Wire Entertainment - Video Reviews

Following is a partial schedule of coming movies on DVD. Release dates are subject to change:

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The fiction of a video game's universe is fertile ground for novels, sprouting dozens of books annually that tap into gaming's beloved and unknown back stories.

The following games are scheduled for release this week, according to GameSpot.com:

A critically acclaimed television series, "Mad Men: Season Two" (Lionsgate, 2008, $49.99), leads this week's list of new titles arriving on the high-definition Blu-ray format.

The cringe-worthy news: This week's release of the Season Two DVD set and the forthcoming third season premiere of "Mad Men," the brilliant AMC cable drama about a fictitious Madison Avenue advertising agency in the early 1960s, has been accompanied by a major marketing campaign involving Banana Republic, Clorox, Vanity Fair and Variety.

Creating a comedy series no longer requires egocentric actors, cranky writers and elaborate sets. All you need is a sarcastic streak and access to the Internet.

Recent DVD releases are all over the map, subject-wise. These are among the most interesting.

Alex Mercer has become a monster in "Prototype," and he wants to find out how and why.

RUNE FACTORY FRONTIER

Despite the presence above the title of two major hotties - Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller - the Brit period picture "The Edge of Love" never played in American theaters.

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Call it "Guerilla Arts." Watch an eventual 200 or people, dressed as travelers, burst out dancing to "Do Re Me" from "The Sound of Music" - in the middle of the Central Station of Antwerp, Belgium. The unsuspecting audience is at first bewildered, and then seems to enjoy the entertainment.

These were the Top 10 DVD rentals at Redbox kiosks from June 29-July 5:

"Nursery University" (NR, 2008, Docurama)

Following is a partial schedule of coming movies on DVD. Release dates are subject to change:

RENTALS

Piracy, the video game industry's multi-billion dollar problem, may have met its match.

A comedy showcasing two legends, "Grumpy Old Men" (Warner, 1993, $28.99), and a compelling science-fiction thriller, "Knowing" (Summit, 2009, $34.98), lead this week's lineup of new titles arriving on Blu-ray.

The following games are scheduled for release this week, according to GameSpot.com:

"This is a fortunate life," Garrison Keillor says in the opening moments of "Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes."

After Kirk Douglas helped break the Hollywood blacklist by hiring the well-known radical Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay for 1960's "Spartacus," Douglas teamed up again with Trumbo on "Lonely Are the Brave." But that excellent film from 1962, which Trumbo adapted from Edward Abbey's novel and stars Douglas as a cowboy who doesn't fit in with life in modern America, has long been hard to see.

Tuesday's new DVD releases are heavy on the sci-fi and action - and that's a good thing.

TWO LOVERS 3 stars (Magnolia Home Entertainment, '08) $29.98. 108 mins. A heartbroken man moves back into his parents' home where he falls for two women. With Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw. R (profanity, some sexuality and brief drug use) (CC)

MYSIMS RACING

"The Legendary Starfy," starring the starfish prince of Pufftop Kingdom, is a mostly underwater adventure with a cute cast, crisp visuals and game play that doesn't feel like a rehash of other side-scrolling mascot adventures.

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These were the Top 10 DVD rentals at Redbox kiosks from June 22-28:

"Eastbound & Down: The Complete First Season" (NR, 2009, HBO)

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