(L-r) DANIEL RADCLIFFE as Harry Potter, RUPERT GRINT as Ron Weasley and EMMA WATSON as Hermione Granger in Warner Bros. Pictures' fantasy adventure 'HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS � PART 1,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release. (Jaap Buitendijk)
DVDS OUT TUESDAY
New films
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 $28.98/ Blu-ray $29.98 (out Friday)
Country Strong $28.95/ Blu-ray $34.95
A Summer in Genoa $24.98
Highwater $27.97/ Blu-ray $29.97
White Material: The Criterion Collection $29.95/ Blu-ray $39.95
Let's Talk About Sex $19.95
Television
Car 54, Where Are You?: The Complete First Season $39.98
Dallas: The Movie Collection $29.98
Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1988 & 1989 $34.98
Dragnet 1970: Season Four $34.93
Man vs. Wild: Season 5 $19.98
Older films
The Incredibles (Four-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo + digital copy) $45.99
Cars (Two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo) $39.99
Tracy & Hepburn: The Definitive Collection $59.98
Le Cercle Rouge: The Criterion Collection Blu-ray $39.95
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry / Race With the Devil $14.93
The Bob Hope Collection: Volume Two $34.93
It seems like a lifetime ago since "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was published - but it was just 1998.
Now we've just a couple of months until the second part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" comes to the big screen on July 15. So unless J.K. Rowling has a surprise up her well-tailored sleeve, this will be the end for the Potterites. What will they do? For now, at least they will have Friday's DVD release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," which includes the opening scene of the upcoming film.
I have to admit that the series has gotten more interesting over the years as the kids - Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) - have grown up. They all have proven to be good choices and accomplished actors. David Yates, who directed the fifth, sixth and both parts of the seventh installment, seems to have an affinity for the material.
And you have to give credit to all the filmmakers involved for actually trying to - and mostly succeeding in - turning up the creative juices on the films. Success helps, undoubtedly, but like "The Lord of the Rings," which also had a literary source, there is a feeling of a real cohesiveness to the series.
If "Deathly Hallows" suffers at all, it's because it's a setup for the second half of the final story, but it certainly whets the appetites of the fans - even casual and initially reluctant ones like me.
Paltrow goes 'Country'
Booze and betrayal. The plot for "Country Strong" feels like it's a hundred Nashville songs mixed together. Gwyneth Paltrow plays a country-western diva, Kelly Canter, battling demons on the comeback trail after another stint in rehab.
The film from writer and director Shana Feste ("The Greatest") is mostly tolerable because of its cast. The songs aren't bad, but are hardly memorable. Paltrow, who can sing, does shine as a troubled troubadour and Garrett Hedlund is noteworthy as a sensitive singer-songwriter named Beau.
Keep in mind
"White Material," the latest from French director Claire Denis, involves the lingering effects of colonialism in Africa. Isabelle Huppert plays a coffee grower who finds herself in the midst of a revolution.
"Tracy & Hepburn: The Definitive Collection" includes all eight films starring the powerhouse duo, from their first movie together ("Woman of the Year") to their last ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") some 25 years later.
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