New on DVD: Zombie Kicks, Mediocre Romance, and Dull Amelia

Wondering what's new in the world of DVDs? Here's your weekly rundown of what's interesting in the DVD aisle.

Zombieland

Comedy

The Gist: Most of the world is zombies whose only goal in life is to eat your brains. How is a nerdy college-age agoraphobe supposed to find love when most of the girls alive just want him for his body...For lunch?

The Buzz:  A coming of age movie meets Zombie 101.

The Ups: Fun and funny. A cameo by Bill Murray is especially tickling. Woody Harrleson was born to play the role of zombie-killing cowboy who had to survive the zombiepocalypse to find his purpose in life.

The Downs: Well, it is about zombies, which -going out on a limb here- might not be the best thing to show your three year old. On a zombie violence scale from 28 Days Later (high, intense violence) to Shaun of the Dead (goofy, ironic violence), this is much closer to, but slightly more intense than, Shaun of the Dead. It won't keep most adults up at night. Nor many teens.

Be Aware: Rated R for horror violence/gore and language. There are some sexual references. IMDB parents guide.

Amelia

Biopic

The Gist: Hillary Swank is Amelia Earhart, the trailblazing pilot whose disappearance is still a mystery today.

The Buzz: This movie somehow took one of the most interesting and exciting women of the 20th century and made her...dull. Good work, people.

The Ups: Gotta be honest. Not a lot of ups, unless you're really into early airplanes. Cuz those are really cool.

The Downs: Droopy acting and a script that somehow glosses over Earhart's most exciting moments turns her life into a soap opera. Much of the focus is on her love triangle between her, her husaband, and her lover.

Be Aware: Rated PG for some sensuality, language, thematic elements and smoking. IMDB Parent's Guide

The Time Traveler's Wife

Romance

The Gist: A woman falls in love with a man who involuntarily jumps around in time. Which gets a little old when you've got dinner cooling on the table.

The Ups: Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams deliver decent performances and are both easy on the eye.

The Downs: If you take out the time travel gimmick, the movie is a generic love story that we've seen a thousand times, and not particularly well done at that.

Be Aware: Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, brief disturbing images, nudity and sexuality. IMDB Parent's Guide

Love Happens

Romantic Comedy

The Gist: Aaron Eckhart is a self-help writer and therapist who, despite his expertise, can't move past his wife's death. Jennifer Aniston is the one woman who might help him take his own advice.

The Buzz: How can Jennifer Aniston, America's Sweetheart, make such a dismal movie?

The Ups: It's scientifically impossible to make Aniston look bad.

The Downs: Even with Aniston, and even with an appearance by Martin Sheen, this film is sappy, predictable, and downright embarrassing. Jen, we know you can do better.

Be Aware: Rated PG-13 for some language including sexual references.

New York I Love You

Indie

The Gist: A series of short vignettes set in New York and about love, this film attempts to explore love and New York at the same time.

The Buzz: Look! We're artsy! And sexy! Look at me! I'm an actor!

The Ups: A seemingly never ending parade of celebrities take on love in the Big Apple. A few stories are touching. Each has its own twist.

The Downs: A seemingly never ending parade of celebrities. Is this a movie or a large vanity project? The format is almost too artsy for its own good.

Be Aware: Rated R for language and sexual content.

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!