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May 2: Top DVD Rentals-Sales

By Lou Gaul, Calkins Media Film Critic 5 min read

An Oscar nominee (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”), an expensive fantasy (“The Golden Compass”), a dance picture (“How She Move”) and a romantic comedy (“27 Dresses”) are among the new releases arriving at DVD outlets on this first weekend of May. The top DVD rental and sales offerings are:

Best Renters

1. “27 Dresses” (PG-13); Grade: B; with Katherine Heigl and James Marsden in a romantic comedy about a young woman who’s tired of always being a bridesmaid and never a bride.

2. “The Golden Compass” (PG-13); Grade: B; with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in a lavish $150 million fantasy about an orphaned girl who becomes the key figure in a war between good and evil. It won an Oscar for best visual effects.

3. “How She Move” (PG-13); Grade: B; with Rutina Wesley in a teen picture that revolves around Jamaican-influenced step dancing.

4. “Cloverfield” (PG-13); Grade: B; with producer J.J. Abrams (TV’s “Lost”) presenting a creature feature about some twentysomething friends trying to elude a Godzilla-sized monster and chronicling their adventure on a video recorder.

5. “Charlie Wilson’s War” (R); Grade: B+; with Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman in a fact-based political satire about a congressman who raises money in the 1980s to fund the Afghans in their fight against the Soviet Union.

6. “Juno” (PG-13); Grade: A; with Ellen Page and Michael Cera in an offbeat comedy drama that might be described as a wholesome movie about a pregnant 16-year-old girl. Diablo Cody won an Oscar for best-original screenplay.

7. “One Missed Call” (PG-13); Grade: C-; with Shannyn Sossamon in a remake of the Japanese chiller about people who receive strange telephone calls that contain the sounds of their upcoming deaths.

8. “Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem” (Unrated and R); Grade: C; with Reiko Aylesworth in a sequel that has extraterrestrials descending on a small town and causing death and destruction.

9. “There Will Be Blood” (R); Grade: B+; with Daniel Day-Lewis delivering his Oscar-winning performance in this film, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, about a prospector who discovers oil in California during the early 20th century, grows rich and loses everything of true value.

10. “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (PG-13); Grade: A-; with Julian Schnabel directing a fact-based drama about the artistic triumph of a magazine editor who is totally paralyzed except for his left eye, which he uses to blink out his memoir and thoughts on his condition. Schnabel received an Oscar nomination as best director.

11. “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (PG); Grade: B-; with Jason Lee and a trio of computer-animated chipmunks in the family hit about how the title characters became singing stars.

12. “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (R); Grade: A-; with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in director Tim Burton’s inspired adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical that blends revenge and meat pies.

13. “I Am Legend” (PG-13); Grade: B; with Will Smith as the last man standing in New York City and battling vampire-like creatures in the hit adaptation of the book by Richard Matheson.

14. “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” (Unrated and R); Grade: B-; with John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer in a spoof of music-world films like the Johnny Cash biography “Walk the Line.

15. “The Orphanage” (R); Grade: B; with Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona directing an atmospheric chiller about the strange happenings at an abandoned country orphanage.

16. “Lars and the Real Girl” (PG-13); Grade: B+; with Ryan Gosling in an offbeat tale about an intensely introverted guy who becomes romantically intrigued by a life-sized doll.

17. “The Savages” (R); Grade: B+; with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as a middle-aged brother and sister sidestepping their emotional and personal problems to help care for their elderly father.

18. “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep” (PG); Grade: C+; with Alex Etel in a family tale about a lonely Scottish boy who discovers a Loch Ness-like sea creature.

19. “No Country For Old Men” (R); Grade: A; with Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones in a bitter and intoxicating drama that revolves around $2 million in stolen drug money. The film won Oscars for best picture, supporting actor (Bardem), director (Joel and Ethan Coen) and adapted screenplay (the Coen brothers).

20. “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” (R); Grade: B+; with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Marisa Tomei in a bleak drama about two brothers who plot to rob their parents’ jewelry store.

Best Sellers

1. “The Golden Compass” (PG-13); Grade: B; $29.99, DVD; $34.99, two-disc, special-edition DVD; $39.99, Blu-ray Disc

2. “27 Dresses” (PG-13); Grade: B; $29.99, DVD; $39.99, Blu-ray Disc

3. “How She Move” (PG-13); Grade: B; $29.99, DVD

4. “Cloverfield” (PG-13); Grade: B; $29.99, DVD

5. “Juno” (PG-13); Grade: A; $29.99, DVD; $34.99, two-disc, special-edition DVD; $39.99, Blu-ray Disc

6. “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep” (PG); Grade: C+; $29.99, DVD; $39.99, Blu-ray Disc

7. “Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem” (Unrated and R); Grade: C; $29.99, DVD; $39.99, Blu-ray Disc

8. “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (PG); Grade: B-; $29.99, DVD; $34.99, two-disc, special-edition DVD; $39.99, Blu-ray Disc

9. “There Will Be Blood” (R); Grade: B+; $29.99, DVD; $34.99, two-disc, special edition DVD

10. “I Am Legend” (PG-13); Grade: B; $28.99, DVD; $34.99, two-disc, special-edition DVD; $35.99, Blu-ray Disc

Partial source: Video Business, wire-service and Web reports

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