December 2005 DVD & Blu-rays

Cinderella Man is inspired by the life of legendary athlete Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe), a once-promising light heavyweight boxer forced into retirement after a string of losses in the ring. As the nation enters the darkest years of the Great Depression, Braddock accepts a string of dead-end jobs to support his wife, Mae (Renée Zellweger), and their children, while never totally abandoning his dream of boxing again.

Thanks to a last minute cancellation, Braddock finds himself back in the ring against the second-ranked world contender -- and to everyone's amazement, Braddock wins in the third round. Despite being pounds lighter than his opponents and repeated injuries to his hands, Braddock continues to fight against challengers and win. Carrying on his shoulders the hopes and dreams of the disenfranchised masses, Braddock, dubbed the "Cinderella Man," faces his toughest challenger in Max Baer (Craig Bierko), the heavyweight champion of the world, renowned for having killed two men in the ring.

Sometimes a girl has to get a little down and dirty before she can find pure love. In the slapstick comedy, "Dirty Love", Jenny McCarthy is gorgeous, goofy, and gross all at once in this hilarious take on one woman's chaotic quest for true love. It's a knowing, funny, trashy, guilty pleasure, in the spirit of "Porky's" and "National Lampoon", only this time, it's through the eyes of one of America's covergirl: Jenny McCarthy.

Blonde bombshell Rebecca (Jenny McCarthy) thinks she is walking on sunshine in the arms of her super hot model boyfriend, Richard (Victor Webster). But one night she comes home from a long day at work and finds Richard engaged in sexual acrobatics with another woman in their bed.

Rebecca's struggle to understand how a good love could turn so bad begins hilariously and appropriately on the Hollywood Walk of Fame when she falls flat on her face among the hookers and the bums. She gets not so helpful words of wisdom from a pushy psychic (Kathy Griffin) who tells her that true love will NOT ride in on a virile white stallion but rather a white pony. Rebecca is bummed out. The psychic tells her that first she has a lot of difficult lessons to learn about the meaning of pure love.

Throughout her series of funny lessons on love, Rebecca finds support from her posse of off- beat friends. Michelle (Carmen Electra), a wanna-be-black girl, breaks the mold as a hip-hop hair-waxing beautician. Carrie (Kam Haskin), a ditsy sexy actress, struggles to navigate around the casting couch. John (Eddie Kaye Thomas), the nicest guy Rebecca knows, harbors secret feelings for Rebecca.

With the help of her friends, Rebecca flails and fails while looking for another man in hopes of making Richard jealous. Their crazy matchmaking schemes backfire. Rebecca travels a strange and wild trip of funny sexual encounters that includes putting basses in asses and pulling hanker-chiefs out. Discouraged by the series of losers she meets, Rebecca swears off finding true love and settles for good old cheap meaningless sex.

Meanwhile John musters up the courage and professes his love to Rebecca. However, afraid and unsure, Rebecca foolishly finds excuses for why it can't work. A wounded John retreats into the lonely night and wanders the city streets. Now, it's Rebecca's turn to do the chasing. In a send up of the Cinderella story, John loses his shoe and Rebecca retrieves it. To her surprise she finds her white pony in the form of his white Pony brand tennis shoe. Remembering what the psychic told her, she sees the meaning of the shoe and declares her love to John.

The Fantastic Four are: Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), who can elongate his body; Susan Storm / Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), who not only can become invisible at will but can render other objects invisible; Johnny Storm / Human Torch (Chris Evans), who can shoot fire from his finger tips and bend flame; and Ben Grimm / The Thing (Michael Chiklis), a hideously misshapen monster with superhuman strength; together, they battle the evil Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon).

Snoop Dogg stars as Corde, a young charismatic player who sees a better way of life and financial success in the street game. His mentor is Orange Juice, a veteran man of leisure, with all the street credibility to back it up. OJ teaches Corde the rules of the game and raises him up as his young prot.

A brave-but-undersized pigeon, named Valiant, dreams of joining the elite Royal Homing Pigeon Service and serving crown and country during World War II. Despite his small stature, Valiant's ambitions are enormous as he keeps a stiff upper beak and endures rigorous training in preparation for a dangerous mission to deliver vital messages to troops behind enemy lines. With a shortage of wingpower in the royal fleet due to increased attacks by a brigade of vicious enemy falcons--led by the ruthless General Von Talon--the mission falls to Valiant and the unlikely heroes of Squad F to try and save the day. With a wing and a prayer, Valiant and his fine feathered pals fly into harm's way and prove that it's not the size of the wingspan that counts, but the size of the spirit.

40-year-old Andy Stitzer (Steve Carrell) has done quite a few things in his life. He's got a cushy job stamping invoices at an electronics superstore, a nice apartment with a proud collection of action figures and comic books, good friends, a nice attitude. But there's just one little thing he hasn't quite gotten around to doing yet--something most people have done by his age. Done a lot. Andy's never, ever, ever had sex--not even by accident. So is that such a big deal?

Well, for Andy's buds at the store, it sure is. Although they think he's a bit of an oddball, there's certainly a planetful of stranger (and homelier) guys who've at least had one go at having a go. They consider it their duty to help Andy out of his dire situation and go to great lengths to help him. But nothing proves effective enough to lure their friend out of lifelong chastity until he meets Trish (Catherine Keener), a 40-year-old mother of three. Andy's friends are psyched by the possibility that "it" may finally happen...until they hear that Andy and Trish have begun their relationship based on a mutual no-sex policy.

Set in present day, the story follows the adventures of "good old boy" cousins, Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville) Duke, who with the help of their eye-catching cousin Daisy (Jessica Simpson) and moonshine running Uncle Jesse (Willie Nelson), try and save the family farm from being destroyed by Hazzard County's corrupt commissioner Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds). Their efforts constantly find the "Duke Boys" eluding authorities in "The General Lee," their famed 1969 orange Dodge Charger that keeps them one step ahead of the dimwitted antics of the small southern town's Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (M.C. Gainey).

"Pretty Persuasion" is a dark satire of our present day do-it-yourself scandal, manipulate-the-media, easy fix pill-popping, overnight celebrity obsessed culture. When worldly-wise beyond her years high school student Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) accuses her English teacher (Ron Livingston) of sexual harassment, she turns her exclusive Beverly Hills private school, and everything else in her wake, upside down. Hell hath no fury like a teenager scorned...

This is the story of Ralph Walker, a 14-year-old who in 1954 outran everyone's expectations in his bold quest to win the Boston Marathon. His seriously ill mother knows he is waiting to explode into greatness, except that he has no idea where that greatness will manifest itself. Then, an unfortunate incident of self-abuse in the community pool inadvertently points him in the right direction. As penance for his actions, Ralph is conscripted to the cross-country team. Desperate to believe a miracle will bring his mother out of a coma, Ralph becomes a convert to the church of running and sets his sights on winning the Boston Marathon.

"Sin City" stars Bruce Willis as Hartigan, a cop with a bum ticker and a vow to protect stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba); Mickey Rourke as Marv, the outcast misanthrope on a mission to avenge the death of his one true love, Goldie (Jaime King), and Clive Owen as Dwight, the clandestine love of Shelley (Brittany Murphy), who spends his nights defending Gail (Rosario Dawson) and her Old Towne girls (Devon Aoki and Alexis Bledel) from Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), a dirty cop with a penchant for violence.

Life for Kronk is going pretty good these days. He was the muscle bound but lovable henchman that did all the dirty work for the evil Yzma in "The Emperor's New Groove". Now Emperor Kuzco has changed his dastardly ways, and Yzma is nowhere to be found. Kronk's one happy guy! He thinks he has found the woman of his dreams, he is the head chef at Mudka's Meat Hut and does he have friends – old ones, young ones, new ones and, of course, there's his good pal Pacha, and his Junior Chipmunk kids who make him the best Camp Chimppamunka Leader around. To top it off, this is his movie! It's all about him. Great! Right? Wrong!

Kronk receives a letter from his Papi telling him he is coming for a visit. Kronk flips out! You see, all Kronk has ever wanted from Papi is a thumbs-up of approval, but he's never gotten it.

Then, Yzma returns and finds a way to lure Kronk back into her feline trap. She has found a new youth potion and convinces Kronk to be the salesman to all his pals at the senior home. It's a scam, and when the big soft–hearted lug realizes this he gives them their house back. But the woman of his dreams, Miss Birdwell, shuns him and breaks his heart.

With Papi still on his way, Kronk's friends come to the rescue. Our lovable hero realizes he is the richest, most successful man in the world – he has true friends. And Papi comes through with a big thumbs-up. Kronk learns that to be happy you must be "True to your Groove!"

In the late ‘70s when roller skating was a way of life, X (Bow Wow) and his pals ruled supreme. But when the doors of their local skating rink close, it marks the end of an era and the beginning of another that sees the boys venture into foreign territory - uptown's Sweetwater Roller Rink, complete with its over-the-top skaters and beautiful girls. Through his preparation for the showdown of the season - the Roller Jam skate off with the Sweetwater crew - X manages to find himself and also help his dad (Chi McBride) get back on track.

Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid-21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the "The Island"—reportedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie. He and all of the other inhabitants of the facility are actually human clones whose only purpose is to provide "spare parts" for their original human counterparts. Realizing it is only a matter of time before he is "harvested," Lincoln makes a daring escape with a beautiful fellow resident named Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson). Relentlessly pursued by the forces of the sinister institute that once housed them, Lincoln and Jordan engage in a race for their lives to literally meet their makers.

Based on a concept the director and Abbas Kiarostami developed on a photography trip together, a man and a young woman (Leila Hatami of Leila) are stranded in a remote village after their car breaks down. The photographer and the sole adult male inhabitant, a schoolteacher, leave to get help while the young woman, herself childless, bonds with the children whose parents are nowhere to be found.

Chronicles the anxiety-ridden two weeks leading to the marriage of Elliot Sherman who is the quintessential Baxter—the nice guy who never gets the girl.

"Beautiful Country" follows the story of Binh, a shy Vietnamese man in his 20s who embarks on a personal journey with a young beautiful woman, Ling, aboard a refugee ship to America in search of a better life and Binh's estranged American father.

Morris Buttermaker, a former pro baseball player was ejected from the game for attacking an umpire, and now works as an exterminator. More interested in boozing and broads than baseball, Buttermaker is lured back into the game by Liz Whitewood, an attorney whose class action suit has forced the Little League to accept all players, regardless of their abilities. As the new coach of the Bears, the most losing team in Little League history, Buttermaker has his work cut out for him. Initially, he's only in it for the paycheck, but he and his inept players have a transformative effect on one another that is wholly unexpected, and completely remarkable.

After their adoptive mother is murdered during a grocery store holdup, the Mercer brothers - hotheaded Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), hard-edged Angel (Tyrese Gibson), family man and businessman Jeremiah, and hard rocking Jack (Garrett Hedlund) - reunite to take the matter of her death into their own hands. As they track down the killer, they quickly realize that their old ways of doing business have new consequences. The four brothers come together to discover that they are bound by ties thicker than blood.

Martin Lawrence stars as a legendary but volatile Bobby Knight—like college basketball coach, Roy McCormick, who after a public meltdown is thrown out of the NCAA and finds himself at a misfit middle school where he's challenged to manage his anger; coaching a bunch of kids who don't know a lay-up from a free-throw.

In an extremely rare decision, the Catholic Church officially recognized the demonic possession of a 19 year-old college freshman. Told in terrifying flashbacks, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" chronicles the haunting trial of the priest accused of negligence resulting in the death of the young girl believed to be possessed. Inspired by true events, the film stars Laura Linney as the lawyer who takes on the task of defending the priest (Tom Wilkinson) who performed the controversial exorcism.

The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family - squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

When Mal takes on two new passengers-a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister-he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl. The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, they begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board Serenity herself.

Nobody believes a liar—even when they're telling the truth. When a young woman is found murdered, a group of local high school students decide to further scare their classmates by spreading online rumors that a serial killer called "The Wolf" is on the loose. By describing "The Wolf's" next victims, the students' game is to see how many people they can convince—and if anyone will uncover the lie. But when the described victims actually do start turning up dead, suddenly no one knows where the lies end and the truth begins. As someone or something begins hunting the students themselves, the game turns terrifyingly real.

Dating has never been easy. The time-honored search for a soul mate has always been one part humiliation, two parts aggravation, and a little blind luck thrown in for the fortunate. Today's version of the game can be a blur of websites, speed lunches and hordes of friends and relatives who know just the right person for you. Thirty-something preschool teacher Sarah Nolan has been divorced for eight months, which is much too long for her family to bear. With the best intentions and only her happiness in mind, they stage an intervention in an all-out effort to get her out of pajamas and back into the dating scene, one way or another. Leading the charge are Sarah's sisters, Carol and Christine, eager to line up potential suitors, and their widowed father Bill, who sets a fine example with his own recent and very successful foray into the internet dating realm. Bill has lately been seeing the free-spirited dolly, whom he met online, along with a number of other ladies whose names his daughters can't quite keep track of. Eager to launch their sister's own cyber-dating debut, Carol and Christine pretend to be Sarah and post her profile on perfectmatch.com, with the enticing message, Voluptuous, sensuous, alluring and fun. DWF seeks special man to share starlit nights. Must love dogs. And wait for the responses to pour in. Sarah soon endures a series of hilariously disastrous mismatches and first dates as the website offers up a stream of eager wannabes and one possible maybe -- awkward but intriguing boat builder Jake Anderson, an idealist who measures romance by a Dr. Shivago standard. A little on the intense side, Jake might be looking for more than Sarah wants right now. Meanwhile, at work, there's a new distraction—Bob Connor, the newly separated dad of one of her young students. Charming and relaxed, Bob seems made to order, the perfect guy--but is he just too good to be true?

After a dinner out, photographer Sophie Jacobs and her boyfriend, Hugh, stop at a corner store for a late night snack. While Sophie waits unaware in the car, Hugh is murdered in a violent robbery. Haunted by guilt, Sophie goes on with her life as best she can: teaching photography at a local art college, meeting her mother for lunch, and visiting her therapist. But one day at school, a slide mysteriously appears in the projector's carousel—an image of what looks like her car in front of the corner store the night of the shooting. Are these paranoid visions stemming from her grief and guilt, or does someone know something about the murder? As her investigation deepens, more strange events start to occur, drawing into question exactly what happened the night of Hugh's death.

A dark fantasy about the two "Brothers Grimm" (Matt Damon, Heath Ledger) who travel around the Napoleonic countryside vanquishing fake monsters and demons in exchange for cash. When the French government figures out what they're up to, they force the brothers to deal with the real thing—a number of murders being committed under mysterious circumstances in the northern woods between Germany and France. It is there that they have to try and discover what's really happening and deal with it before more people are killed or their lack of success leads to the guillotine.

Santa's Slay is an action infused horror-comedy that casts everyone's favorite holiday figure, Santa, in an entirely new and comedically sinister light. WWE wrestling star Bill Goldberg plays the devilish Santa Claus, who rather than being the harmless old fellow we know, is in fact a devil in disguise. The film also stars Emilie De Ravin and Douglas Smith as local teens who must try to stop the rampaging Santa.

In "Creep", Franka Potente stars as a woman who falls asleep at a subway station, only to wake up and find it deserted. When a train finally comes, she gets on board, but soon thereafter the train stops, and the power goes out.

Set in the Philippines in 1945, "The Great Raid" tells the true story of the 6th Ranger Battalion, under the com-mand of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) who undertake a daring rescue mission against all odds. Traveling thirty miles behind enemy lines, the 6th Ranger Battalion aims to liberate over 500 American prisoners-of- war from the notorious Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp in the most audacious rescue ever.

Tom Green stars as a bumbling buffoon, who lands at Butling after working his way through all other 'A' and 'B' jobs.

Dahlia Williams is starting a new life; newly separated with a new job and a new apartment, she's determined to put her relationship with her estranged husband behind her and devote herself to raising her daughter, Ceci. But when the strained separation disintegrates into a bitter custody battle, her situation takes a turn for the worse. Her new apartment--dilapidated, cramped, and worn--seems to take on a life of its own. Mysterious noises, persistent leaks of dark water, and strange happenings cause her imagination to run wild, sending her on a puzzling and mystifying pursuit to find out who is behind the endless mind games. As Dahlia frantically searches for the links between the riddles, the dark water seems to close around her. But one thing trumps all others in Dahlia's world: no matter what it is that's out there, she'll stop at nothing to find it.

"Into the Blue" is a thriller set in the deep, shark-infested waters of the Bahamas. When four young divers discover a legendary shipwreck rumored to contain millions in gold at the bottom of the sea, they believe their dream of buried treasure has come true. But nearby on the ocean floor, a sunken plane full of illegal cargo threatens their find. The friends make a pact to keep quiet about both discoveries so they can excavate the shipwreck before a rival treasure hunter uncovers their secret and beats them to the gold. But their plan goes awry when they realize dangerous smugglers are already closing in on the missing plane, and one of the friends makes a fatal decision that quickly turns the treasure hunters into the hunted.

Set in the world of up-and-coming artists, "Undiscovered" is a heartfelt and comic film that tells the story of an aspiring model who falls in love with a struggling musician when they suddenly cross paths on a NY subway train. Having achieved success as a NY model, Brier (James) decides to move to L.A. to launch an acting career. With the support of her acerbic agent and sometimes surrogate mom, Carrie (Fisher), Brier lands a spot in a highly sought after acting class where she befriends another would-be actress, Clea (Simpson). While out on the town discovering the music scene, Brier again crosses paths with Luke (Strait), a singer/songwriter who has been toiling for years without a record deal. Brier and Clea decide to help Luke and unbeknownst to him, they set out to create some L.A. style hype to get him noticed. As Luke's profile rises, so do the demands of his budding new career. When Luke and Brier can't hide the spark that was always there, they both discover that the price of fame may be higher than anyone expected.

He was a writer. He thought he wrote about the future but it really was the past. In his novel, a mysterious train left for 2046 every once in a while. Everyone who went there had the same intention—to recapture their lost memories. It was said that in 2046, nothing ever changed. Nobody knew for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back—except for one. He was there. He chose to leave. He wanted to change.

This time around, Stifler's younger brother Matt is shipped off to Band Camp for the summer when he faces expulsion from school. Hilarity, as they say, ensues. Look for returning cast members Eugene Levy and Chris Owen ('The Sherminator') to cameo.

In his mesmerizing new film "Grizzly Man", acclaimed director Werner Herzog explores the life and death of amateur grizzly bear expert and wildlife preservationist Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell lived unarmed among the bears for thirteen summers, and filmed his adventures in the wild during his final five seasons. In October 2003, Treadwell's remains, along with those of his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were discovered near their campsite in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Reserve. They had been mauled and devoured by a grizzly, the first known victims of a bear attack in the park. (The bear suspected of the killings was later shot by park officials.) In GRIZZLY MAN, Herzog plumbs not only the mystery of wild nature, but also the mystery of human nature as he chronicles Treadwell's final years in the wilderness. Herzog uses Treadwell's own startling documentary footage to paint a nuanced portrait of a complex and compelling figure while exploring larger questions about the uneasy relationship between man and nature.