DVD Releases: July 29, 2008

Doomsday

Movie Website: DoomsdayIsComing.com

Genre: Action, Thriller

Rating: R

Actors/Actresses: Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Alexander Siddig, Malcolm McDowell

Synopsis: The year is 2008, and a pandemic threatens to wipe out the whole of the human race. For many in the United Kingdom–the epicenter of the outbreak–the end is nigh, so why bother to keep count? Within days of detection of the Reaper virus millions are infected in Scotland, the killer disease’s home turf. Government has no choice but to declare the country a ‘hot zone’ and quarantine the populace in hopes of containing the Reaper’s spread. What was once Scotland is now a forgotten No Man’s Land, with the Reaper given free reign to annihilate the population sealed inside. A quarter of a century later, with a new outbreak of the Reaper resurfacing in London, it becomes apparent that the government’s best laid plans have gone completely, bloody awry. Department of Domestic Security (DDS) Chief Bill Nelson is summoned to meet with the prime minister and the true power behind his office, Michael Canaris, who reveal satellite photos of Reaper survivors in the hot zone. And survivors must mean there’s a cure. Nelson quickly assembles a crack team of specialists to venture into the forsaken land and retrieve the counteragent to the virus. For the tough and efficient commanding officer, Major Eden Sinclair, the assignment represents a disquieting homecoming. Twenty-five years earlier, she had been shoved into one of the last evacuating military choppers and flown to safety–forced to leave her mother behind. Once on the other side of the immediately re-secured border, the squadron is on its own, venturing into a ghoulish terrain of corpse-strewn, forlorn cities. All too soon, however, the crew meets up with a pack of feral survivors, and finds itself unwittingly standing in for the callous government that turned its back years before.

Never Back Down

Movie Website: NeverBackDownTheMovie.com

Genre: Action, Drama, Sports

Rating: PG-13

Actors/Actresses: Sean Faris, Djimon Hounsou, Cam Gigandet, Amber Heard, Evan Peters, Wyatt Smith

Synopsis: Jake Tyler has recently moved to Orlando, Florida with his family to support his younger brother’s shot at a professional tennis career. Jake was a star athlete on the football team at home, but in this new city he is an outsider with a reputation for being a quick tempered brawler. Making an attempt to fit in, at the invitation of a flirtatious classmate, Baja, Jake goes to a party where he is unwittingly pulled into a fight with a bully named Ryan McDonald. While he is defeated and humiliated in the fight, a classmate introduces himself to Jake and tells him about the sport known as Mixed Marshall Arts (MMA). He sees a star in Jake and asks that he meet with his mentor, Jean Roqua. It is immediately apparent to Jake that MMA is not street fighting, but rather an art form he wants to master. Roqua will take Jake under his wing, but it is up to Jake to find the patience, discipline, willingness and reason within him to succeed. For Jake, there is much more at stake than mere victory. His decision will not just settle a score; it will define who he is.

Shine A Light 

Movie Website: ShineALightmovie.com

Genre: Documentary

Rating: PG-13

Actors/Actresses: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Christina Aguilera, Buddy Guy, Jack White III

Synopsis: On April 4, 2008, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker and the world’s greatest rock n’ roll band will unite to bring audiences the year’s most extraordinary musical film event, “Shine a Light,” to theaters everywhere.

Martin Scorsese’s concert documentary “Shine a Light” will show the world the Rolling Stones as they’ve never been seen before. Filming at the famed Beacon Theatre in New York City in fall 2006, Scorsese assembled a legendary team of cinematographers to capture the raw energy of the legendary band.

Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (”The Aviator,” “JFK”) supervised the camera team comprised of several highly acclaimed directors of photography, including Oscar winner John Toll (”The Last Samurai,” “Braveheart”), Oscar winner Andrew Lesnie (”The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “King Kong”), Oscar nominee Stuart Dryburgh (”The Piano,” “The Painted Veil”), Oscar nominee Robert Elswit (”Magnolia,” “Good Night, And Good Luck.”), Oscar nominee Emmanuel Lubezki (”Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Sleepy Hollow”) and Ellen Kuras (”Summer of Sam,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). The film was edited by David Tedeschi, who most recently worked with Scorsese on the acclaimed Bob Dylan documentary “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan.”

Financed by Steve Bing’s Shangri-La Entertainment and longtime Rolling Stones tour promoter Michael Cohl’s Concert Promotions International, the film was produced by Victoria Pearman, Michael Cohl, Zane Weiner and Steve Bing. The executive producers are Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, with Jane Rose serving as co-executive producer.

The Band’s Visit

Movie Website: SonyClassics.com/thebandsvisit

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Rating: PG-13

Actors/Actresses: Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai, Uri Gavriel, Imad Jabarin, Ahuva Keren, Rubi Moskovitz, Khalifa Natour, Hilla Sarjon, Eyad Sheety

Synopsis: The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center. Dressed in full regalia and observing all military police protocol, the members of the orchestra are at a pivotal time in their careers. It’s not just the political nature of an Arab military police band playing traditional Arab music in Israel that makes this event so important; budget cuts and many reorganizations have threatened the continued existence of the Orchestra. Faced with the heavy burden of this assignment, the stoic conductor Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) is determined not to foul their excursion.

Despite all Tewfiqs efforts, it’s not long before problems arise. The band arrives at the airport with no one there to greet them. Stranded and unable able to contact their Israeli hosts or the Egyptian consulate for help, Tewfiq decides that the Orchestra will persevere with its assignment and orders, and designates Khaled, a sauve young ladies man (Saleh Bakri), to ask for directions. Khaled and the station agent struggle in English, Arabic and Hebrew to communicate, but despite their best efforts, the Orchestra is sent to the outskirts of a small forgotten Israeli town in the desert.

Faced with an unknown landscape, and disgruntled and hungry men, Tewfiq brings the men to a small café in the nearby town and humbly asks the proprietor, Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), for lunch. Not wanting the turn the Orchestra away, Dina invites the men to stay with her and a few of her friends. To punish Khaled for his earlier subordination, Tewfiq orders Khaled to stay with him at Dina’s, while the other men break up and follow their hosts for the night.

Dina brings the two men to her modest apartment where they begin to discuss not the political issues that divides their two cultures, but it’s the intimate details of their personal lives that bring the trio closer together. Before long, Dina’s wry, playful self-confidence, and undisguised sexuality make Tewfiq immediately uncomfortable. Regardless, she is persistent in her attraction to the older, serious Tewfiq, and after some prodding from Khaled, the melancholy band leader reluctantly accepts Dina’s invitation to dinner. The proud Arab man in his powder blue military uniform and the free-spirited Israeli woman make an odd couple at the local restaurant, but her persistent compassion breaks through his gentlemanly demeanor and the duo form a bridge of understanding.

With the older Dina and Tewfiq gone from the apartment, Khaled decides to tag along with people closer to his age and convinces the shy and insecure Papi (Shlomi Avraham) to let him join as the fourth wheel on a double date night at a roller disco. When Papi fails to court the girl his cousin set up as his blind date, Papi turns to the suave Khaled for advice. With a little prodding and a lot of direction, Khaled helps Papi break the ice with his date. Meanwhile, the other band members, headed by second-in-command Simon (Khalifa Natour), stay with Itzik (Rubi Moscovich), which ultimately lead to tensions with his family and to revelations about fulfillment that cross cultural boundaries.

When the band leaves in the morning for their intended destination, it is clear that their unplanned detour was worth the trip.

Surfwise

Movie Website: SurfwiseFilm.com

Genre: Documentary

Rating: R

Actors/Actresses: N/A

Synopsis: One need not be a surfing fanatic to find something interesting in SURFWISE, Doug Pray’s thought-provoking documentary about the legendary and unconventional Paskowitz family. The first family in surfing became famous for its large size, for earning countless trophies, and for its eccentric leader, Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz. Once an admired figure in the medical community, Dorian decided while at the height of his success to leave it all behind, heading for a life on the beach. While traveling the world in search of the next great wave, Dorian met and married Juliette, who shortly began birthing their nine children. Born in quick succession and never placed in school, the kids were raised in the ocean and in an ever-moving camper. Though they seemed unconventional to outsiders, their atypical routine was actually highly controlled by Dorian, who wanted to raise his family the way animals live, free of the material world. The film takes viewers on a turbulent ride through the family’s complex history, first focusing on its patriarch and then slowly moving through the years with commentary by the family’s seven now-grown children. Careful never to judge, SURFWISE simply presents the story as experienced by those on the inside. Even at age 85, Dorian appears before the camera outspoken and sure as ever that the extreme way he raised his children was a gift to them. Scenes of complaint by the adult children are countered by a hopeful reunion at the end. Though Pray doesn’t break any new filmmaking ground here, he chooses an intriguing subject that, in turn, prompts viewers to leave the film looking at family dynamics, tradition, and personal sacrifice in a new way.