New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Body of Lies (2008) **½ The film has one indelible asset: Mark Strong, who plays the Jordanian spymaster Hani. He’s sleek and lounge-lizard sharp like a young Andy Garcia, and he could be bigger than Garcia. The Jordanian holds all the cards, and opposite two superstars (Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe), Strong is the only actor who holds the camera.

Changeling (2008) **½ While the neo-Gothic tale is inherently intriguing, the film should inspire strong emotion, but deliberate pacing and a contained sense of melodrama make it a surprisingly passive experience.

Choke (2008) ** Cluttered and flavorless, it crams the novel’s nervy narration into an irritating voiceover, and leaps around in time and space with all the attention span of an ADD-addled child.

Flash of Genius (2008) **½ No matter how noble, not everyone’s life should be made into a movie.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) **½ Even if the refreshing gust doesn’t stay with you long, it’s fun while it lasts.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008) *½ The movie based on Toby Young’s 2002 memoir is a good bit blunter than its source. One early laugh comes at the expense of a pig urinating on a woman’s feet at the BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars. And it doesn’t get much better, or much smarter, than that.

I Served the King of England (2008) *** It’s a funny, even whimsical film about a man who survives tragic times, complete with Nazis, pratfalls and plenty of mugging.

Quarantine (2008) ** Director John Erick Dowdle manages a few nice shocks and some neat moments of pitch-black gallows humor, but this film nevertheless feels awfully familiar, and it grows less convincing with each passing moment. At its worst, it abandons realism entirely and flirts with gory kitsch.

Religulous (2008) **½ While even believers can support humorist/author Bill Maher’s skepticism, when he denounces the faithful in sweeping absolutes at film’s end, he sounds as absolutely certain as those he has mocked for the previous 100 minutes.