April 2009 | blackfilm.com | APRIL DVD CENTRAL

April 2009

APRIL DVD CENTRAL

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APRIL DVD CENTRAL
Films starring Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson, Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, Viola Davis, Keanu Reeves and more highlight this the early days of April DVDs

NOT EASILY BROKEN

Actors: Morris Chestnut, Taraji P. Henson, Maeve Quinlan, Kevin Hart, Wood Harris
Directors: Bill Duke
Writers: Brian Bird, T.D. Jakes
Producers: Morris Chestnut, Aaron Norris, Brian Bird, Clint Culpepper, Curtis Wallace
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French
Number of discs: 1
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run Time: 99 minutes

Synopsis: The path of true love never runs smoothly. Just ask Dave and Clarice Johnson. After many years of marriage, their affection for each other is being severely tested by life. Following a car accident that temporarily sidelines Clarice, the couple must come to grips with physical temptations, financial pressures and emotional challenges that threaten their love for each other. Ultimately, they must determine whether or not their vows are easily broken in this soul-stirring film based on the inspirational best-selling novel by T.D. Jakes.

DOUBT

Cast: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Language: Unknown (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Miramax
DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run Time: 104 minutes

Synopsis: John Patrick Shanley brings his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play to the screen as a gripping story about the quest for truth, the forces of change, and the devastating consequences of blind justice in an age defined by moral conviction. It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A vibrant, charismatic priest, Father Flynn (Academy Award® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman), is trying to upend the schools' strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep), the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James (Academy Award® nominee Amy Adams), a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequence.

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

Actors: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese
Director: Scott Derrickson
Writers: David Scarpa, Edmund H. North
Producers: Erwin Stoff, Gregory Goodman, Marvin Towns Jr., Paul Harris Boardman
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 2
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run Time: 104 minutes

Synopsis: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is 20th Century Fox's contemporary reinvention of its 1951 classic. Keanu Reeves portrays Klaatu, an alien whose arrival on our planet triggers a global upheaval. As governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor's appearance, a woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her young stepson get caught up in his mission – and come to understand the ramifications of his being a self-described "friend to the Earth."

YES MAN

Cast: Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins, Rhys Darby
Director: Peyton Reed
Writers: Danny Wallace, Andrew Mogel, Jarrad Paul, Nicholas Stoller
Producers: Danny Wallace, David Heyman, Katterli Frauenfelder
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run Time: 104 minutes

Synopsis: Jim Carrey stars as Carl Allen, a man who signs up for a self-help program based on one simple principle: say yes to everything...and anything. At first, unleashing the power of "yes" transforms Carl's life in amazing and unexpected ways, but he soon discovers that opening up his life to endless possibilities can have its drawbacks.

BEDTIME STORIES

Actors: Adam Sandler, Keri Russell
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English, French, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run Time: 99 minutes

Synopsis: A family comedy about a guy (Adam Sandler) whose life changes when the lavish bedtime stories he tells his nephews start to magically come true.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly MacDonald
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Format: AC-3, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 3
Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MIRAMAX
DVD Release Date: April 7, 2009
Run Time: 122 minutes

Synopsis:No Country for Old Men" is a mesmerizing new thriller from Academy Award winning filmmakers Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, based on the acclaimed novel by Pulitzer Prize winning American master Cormac McCarthy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones.
The story begins when Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) finds a pickup truck surrounded by a sentry of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law - in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell (Jones) - can contain. As Moss tries to evade his pursuers - in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives (Bardem) - the film simultaneously strips down the American crime drama and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning's headlines.

THE SPIRIT

Cast: Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Paz Vega, Jaime King, Dan Lauria, Stana Katic, Johnny Simmons, Louis Lombardi
Director: Frank Miller
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 2
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Release Date: April 14, 2009
Run Time: 108 minutes

Synopsis: Adapted from the legendary comic book series created by Will Eisner, "The Spirit" is a classic action-adventure-romance written for the screen and directed by genre-twister Frank Miller (creator of "300" and "Sin City"). It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the Spirit (Gabriel Macht) to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) has a different mission: he's going to wipe out Spirit's beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront... all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. Surrounding him at every turn are Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson), the whip-smart girl-next-door; Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson), a punk secretary and frigid vixen; Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega), a murderous French nightclub dancer; Lorelei (Jaime King), a phantom siren; and Morgenstern (Stana Katic), a sexy young cop. Then of course, there's Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), the jewel thief with dangerous curves. She's the love of his life turned bad. Will he save her or will she kill him? In the vein of "Batman Begins" and "Sin City," "The Spirit" takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride with a hero who is born, murdered and born again.

THE READER

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, Matthias Habich, David Kross, Susanne Lothar
Director: Stephen Daldry
Format: Color, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: The Weinstein Company
DVD Release Date: April 14, 2009
Run Time: 123 minutes

Synopsis: "The Reader" opens in post-WWII Germany when teenager Michael Berg becomes ill and is helped home by Hanna, a stranger twice his age. Michael recovers from scarlet fever and seeks out Hanna to thank her. The two are quickly drawn into a passionate but secretive affair.

Michael discovers that Hanna loves being read to and their physical relationship deepens. Hanna is enthralled as Michael reads to her from "The Odyssey," "Huck Finn," and "The Lady with the Little Dog." Despite their intense bond, Hanna mysteriously disappears one day and Michael is left confused and heartbroken.

Eight years later, while Michael is a law student observing the Nazi war crime trials, he is stunned to find Hanna back in his life – this time as a defendant in the courtroom. As Hanna's past is revealed, Michael uncovers a deep secret that will impact both of their lives. "The Reader" is a haunting story about truth and reconciliation, about how one generation comes to terms with the crimes of another.

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