New on DVD: Fashion, Hunger, and Hair.

What's new in the DVD aisle? Here are a few choices.

Law Abiding Citizen

Action

The Gist: A man's wife and children are murdered. When the justice system allows one of the perpetrators to go free, Daddy sets out to bring a little justice of his own, old school. And to also fix what's wrong with the court system...by blowing it up if necessary.

The Ups: The film attempts to examine the sometimes thin line between good and evil.

The Downs: The movie crosses the line from satisfying, justified vengeance to psychotic, nasty, brutal violence. Plus, parts of it just don't make sense.

The Verdict: Skip it. This is not the movie exploring justice and vigilantism we'd hope to see. Watch "A Time to Kill" instead.

Be Aware: Rated R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language. IMDB parent's guide.

Coco before Chanel

Biopic- foreign film (French)

The Gist: Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel rose from a difficult childhood to revolutionize the fashion industry. This movie covers the early years of her life.

The Ups: Nice clothes.

The Downs: When you're making movies about interesting people, it's usually a good idea to, you know, make them about the interesting parts of their lives. (I'm talking to you, "Amelia.") This story turns out to be just another young woman with ambition and not as interesting as her later achievements.

The Verdict: Depends. If you're a fashionista (and by that, I mean a woman), you'll like this movie. There's not much to recommend it to a wider group.

Be Aware: Rated PG-13 for sexual content and smoking.

Hunger

Drama - foreign film

The Gist: This brutal film follows the 1981 hunger strike of ten Irish Republican Army inmates in a prison in Belfast as they endure inhumane conditions and dehumanizing treatment.

The Ups: Brilliantly made, this film explores the extremes of human endurance and human determination to reach something close to transcendence. It's less about Irish politics and more about prisons.

The Downs: Extremely hard to watch, it's an unflinching look at the inhumanity man visits on man. It seeks a narrow audience. It will not appeal to someone looking for a date movie or lots of mindless explosions.

The Verdict: Depends. Are you the type of person that likes to be stretched and challenged by movies? How much do images and stories of abuse bother you? This is a very good movie, but a very difficult movie. Choose wisely.

Be Aware: This film is from the UK and is not rated, but would almost certainly be rated R for violence, prison brutality and degradation, graphic nudity, and language.  IMDB Parent's Guide

Good Hair

Comic Documentary

The Gist: Comedian Chris Rock explores the African-American obsession with hair, giving it his own wry twist. He weaves together stories of ordinary people with interviews of luminaries from Al Sharpton to Ice-T.

The Ups: Intriguing and funny, this documentary doesn't lecture. It entertains as it inspires thought.

The Downs: The only down is that non-African-American people might think this film has no relevance to them, when in fact, it gives them a window into their African-American neighbors, friends, and co-workers. After living in the city for 10 years, I was struck by how little I had known about African-American culture and how much of it was wrapped around hair, barber shops, braiding, and the debate of how much to try to make hair like white people and how much to "go African."

The Verdict: Rent it. The debate about hair and its cultural implications is nothing new to the African-American community, but this is an entertaining addendum to it. Those outside the community will learn and laugh.

Be Aware: Rated PG-13 for some language including sex and drug references, and brief partial nudity. There are some fairly frank discussions of sex and hair which are not appropriate for children.

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!