New this week (5/29/13):

Commissario Brunetti , Episodes 1 & 2 (German)

Murder, Venice, relationships...it's a delicious concoction in the hands of crime novelist Donna Leon. Venice provides the backdrop for the lush film versions of the bestselling novels, which feature the singular Commissario Guido Brunetti, canal boat rides instead of car chases, fine cuisine and crime investigations in one of Europe’s most beautiful locations. Joachim Król stars as Brunetti, a police inspector with a keen mind, razor-sharp wit, and a touch of melancholy. He strives to bring criminals to justice, but experience has taught him that countless things work against that human frailty, corruption, and police incompetence being chief among them. He takes refuge from the job in the company of his loving wife Paola, a university literature professor, and two teenage children, Raffi and Chiara. Episode 1: Vendetta - First it's a high society attorney, then a distinguished tax adviser both murdered within a few days of each other. The attorney's wife refuses to help Brunetti’s investigation, but information comes from a source close to her. The trail leads to Signora Ceroni, who knew both men and apparently a great deal more. Inspector Brunetti must crack a murderous human-trafficking ring run by the cream of Venetian society. Episode 2: Anonymous Venetian - When a corpse in lingerie and red high heels turns out to be a respected and influential bank director, Brunetti suspects blackmail. As he searches for clues in the subcultures of transvestites and male prostitutes, he discovers just how many respectable citizens lead double lives. 

Dalziel & Pascoe, Season 7

Poor Peter Pascoe (played with glum determination by Colin Buchanan). Not only is his dogged, slow-but-steady police work consistently outshined by the piercing insights of his partner, Andy Dalziel (the eternally surly Warren Clarke), but his personal life keeps getting caught up in woeful crimes: When he attends a wedding as best man in "The Unwanted" or plays squash with an old friend in "Dialogues of the Dead," murder crops up posthaste. And when he tries to date… well, it doesn't work out well in "Mens Sana." Not that Dalziel is much luckier; his only sister turns out to have a surprising connection with an investigation in "Sins of the Fathers." "For Love Nor Money" doesn't involve their personal lives, but it does implicate almost their entire police department in illicit activity. It's suspicious, really, just how often Dalziel and Pascoe are intimately connected to the crimes they investigate... 

George Gently, Series 5

Award-winning actor Martin Shaw (Death in Holy Orders) returns as Inspector George Gently, a former Scotland Yard detective from London now tackling crime in the north of England. With the air of a man who has seen it all but still hopes for the best, Gently confronts the motives—racism, family conflict, greed, revenge—that can lead to murder. As ever, he receives assistance from his abrasive, politically incorrect sergeant, John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby, Place of Execution), who has his own take on the societal changes unfolding in 1960s Britain. 

The Ice House

Daniel Craig (Quantum of Solace; Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) stars in one of his earliest roles in this adaptation of award-winning crime novelist Minette Walters' literary debut. Ten years ago Phoebe Maybury's hateful husband David disappeared from Streech Grange. Now a naked unidentifiable corpse has been discovered in the icehouse on the Grange and Inspectors Walsh (Corin Redgrave Foyle's War The Forsyte Saga) and McLoughlin (Craig) have to decide whose it is whether he was murdered and who killed him. 

Lore   (German)

Left to fend for themselves after their SS officer father and mother are interred by the victorious Allies at the end of World War II, five German children undertake a harrowing journey that exposes them to the reality and consequences of their parents' actions. Led by the eldest sibling, 14-year-old Lore, they set out across a devastated country to reach their grandmother in the north. After meeting the charismatic Thomas, a mysterious young refugee, Lore soon finds her world shattered by feelings of both hatred and desire as she must learn to trust the one person she has always been taught to hate. Lush cinematography and an evocative, haunting mood infuse this unconventional take on the Holocaust legacy with unforgettable impact. 

The Num8ers Station

After his latest mission goes disastrously wrong, veteran CIA black ops agent Emerson Kent (John Cusack) is given one last chance to prove he still has what it takes to do his job. His new assignment: guarding Katherine (Malin Akerman), a code operator at a top-secret remote CIA “Numbers Station” where encrypted messages are sent and received. When an elite team of heavily armed assailants lays siege to the station, Emerson and Katherine suddenly find themselves in a life-or-death struggle against an unknown enemy. With the station compromised and innocent lives at stake, they must stop the deadly plot before it’s too late. 

The Young Montalbano  (Italian)

Before Detective Salvo Montalbano became the seasoned and mature chief detective we already know, he was just Salvo, new to Vigata and new to being a police chief. He didn't always live in that glorious house by the sea, or have Deputy Chief Mimi Augello as a best friend, or Fazio as a loyal assistant. He didn't always go out with the beautiful Genoese architect, Livia Burlando. Perhaps the only constants have been his unbridled quest for good food and the inability of his overly enthusiastic deputy, Catarella, to pronounce anyone’s name correctly. In this prequel series to Detective Montalbano, watch the genesis of the friendships, the rivalries and the romance as the players arrive to take their places in the beautiful Sicilian town of Vigata. In the crucible of solving crimes together among the unforgettable people of Vigata, they become a team. Savor these stories that set the stage for the group’s transformation from rookie cops to the experienced crime-solving ensemble we have come to know and love. From the novels of Andrea Camilleri.

New this week and last week:

Cloud Atlas

An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution. The story is a time-shifting weave of six interlinking narratives, with diverse settings from the savagery of a Pacific Island in the 1850s to a dystopian Korea of the near future.

Last Stand

After leaving his LAPD narcotics post, Sheriff Ray Owens moved and settled into a life fighting what little crime takes place in sleepy border town Sommerton Junction. That peaceful existence is shattered when Gabriel Cortez, one of the most notorious drug kingpins, makes an escape from the FBI. Cortez begins racing towards the US-Mexico border, straight through Sommerton Junction.

Parker

Parker is a thief who has an unusual code. He doesn't steal from the poor or hurt innocent people. He is asked to join four other guys, one of whom is related to a known mobster. They pull off the job flawlessly and Parker wants to part ways with them. When he refuses to join them for another job, they try to kill him. They dispose of his body, but someone finds him...still alive. After recovering, he sets out to get back at the ones who tried to kill him, another one of his codes.

Promised Land

Corporate salesman Steve Butler has been dispatched to the rural town of McKinley with his sales partner to offer much-needed relief to the economically hard-hit residents in exchange for drilling rights to their properties. As they grapple with a surprising array of both open hearts and closed doors, the outsiders soon discover the strength of an American small town at a crossroads.

Psycho (1960)

Disgruntled Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. One Friday, Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and run, Marion leaves town. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into the Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man named Norman Bates, who seems to be dominated by his mother. Features one of the most iconic scenes in film history: the infamous "Shower scene."

Stand Up Guys

A pair of aging stickup men try to get the old gang back together for one last hurrah before one of the guys takes his last assignment - to kill his comrade.

Waking Ned Devine (1999)

When Ned Devine dies from shock of winning the lottery, two old codgers enlist the help of the whole village in defrauding the lottery to claim the prize.

New this week and last week:

Hyde Park on Hudson

As Great Britain faces an imminent war with Germany, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, invited the King and Queen of England for a weekend at their home in upstate New York. But during the first-ever visit of a reigning British monarch to America, international affairs must be juggled with the complexities of FDR's domestic establishment, as wife, mother, and mistresses all conspire to make the royal trip an unforgettable one. 

Jack Reacher

Ex-military investigator Jack Reacher is called in by James Barr, a man accused of a lethal sniper attack that leaves five people dead, and teams up with a young defense attorney to find an unseen enemy who is manipulating events. 

Safe Haven

Katie, a newcomer in a small southern town, forms relationships with Alex, a young widower, and Jo, her plainspoken single neighbor, who help her overcome her fearful past.

New this week and for the past couple of weeks:

I've gotten really behind on my blog posts so I've got a long list of new DVD titles for you today!

Broken City

Seven years after being forced to resign as a New York City police officer, private detective Billy Taggart takes on his toughest case yet when he's hired to follow the mayor's wife. By the time the mayor reveals his true intentions, Taggart's already in too deep, with his freedom and possibly his life, on the line. Taggart will risk it all in a desperate bid to expose the truth and seek redemption in a city where second chances don't come cheap. 

Call the Midwife, Season 1

This is a moving, intimate, funny, and true-to-life look at the colorful stories of midwifery and families in East London in the '50s. The story is based on the bestselling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth. When Jenny Lee first arrives in Poplar, she knows nothing about hardship, poverty, and life itself. But Jenny is brought up to speed fast once she joins a team of midwives who provide care to the poorest women. 

Django Unchained

Django, a former slave turned hired gun, heads back to the plantation to free his wife, Broomhilda, from the tyrannical plantation owner Calvin Candie, with the help of a German bounty hunter, Dr. King Shultz. 

Guilt Trip

The plan for a quick stop at Mom's takes a turn when an impulse compels Andy to invite his mother, Joyce, on a three-thousand mile cross-country journey. But the further they go, the closer they get, and Andy realizes that they have more in common than he ever imagined. 

The Impossible

This is based on a true story of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage, and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. 

Jack Reacher

Ex-military investigator Jack Reacher is called in by James Barr, a man accused of a lethal sniper attack that leaves five people dead, and teams up with a young defense attorney to find an unseen enemy who is manipulating events. 

Les Misérables

In early 19th century France the paroled prisoner Jean Valjean seeks redemption, regains his social standing, and rises to the rank of mayor. He encounters a beautiful but desperately ill woman named Fantine and cares for her daughter, Cosette, after her death. All the while he is obsessively pursued by the policeman Javert, who vows to make him pay for the crimes of his past. 

Parade’s End  (1964)

The story follows Christopher Tietjens, a wealthy member of Edwardian England's upper class, as the country is drawn into World War One. Tietjens is at the center of a love triangle between his wife Sylvia, a treacherous socialite who is trying to destroy him, and his suffragette mistress, Valentine. The warfare Tietjens encounters as an officer in Europe is but a backdrop to a personal battle of conflicting loyalties, hidden passions and the rigid social expectations of his day. 

Safe Haven

Katie, a newcomer in a small southern town, forms relationships with Alex, a young widower, and Jo, her plainspoken single neighbor, who help her overcome her fearful past. 

Silver Linings Playbook

Based on the bestselling book by Matthew Quick, the riotous and poignant story of how a man who has lost everything, his house, his job, his wife, reconnects with himself and creates his own silver linings from the bonds he forms with his family and friends. 

This is 40

After years of marriage, Pete and Debbie are approaching a milestone meltdown. As they try to balance romance, careers, parents and children in their own hilarious ways, they must also figure out how to enjoy the rest of their lives. ... This Is 40 is a candid and heartwarming comedy about the challenges and rewards of marriage and parenthood in the modern age. 

Tomboy  (French)

Laure is 10 years old and a tomboy. On arrival in a new neighborhood, she lets Lisa and her crowd believe that she is a boy. Summer becomes a big playground and Laure pretends to be "Mikael", a boy like the others, different enough to get the attention of Lisa, who falls in love with him. Laure takes advantage of her new identity as if the end of the summer would never reveal her unsettling secret.