Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 10/27

Orphan
An "outwardly angelic little girl" gets adopted by a new family consisting of Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga, and then begins to unleash her hidden evilness. In his review, Peter Martin wrote that Orphan "is so bats*** crazy that it wears you down just enough to accept the lunacy and enjoy the movie for what it is: every parent's worst nightmare, writ large in childish crayon." Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Whatever Works
Woody Allen's follow-up to Vicky Cristina Barcelona and return to the Big Apple takes his old man self out of the equation to give a new dude (played by Larry David) some May-December romance with Evan Rachel Wood. Nick Schager wasn't sold, and in his review, he wrote: "rather than an inspired meeting of kindred minds, their collaboration does little except reinforce the notion that Allen's creative well has long since run dry, his films now split into either inert, heavy-handed, detached spectacles of pretty people doing naughty things in foreign locales (Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), or leaden comedic larks in which notable names embody Allen's archetypal kvetching role." Rent it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
The next installment in the family film series. In his review, William Goss wrote: "All in all, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is an improvement over its massively forgettable predecessor: generally inoffensive (save perhaps for history buffs), a bit more charming than most of the non-Pixar competition, and frivolous in the best possible sense." Buy it for the family film collection. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Also out: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, Nothing Like the Holidays, Night of the Creeps, Criminal Ways, Stan Helsing




Afterwards
They're marketing this indie film as a thriller (yes, with my slightly misspelled attribution: "Feel every nerve fill with tension."), but this John Malkovich-starring film focuses on a man whose life has fallen apart, but faced with knowledge of his death, aims to make things right. (Read my review here for more details.) It's a dramatic tear-jerker, but worth a view. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Il Divo
This is a cinematic look into the life of longtime Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, peeking into the ways his name was linked to the Mafia and hundreds of deaths. Roger Ebert described it as "a deadpan, horrified comedy," and wrote: "The more we learn, the more fascinated we become, as [Toni] Servillo portrays him as poker-faced, hunched, impassive, observing all, revealing little, wise and cynical beyond measure." Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

Also out: The Achievers: The Story of the Lebowski Fans, Into Temptation, Fear(s) of the Dark, Medicine for Melancholy, Black Devil Doll, Perestroika, Jim Won Kim's The Butcher, Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown, Chanel, Chanel



Animation Express
Available through the National Film Board of Canada, this release is jam-packed with awesome short films, many of which you've probably heard of before, like the Oscar-winning Ryan and The Danish Poet, the Oscar-nominated Madame Tutli-Putli, as well as The Spine, Runaway, and Vive La Rose from this year's TIFF. 39 shorts in all.

Stargate: 15th Anniversary Edition
This is a double-dip after the first Blu-ray release in 2006, but IGN says it's "possibly the most thorough and technically advanced presentation of the film to date." The video remains the same, but the audio is upgraded to a 7.1 DTS-HD master audio track, and there's some new special features.

Also out: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, Beast Stalker, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, Look for a Star, Monty Python: Almost the Truth, Night of the Creeps: Director's Cut, Nothing Like the Holidays, Stan Helsing, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure



The Sam Fuller Film Collection
A collection to introduce you to the works of Sam Fuller, it consists of seven films, two that he directed: It Happened in Hollywood, Adventure in Sahara, Power of the Press, Shockproof, Scandal Sheet, The Crimson Kimono, and Underworld U.S.A. There are special introductions from the likes of Scorsese and Wenders, and four featurettes.

Also out: Z - Criterion, 42nd Street Forever 5: Alamo Drafthouse Edition, Luis Banuel's Death in the Garden