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With the January box office grossing more than $1 billion and February the highest ever for that month, 2009 has brought big business to the big screen in a weary economy. However, if you prefer quiet movie nights at home, here are some big releases coming in March on DVD and Blu-ray.
Cadillac Records (March 10)
Starring: Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Beyonce Knowles
Watch the story about the rise of Chess Records, which helped launch the career of prominent black artists like Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Etta James.
Twilight (March 21)
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson
One of the most talked-about movies of 2008, “Twilight” is the teen-romance story based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer, in which a teen girl falls in love with a vampire.
Seven Pounds (March 31)
Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson
An IRS agent (Smith) sets out on a quest to help seven strangers. However, things get complicated when he falls in love with one of them, a woman (Dawson) with a rare heart condition.
One of the hottest DVD rentals over the past few weeks has been “Lakeview Terrace,” where Samuel L. Jackson plays a cop that tries to force the interracial couple next door to move out, by any means necessary.
Still going strong is “The Secret Life of Bees,” with the wonderful cast of Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys. A young girl runs away with her “stand-in” mother and learns about love, family and beekeeping from a trio of sisters.
Also worth checking out are some special-edition and recent DVD releases of movies that weren’t in theaters:
Gospel Hill
Starring: Angela Bassett, Danny Glover
Forty years after the murder of a civil rights activist, his son John (Glover) is urged by his wife Sarah (Bassett) to continue the mission to save the neighborhood of Gospel Hill from developers intent on buying up black owned homes in order to create a golf course for the rich.
The Way of War
Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr.
Gooding plays a paramilitary operative who works to expose the truth about a U.S. government conspiracy.
The Sidney Poitier Collection
Warner Home Video pays tribute to legendary Sidney Poitier with a four-film box set of his work: “Edge of the City,” “A Patch of Blue,” “Something of Value” and “A Warm December.”
Kary Bowser is co-producer of the Matt & Ramona Show (107.9, The Link). Read his reviews at kbowser.wordpress.com. Email: kbowser@mattandramona.com.
