What It's About: Jay Roach (the 'Austin Powers' and 'Meet the Parents' franchises) directed this off-the wall tale about an up-and-coming executive (Paul Rudd) whose career advancement hinges on attending his boss' Dinner for Extraordinary People, an event where the winner of the evening brings the biggest loser as his guest. For Rudd, that loser is Steve Carell, an IRS employee who devotes his spare time to building elaborate taxidermy mouse dioramas. Unfortunately for Rudd, Carell finagles his way into his life, making a catastrophic mess of things.
It's Kinda Like: 'You, Me and Dupree' meets 'Dumb & Dumber'
What We Say: Roach's flair for low-brow comedy hits its peak here, with more stupid situations, more inane bathroom humor and more wild bouts of misunderstanding and miscommunication than any film has a right to have. It has the kind of misadventures that make you grimace and flinch and smack yourself in the head for not hitting the "stop" button -- but, like a horrible car crash, you just have to keep looking to see how bad it is. Based on a Francis Veber French comedy that plays better than this version.
• Extras: Deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
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10 Most Awkward Dinner Scenes in Movies
'Dinner for Schmucks' Deleted Scene
What It's About: Danny Trejo plays Machete, a no-nonsense, ass-kicking ex-Mexican Federale who's betrayed by his bosses and left for dead after being ambushed by the minions of drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal). Now living as an illegal in Texas, Machete gets involved with a political spin doctor (Jeff Fahey) to make a fake assassination attempt on a rabid anti-immigrant senator (Robert De Niro), and again gets double crossed, forcing him to go on the run and track down the bad guys with his weapon of choice: a machete. And the heads go flying.
It's Kinda Like: 'Desperado' meets 'Monty Python'
What We Say: 'Machete' has no pretensions to be other than it is: a silly, overblown comic strip of a movie that harks back to '60s and '70s exploitation films. Machete just wants to get even with the villains and he'll stop at nothing to succeed. The outrageous situations and bloody dismemberments have no shock value -- it's all in fun. There's no message -- accept that bad guys are really bad and that the good guys are really good -- and there's absolutely no semblance of reality. It's straight-ahead action and fun with bigger-than-life characters and dialogue (our favorite, when Machete is handed a cell phone: "Machete don't text"). Co-directed by Robert Rodriguez.
• Extras: Deleted scenes that reveal never-before-seen characters, twisting plot lines, and more bloody good action.
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Exclusive 'Machete' Deleted Scene: Robert De Niro Teases Jessica Alba
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What It's About: Another horror film revolving around a mock documentary, this time about a preacher who develops a conscience after many years of performing fake exorcisms. When he's called upon to perform just another routine "exorcism" on a young girl, he brings along a crew to film a confessionary documentary of this, his last exorcism. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the young girl is really possessed by evil, and the reverend and his crew have to figure out how to beat the devil to save the girl -- and themselves -- before it's too late.
It's Kinda Like: 'Elmer Gantry' meets 'The Exorcist'
What We Say: This low-tech thriller takes viewers on a bumpy, scare-filled road that actually fleshes out its characters and makes you invest some time in their world before slamming you with horror not based on gore but things that go bump in the night. And we mean bump. Unfortunately, the story begins to fall about after the half-way point, leading up to a pretty unsatisfying ending.
• Extras: Commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a scary 'Real Stories of Exorcism' featurette.
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What It's About: Here's a documentary about the world of online social relationships that starts out as a love story and ends up as a detective mystery. Nev, a 24-year-old New York-based photographer (and brother to the film's co-director), meets online an 8-year-old girl from rural Michigan who sends him a painting she made of one of his photos. Nev begins a friendship and correspondence with the girl's family and even develops a cyber-romance with her attractive older sister, a musician and model. But some things about the family don't ring true, and Nev, his brother (Ariel Schulman) and co-director Henry Joost hit the road in search of the truth.
It's Kinda Like: 'Grey Gardens' meets 'Sherman's March'
What We Say: Doubts have arisen as to how much of 'Catfish' was planned from the outset (it does look like there were staged scenes along the way), but truth be told, there's really no such thing as a true, observational documentary cinema (unless you're Fredrick Wiseman, and even then the master has to chose and edit his subjects). And this film has enough reality behind it to make any questions as to its veracity moot -- these things happened and these people are real. It's a terrific cautionary tale about "connectedness" in the 21st century -- and it's a terrifically involving and well-made film. It's a shame that its theatrical run was so weak. If you're on Facebook, use Craigslist or Twitter, rent or buy 'Catfish' right now!
• Extras: An illuminating interview with the filmmakers.
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Best in Blu-ray: 'Ishtar,' 'Backdraft,' 'The Last Exorcism,' 'Case 39'
Other New January 4 DVD Releases:
'Bitter Feast': A celebrity chef exacts revenge on a food blogger who torpedoed his career.
'Case 39': A devoted family services specialist (Renee Zellweger) takes on the case of an abused child only to uncover horrific supernaturally-tinged secrets.
'Gun': Thriller follows Detroit cops as they mount a full-scale war against gun runners.
'Howl': 1950s-era story focusing on the famous obscenity trial launched to censor Allen Ginsberg's ground-breaking book-length poem 'Howl,' with James Franco as a terrific Ginsberg.
'The Lena Baker Story': The story of an impoverished and uneducated black woman's struggles in rural 1940s Georgia; Baker was the only woman to be sentenced to death by electric chair in the state.
'Ticking Clock': An investigative crime reporter stumbles upon the journal of a murderer and investigates on his own, finding that the trail leads to a 9-year-old orphan living in a group home.
Check out other new January 4 DVD releases at OnVideo.
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