DVD Pick of the Week: The Aura

As I look over the long list of films coming out this week, I am left dismayed at how none of them instantly jump out at me as a must have. Sure, there are a bunch of titles that are of interest to me, but none that I feel the need to run out and get right away. Despite this lak of an obvious choice, I was still able to divine the single title that holds the most interest for me, and it is one that I have never seen before. It has a plot that looks to be quite interesting.

This week's pick is none other than the Argentinian film, The Aura. I've never seen it, but I am highly interested in the plot descriptions that I have read. It is the story of an epileptic taxidermist, who dreams of pulling off the perfect crime, saying the police are too stupid to catch on, but criminals are too dumb to pull it off. One day, while out hunting, he has the opportunity to realize his dream, and becomes embroiled in a real crime which puts his life on the line. Not only does the heist put him in danger, but his epilepsy creates problems too, seizures are unpredictable and come when least expected.

It sounds like an out there kind of plot, but it is fascinating, and I look forward to checking out how it is executed. It was written and directed by Fabian Bielinsky, who died of a heart attack in 2006, not long after the opening of this film.

Also out this week:

• Scooby Doo, Where Are You? The Complete Third Season. Who doesn't love Scooby? This two disk set contains 16 episodes of the sleuth team.
• The Batman: The Complete Third Season. The animation style was a bit off putting at first, but it isn't all that bad of a series.
• Bobby. Emilio Estevez' film about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Missed this in theaers, but have read good word concerning it.
• Payback: Straight Up, The Director's Cut. Haven't seen this in a long time, but I remember liking it. It is a remake of the film Point Blank.
• Phantasm. Don Coscarelli's classic horror film with The Tall Man and his evil driller balls. I love the cover for this, it is the original movie poster. Nice touch.
• Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. This third sequel came some 16 years after the original, and is a decent film in its own right. It too uses nice cover art.
• Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen. Possibly the greatest stable the wrestling world has ever seen, relive some of the best moments.
• Major League: Wild Thing Edition. Continuing the trend of horribly named special editions, and just in time for the baseball season comes this Charlie Sheen starring movie.
• The Pride of the Yankees: Anniversary Edition. The classic baseball film starring Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig.
• How William Shatner Changed the World. A Discovery Channel special focusing on technology introduced in Star Trek that has entered the real world.
• Slaughter Night. Convicted killers were once used to check for poison gas in mine shafts, now the dead are arriving for a little payback.
• Cinderella. Need a little plastic surgery? This film out of Korea may change your mind.
• Dead and Deader. Dean Cains starred in this Sci-Fi Channel original that may be towards the lower end of the scale, still delivered a bit of entertainment.
• Gamebox 1.0. Reminds me of Brainscan, a mysterious game arrives and soon it is realized that the game is real.

What are you checking out this week?