New movies to be released this week on DVD

(Click on title to view the trailer)
Deception (2008) * A throwback to the erotic thrillers of the ‘80s and ‘90s — you’d swear Michael Douglas or Demi Moore were going to show up any minute — this movie would be laughably bad if it weren’t so rotely inert.

The Foot Fist Way (2008) **½ This film was reportedly shot in 19 days, a revelation that’s hardly surprising. The film’s overall lack of polish provides a certain anti-Hollywood charm, but it also underscores the fact that a film needs more than humble roots to be special. It’s more amusing than not, but some scenes outlast the humor in them.

Leatherheads (2008) ** This is not that good a movie, and yet it would be hard to enjoy saying anything nasty about it. Imagine a really nice, jolly, genial person with a mild, intermittent hygiene problem. This movie is a little like that. It exudes goodwill and high spirits, occasionally makes you feel really good, and yet here and there and in some definite ways, it kinda sorta stinks.

Mother of Tears (2008) ** Director Dario Argento is admired for his voluptuous use of color and his operatic bloodletting; this is lovely to look at, if you can stand to.

Pathology (2008) ** Like its characters, the picture is too clever for its own good, allowing the meticulously researched scenario about hotshot morgue interns who kill degenerates just for the sport of it to be undone by implausible behavior and gaping plot holes.

Run, Fat Boy, Run (2008) **½ The humor tends toward the mildly crass — bare buttocks and inappropriate scratching are director David Schwimmer’s go-to comedy staples — and the story is ridiculous. But Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the script, plays to his strengths. You can’t help but root for the loser.

Sex and the City (2008) ** If this fabulously decked-out foursome is self-absorbed enough to be inadvertently cruel on occasion, they also suffer lots of guilt — though their angst is rendered somewhat less angsty for viewers by the zingers, the designers, and the cheerfully objectified men on display.