Good Intentions

Featuring an extremely likable cast, lead by Luke Perry and Elaine Hendrix, this countrified comedy tells the story of the lengths a housewife will travel to make sure her kids get the chance they deserve. Even if it means dressing up in a ski mask and robbing your husband’s liquor store before he can spend the money on another one of his hair-brain get-rich-quick inventions. The story gets a little unwieldy at times, but director Jim Issa does a pretty good job of keeping it on track, while the cast does an excellent job of making it come alive. Hendrix, playing the housewife, steals the show with her sass and near perfect comic timing, while singer Leann Rimes proves she’s more than just a pretty face with a great voice. She can act, too.

Castle of Sand

It starts off as a routine police procedural, with two detectives investigating the mysterious death of an old man at a Tokyo railway station. As they gather clues and build their case, the cops start to discover that the mystery of the murdered man stretches far beyond anything they imagined, right to the doors of a concert hall where a young composer is premiering his new symphony, Destiny. Tetsuro Tamba and Kensaku Morita give good performances as the cops, but director Yoshitaro Nomura is the real star of this film. The way he transforms a generic series of flashbacks into an operatic exploration of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man – all done with music and images, no dialogue -- raise this movie to the level of true cinematic art.

Paris

Director Cédric Klapisch (Russian Dolls) takes the audiences on a tour through the lives of a group of Parisians as their paths intersect along the boulevards of the lovingly photographed City of Lights. Those looking for a neat narrative that ties the stories together will have to look elsewhere, though. Klapisch is more interested in creating an impressionistic portrait of the city and its people. More than give you a full meal about Parisians, he wants to give you a tasting menu of scenes designed to whet your appetite for more.

The Jerry Lewis Show Collection

Like scotch and milk or overripe durian fruit, the unique comic style of Jerry Lewis is an acquired taste. If you enjoy his comedy, then you’ll love this collection of highlights from 13 episodes of The Jerry Lewis Show that aired on NBC from 1967-69. If you’re on the fence about him, give it a shot, too. The characters he portrays – nebbish Sidney Portnoy, Professor Frobisher and Oriental detective Sam Lichee to name a few – are still very funny (if a bit dated) and the guest list is top notch. Even if you don’t think Lewis is funny, watch these shows long enough and you’re bound to laugh.

Amelia on Blu-ray

Directed by Mira Nair (The Namesake), Amelia is filled with beautifully photographed shots of refurbished antique airplanes flying through cloud covered skies and over beautiful scenery. It’s lovely to look at, especially on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the film is not a travelogue, but a biopic of legendary female aviator Amelia Earhart. While it manages to spell out the details that made Earhart’s achievements so memorable, it does a lousy job of bringing those details to life despite a strong performance by Hilary Swank who, as the newsreel footage in the Blu-ray extras prove, does a near-perfect impersonation of Earhart. The making of documentaries show how earnest everyone was in making the movie, too, but earnest doesn’t always equal entertainment.

Tom & Jerry’s Greatest Chases Volume 4

Before there was Ren & Stimpy and before there was Itchy and Scratchy, there was Tom & Jerry, a lovable cat and mouse comedy team who spent their days beating the crap out of each other and generally wreaking havoc along the way. Creators William Hannah and Joseph Barbera don’t bother too much with plot or subtle meanings. They just fill every cartoon with colorful comic gags. And as the episodes in this delightful collection prove, they were brilliant about it.

Straight Time

People who think of Dustin Hoffman only as the star of The Graduate or Tootsie will be pleasantly surprised – or horrified – with the actors gritty portrayal of Max Dembo, a career criminal who tries, and fails, to go straight after serving six years for armed robbery. Hoffman gives an uncompromising performance, never taking the easy way out by acting too cute to make his character likable or more viewer-friendly. He also doesn’t try to make him too tough or dangerous. As played by Hoffman, Dembo is an average guy who eventually realizes he’s just not made to make it on the right side of the law and then embraces his criminal career with devastating circumstances.