Week of July 29th

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The Larger World

In a dying world where the cities of the industrial civilizations are failing, Noah (Russell Crowe) and his family are the last of their kind, living off the land and taking only what they need in Darren Aronofsky's Noah. When The Creator blesses Noah with a vision, he takes his wife (Jennifer Connelly), sons (Douglas Booth and Logan Lerman), and adopted daughter (Emma Watson) to consult with Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) about the nature of his revelation: The Creator is going to destroy the world in a flood. Tasked with beginning the world anew, Noah must build a massive ark to survive the flood, but Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone) and his tribe of warrior/conquerors aren't content to simply be wiped off the face of the earth... and they'll take the ark by force, if they have to. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Sisters Olanna (Thandie Newton) and Kainene (Anika Noni Rose) choose very different lives in Half of a Yellow Sun. Based on the beloved novel, the sisters deal with the upheavals in 1960s Nigeria differently: Olanna marries a radical activist (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and is brought into his traditional mother's home while socially ambitious Kainene enters the lucrative family business. As their country descends into revolution and citizens are forced to flee, the bonds between families and marriages are tested while the world changes around them. With Jon Boyega.

Elizabeth (Melanie Papalia) begins researching graduate thesis on a Chatroulette-esque website in The Den, but her life is turned upside-down when she makes contact with a violent stalker online. After a series of pranks and stunts online, Elizabeth questions whether or not the murder she saw onscreen was real. She asks her tech-savvy friend (Adam Shapiro) to track down the user that showed her the murder, but every friend she involves is a new real-world target the on-line stalker can threaten. Portrayed entirely through webcams and chat windows, Elizabeth's chat channel (and the hacker's control of it) records the horror movie that has become her life. With Katja Pevec.

After saving his elephant, Khon, in the first film, Kham (Tony Jaa) returned to his village to live a simple life. After refusing to sell his elephant to a ruthless businessman, Kham is horrified to find Khon stolen and has to travel to Bangkok to save him in The Protector 2. On the run in the big city, Kham finds himself chased by the police, in epic fights with gangs, chased by vengeful relatives (JeeJa Yanin), and targeted by the head of an underground fighting ring (RZA) who will use Khon to force him to fight for the criminal underworld. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Personal

Carly's (Cameron Diaz) nothing-too-serious dating rules are put on hold when she meets perfect, handsome, successful Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). She's serious enough about him to drop in on him for a surprise apology visit after a spat... only to run into Mark's wife Kate (Leslie Mann) in The Other Woman. Both women are horrified that Mark has been lying to them and-- though no-nonsense Carly just wants to walk away from the whole mess-- with nowhere else to turn, flighty, nervy Kate forces herself into Carly's life. Together, they discover that Mark's been seeing younger, bustier Amber (Kate Upton) behind both their backs, and the three women decide to take revenge on the unrepentant liar who tried to take advantage of them all. With Don Johnson.

Unadventurous office nebbish Bruce (Nick Frost) doesn't think he has a chance with the company's beautiful new boss Julia (Rashida Jones), especially since arrogant Drew (Chris O'Dowd) brags that Julia will quickly be his. When he sees Julia attending a salsa dancing class, Bruce is spurred to action in Cuban Fury: in his youth, he was a salsa champion. Though Bruce turned his back on dancing after being humiliated as a boy, Julia inspires him to reclaim the one thing that always made him special-- he tracks down his old dance teacher (Ian McShane) and starts to reawaken his old talent. Bruce's gradual acceptance of himself, his skills, and the joy of embracing who he really is may impress Julia more than the dancing itself. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Now in her 60s, former beauty queen Bettie (Catherine Deneuve) is a put-upon restaurant owner with a meddling mother, estranged daughter, and a married lover who still hasn't left his wife in On My Way. When she heads out to run some errands, Bettie just starts driving-- her quick jaunt impulsively becomes a full-fledged road trip through the French countryside as she puts everything from her troubled life in her rear-view mirror... everything but her young grandson, who is riding with her.

Velvet's (Alice Eve) afternoon is derailed when former lover Fred (Stanley Tucci) appears on her doorstep in Neil LaBute's Some Velvet Morning. Fred has finally left his wife and is intruding on Velvet with all of his luggage in tow, but she hasn't seen him in four years, wasn't expecting him, and is surprised to have her day's plans sidetracked. Fred's in the middle of a tumultuous day and was expecting a warmer welcome, Velvet's moved on and has a life of her own, and her attempts at civility crash into his anger issues as they both push for what they want: Velvet wants him to leave, and Fred wants Velvet.

New this week in our TV New Releases:

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume 30

Mike, Joel, and the bots mock a new crop of bad movies from their perch on the Satellite of Love, including giant monster movie The Black Scorpion, 80s fantasy adventure Outlaw of Gor, man-playing-god horror film The Projected Man, and 70s vampire film It Lives By Night.

Week of July 22nd

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Ghosts in the Machine

Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp) and his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) have the leading scientific voice in the world of Artificial Intelligence (or A.I.) in Transcendence, but a global group of anti-technology terrorists (including Kate Mara) see Caster's dreams as a threat to humanity. When a terrorist attack leaves him with only weeks to live. Though his best friend (Paul Bettany) is opposed to the idea, Evelyn uses Will's technology to "upload" him: putting his consciousness into a computer, allowing him to live on. Evelyn is simply happy to have Will-- or at least his mind-- alive, the rest of the world wonders if the new self-aware computer is actually Dr. Caster, or just an ambitious A.I. that quickly infiltrates online computer systems, creates powerful nanobots, and develops an army of networked, advanced meta-humans. Will-As-Computer inists he's going to save the world, but salvation could come at the expense of humanity. With Morgan Freeman. On DVD and Blu Ray.

A prequel to the rest of the Appleseed series, Appleseed: Alpha is an early story of mercenaries Deunan and cybernetically enhanced Briareos as they struggle to keep the peace in the early 22nd century. Traveling to the outskirts of the battle-ravaged city of Olympus, they are on a mission to eliminate a group of war machines when they encounter another cyborg on the track of an ultimate weapon that could change what remains of the fate of humanity. On DVD and Blu Ray.

In the Real World

Angelic 4-year-old Colton Burpo awakens from emergency surgery and a near-death experience with a message for the world in Heaven Is For Real: he's seen the afterlife and met Jesus. His parents (Greg Kinnear and Kelly Reilly) assume their boy re-imagined stories from church, but they eventually become believers, convinced by the details of his story. Based on the family's best-selling memoir, the Burpo family faces challenges from their community and their parish (led by Margo Martindale) who doubt Colton's story as the world around them struggles with doubt in the light of a boy's story about a light-eyed Jesus on a multi-colored horse. With Thomas Haden Church. On DVD and Blu Ray.

The story of the activist who established unions for braceros (Mexican laborers with temporary passes to work in the US), Cesar Chavez stars Michael Pena as Chavez, who transitioned from field work to fighting racism and unfair treatment of migrant workers in the 1950s. Though he has to balance his homelife (with America Ferrera) against his activism, Chavez organizes the United Farm Workers alongside Dolores Huerta (Rosario Dawson). Through grassroots campaigns and hunger strikes, Chavez turns the tide of public opinion, influencing the politicians and agribusinessmen by winning the support of the families who buy the food Chavez and his workers produce.

A documentary about the irrepressible drag icon, I Am Divine assembles archival footage of Divine and collects interviews from colleagues such John Waters, Mink Stole, and Ricki Lake to tell the story of a young, misunderstood boy's journey to becoming a drag icon. With interviews from friends and family, the film is a loving portrait of a larger-than-life figure in underground cinema and alternative lifestyles.

Combining concert performances with backstage and behind-the-scenes footage, Ron Howard's Made in America provides a backstage pass to Jay Z's 2-day Made In America Festival. Shot on location in Philadelphia, the film combines the tales and music of self-made success stories like Run DMC, The Hives, Odd Future, Skrillex, Pearl Jam, Janelle Monae, and more. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Banding Together

After the death of her alpha-cheerleader friend, Maddy (Caitlin Stasey) joins the squad in hopes of disrupting the cheerleader/football cliques, ruining their senior year, and getting her revenge in All Cheerleaders Die. She's sewing seeds of discontent among the popular crowd when her plan backfires... and she finds herself and the rest of the cheerleaders resurrected by Maddy's wiccan ex-girlfriend (Sianoa Smit-McPhee). The girls may be undead and surviving on human blood, but the boys have a lot to answer for, and Maddy's revenge plot just became violent and gained several allies.

Brought together by a chance meeting at a parent/teacher conference, journalist May (Nia Long) establishes a group for women like herself in Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club. Joined by young divorcee Amy Smart, wealthy and stand-offish Wendy McLendon-Covey, and pampered Zulay Henao, May creates a club of women that can rely on one another in the face of unruly kids and unproven men. With Terry Crews.

In Pursuit

DEA agent John "Breacher" Wharton (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his team skim $10 million from a raid on a cartel's money room in David Ayer's Sabotage, but they discover they've been betrayed when they return to where the money had been stashed: the money is gone. With the cartel hunting him in search of the missing cash, Breacher and his crew (including Sam Worthington and Mireille Enos) have to track down the money and find out who set them up, even if the investigation leads to one of their own. Fighting together against outlandish odds, Breacher and his men kick down doors, shoot gang members, and demand answers, trying to solve their problems before they're either taken out by the drug lords or caught by the Atlanta homicide detective (Olivia Williams) hot on their trail. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Unkempt, sad-eyed Dwight (Macon Blair) has been living in his car for years in Blue Ruin, the second film by Murder Party director Jeremy Saulnier. Dwight is told that the man who killed his parents (the event that turned him into an isolated, homeless, nonverbal wreck) is being released from prison, and he sets out to take his revenge. Dwight isn't an imposing figure-- he's not a fighter, and he doesn't know anything about guns-- but he's determined to do what he feels he must, but engaging in violence puts his weary, grieving sister (Amy Hagreaves) in danger. With his revenge reintroducing his family to people that seek to harm them, Devin is forced to see his vendetta through, even if he has no talent for violence. With Devin Ratray. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Furious

Safe-cracker Dom (Jude Law) did his time and kept his mouth shut in Dom Hemingway, and now that he's out, he's eager to delve into as much drugs, bad behavior, and women as he can. Because he did his time and didn't turn on crime boss Mr. Fontaine (Demian Bichir), cocky and arrogant Dom and his old partner (Richard E. Grant) feel entitled to some privileged treatment. Dom intends to use his position and freedom to reconnect with his daughter (Emilia Clarke), but violent criminal loudmouths like Dom always manage to lose what they have and go back for another "one last job." Blu Ray exclusive.

Always-yelling Henry Altman (Robin Williams) has his day ruined in a fender-bender in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, but it gets worse after the required trip to the hospital: he has an inoperable brain aneurysm. Insulting and berating his doctor (Mila Kunis), Henry demands to know how much time he has left and, frustrated and angry, she makes up a number: 90 minutes. Henry tears through New York hoping to use his remaining time to be intimate with his wife (Melissa Leo) and reconnect with his son, but all of his efforts lead to more explosive rants, while his doctor recruits Henry's brother (Peter Dinklage) and tries to find him, possibly saving his life and her career.

American Girl

Nine-year-old Isabelle (Erin Pitt) has a passion for dance in American Girl: Isabelle Dances into the Spotlight. She's excited to be attending a prestigious performing arts school, but living in the shadow of her older sister Jade has made her insecure. When Isabelle's idol, a professional ballerina, encourages her to pursue her dream, Isabelle has to find the courage to dance into the spotlight.

Week of July 15th

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While exploring the jungle, Linda (Leslie Mann) and Tulio discover evidence of more, wild blue Spix macaws in Rio 2. Macaws Blu and Jewel (Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway) have been living in Linda's house when they hear the news: though they thought they were alone in the world, there may be an undiscovered flock of birds just like them living wild in the Amazon. Blu and Jewel have a flock of their own, but they take their three kids with them to the rainforest to find more birds like themselves, even if it means leaving behind domestic life, TVs, and iPods. Stepping out into the world may find them a new flock, but it also puts them within reach of Nigel (Jemaine Clement), who hasn't forgotten what happened in the first movie. With George Lopez and Jamie Foxx. On DVD and Blu Ray.

An unnamed woman (Scarlett Johansson) drives around Scotland picking up men in Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, but instead of an opportunity with a beautiful young woman, the men receive a horrifying suprise. Not really a woman at all but an alien in human skin, she lures them to be "harvested," and though she began dispassionately operating as a predator, a spark of empathy for her prey and a curiosity about the human condition begin to undermine her efficient harvesting mission. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Constantly bickering couple Nick and Meg (Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan) leave England for a weekend getaway in Paris in Roger Michell's Le Week-End, hoping a vacation together will smooth the rough edges in their relationship. Together for more than thirty years, Meg and Nick still love each other, but all of their time together is a mix of shrouded insults and regret. Their vacation takes an unexpected turn when they bump into one of Nick's old colleagues (Jeff Goldblum), now a successful writer and living in Paris. With Olly Alexander. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Widowed Nikki (Annette Bening) has given up on love and decided to spend the rest of her life alone in The Face of Love when she meets Tom (Ed Harris), a man who looks identical to her recently deceased husband. Though she's spent her time in the company of her neighbor (Robin Williams) and young daughter (Jess Weixler), Nikki's years alone suddenly weigh on her as she feels an immediate connection to Tom, but is she really falling in love with him or simply using him as a placeholder for her husband? With Amy Brenneman.

A biography of prima ballerina Tanaquil "Tanny" Le Clerq, Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clerq details the career of the iconic dancer. Discovered and brought into the New York City Ballet by famed choreographer George Balanchine, Tanny became his muse and eventually his wife as she became the focus of Balanchine's work. Le Clerq was the ballet star of her era when polio cut her career short in the mid 50s, but her unique style and legacy have echoed through the world of dance for decades.

New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Orphan Black Season 2	With Sarah on the run from the forces that would control her, she and her sisters must navigate their new world of genetic experiments and religious cults to learn the secrets of their existence and ensure their survival.		Black Dynamite Season 1	Handling cases in the super-fly 1970s, Black Dynamite (along with Cream Corn, Bullhorn, and Honeybee) solves every case that comes his way, from protecting Richard Pryor to defending interracial adult films.
	Labyrinth miniseries	Both on a quest for the Holy Grail, both Alice (in the present day) and Alaïs (in medieval France) follow the clues left by the survivors of the Crusades as their stories overlap across time.		Endeavour Season 2	Young Endeavour Morse, years before his adventures in the Inspector Morse series, solves a series of mysteries in the 1960s that gain the attention of a secretive, elite organization.

Week of July 8th

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On the Spot

Though he's a few decades older than the rest of the competitors, Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) meets the requirements to join the largest spelling bee in the country in Bad Words: he didn't graduate 8th grade before the cutoff date... but unlike the rest of the kids in the spelling bee, he probably never will. Accompanied by a journalist (Kathryn Hahn) eager to find the story behind the 40-year-old misanthrope tearing through a children's contest, Trilby offends parents, humiliates kids, infuriates the judge (Allison Janney) and embarrasses the event's founder (Philip Baker Hall). When he gets to know one of the kids (Rohan Chand), Trilby has to weight just how much he disgrace he needs to sow to do complete his plan-- and he definitely has a plan-- without completely upstaging all the kids. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Craig (Pat Healy) never became the writer he thought he'd be-- he's struggling to provide for his wife and baby, but just his job and can't pay his rent in Cheap Thrills. When he runs into Vince (Ethan Embry), an old friend from highschool, and Vince drags him into partying with the recklessly rich Violet and Colin (Sara Paxton and David Koechner). Colin's idea of a good time begins with offering $50 to whoever finishes their drink first, but quickly progresses: $100 for ignoring the strip club's "hands off" policy, $300 to punch the security guard that comes after them. Colin and Violet have a twisted sense of fun and an unlimited amount of money, and Craig and Vince's profits are only limited by their pain tolerances, gag reflexes, and cutthroat competition.

Ever since their superstar mother (Minnie Driver) was killed backstage after a performance of The Haunting of the Opera, Camilla (Allie MacDonald) and Buddy (Douglas Smith) have been in the care of her old Broadway producer Roger (Meat Loaf) in Stage Fright. Roger's musical theater summer camp is in the red and facing foreclosure, so he takes extreme measures: his director and the kids at camp will revive The Haunting of the Opera. Though she's just a member of the staff, Camilla is vying to sing the lead and reprise her mother's role... even if the production has a rising body count due to a masked, theater-hating, heavy metal killer, and Camilla might end up sharing her mother's fate.

Fallout

Omar and his friends Amjad and Tarek are Palestinian militants plan to carry out operations in Israel in the Oscar nominated Omar, but sensitive, intelligent Omar is more interested in Tarek's sister Nadia than their political agenda. When the mission fails and Omar is captured, he faces a series of compromises that put weigh heavily on his relationship with his friends, loyalty to his country, and the possibility of ever seeing Nadia again. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Computer scientist Vincent's (Toby Stephens) work in artificial intelligence is cutting-edge but being funded by the military in The Machine. While Vincent is hoping to use his technology to rehabilitate soldiers with brain damage, the program director (Denis Lawson) is more interested in combat applications. Vincent's work brings a machine (Caity Lotz) to life, and he comes to believe that she's a truly free-thinking, feeling intelligence. The military would prefer her to be rebuilt as an obedient supersoldier and Vincent has to choose between everything he's been offered and the life of his creation.

New this week in our TV New Releases:

Vicious

Freddie and Stuart (Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi) have lived together as a couple for nearly fifty years, but after so much time together, most of the conversation between the egotistical actor and his long-suffering partner is made up of barbs, feints, and insults as the men consistently grate on each others' nerves.

Week of July 1st

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Confiding

Seligman (Stellan Skarsgaard) discovers beaten, abandoned Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) in an alley in Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac, and he invites her inside to recuperate over a cup of tea. Joe, a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, begins to tell Seligman her story, hinging on her sexuality, and the voraciousness that began with the man who took her virginity (Shia LeBeouf) and through a wandering path that led her down a winding path that leads her through partners, conquests, marriage, motherhood, desensitization, and beyond. While Joe is motivated by her own pleasure, Seligman interprets her story in numbers, music, and fishing metaphors, and their earnest repartee (intercut with von Trier's visual symbolism) paints an epic tale that requires two feature-length volumes to tell. With Christian Slater. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Through a mix-up of "dabbawalas," the elaborate lunchbox delivery system in Mumbai, lonely accountant Saajan (Irrfan Khan) receives the lunch young wife Ila packed for her husband in the critically acclaimed The Lunchbox. Ila hopes that her luscious cooking will reintroduce passion into her relationship with her husband, but it has a shocking effect on widower Saajan. As they begin to correspond through notes in the lunchboxes, the two develop a connection neither of them could have anticipated.

Viscera

Derek Lee has always wanted to travel, so he's taking a year to travel the world with his videographer friend Clif Prowse in Afflicted. Setting out to make their travelogue web series against doctor's orders-- Derek has an abnormality in his brain that could cripple or kill him-- the friends set out on their journey to explore the world while they can, but a chance encounter starts to change Derek. Though he's often sick and can't keep food down, he doesn't want to end up in the hospital... so they document his illness, and discover a few side effects: Derek has become so strong he can punch through stone walls, fast enough to outrun cars, and he can now leap several stories into the air. Thrilled that Derek suddenly has superpowers, the friends web series begins to document the unexpected drawbacks of what Derek is becoming.

Picking up minutes after the end of the first movie, The Raid 2 rejoins Rama, the only surviving member of his SWAT team's raid on a multi-level drug compound. Having taken down one corrupt police officer, Rama is taken aside and given the chance to continue working: he's given a cover story and sent to prison to befriend Uco, the heir to the criminal organization controlling the Indonesian police. On the inside, Rama's life becomes a whirlwind of tense showdowns, hidden identities, brutal fights, ruthless assassins, international power-plays, and shifting loyalties, all unfolding among frenetic, impossibly-staged action sequences. On DVD and Blu Ray.

Communicators

The story of a movie that was never made, Jodorowski's Dune recounts the efforts of cult surrealist director Alejandro Jodorowsky's work towards adapting the classic sci-fi novel Dune in 1973. Convinced he would make a spiritual, world changing piece of art, Jodorowsky began to assemble a team of artists (like H.R. Giger and Jean "Mobius" Giraud), musicians (like Pink Floyd and Magma), and his proposed cast (ranging from Orson Welles to Mick Jagger to Salvador Dali), each brought into Jodorowsky's project by varying degrees of luck, passion, or persuasion. In his quest to make the most ambitious movie ever put to film, he created something that was both unfinanceable and unfilmable, and through the project crumbled, the unfilmed Dune became both a legend and an inspiration throughout decades of cinema. On DVD and Blu Ray.

The founder of the 1990s Riot Grrl movement, Kathleen Hanna is the focus of the documentary The Punk Singer. Fiercely outspoken and intelligent, Hanna fought through the male dominated punk and grunge cultures that were ruling the rock world to front Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. Announcing feminism from rock stages and mosh pits, Hanna was the icon that brought punk rage to feminist activism in the 1990s, and the film covers her career and influence through her retirement ten years ago.

A film constructed around a single interview with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsefeld, Errol Morris' The Unknown Known records Rumsfeld's feelings on his career, his legacy, and his association with one of America's least popular wars. The interview provides focused insight into the former secretary's ideals, devout lack of uncertainty, and skill with language that famously elaborated upon "known knowns, known unknowns, unknown unknowns, and even unknown knowns."

New this week in our TV New Releases:

	Legend of Korra Book 2: Spirit	Now a fully-realized Avatar, Korra finds herself in the middle of a civil war between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, and an ambitious plot that could threaten the legacy of all Avatars, future and past.		Helix: Season 1	An outbreak in a secluded, arctic research lab threatens the lives of the scientists in the facility... but the truth of their situation is more complicated than they can imagine, as are the consequences if the contagion spreads to the outside world.
	Monster High	Two new specials on one disc: the girls try to make peace between vampires and werewolves in Fright On!, and they set out on a monstrous island adventure in Escape from Skull Shores.		A Young Doctor's Notebook	Adapted from the journals of a doctor young (Daniel Radcliffe), his older, wiser self (Jon Hamm) recalls the difficult circumstances of medicine and surgery in rural 1916 Russia.