New movies to be released this week on DVD

(click on title to see trailer)

Boy A (2008) ***½ A compelling, compact melodrama that packs an emotional wallop. The film's both smart and devastating as it unthreads interwoven questions about redemption, justice, and the pivotal role of history in shaping an individual and his actions. Jack, as played by Andrew Garfield, comes across as agonized, desperately anxious to get things right -- something you might also say about the filmmakers, who have turned Jack’s very particular story into a scary, universal and wrenching social statement. Garfield's performance makes Jack so endearing and vulnerable that as he takes his first wobbly steps, like a baby bird shoved from its nest, your instincts are protective.

The Happening (2008) * A high-toned revenge-of-nature horror picture, it's a little depressed, with only gross-out shocks (gushing jugulars, bodies run over by lawnmowers) to relieve the torpor. Mark Wahlberg turns in one of his worst performances ever, but then he's saddled with preposterous scenes. M. Night Shyamalan still sees dead people, only now they're the best thing in the movie.

Paranoid Park (2008) *** This is a rare breed: a movie about teenagers in which the characters talk like real teenagers, act like real teenagers, and are played by real teenagers. The story's fractured structure - and Christopher Doyle's dreamlike cinematography - make for a striking mood piece. Slight but fascinating.

The Visitor (2008) ***½ This audaciously issues-loaded indie drama works, improbably and entirely, on account of the marvelous, often familiar-looking, rarely starring character actor Richard Jenkins and his perfect performance as a stodgy, widowed economics professor. Like few of his filmmaking peers, writer-director Thomas McCarthy understands and respects the power of quiet, and how a whisper can be as explosive as a shout.

You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (2008) ** This film is terrible in many ways, and shoddy in every way that has to do with filmmaking. But politically it's sort of interesting. Though a bunch of the jokes are milked too thin, there are some absurdly goofy sight gags — like a hacky sack game enlisting a family pet — and a lineup of fun, silly cameos.