the Curve, but his boss, Pete (John Goodman), loyal and standing by Gus' long-term record, is fighting to give him one more chance. Pete asks Gus' daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) to accompany him on the next scouting trip-- though she's now a lawyer, Mickey grew up around baseball, and knows more about the sport than even Johnny (Justin Timberlake), one of Gus' pro ball recruits turned scout. With Gus and Johnny both on the road, an old baseball scout trying to stay relevant and a young scout trying to prove himself, Mickey's got her hands full and a short time before she has to return to her law office. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Julio and his mother find a baby in an alley in the Venezuelan Hermano. Sixteen years later, Julio is the captain of his barrio's football team and his little brother Daniel is proving himself to be unusually gifted on the field. When a scout arrives, the bond between the brothers is tested, and the realities of their lives in the slums of Caracas are brought into sharp focus.

Johnny stumbles into a world he's not prepared for when he meets Stephanie at the gym in Bro'. She introduces him to her rough and tumble brother, motocross professional Jesse... but suburban Johnny is slowly introduced to Jesse's downtown world of parties, drugs, casual hookups, and violence, providing a cautionary tale that casts motocross bikers across from actors like Danny Trejo and Larry Fessenden.

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Behind the Scenes

Italian-American actor John Tuturro travels to Sicily to look at the indigenous perceptions of death, theatricality, and puppetry in the documentary Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy. Tuturro visits the birthplace of his maternal grandparents, and explores the Sicilian penchant for foreboding and darker themes.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	House of Lies Season 1	Don Cheadle runs a team of management consultants (including Kristen Bell) that will go to any extreme to close business deals, with little concern for honesty or ethics.			Shameless Season 2	Frank (William H. Macy) will probably never get his life together, but his six kids still try to maintain the family they've cobbled together around him.
	Californication Season 5		Three years after Hank (David Duchovny) published his novel at the end of season 4, he's licking his wounds in New York City... but ends up drawn back into his normal routine.

Week of December 11th

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Other Operatives

With government officials going public about Jason Bourne and other secret assassins, the director of the CIA (Scott Glenn) closes down every one of their clandestine programs in writer/director Tony Gilroy's The Bourne Legacy... which includes killing all of the Bourne-esque spies involved. Barely escaping an assassination attempt, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) has to stay alive, survivng a government that will kill to keep its secrets. As a member of a chemically enhanced super-soldier program, Cross needs to find a way to stay functional without the government's chemicals. His only hope is the doctor (Rachel Weisz) in charge of his enhancements, but, just like Aaron Cross, the CIA plans to make her disappear. With Edward Norton. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Makeshift Families Make Funny

John (Mark Wahlberg) isn't moving forward with his life, or growing up at all, in Ted. Lori (Mila Kunis), his girlfriend, would like to settle down and get married, but John spends all his time partying with Ted (Seth MacFarlane), his foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, pot-smoking, wild-partying teddy bear. John's constant hi jinks with Ted could give Joel McHale an opportunity with the constantly disappointed Lori, but swearing off Ted and committing to her could leave Ted all alone... and there are plenty of crazy people (Giovanni Ribisi) in the world who would like a magically animated teddy bear all to themselves. On DVD and Blu Ray. 

The herd has matured-- Manny the Mammoth (Ray Romano) spends most of his time trying to shelter his rebellious teenage daughter (Keke Palmer) and the formerly familyless Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) is saddled with his rambunctious granny (Wanda Sykes) in the fourth Ice Age movie, Ice Age: Continental Drift. When the gang gets separated from their loved ones, set adrift on an iceberg, their only goal is to get back to the mainland, but they run afoul of Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage) and his crew of ice pirates. The odds are against Manny and friends, but Sabertooth Tiger Diego (Denis Leary) might be able to win over Gutt's first mate (Jennifer Lopez) and add another member to their extended family. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Eli (Jesse Eisenberg) hopes to leave home and attend a prestigious music conservatory, but he can't leave home until his mother (Melissa Leo) goes through rehab in Why Stop Now. His mother's been a junkie as long as he can remember, and Eli won't leave his little sister in her care unless she cleans up... but when she passes her drug test, the clinic won't accept her. Eli has to find his mother's drug dealers (Tracy Morgan and Isiah Whitlock Jr), get his mom high so she can fail a drug test, enroll her in rehab, wow the judges at his audition, and pick up his sister after school. It's not as simple as it sounds, and Eli has to scramble to keep up with every little mistake spiraling into a catastrophe.

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A three-part anthology, the Korean Doomsday Book contends with the end of days in individual stories: a meek scientist disgusted by the garbage and rot around him becomes the patient zero of a zombie apocalypse in Brave New World, a technician is called in to repair a service robot at a monastery that the monks believe is the living Buddha in Kim Ji-Woon's Heavenly Creature, and a young girl's internet order arrives-- from space-- as a meteor that could exterminate all life on Earth in Happy Birthday.

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A comedy documentary about the concept of manliness in the age of fashion conscious "manscaping," Morgan Spurlock's Mansome assembles a group of experts, celebrities, and comedians to discuss male identity. From segments on grooming products to facial hair to shaving, the film tackles how men view themselves, with the segments separated by Jason Bateman and Will Arnett's visit to a spa.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Futurama Volume 7	Fry, Leela, Bender, Amy, and Zoidberg keep Professor Farnsworth's Planet Express delivery company running as well as they can... while managing to cause as much trouble as possible.			Girls Season 1	Tiny Furniture director Lena Dunham's new HBO series has her trying to survive in Brooklyn after her parents stop financially supporting her post-college life.
	World Without End		The follow-up to Pillars of the Earth explores the lives of ordinary citizens during the Hundred Years War in 1300s England, set among the plague, unrest between the church and crown, and war with

Week of December 4th

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Gotham's Reckoning

It's been eight years since anyone's seen the Batman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, and since the events of The Dark Knight, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) has kept the secret that made Batman a scapegoat. After years as a recluse, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is inspired to reemerge when a beautiful cat burglar (Anne Hathaway) breaks into his mansion, and the Batman reappears when the city is threatened by a masked mercenary called Bane (Tom Hardy). Wayne is in no shape to take on a younger, stronger opponent, and Arthur (Michael Caine) is afraid Bruce is courting death by putting on the cape and mask again, but Batman will have to give everything to stop his enemies from destroying the city and everything he stands for. With Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, and Morgan Freeman. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Children

Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) are devastated to learn they can't conceive a child in The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and they spend one night writing down the details of the perfect child they wish they could have, put the notes in a box, and bury the box in their garden. Later that night, they discover ten-year-old Timothy, who claims Cindy and Jim as his parents, magically hatched from their wishes. Timothy is a special boy, and the Greens are immediately called upon to be new parents, and they're bound to make mistakes, but Timothy naturally becomes the boy that is everything they wished for that night... but there are conditions to having their wishes fulfilled. With Rosemarie DeWitt and David Morse. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Six-year-old Hushpuppy lives with her father in a Louisiana bayou called "The Bathtub" in the Cannes & Sundance Award Winning Beasts of the Southern Wild. With the polar ice caps melting (and releasing giant, dinosaur-like beasts from the ice), The Bathtub-- separated from the rest of the world by a levee-- is flooded by a storm. As Hushpuppy, her father, and the rest of the community plot to blow up the levee, drain the water, and start rebuilding The Bathtub, their journey shows Hushpuppy how sick her father has become, and how she will have to cope with his illness. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Comedies

Kay and Arnold Soames (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones) sleep in separate rooms in the romantic comedy Hope Springs until Kay decides she wants to put some life back into their marriage. They head to a resort town in Maine to spend a week in the care of prestigious marriage counselor Dr. Bernie Feld (Steve Carell). While Kay is enthusiastic about the intensive therapy, Arnold sternly resists any break in his deeply rutted routine and doesn't want to even leave town, much less have frank discussions about his love life with a stranger. Once therapy begins, Kay and Arnold learn that keeping their relationship alive will take a lot of work from both of them. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman) always dreamt of being in show business in Nativity!, but his life as a teacher has left him uninspired and barely present. When his headmaster (Pam Ferris) asks Paul to direct the school's nativity play, he's got plenty to deal with: his formal drama school rival is directing the play at a competing school, his kids don't seem to be very talented, his assistant is an unmanageable manchild, and his feelings towards Christmas have been pretty negative since his girlfriend (Ashley Jensen) left him during the holidays. Paul tries to inflate his pageant by saying a Hollywood producer is interested in his production, but as the play progresses and he starts working with the kids, the pageant becomes the largest part of his life.

Destiny (Yara Shahidi) is a 10-year-old in her newest foster home, taken in by Jill and Ethan Emmett (Alicia Silverstone and Rob Corddry) in suburban Iowa in the competition satire Butter. Always told she was never good at anything, Destiny is inspired by a compliment by champion butter-sculpture-carver Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell) and tells her new foster parents she wants to compete in the state fair. Destiny doesn't have to win against Bob's undefeated sculptures, since he's stepping aside, but Bob's shrill, competitive wife (Jennifer Garner) has entered the butter-carving contest to ensure the Picklers keep winning, and she'll do whatever it takes to stay on top. With Olivia Wilde and Ashley Greene. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Splatter

A killer Santa Claus is on the loose in a small midwestern town in Silent Night, and the sheriff (Malcolm McDowell) refuses to believe that a serial killer is crossing off the "naughty" entries on his naughty/nice list. While the sheriff is convinced he's solved the problem by locking up a misanthropic, foul-mouthed, department store Santa (Donal Logue), but his deputy (Jaime King) knows the rampage isn't over-- the town will be consumed with flamethrower deaths, Christmas light electrocutions, and topless women running from killer Santas until she finds and stops the murderer. On DVD and Blu Ray.

A horror anthology film, V/H/S sends a group of petty criminals into a house to steal a VHS tape, but the house is littered with tapes. As they look through the tapes, they find a collection of found-footage recordings: a group of internet pornographers with a hidden-in-glasses camera that recorded a disastrous hotel encounter, the video diary of a couple's second honeymoon that captures a mysterious third party (directed by Ti West), a girl who brings her friends and a camera into the woods to prove a legend, a video chat session that records ghostly images in an apartment, and a group that interrupts a Halloween party that turns out not to be a game.

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An ambulance driver is the leader of a group that impersonates recently deceased people for their mourning friends and family in Dogtooth director Giorgos Lanthimos' Alps. Consisting of the driver, a nurse, a gymnast and her coach, they go about the strange and highly symbolic business of grief counseling via impersonation, conducted with the shock and absurdity Lanthimos' previous film.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Eastbound & Down Season 3	Arrogant former baseball star Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) has finally made it back into the minor leagues and can start rebuilding his career... but he's still not ready to take responsibility for his own life, much less his 1-year-old son.		The Simpsons Season 15	Season 15 lets the Simpson family reunite with Homer's mother, Marge writes a romance novel, Bart and Lisa become friends, and more
	Angry Boys	The 12-part mockumentary investigates the lives of the 21st century male, from Australian delinquent twins to an LA rapper, all played by Summer Heights High Australian comedian Chris Lilley.		We Can Be Heroes	Five nominees for the Australian of the Year (again: all played by Chris Lilley) compete for the fame and fortune that come with the award..
	Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXV	Joel, Mike, and the bots are keep their sanity on the Satellite of Love by mocking terrible movies, including Robot Holocaust, Operation Kid Brother, Kitten with a Whip, and Revenge of the Creature.		Call the Midwife Series 1	A new midwife in a nursing convent in 1950s London learns the realities of women's health in a poor neighborhood.

Week of November 27

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Before the beginning

Agent J (Will Smith) walks into MIB headquarters to find his partner (Tommy Lee Jones) has been erased from recent history in Men in Black 3. Agent J has to travel back in time to 1969 to prevent the untimely death of the younger version of Agent K (Josh Brolin) at the hands of a dangerous alien (Jemaine Clement) holding a 40-year grudge. Together, J and K find the pan-dimensional being (Michael Stuhlbarg), someone who can see all of time, and stop the evil alien, save Agent K, and make sure K does all the important things in the 60s that will save the world in the present day. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Home grown gangsters

Based on the lives of an Appalachian bootlegging family, John Hillcoat's Lawless tells the story of the Bondurant brothers in prohibition-era Virginia. When a corrupt city deputy (Guy Pearce) with a prejudice against hill people demands bribe money from moonshine runners, the Bondurant brothers refuse to pay... but Jack (Shia LaBeouf), the youngest brother, steps up and makes his mark by striking a deal with a Chicago gangster (Gary Oldman). While Jack and his partner (Dane DeHaan) make the Bondurants the most successful bootleggers in the state, his brothers, the stoic and indestructible Forrest (Tom Hardy) and the wild and erratic Howard (Jason Clarke) are brought into his war, and the law is gunning for their whole family. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Animation

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is misunderstood by just about everyone, mostly because he can see and talk to ghosts, in Paranorman. His parents (Leslie Mann and Jeff Garlin) don't understand him, his sister (Anna Kendrick) is annoyed by him, and being the "weird kid" makes him a target for the school bully (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). When he finally makes a friend, Neil (Tucker Albrizzi), another outcast impressed by Norman's honesty, it's at the worst possible time: an ancient curse is being unleashed on their home town. With no one else available to stop the curse and put the walking dead back in their graves, only Norman and his special abilities can make things right... so the kids band together to save their town. With Casey Affleck. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Two new Dragons DVDs are new this week, spun off from Dreamworks' successful How to Train Your Dragon. In Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) has to discover why all of the dragons-- even his Night Fury, Toothless-- have fled Berk, where they went, and why. The Dragons: Riders of Berk DVD collects episodes from the Dragons television series, reuniting Hiccup with Astrid (America Ferrera), Fishlegs (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Snotlout (Jonah Hill) and the rest of the riders on a series of new adventures.

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Music

Sean leads The Mob, a cutting-edge Miami dance crew that specializes in stylized flash mobs, in Step Up Revolution, the fourth movie in the Step Up series. When Emily, a gifted dancer applying to a prestigious dance school, meets Sean, sparks fly-- more than romance, she could use the influence of Sean's less-predictable dance style... and when the real estate developer threatening to gentrify The Mob's neighborhood turns out to be Emily's father, she motivates them to stop pulling "missions" for YouTube hits and start staging events for protest and community awareness to save their homes.

Sparkle Anderson loves writing songs but isn't comfortable on stage in the girl-group drama Sparkle. Set in the 1960s, Sparkle is the youngest daughter of conservative, religious Emma (Whitney Houston), who has a painful past in the music industry and wants a better life for her daughters. When an aspiring record executive (Derek Luke) notices Sparkle, he seizes the opportunity, putting together a trio with Sparkle writing the songs and her older sister fronting the group. None of them are prepared for the impact their success will have on their lives, their future, and their relationship to one another. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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The initial glimpses of Tom (Matthew Goode) paint him as a caustic, wild, unpredictable person in the Australian Burning Man, but the film fills in the details in non-linear scenes. Shuffling together his life with and without his wife (Bojana Novakovic), his career as a high-profile chef, his successes and failures as a father, and his compulsive responses to loss and grief, the film fleshes out a full portrait of Tom, and the details of his crisis.

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A tight-knit group (Shawn Ashmore, Shannyn Sossamon, and Cory Hardict) led by Dominic Monaghan are trying to survive day-to-day struggles in a post-apocalyptic world in The Day. When they find an abandoned house with a store of canned food, they think their luck has changed... and it has: it's a trap. Now the stray (Ashley Bell) they've never quite trusted is their only hope; while she does have connections to Father (Michael Eklund) and his cannibal horde, she'd rather fight against them and win her freedom than go back to their way of life. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

Luck Season 1

A career gangster (Dustin Hoffman) sets out to take control of the Santa Anita racetrack and take revenge on the people responsible for sending him to prison.

Clatterford Series 3

The members of the co-operative women's guild band together over a community project in the third and final season of Clatterford.

Week of November 20

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Larger than Life

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Meredith reviews
Expendables 2

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his bromantic partner (Jason Statham) and young protege (Liam Hemsworth) lead The Expendables (including hand-to-hand expert Jet Li, heavy weapons expert Terry Crews, explosives expert Randy Couture, and unhinged warrior Dolph Lundgren) into volatile Nepal in The Expendables 2, rescuing Ross' kidnapped rival (Arnold Schwarzenegger). When their actions put them back under control of a demanding CIA agent (Bruce Willis), the boys are forced into an impossible mission, fighting to keep sensitive material out of the hands of an international arms dealer (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Ross, The Expendables, and all their allies cross the globe to take down their enemies, from gun fight to helicopter chase to all out war, destroying everything that gets in their way. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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In the real world

Collecting interviews from military survivors of sexual assault, Kirby Dick's The Invisible War explores rape of US servicewomen and the United States Armed Forces policies in dealing with complaints of assault. The documentary researches both the frequency of the assaults (as of 2011, 30% of servicewomen reported a sexual assault) and the military's general responses of denial and silence.

Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed is the subject of The Island President, a documentary by Lost Boys of Sudan director Jon Shenk. The Maldives, famous as an island paradise vacation spot, had been run by a brutal dictator for 30 years before President Nasheed, but when Nasheed was able to rally popular support for democratic elections, the Maldives were already facing another crisis: the islands, just barely above sea level, could be completely submerged by global climate change and rising water levels. Mohamed Nasheed led a crusade at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit, fighting for environmental measures that could be agreed upon by the United States, China, India, to prevent his country from being swallowed by the ocean.

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Ukrainian-born grifter Olive (Milla Jovovich) lives from con to con, winning money from anyone gullible enough to give it to her in Bringing Up Bobby. Olive is doing her best to provide for Bobby, her 10-year-old son, but her criminal lifestyle and the company of other small time crooks (Rory Cochrane) aren't providing Bobby with much of an environment. When she finally gets caught, Bobby is taken in by a wealthy couple (Bill Pullman and Marcia Cross)... but is he better off with his new family, or should he join the mother he loves as she tries to go straight, get a real job, and prove her worth?

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Convinced they're old enough to spread Christmas cheer on their own, four puppies stow away on Mrs. Claus' sled in Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups. When they begin granting Christmas wishes on their own, the puppies cause more mischief than they could have imagined... but they're still just trying to spread happiness and good cheer. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Doctor Who Series 7.1	The Eleventh Doctor keeps drifting through space and time, saving people and righting wrongs, but his companions Amy and Rory struggle with their real, ordinary lives grinding to a halt every time the Tardis materializes in their midst.		Lost Girl Season 2	With the weight of Bo's prophesized future tearing apart the world of the faerie folk, she must learn to work within the rules of the Fae community to find the answers she needs.
	Ken Burns Dust Bowl	The newest documentary miniseries from Ken Burns details the American Great Depression in the 1930s and the impact of the dust bowl on the nation.		The Munsters Complete	A mash-up of classic monster movies and 1960s family sitcoms puts horror movie icons into suburbia as a typical middle-class family.

Week of November 13

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Family Strife

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Meredith reviews
Brave

Teenage Meridia (Kelly Macdonald) takes after her father (Billy Connolly) in Pixar's Brave: a flame-haired, willful Scottish warrior. Thanks to her father, the king, she grew up with a bow in hand, but as Meridia grows into a young woman, her mother (Emma Thompson) needs her to be a proper princess... which, aside from changing how she speaks and dresses, involves being married to the eldest son of another clan. Wanting to live her own life her own way (and marry when she's ready), Meridia asks a witch (Julie Walters) to change her fate, and change her mother's mind, but the change doesn't come the way she expected. Now she has to restore her fate, undo what she's done to her mother, and prevent the war her refusal to marry could spark among the clans. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Along with Brave, Pixar has also released Pixar Short Films: Volume 2, collecting the award-winning animation studio's short films produced since the release of the DVD of their first shorts collection. Volume 2 includes Ratatouille's Your Friend the Rat, WALL-E's BURN-E, Up's Doug's Special Mission and George & A.J, Toy Story's Hawaiian Vacation and Small Fry, Cars 2's Air Mater and Time Travel Mater, Academy Award nominees Presto, Day & Night, and La Luna, and more. On DVD and Blu Ray.

30-something Abe (Jordan Gelber) imagines himself a successful man, a "front runner with dark horse tendencies," in Todd Solondz's Dark Horse, but he works at his father's (Christopher Walken) real-estate business... usually buying collectable toys online while a co-worker (Donna Murphy) covers for him. When he meets the heavily medicated Miranda (Selma Blair), Abe may have found someone as lost as himself, and proposes to her on their first date... but Abe's point of view flits between his real life and a series of daydreams and unrealistic expectations as he imagines himself blameless for all of his disappointments and casts himself as the hero of his own story. With Mia Farrow and Justin Bartha. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Though Ralphie (Braeden Lemasters) is turning sixteen, not much has changed in his family in A Christmas Story 2: the Old Man (Daniel Stern) is still grouchy and trying to save a buck, his mom (Stacey Travis) is still the voice of reason, and his little brother still gets wrapped head-to-toe before being sent out into the snow. Ralphie's grown out of BB guns, though-- now he wants a car-- but the object of his desire gets wrecked before he can even drive it off the lot, and Ralphie and his friends need to get jobs to pay the car salesman before Christmas.

Marion (Julie Delpy, who also directs) is living in New York with Mingus (Chris Rock) in 2 Days in New York when her family comes to visit. Suddenly, their apartment is overrun by her father (who knows no English), her exhibitionist sister (Alexia Landeau), and her sister's boyfriend (who sees nothing wrong with making drug deals in front of the kids). As their lives are turned upside-down right before Marion's big art show, Mingus begins to wonder if the lunatic in his home is Marion's true self and, as her behavior gets stranger and stranger, Marion begins to wonder herself. On DVD and Blu Ray.

A filmed stage performance of Stephen Sondheim's musical, Company stars Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby, a 35-year-old bachelor, as he interacts with his groups of married friends. Still unsure of his path in life, Bobby's friends give him a series of lessons on marriage, love, divorce, doldrums, and mid-life crises. With Stephen Colbert and Christina Hendricks.

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Comedy Monsters

New York roommates Goody and Stacy (Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter) are single girls who have an interesting take on city nightlife in Amy Heckerling's Vamps... mostly because they're vampires. Goody's had a hard time since being turned in 1841, feeding on rats because she doesn't want to kill anyone, but things got easier when her sire (Sigourney Weaver) turned Stacy in the 1990s. The two attend meetings to keep themselves murder-free-- if an old population destroyer like Vlad (Malcolm McDowell) is happier knitting than killing, the girls should have no problem-- but Goody is afraid of what will happen if their still-murderous sire is killed and they suddenly revert to their real ages... because Sandy doesn't know how old Goody really is. On DVD and Blu Ray.

When a Costco night security guard is murdered in a sleepy, suburban Ohio town, Evan (Ben Stiller), the store manager, takes action in The Watch. Evan's already part of every committee in town, but he adds one more duty and starts a neighborhood watch program... unfortunately, the only people who join him are loud and jocular Bob (Vince Vaughn), unstable and violent Franklin (Jonah Hill), and out-of-town nebbish Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade), all more interested in drinking beer than preventing crimes. When they discover the truth-- that the local death is the beginning of an alien invasion-- the local police (Will Forte) won't take them seriously, so it's up to The Watch to save the Earth. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Violence

Afghanistan veteran Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Buddhist hippie Ben (Aaron Johnson) are top-tier marijuana growers with their mutual girlfriend O (Blake Lively) in Oliver Stone's Savages, but their idyllic California life is threatened when a Mexican cartel offers them a deal. Chon wants to fight and Ben wants to walk away, but refusing the deal sets a brutal enforcer on them (Benicio Del Toro), kidnapping O, forcing them to comply. The boys have to play along to keep her alive, but they use a corrupt FBI agent (John Travolta) to exploit the cartel's weaknesses, taking the fight all the way to the boss (Salma Hayek) to get O back. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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The Real World

Red Chapel director Mads travels to another dangerous, unpredictable nation in The Ambassador, securing black market diplomatic papers and establishing himself as an ambassador to the Central African Republic (CAR). Though the people that get him into the CAR warn him that he could end up in a cell (or dead in a ditch), Brügger sets up hidden cameras and begins meeting with government officials, heads of security, and powerful businessmen. His goal: to "travel the world with a suitcase full of diamonds," not motivated by greed, but to expose how easily blood diamonds are traded throughout the world by corrupt, unscrupulous, and even murderous individuals at the highest levels of African governments.

What began as a documentary about the largest home in the United States became a different kind of film after the 2008 collapse of the real estate market. The Queen of Versailles begins in the heyday of the Siegel family, David, king of the time-share sales, and his beauty-queen wife Jackie. Suddenly shifted from being millionaires to struggling to get by, the family has to adapt to their new situation as David Siegel searches for a way to raise the money to put their fortunes back in order.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

Heartland Season 2

Amy and her grandfather Jack heal and raise wounded and neglected horses among the ups and downs of ranch life in the Canadian Rockies.

Week of November 6

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Fighting for what's right

Spider-Man
Now & Then

Re-telling the super-hero's origin story, high school student Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) develops super powers when he's bitten by a radioactive spider in The Amazing Spider-Man. Driven by the loss of his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen), Peter builds web-shooters, makes himself a blue and red costume, and takes to the streets to fight crime... which isn't appreciated by Police Captain Stacey (Denis Leary), father of Peter's classmate Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). Worse, Peter's new interests inspire a one-armed scientist's (Rhys Ifans) research in genetic mutation that could re-grow a limb, releasing a violent lizard/man hybrid on the streets of New York that only Spider-Man can stop. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Fireman Jeremy Coleman (Josh Duhamel) is the lone survivor of a liquor store hold up, a message to the Crip-controlled neighborhood from a Nazi gang, in Fire with Fire. Coleman is now an eye-witness that can testify against a notorious murderer (Vincent D'Onofrio) that Detective Cella (Bruce Willis) has been trying to put away for years... but all his witnesses keep dying. When Coleman's witness protection is compromised and his protecting agent (Rosario Dawson) is attacked, he refuses to go back into hiding: he'll go after the Nazis that want him dead and bring them down himself. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Hirokin (Wes Bentley) is a wandering warrior on a desert planet in Hirokin: The Last Samurai, but he's pushed to be a reluctant hero to the subjugated Fremen-ish Arrid people as they struggle against the brutal tyranny of Griffin (Julian Sands), who may or may not resemble Sting as a several-decades-older Feyd from David Lynch's Dune. Trained by the Arrid's Obi-Wan surrogate (Angus Macfadyen) in their lost warrior's art (not unlike the Force and/or the Weirding Way), Hirokin must embrace his destiny and stand up to the dictator, fighting injustice against incredible odds. With Jessica Szohr and Laura Ramsey.

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Connected

Jack (Mark Duplass) is a mess, so Iris (Emily Blunt) sends him up to her family's isolated cabin for some alone time in Humpday director Lynn Shelton's Your Sister's Sister. When Jack gets there, he's surprised to find the cabin already occupied by Iris' sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), also needing some solitude after ending a seven-year relationship. After Jack and Hannah spend a drunken night together, and Iris shows up the next morning, all three have to navigate a few secrets and confidences that could threaten family, friendship, and love. On DVD and Blu Ray.

A globe-spanning ensemble piece, Fernando Meirelles' 360 weaves together the stories of a Hungarian escort and her straight-laced sister, an Algerian (Jamel Debbouze) man in a crisis of faith, a wealthy married couple (Jude Law and Rachel Weisz) with relationship problems, a sex offender (Ben Foster) released into society after six years in prison, a troubled father (Anthony Hopkins) searching for his daughter, and a Russian driver working for a dangerous gangster. Their lives intersect in unexpected ways, some major, some minor, even as the events that start their stories seem to happen every day for someone else. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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They're coming for you

It's the day of Clara (Leticia Dolera) and Koldo's wedding in Paco Plaza's [•Rec] 3: Genesis, but their reception takes an unexpected turn when a bite wound on a guest's hand turns him into a zombie in the middle of the party. Koldo's shepherding a young girl and Clara's trapped with a groomsman (Javier Botet) when they're separated... but it's their day, and they're determined to find each other: he dons a suit of decorative armor and she picks up a chainsaw, and the couple head into the zombie party to reunite and take back their wedding day.

Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and her boyfriend Steve (Michael Fassbender) get away to a remote lake for a romantic vacation in Eden Lake, but they're harassed by a group of kids while at the shore. Steve stands up to them, and the children leave, but a series of pranks continue to disturb their vacation. When he confronts the the leader of the group, he turns out to be a sociopathic teenager (Jack O'Connell) who has no problem with having his pack torture and kill the tourists.

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Philosophy

The documentary Being in the World explores the philosophy of what defines people's humanity in a technological age. Infused with the ideas of several philosophers through history, the film interviews craftsmen, cooks, musicians, and more about their work, passion, and style, and how they ultimately relate to Heidegger's ideas of "being."

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Kids

12-year-old Koichi and his younger brother Ryunosuke live on opposite sides of the country because of their parents' divorce in Hirokazu Koreeda's I Wish, but their hopes run wild when they find out a new bullet train will link their towns. The brothers' stories are shuffled with classmates, adults, and townsfolk in a larger character story about family, dreams, and unity.

The current Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent) is at the end of his 70th Christmas in Arthur Christmas, but he's getting too old for the job. His older son (Hugh Laurie) is ready to take over the job with his high-tech version of Christmas, but his youngest, the clumsy Arthur (James McAvoy), has been demoted to the mail room. When Arthur finds out that Santa missed a child, he and Grandpa-Claus (Bill Nighy) dust off the old, reindeer-powered, wooden sleigh and take off to make sure that every kid gets visited by Santa on Christmas. On DVD and Blu Ray.

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Other Cultures

Director Sebastian (Gael Garcia Bernal) and producer Costa (Luis Tosar) travel to Bolivia to make a film about Christopher Columbus and the Spanish invasion of the New World in the Spanish-language Even the Rain. Their film is meant to highlight the Spanish atrocities and the effect of their hunt for gold on the native people, but their location is far from Columbus' landing place and they're nonchalant about using Bolivian extras because the filmmakers believe "all Indians look the same." Their project takes a new turn when the realities of Bolivia encroach on their message.

Featured at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Swedish Kiss Me is the story of Mia, a tightly-wound businesswoman, attending her father's engagement party. When she meets Frida, her mother-in-law-to-be's daughter, she's struck by an instant attraction that throws her life, and her engagement to her long-term boyfriend, out of balance.

Taking a break from filmmaking to teach classes in a small town, a director arrives in Seoul in Hong Sang-Soo's The Day He Arrives. Wandering aimlessly, he runs into an old friend and navigates the city trying to relocate lost purpose... drinking with film students, meeting someone that reminds him of an old girlfriend, spending long drinking nights with various people, and trying to find his way in a world of film festivals and movie relationships.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

Copper Series 1

In 1860's, Civil War-era New York City, an Irish-immigrant cop patrols the class and racially divided Five Points neighborhood while searching for information about the fates of his wife and daughter.

Week of October 30

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Fantasies of the Outsiders

Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed.

Read the Review

Meredith reviews
Safety Not Guaranteed

Jeff (Jake Johnson), a writer at Seattle Magazine, drives to Ocean View, Washington to research a story with intern Darius (Aubrey Plaza) in tow in Safety Not Guaranteed. They're investigating a classified ad looking for a partner for time travel, but self-proclaimed time traveler Kenneth (Mark Duplass) wants nothing to do with a cynical writer like Jeff... so Darius goes under cover. While Jeff uses his time in Ocean View to track down an old girlfriend (Jenica Bergere), Darius is brought into Kenneth's world of Do-It-Yourself time travel, righting wrongs, and emotional vulnerability. It all seems crazy, but Kenneth is earnest enough for Darius to start believing in him. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Young writer Calvin (Paul Dano) was dubbed a "genius" over the strength of his first novel, but now he's suffering from writer's block in Ruby Sparks. When his therapist (Elliott Gould) instructs him to write about someone who likes his dog, Calvin invents the character of Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan), a perfect, quirky, free spirited girl... and then, suddenly, she's actually in his life. Just as he wrote her, Ruby is Calvin's girlfriend, staying in his house. Calvin thinks he's losing his mind-- how real can she be, if Ruby is always just as Calvin writes her? With Chris Messina.

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Behaving Badly

North Carolina's Congressman Cam Brady's (Will Ferrell) scandals and childish behavior have made him an embarrassment in The Campaign, so the businessmen (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) who control Cam's district decide to make a change. They ask a colleague (Brian Cox) to put his son into the race, and suddenly Cam isn't running unopposed: he's squaring off against Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis), a meek, quiet, family man. Marty's given a cutthroat campaign manager (Dylan McDermott) and sent to win the election, and Cam and Marty begin a campaign of slander, one-upmanship, public humiliation, and baby punching... but neither of them know what their backing business interests have in mind for the victor. With Jason Sudeikis. On DVD and Blu Ray.

When his school bans Catcher in the Rye, Andrew and his friends get suspended when they too-enthusiastically defend the book in Bindlestiffs, one of the first films out of Kevin Smith's Smodcast Productions. Andrew's obsessed with Holden Caulfield, and he takes his friends out to live their own Catcher in the Rye adventure... but they're naive, and immediately veer off the novel's path and into their own twisted, comically exaggerated adventure of prostitutes, drugs, and encounters with the homeless.

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Realism

In 1995, shortly before he regained control of the company he founded, Apple mastermind Steve Jobs recorded a rare, long-form interview. Released to the public for the first time as Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, the film provides detailed information about the beginnings of computer culture and Jobs' particular philosophy and approach to advancing society.

Shot in a docu-realistic style, the French Polisse adopts a fly-on-the-wall style as a photographer (Maiwenn, who also directs) is given access to the Juvenile Protection Squad of the Paris police department. The squad goes out on individual missions, tracking down child abusers of all kinds, as the stress of the job affects the lives of the officers involved in a dangerous, specialized field of law enforcement. With Karin Viard.

Six ballet dancers are on their way to the American Grand Prix in the documentary First Position, a film that follows children age 11-17 as they prepare for the five minutes on stage that could be their best chance at a professional dancing career. From different backgrounds, teachers with different approaches, and different levels of parental involvement, the film observes the children, their lives, and what they have to give to earn their place in the spotlight.

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Family and Community

In order to close a deal for tribal land, Joe (Brandon Routh) has to return to his Onondaga tribe and coach their underdog lacrosse team in Crooked Arrows. His father (Gil Birmingham) won't let him broker the land deal until Joe sets his spirit right, and teaching the boys in the ways of "the healing game," the sport that has been part of their tribe's heritage for over a thousand years, is his first step. With Chelsea Ricketts.

With his status as the Dragon Warrior, Po (Jack Black) is charged with hosting the prestigious and mannered Winter Feast in Kung Fu Panda Holiday. His new duties mean he won't be able to have holiday dinner with his father (James Hong), but how can he disappoint Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the gathering of the greatest kung fu legends in the land?

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Metalocalypse Season 4	Dethklok are still comically overreacting to fame, wealth, and metal as they remain oblivious to the prophecy of the Metalocalypse, as narrated by Werner Herzog.		Star Wars Clone Wars Season 4	Anakin, Obi Wan, and the rest of the Jedi continue to fight the Clone Wars and uncover the threat from the Dark Side of the Force.
	Upstairs / Downstairs Series 2	The continuing story of the class divide within the house of Sir Hallam Holland, his family, and the large staff that keeps his estate running.		Chuggington Icy Escapades	The Chuggers take on the cold weather as winter comes to the station and their world gets icy.