New on DVD this week:

Lemon Tree

Recommended

• if you are interested in social justice issues, but are tired of watching documentaries.

Not Recommended

• if you get frustrated with movies that simplify complex issues to make a point that may not even apply to the current situation.

Food, Inc. – It looks like there’s a lot of overlap between this documentary about commercial farming practices and Fresh, the film I recently reviewed for the Durango Telegraph. But I think this one got a better distribution deal.

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Unmistaken Child – Documentary about a Tibetan monk’s search for his reincarnated master.

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The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 – Warning to young film directors: if your movie is ok, but not quite good, someone will come along in 20 years and make it worse.

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The Answer Man – The writer of an beloved inspirational book (titled “Me & God”) hates people, until he reluctantly falls in love. Cycles through well-worn romantic comedy cliches, while proving that it’s easier to write about God than to relate to people.

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Aliens in the Attic – Yet another polished, studiously uninteresting, relentlessly “amusing” product from the Disney factory, “AintheA” is your weekly DVD-as-babysitter offering.

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I Love You, Beth Cooper – Lisa Schwarzbaum (who is the only critic who liked this,) calls it “a cheery night to-remember comedy of outlandish, unlikely coincidences and lively mishaps, culminating in the shared witness of a sweet, hope-streaked sunrise.” How many movies have you seen that fit that description? I can think of five without trying.