Week of June 24th

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Reality-Stretching Fantasies

While Leonidas leads his small band of Spartans against the Persian armies in 300, Athenian General Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) engages the Persian navy in 300: Rise of an Empire. Vastly outnumbered, Themistocles has to face Persia's most formidable general: Artemisia (Eva Green), a vengeful Greek organizing the destruction of her home country. In her ambition, Artemisia shaped Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) into a "God King" and pointed him towards Greece, and Themistocles only chance of stopping her is to unite Greece-- he must survive battle after bloody battle, hoping to rally Queen Gorgo (Lena Heady) and the Spartan navy to join him, forming a united Greek army to destroy their would-be invaders once and for all. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Based on the classic novel, Winter's Tale stars Colin Farrell as Peter Lake, a small time hood working for demonically evil gangster Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) in 1916. Leaving the gang, Peter needs one last heist to start a new life, but his final break-in puts him face to face with Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay)... and he quickly forgets about money, crime, or Soames (who would like to see him dead.) Their magical romance becomes a whirlwind of miracles, demons, supernatural horses, enchanted gemstones, and tragedy that catches up with Peter in 2014. Not having aged at all and suffering from amnesia, Peter is still being chased by the seemingly eternal Soames, but he finds an echo of his past love in Jennifer Connelly's young daughter and the miracle that could save her. With William Hurt. On DVD and Blu Ray.

History professor Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal) lives a humdrum, monotonous life with his barely attentive girlfriend (Melanie Laurent) when he becomes fascinated with someone who looks exactly like him in Enemy. Watching a movie, he notices an actor that could be his double, and seeks him out. With a little internet research and some careful stalking, Adam finds Anthony (also Gyllenhaal) living in an expensive high-rise with his pregnant wife (Sarah Gadon), but making contact immerses both of them in jealousy, deception, and paranoia.

The Mob

After he's released from prison for petty robbery in the early 90s, Tommy (Michael Pitt) reconnects with his girlfriend Rosie (Nina Arianda), but he's not the kind of guy who can be content with normal life. Inspired by the trial of mob boss John Gotti, Tommy concocts a scheme to catch the New York gangsters unarmed in their nightclubs in Rob the Mob-- brandishing a weapon and collecting the wallets and jewelry of wealthy men who never thought they could be held up. Because of the police and media attention of the Gotti trial, the mafia (including Andy Garcia) are unable to retaliate, and Tommy and Rosie continue to rampage through neighborhood bars and smoky backroom card games, surviving on hubris, youthful determination, and blind luck. With Ray Romano. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Released after 12 years in prison, Chris (Clive Owen) tries to honor his parole and take an honest job in Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties, but life isn't easy for an ex-con in 1974 Brooklyn. He joins his family-- his ailing father (James Caan) and younger brother Frank (Billy Crudup)-- and reconnects with his ex-wife (Marion Cotillard) who's fallen on hard times, but his attempt at a straight life is sidelined by a violent disposition and a number of friends in organized crime. Frank's job as a New York cop puts him in direct conflict with Chris' new venture, but both men know what they need to survive. With Zoe Saldana and Mila Kunis. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Legendary

Now in her eighties, Broadway theater icon Elaine Stritch is the subject of her own documentary portrait in Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. Covering her rise in theater, as well as roles in film and television, the film captures an unvarnished portrait of the multiple award-winner as she contends with the current state of show business, diabetes, alcoholism, and age.

Remembering and Reconnecting

After a car accident drastically changed his life four years ago, Tommy (Anthony Mackie) has moved on, left the past behind, and lives a quiet life with his wife (Sanaa Lathan) in Repentance. Tommy's done everything he could to move beyond what happened years ago, reinventing himself as a life coach and self-help author to help others do the same, when his brother Ben (Mike Epps)-- who was in the car with him that night-- re-emerges and threatens to reveal their dark secret to the world. With his safe, stable life in peril, taking on an obviously unbalanced client like Angel Sanchez (Forest Whitaker) is just one more act that could shatter the carefully designed facade he's created.

Though she has a husband (Sven Nordin), a family, and a happy life in Norway in the early 90s, Katrine's (Juliane Kohler) life has been shaped by incredible forces decades earlier in Two Lives. Reunited with her mother (Liv Ullmann) after escaping Germany during World War II and relocating in another country, the fall of the Berlin Wall reveals a secret history that forces Katrine to question everything about her past. With the help of a lawyer (Ken Duken), she embarks on a quest for the truth for all the children who escaped Nazi Germany.

Marie (Shirley Knight) steps out of her southern Oregon retirement community and decides to walk 80 miles to the Pacific coast in Redwood Highway. She used to love the ocean shore, but she's also determined to attend her granddaughter's wedding while avoiding her controlling son-- to arrive on her own terms. On her days-long journey, her path intersects with a variety of colorful characters (including Tom Skerritt) as she rediscovers her life and her place among her family.

New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Masters of Sex Season 1		Based on the real-life exploits of Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) in the 1950s, Dr. Masters and his research assistant Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan) make the first scientific investigation into human sexuality as their work affects the families, romances, and social mores of the world around them.
	Lost Girl Season 4		Bo and her friends must band together after her return from the beyond. As an unaligned Succubus, she can only count on her true friends after her resurrection gains her new enemies and blurs the lines between light and dark Fae folk.
	The Bridge Season 1		A killer on the US/Mexican border forces police from both sides to cooperate on the case, creating an unlikely partnership between noble, against-the-grain Detective Marco Ruiz and emotionally crippled Detective Sonya Cross.