My personal DVD picks this week are the new editions of Lewis Teague's Alligator (scripted by indie filmmaker John Sayles), John Boorman's Deliverance (which is shockingly indie, even though it was released by a major Hollywood studio in 1972) and William Friedkin's Cruising (c'mon! Al Pacino in gay bars chasing a serial killer? That would definitely be an indie today.). But if you're looking for sometime a little more recent, here are three titles that received (mostly) positive reviews from our Cinematical critics.

Everyone's favorite Danish provocateur, Lars von Trier, made a "refreshing change" with The Boss of it All, according to our own Ryan Stewart. He said the director "turns his attention back to his own side of the Atlantic and finds his faith in humanity just as lacking, and his comic timing as sharp as its ever been." He felt the film "is absolutely a worthy entry in the von Trier canon and a reminder of the natural directing skill that he possesses."

Kim Voynar saw Francois Veber's comedy The Valet at AFI Dallas and enjoyed it. She noted that the plot was "a tad predictable" but "the film is genuinely funny, and at times the laughter from the packed house was so loud I was grateful for the subtitles so I could keep up." On the other hand, Nick Schager did not laugh so much: "This lack of any dynamic energy, any hysterical verve, is what ultimately dooms The Valet's attempts at innocuous whimsy." Sony's DVD includes an audio commentary by the director.

Zoo is a documentary that tackles "the difficult task of exploring the death of a man who had sex with a horse," as Kim Voynar wrote in her Sundance review. That may be enough for you to decide if you want to rent it, but Kim expounded at length if you'd like to know more. The DVD from ThinkFilm includes an audio commentary by writer/director Robinson Devor and writer Charles Mudede.

One consumer warning, I'm afraid. As I've written before, Thai horror film The Victim looks gorgeous, but its unimaginative use of horror movie conventions (loud! bang!!) and "twists" that are telegraphed far in advance quickly become tiresome.

When I go to a French comedy, I'm never quite sure what I'm getting into. There's very little middle ground for me with that particular sub-genre of film -- either I really like it or the humor completely eludes me and I don't get it. The Valet, which had one screening here at AFI Dallas, was fortunately one of the former. This is one of the most crowd-pleasing French comedies I've seen since I saw OSS-117: Nest of Spies at last year's Seattle International Film Festival.

The Valet tells the tale of François Pignon (Gad Elmaleh), a sad-sack parking valet who shares his small, crummy apartment with his best friend, Richard (Dany Boon). Parking cars for a living isn't the type of job that lands you a lot of hot babes in Paris, and the two friends support each other in their mutual misery. Francois is not without hope, however. He's long been in love with childhood friend Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen), a fresh-faced intellectual who owns a tiny bookstore. Emilie's father is his father's doctor, and they've all known each other forever. Francois decides to propose to the girl of his dreams -- he pays for a ring on layaway for a year, and then he's ready.

With the non-stop flow of Hollywood films parading through American multiplexes, it's sometimes easy to forget that the U.S. isn't the only country in the world making movies -- not by a long shot. This week on Trailer Park we're looking at trailers from around the world.

Sunshine
With film's like Trainspotting and 28 Days Later under his belt, British filmmaker Danny Boyle certainly knows bleak. Earth's sun is dying, and after one crew of astronauts failed in the attempt to reignite it (I'm sure it's just the pilot light), a new crew is dispatched as the last hope for humanity. 28 Days star Cillian Murphy is here, along with an interesting multi-national cast including Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans and Michelle Yeoh. Boyle's track record alone has me excited about this one, although I wish the trailer had explained a bit more. Cillian Murphy's narration summarizes the plot, then we're treated to a barrage of action sequences. Interesting, sure, but I wanted a little more insight into the human drama I've come to expect from Boyle. At any rate, I'll be eagerly awaiting this one. Here's what Erik Davis thought of it.

The Host
There's a new domestic trailer out there for this Korean monster flick that's been getting lots of buzz for awhile now. Plans are already afoot for a U.S. remake, but the original will be hitting U.S. theaters on March 9 (news of U.S. distribution for the film was mentioned here). This trailer has English dialogue spoken by what appear to be American characters, so I'm not clear on whether the majority of the film is dubbed or subtitled (I'm sincerely hoping for the latter). Three generations of a Korean family are thrown into turmoil when their youngest member is taken by one of the most horrific movie monsters I've seen in many a day (and you don't even see it all that clearly). This trailer seems to play up the humor of the dysfunctional family more than the Korean trailer did. If enough of us go see this one, maybe we can render the remake superfluous before it's even made. Something to think about.

Back in April we reported on yet another remake of a foreign film, this one to be directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly from a smash-hit French comedy called The Valet. Today, in an unusual twist (at least for non J-horror films), we hear that Sony Pictures Classics will bring the original film to these shores, a move that might have DreamWorks, the studio making the remake, a little nervous. After all, how many remakes are better than the originals? I mean, what if people see and actually like the French film? So much pressure for those poor Farrellys! That said, however, I'm not sure there's a significant overlap in the audiences for their films and those for subtitled comedies ...

In case you've forgotten, The Valet (both versions, one assumes) is about a "multimillionaire tycoon photographed kissing his famous mistress. To prevent his wife from seeking divorce, he bribes a parking valet to pose as his mistress' lover." In the French film, the tycoon is played by the completely wonderful Daniel Auteuil, while his wife, surprisingly, is played by Kristin Scott Thomas. The film was directed by Francis Veber, remakes of whose works -- The Birdcage primary among them -- have been fairly successful with American audiences; it'll be interesting to see how people react to the real thing when it's released here early next year.

DreamWorks has snatched up the remake rights to French director Francis Veber's La Doublure -- released only a month ago in France -- and signed Bobby and Peter Farrelly to direct said remake, which will be called The Valet. The film, not surprisingly, is a comedy about "a hapless valet who is captured in a photo of a fight between a Donald Trump-type mogul and his mistress, leading to all sorts of comedic entanglements." The main "entanglement" is that the valet is asked to "shack up" with the mistress -- something about giving the mogul a reason to get a divorce. (Variety's review is here, if you want to try to figure it out for yourself.) I'm just guessing here, but I'll bet you that someone ends up falling in love, despite class differences and awkward circumstances.

Based on reviews I've read, Veber's reputation is that he makes proverbial comedies with heart, and French audiences tend to dig them. American audiences, though we probably don't know it, have seen a few of his films as well -- remade, of course. The Birdcage, Father's Day, and Three Fugitives were all based on his comedies, and DreamWorks is fervently hoping The Valet makes Birdcage-style profits.

The movie has just been set to a writer, so it will be a while before we see how this newest Veber-rehash works out.