New DVDs: Interesting Atheism, Disappointing Sci-fi, and Victorian passion

What's new at the DVD store this week? We'll give you the run-down.

The Invention of Lying

Comedy

The Gist: Mark (Ricky Gervais), a "fat loser," lives in a world where no one lies, ever. No one has never even heard of the concept. Mark suddenly finds he is capable of lying, which leads him to wealth, power, respect, but not love or joy. Oh, and he invents religion along the way.

The Buzz: Marketed as a comedy, this film is really more of a brutal and honest exploration of Gervais's atheism. The atheism he believes to be true is depressing, demotivating, and hopeless. The world he creates based on evolution without any Creator has no joy, art, love, hope, or reason to be good. The character who wants to commit suicide is the most rational of the bunch.

The Ups: This film is a perfect launch to a conversation about atheism and can stand a great deal of scrutiny, unpacking, and conversation. This is a thinking person's movie.

The Downs: Some of the jokes, while quite funny, are adult, including a whole sequence on masturbation.

Be Aware: Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual material and a drug reference. IMDB parents guide.

Gamer

Sci-fi thriller

The Gist: A man is taken prisoner and forced to compete in gladiator games to the death. The twist? Another man controls his body during the fights and they're broadcast world wide via the internet.

The Buzz: Spartacus updated for 2009. But a poorly written script and weak characters sink what is an interesting and fresh concept.

The Ups: The idea of controlling others in a real life battle to the death that allows people to voyeuristically act out savage fantasies is an interesting exploration of where technology may be taking us.

The Downs: High concept, but low execution of the concept. Violent to the point of tastelessness.

Be Aware: Rated R for frenetic sequences of strong brutal violence throughout, sexual content, nudity and language. IMDB parent's guide.

Surrogates

Sci-fi thriller

The Gist: Real people live their lives via surrogates, enhanced and perfect copies of themselves that they control from their couches. A murder threatens to upset the whole system.

The Buzz: Another great concept brought down by a convoluted and confusing plot.

The Ups: Like Gamer, Surrogates takes current trends - the quest for perpetual youth, increased life through computers - and follows them to their ultimate outcome.

The Downs: The best set up in the world fails if your plot isn't interesting or your characters sympathetic. We got to have a plot, people.

Be Aware: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene. IMDB parents guide.

Pandorum

Sci-fi horror

The Gist: Two disoriented astronauts wake up on a dark ship. It's deserted. But, as we all could have predicted, they're not alone.

The Buzz: Only hard core sci-fi fans will like this, and maybe not even them. Derivative, unoriginal, overpacked with action.

The Ups: Um, well, there are a few good action sequences in the first half.

The Downs: The above mentioned action sequences are all the good we can find to mention about this noisy mess.

Be Aware: Rated R for strong horror violence and language. IMDB parent guide.

Bright Star

Period romance

The Gist: A young poet - named John Keats - meets a pretty girl. The rest is history.

The Buzz: Lyrical and tender story about passion, obsession, love, and loss.

The Ups: If you like period romance, or poetry, this is a film for you.

The Downs: Like Keats, overwhelming love stories in Victorian costumes are not everyone's cup of tea.

Be Aware: Rated PG for thematic elements, some sensuality, brief language and incidental smoking.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER by Greg Whiteley

Our Emmy-nominated filmmaker gives us a peek into his head.  When asked for a movie that didn't get the popular acclaim it deserved, he recommended:

Duma

Family Adventure

The Gist: When young Xan (Alexander Michaeletos) befriends an orphaned cheetah named Duma, he commits a pure act of selfless love and traverses the southern region of Africa, just so he can help his pal return to his one true home -- the wild. Although he may never see Duma again, Xan discovers that love lingers in spite of distance in this heartwarming family drama, which explores the bonds of friendship between man and beast.

At SixSeeds, we talk about the stories that surround modern life.  We love movies -- in fact, we even have a “brick and mortar” called SixSeeds Video in Winchester, Massachusetts! We know that good films have an amazing power to move, inspire, and sometimes even transform life.  Bad ones make you regret plunking down the $10 for the privilege of listening to the guy next to you chew milk duds for two hours.

That’s why we want to keep you informed of the latest offerings on DVD and Blu-Ray.  Listing the new releases below doesn't mean you should rush out and watch them with your pre-schoolers.  In fact, over the course of the next few months, we’ll list many we wouldn’t let our teenagers watch.  (Some, we regret watching!)  But somewhere in America, a teenager is going to come to their parent and say, “Hey, I’m supposed to bring the movie to the slumber party.  May I bring...?”

And right there in the aisle of the video store, a decision will be made. 

Come back next week to read “The RunDown,” America... and choose wisely!