Pick of the Week.

Sorry about not having a POTW post for the past couple of weeks, I have been out of town on business and my schedule has been thrown way out of whack. On top of that, my internet access has been spotty at best. Enough excuses, let's unveil the latest pick of the week.

It took me awhile to decide on what to choose. For one thing, at least for me, this is a very light week in terms of interesting releases. I could have gone the easy route and go with Ray, but that film has gotten a lot of notice of late on it's own. I could have chosen the love it or hat it The Grudge, which I personally enjoyed very much. What I have finally decided is to bring notice to a film that many will probably overlook, Shall We Dance? No, not the Gere/Lopez film that also comes out today, but the original Japanese film from 1995. It was a wonderful tale of a man going through a mid-life crisis, who secretly takes ballroom dancing lessons, meanwhile his wife suspects an affair. Sounds a lot like it's American remake, but it has something the remake does not have, subtlety, and a lot more heart at it's core. The remake lost a lot in translation as the original film plays on the Japanese culture which cannot translate to the Americanized version.

I urge you to at least rent this version, it is a wonderful film.

There are some other notable releases:

• Ray. This is an incredible motion picture, Jamie Foxx has really turned some heads with his performances this year. This is available in a single disk and 2 disk varieties, I recommend the single disk, as what I have seen of the 2 disk does not seem to be worth the added expense.
• The Grudge. I liked it a lot, others hated it, I would recommend renting first. It is good at what it does, string together a series of jump scares.
• Mr. 3000. A surprisingly good Bernie Mac vehicle about an aging baseball star who comes out of retirement for selfish reasons, yet finds something more.
• The Karate Kid Collection. I really enjoyed the first two when I was a kid, don't remember the third, and the fourth features an early Hilary Swank performance.
• Henry Rollins: Shock & Awe. This guy is an amazing speaker, I saw him perform about one year ago, and he spoke for 3 hours straight, and it was never boring. I recommend that you check him out.
• Wonderfalls: The Complete Series. Unfairly canned after episodes, this was an intriguing series getting a second life on DVD, try it.
• The Brak Show Vol. 1. I've never seen this, but if it is half as good as it's parent Space Ghost Coast to Coast, this is bound to be great.

And on the music side, Motley Crue is releasing a 2 disk career retrospective: Motley Crue: Red, White, and Crue. Not sure how many Crue fans are out there, but this looks like it could be a very good collection.

Until next week!