Tuesday's new DVD releases are heavy on the sci-fi and action – and that's a good thing.
"Knowing," starring Nicolas Cage, and "Push," featuring Dakota Fanning, Djimon Hounsou and Chris Evans, are the science fiction components of the week's big releases.
"Night Train," with Danny Glover, Leelee Sobieski and Steve Zahn, is the taut thriller.
Cage plays a college professor (some suspension of disbelief is required) who opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his young son's school. Among the contents of the capsule are predictions of catastrophes. Can Cage prevent these disasters by pulling together the clues? As Sarah Palin might say, "You betcha."
Two featurette extras are included: "The Making of a Futuristic Thriller" and "Visions of the Apocalypse." "Knowing" is rated PG-13 and has a list price of $26.99.
"Push" is a futuristic sci-fi thriller in which a bunch of kids with psychic abilities – escapees from a secret government program – unite to take down the agency that's using people with abilities such as theirs as weapons. Fanning (a seer) and Evans (he's got telekinetic powers) are the would-be heroes; Hounsou is a bad guy. It's a little like "X-Men" in its assemblage of people with special powers. Among the bonus items is a featurette called "The Science Behind the Fiction." "Push" also is rated PG-13 and lists for $26.99.
In "Night Train," Glover plays a conductor (engineer-type, not musical), Sobieski is a pre-med student and Zahn is a salesman who could use some financial help. When the three discover a dead body with a mysterious and valuable box in its posession, they decide to take the treasure for themselves. It's a low-budget film, but the no-frills approach works with this material. Extras include a "making of" featurette. "Night Train" is rated R and has a list price of $24.98.
– Jim Carnes
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