Week of March 25th

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White Collar Gangsters

Based on the rise to power, wealth, and corruption of stockbroker Jordan Belfort, Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street delves into the black comedy of late 80s Wall Street immorality. After becoming a stockbroker, Belfort's (Leonardo DiCaprio) first boss (Matthew McConaughey) tells him the secret of success as a broker: a rock star life of sex and drugs... right before 1987's Black Monday kills the market, leaves him unemployed, and makes the world inhospitable to stockbrokers. Finally landing a low-class job selling penny stocks, he finds that, because financial regulators don't pay attention to him, he can get away with using unscrupulous tactics to turn higher profits than he could at even the most prestigious firm. Recruiting a salesman (Jonah Hill) in his apartment complex, Belfort rises to the glamorous lifestyle he was promised. Losing himself in a haze of fast cars, hard drugs, and beautiful women, Belfort and his new world of corruption and opportunism eventually attract the attention of an FBI agent (Kyle Chandler). Though his father (Rob Reiner) advises him to walk away from his empire before it falls, Belfort's addiction to his wild lifestyle ensures that he'll see his white-collar criminal empire to its very end. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Family

When he was a student, David (Vince Vaughn) made all his money by donating to a sperm bank in Delivery Man. As an adult, he's mired in debt and not sure how he can support his pregnant girlfriend (Cobie Smulders) working as a lowly delivery driver for his family business when he's presented with a class action suit: his donor days have made him the father of over five hundred children. One of David's friends (Chris Pratt) is a lawyer, and as they try to keep the records sealed and fight the suit, David looks into the kids searching for their estranged dad. At first, he just stalks them, but as he learns about the kids who are essentially his children, he discovers something new about himself... and he starts helping. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Ahmad (Tahar Rahim) returns to France from his Iranian home to finalize his divorce papers in The Past. Meeting with his estranged wife Marie (Berenice Bejo), Ahmad is mired in the life they had together, along with Marie's two daughters, and her new beau, Samir. As he learns more about their family situation while working on closing this chapter in his life and relationship with Marie, Ahmad's past is slowly revealed as it mirrors the future between Marie and Samir. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Underdogs

Odd's (Anton Yelchin) ability to see ghosts makes him a reluctant hero in Odd Thomas-- he's compelled by the victims' spirits to stop the people who harmed them. Only his spunky, independent girlfriend (Addison Timlin) knows the secret Odd keeps, lest he join his mother (Leonor Varela) in the psych ward: that he can see not just the dead, but the "bodachs" that follow the soon-to-be dead. When a swarm of bodachs overtake the sleepy desert town of Pico Mundo, Odd has to uncover what disaster is about to befall the residents of his town and stop the targets that are about to be killed from being caught in the catastrophe that is attracting the bodachs.

In a tribe of Pachyrinosaurus, Patchi (Justin Long) is the runt of his litter trying to prove himself in Walking with Dinosaurs. Migrating south for the winter and north for the summer, Patchi just keeps up with his group until his hot-headed brother Scowler takes control of the tribe. As Scowler's lead puts them in the path of many predators and other fearsome dinosaurs, Scowler and Patchi clash over something else: Juniper (Tiya Sircar), a Pachyrinosaurus from another herd. With John Leguizamo. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Beginnings and Endings

Author Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) has coasted for years on the success of his only published book in the Foreign Language Oscar Winner The Great Beauty. Living easily by writing cultural columns and attending parties, Jep approaches his 65th birthday, and his retirement, with a contemplative walk through the streets of Rome. His stroll through the great beauty of his city lets him reflect on his life and career, and as he meets people on his way, they help him put the decades into perspective. On DVD and Blu Ray.

The Afghan entry for the Academy Awards, The Patience Stone is the story of a woman surviving in a war zone, tending to her wounded, catatonic husband. Before his injuries, her husband was tyrannical and controlling, and his vegetative state gives the woman a new sense of freedom. She compares him to what ancient tradition called a "patience stone:" a mystical jewel that can absorb and contain all of one's worries and troubles.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Veep Season 2	Vice President Selina Meyer is usually just trying to keep up with the issues around her... or at least how they'll make her look to the general public as she tries to position herself well at midterm elections, interviews, and White House dinners.		Californication Season 6	Hank wakes up in the hospital, recovering from the events of season 5, and has to endure rehab and recurring dreams of Carrie while collaborating with a famous rock star.
	Continuum Season 2	Still trapped in the past, Kiera has to operate outside the law after the events of season 1, still trying to take down the future-terrorists from her own time and prevent them from changing the past to alter the future.		Monster High Frights, Camera, Action	Certain she's the next vampire queen, Draculaura and her friends travel to Transylvania only to find that they have to find a magic gem that will reveal the identity of the true vampire queen.

Week of March 11th

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Folk Music

Trying to make his way in the early 60s folk scene, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is just struggling to get by in the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis. After his partner's suicide, he struggles to find work as a solo act, singing and playing his guitar anywhere he can book a gig in the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk clubs, but he never seems to get ahead. Wandering the streets, looking for paying jobs and places to sleep, his life crosses paths with a more popular folk singing couple (Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake) who have a complicated history with Llewyn, a job singing background for a novelty song, and a Chicago-bound road trip with a beat poet (Garrett Hedlund) and jazz musician (John Goodman) to audition for F Murray Abraham and land a steady job. Throughout his travels in snowy New York, Llewyn keeps looking for his next opportunity, even though each step forward seems to put him two steps back. On DVD and Blu Ray.

The Oscar-nominated Belgian The Broken Circle Breakdown is the story of America-obsessed Didier and his romance with free spirited tattoo artist Elise. As their relationship evolves, Didier shares his other great passion-- a love of bluegrass music-- even inviting Elise to join his band. From the blush of first love to their hardships and obstacles, they score their lives to their bluegrass band, adapting to unexpected changes and developments as individuals and as a couple.

Against Corruption

Young Liesel's childhood in 1930s Germany is fraught with dangers and injustice in The Book Thief. Given over to her caring but harassed foster parents Hans and Rosa (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson), Liesel is kept safe while her communist mother flees the rising influence of the Nazi party. Though the young girl is a thoughtful lover of books, she's forced to join the the Hitler Youth, and exposed to intolerance she doesn't understand and the inconceivable burning of books. At odds with the world around her, Liesel and her family have to keep the secret of the books she "borrows" or become a target of the more and more influential Nazis. With Rainer Bock.

Russell (Christian Bale) was the force keeping his family together in a failing Pennsylvania steel town in Out of the Furnace, but after being sent to jail, his father has passed away, his girlfriend (Zoe Saldana) has moved on and is seeing the local sheriff (Forest Whitaker), and his brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) is in debt to local fight promoters (Willem Dafoe and Woody Harrelson). Sinking into the world of bare-knuckled fighting, Rodney learns that there's money to be made throwing fights... though it means getting beaten half to death to make the loss convincing. In order to salvage his family and save his brother, Russell will have to dredge the ruthless and illegal underground fighting circuit and stand up to the back-woods gangsters that would see Rodney die in the ring. On DVD and Blu Ray.

A direct sequel to his 2010 film Outrage, Beat Takeshi's Beyond Outrage continues the story, with scheming underboss Kato having taken over the leadership of the Sanno Yakuza clan and former boss Otomo (Takeshi) in prison. Among betrayals and manipulations, both gangsters (Ryo Kase) and police (Yukata Matsushige) try to prod the newly aligned Yakuza groups into feuds and bloody battles, but whether they're trying to shatter the organized crime families or gain control of them, they all see an early release for Otomo as a game-changer with consequences for all the Yakuza families.

The friendly competition in the LARP (Live Action Role Playing) world of Demons & Dwarves has been overtaken by Derek (Mike Smith) and his win-at-all-costs strategies in Lloyd the Conqueror. A community college professor by day, he offers a passing grade to lazy underachievers Lloyd, Patrick (Jesse Reid), and Oswald if they'll join the game. Instead of becoming the easily defeated losers Derek intended, Lloyd and his friends recruit ultra-violent women's self-defense instructor Cassandra (Tegan Moss) and enlist the help of the White Wizard (Brian Posehn), threatening to topple Derek's rule and restore balance to the world of Demons & Dwarves.

Out of Retirement

Henry (Tom Everett Scott) put his military service behind him to enjoy a quiet life as a park ranger in Enemies Closer, but the forest idyll on the US/Canadian border is shattered when a drug-smuggling plane goes down in his park. Henry is contending with the accusations of the brother (Orlando Jones) of a fallen soldier when a ruthless drug dealer (Jean-Claude Van Damme) arrives to reclaim the lost shipment, and he is called upon to come to terms with his war torn past and fight for what's right.

Seeking a quiet life after his violent days as a DEA agent, Phil Broker (Jason Statham) and his young daughter move to a small Louisiana town in Homefront. Though they have an easy relationship with the town sheriff (Clancy Brown), they quickly make enemies of a local family (Kate Bosworth) and find themselves on the outside of an insular community of small town meth labs. Standing up to the locals puts Broker in the sights of small-time kingpin Gator (James Franco), and he's suddenly thrown into another drug war... this time, without a badge or back-up. With Winona Ryder.

Animation

The two new animated DVDs this week are the most recent Barbie movie, The Pearl Princess, where Barbie is a mermaid whose royal ball is interrupted by villains who try to seize the kingdom, and Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, the newest Lego movie focusing on the small, wizened Jedi master.

Week of March 4th

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Oscar Winners

Here's the quick fix on this year's Oscar Winners, and where you can find them at Reckless Video.

Best Picture	12 Years a Slave
Director	Alfonso Cuaron Gravity
Lead Actor	Matthew McConaughey Dallas Buyers Club
Lead Actress	Cate Blanchett Blue Jasmine
Supporting Actor	Jared Leto Dallas Buyers Club
Supporting Actress	Lupita Nyong’o 12 Years a Slave
Animated Feature	Frozen Coming March 18th
Documentary Feature	20 Feet from Stardom

Struggling Against Adversity

This year's Best Picture Oscar winner, Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave is the story of Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free, black man in pre-Civil War New York, who finds himself chained, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in New Orleans. Renamed "Platt" by a slave trader (Paul Giamatti), he's taught that arguing with slave owners is futile: he has to conceal his education and work the fields if he wants to survive. His time under a relatively kind plantation owner (Benedict Cumberbatch) comes to an end when he stands up to an abusive white carpenter (Paul Dano), and the only way to keep Solomon alive is to transfer him to plantation owner Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). Epps believes slaves are his property, and that it is his right to do whatever he will with his property, no matter how cruel or brutal. Though he meets a range of people, some who can see him for who he is and some who believe all slaves are no more than animals, he is forced to see slavery as it exists in the antebellum south: a common truth of life that no one is willing to challenge. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) have survived their competition in the Hunger Games together in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but their triumph has made them a symbol to the oppressed people of the 12 Districts and a enemies of President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Snow wants them to tour the Districts with their mentor (Woody Harrelson) and chaperone (Elizabeth Banks), but instead of acceptance, Katniss inspires revolution wherever she goes... so the new games master (Philip Seymour Hoffman) concocts a new plan: the next Hunger Games will pit previous champions against one another. With a field full of legends, the revolutionaries can't make a champion of Katniss if she's killing their heroes, and President Snow has no intention of letting her survive twice in a row. On DVD and Blu Ray.

A new telling of the story of Ip Man, Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as the Wing Chun grandmaster. Beginning his tale from the age of seven, when he studied under his master (played by kung fu legend Yuen Woo-Ping, the film's choreographer), the film recalls his life as he maintains the truths and teachings he refuses to abandon-- through challenges from the Japanese-occupied north, to tests against those who believe kung fu is measured by control (Zhang Ziyi), to basic survival during wartime, Ip Man remains dedicated to the solid, immutable spirit than made him a legend. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Captain Brunel (Elias Koteas) and his team are nearly finished with their Mars expedition when they discover what may be bacterial life in one of their soil samples in The Last Days on Mars. When the scientists who went to explore the site return, they attack Dr. Aldrich (Olivia Williams) like animals-- surviving the Mars atmosphere without their helmets, and attacking everyone around them. At first, the remaining crew are skeptical, but as their fallen comrades rise to attack them, pilot Vincent Campbell (Liev Schreiber) tries to keep them safe until they can be evacuated... but with an infection this dangerous, he knows he can't let it be carried back to Earth. With Romola Garai and Johnny Harris. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Oldboy
Now & Then

Joe Doucette (Josh Brolin) is a drunken lout-- a jerk to the people around him, neglectful of his family-- until someone decides to teach him a lesson in Spike Lee's Oldboy. After passing out drunk, he wakes up in what looks like a motel room... but there's no way out: the door doesn't open and the windows are picture screens. He's kept there for twenty years, with only a television to tell him that he's suspected of murdering his wife and that his daughter has grown up in an adopted household, until he's suddenly, mysteriously released. He has two goals: find out who ruined his life, and reconnect with his daughter, but the world has changed in twenty years, almost no one remembers him, and his confidant is a young nurse (Elizabeth Olsen) who believes his story. With nothing to lose, Joe does everything he can to destroy everyone involved with his imprisonment, killing everyone who gets in his way, but his real trouble starts when he's forced to ask: why was he released back into the world? With Sharlto Copley. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Chloe (Alice Eve) is struggling to make enough money running her small-town hotel to start a new life for her daughter (Ursula Parker) in Cold Comes the Night, but she's drawn into a life or death situation when she rents a room to Topo (Bryan Cranston). With Topo's jeep towed, and the package he's sworn to deliver in the hands to the town's corrupt police (Logan Marshall-Green), Chloe is his only link to the town, his jeep, and his property... and Topo is the kind of man who will execute anyone that stands between himself and his objective.

Nolan Hayes (Paul Walker) is in a New Orleans hospital when Hurricane Katrina hits in Hours. With his wife (Genesis Rodriguez) lost to complications during childbirth and his infant daughter kept alive by a respirator, Nolan is with his newborn baby when the power goes out. Forced to stay by her side and keep the respirator running, Nolan is trapped in a deserted hospital as New Orleans succumbs to chaos, but all he can do is make sure his daughter survives.

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New this week in our TV New Releases:

	The Venture Brothers Season 5	Hank and Dean are growing up... now that there aren't an endless supply of clones to replace them. Though they'll never escape the Venture family's legacy, the boys are each finding their on way through a world filled with villains, super-science, secret leagues of heroes, and the kinds of impossible adventures they're forced into simply because they are The Venture Brothers.		Spies of Warsaw	The BBC miniseries stars David Tennant as Jean-Francois Mercier, a veteran of the First World War undercover as a diplomat in 1937 Poland and operating as a spy in a land caught between Stalin and Hitler.
	Doctor Who Time of the Doctor	Answering the distress call of an isolated planet, the Doctor arrives to save the world's inhabitants and assume the role of their protector, a task that will end the story of the 11th Doctor and push him towards his next regeneration.		Guess How Much I Love You	Adapted from the popular book series, Little Nutbrown and his father Big Nutbrown Hare play in the meadows and enjoy the bonds of friends and family.