March 30: Top DVD Rentals-Sales
Eight titles – a stark melodrama (“Candy”), an apocalyptic chiller (“Children of Men”), a colorful import (“Curse of the Golden Flower”), a political thriller (“The Good Shepherd”), an animated smash (“Happy Feet”), a broad comedy (“National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj”) and a horror tale (“Turistas”) – are landing in DVD outlets for this Palm Sunday weekend. The top DVD rental and sales titles are:
Best Renters
1. “The Pursuit of Happyness”(PG-13); Grade: B+; with Will Smith in a fact-based, feel-good story about a homeless single father trying to earn an internship at a prestigious stock-brokerage firm.
2. “Happy Feet” (PG); Grade: A-; with the voices of Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in a toe-tapping computer-animated tale about a penguin who feels like he doesn’t fit in.
3. “Rocky Balboa” (PG); Grade: B; with Sylvester Stallone appearing as the Italian Stallion and trying to go the distance against a younger fighter.
4. “Blood Diamond” (R); Grade: B; with Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly in a violent thriller about the devastation caused by conflict diamonds.
5. “Casino Royale” (PG-13); Grade: A-; with Daniel Craig taking over the role of 007 and creating a much tougher secret agent in this gritty action tale with James Bond challenging an arms dealer.
6. “Children of Men” (R); Grade: B+; with Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine in an apocalyptic thriller set in a near future where no children are being born.
7. “The Holiday” (PG-13); Grade: B; with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black in a breezy romantic comedy about two women from opposite sides of the globe who swap houses for the Christmas season.
8. “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”(R); Grade: B+; with Sacha Baron Cohen as a hilariously misguided foreign TV reporter who continually exhibits inappropriate behavior and asks insulting questions.
9. “The Nativity Story” (PG); Grade: B; with Keisha Castle-Hughes in a faith-based picture that takes a very reverential approach to the story of the birth of Jesus.
10. “Eragon” (PG-13); Grade: B-; with Ed Speleers, Jeremy Irons and the voice of Rachel Weisz in a sword-and-sorcery fantasy about a young warrior and his flying dragon.
11. “The Good Shepherd” (R); Grade: C+; with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie in director Robert De Niro’s slow-moving account of the origins of the CIA.
12. “The Departed” (R); Grade: A-; with Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson in director Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning crime tale about Boston gangsters.
13. “Turistas” (Unrated and R); Grade: B-; with Josh Duhamel in a thriller about tourists who visit a remote area of Brazil and are then hunted by killers who sell human organs on the black market.
14. “Everyone’s Hero” (G); Grade: C+; with the voices of Whoopi Goldberg, Forest Whitaker and William H. Macy in a computer-animated tale about some young baseball fans trying to return a bat to Babe Ruth.
15. “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj”(Unrated and R); Grade: NP; with Kal Penn playing a swinging character who travels to England to teach British students how to party.
16. “Stranger Than Fiction” (PG-13); Grade: A-; with Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal in an inspired fable about a character in a novel who comes to life and then discovers the author plans to kill him off.
17. “The Prestige” (PG-13); Grade: B-; with Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson and Christian Bale in a beautifully mounted thriller about two battling magicians seeking to create the ultimate illusion.
18. “Babel” (R); Grade: B+; with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in an Oscar-nominated ensemble drama about how an accidental shooting in Morocco sets in motion a chain of events that touches four families across the globe.
19. “Curse of the Golden Flower” (R); Grade: B; with Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li in director Zhang Yimou’s visually dazzling epic about the violent confrontations of a royal family.
20. “Candy” (R); Grade: C+; with Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish in a downbeat melodrama about a couple whose relationship shatters after they become hooked on heroin.
Best Sellers
1. “Happy Feet” (PG); Grade: A-; $28.99, DVD; $34.99, Blu-ray Disc; $39.99, HD DVD
2. “The Pursuit of Happyness” (PG-13); Grade: B+; $28.99, DVD; $38.99, Blu-ray Disc
3. “Rocky Balboa” (PG); Grade: B; $29.99, DVD; $38.99, Blu-ray Disc
4. “Casino Royale” (PG-13); Grade: A-; $28.99, DVD; $38.99, Blu-ray Disc
5. “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (R); Grade: B+; $29.99, DVD
6. “Turistas” (Unrated and R); Grade: B-; $29.99, DVD
7. “The Nativity Story” (PG); Grade: B; $28.99, DVD
8. “Peter Pan: 2-Disc Platinum Edition” (G); Grade: A; $29.99, DVD
9. “Everyone’s Hero” (G); Grade: C+; $29.99, DVD
10. “The Departed” (R); Grade: A-; $28.99, DVD; $34.99, special edition DVD; $34.99, Blu-ray Disc; $39.99, HD DVD
Partial source: Video Business, wire-service and Web reports