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I Am Iron Man
The first of this year's summer blockbuster's to be released on DVD, Jon Favreau's (Zathura, Made) Iron Man was both critically acclaimed (currently 93% positive at RottenTomatoes.com) and wildly popular as a comic book action film about characters without super powers. Robert Downey Jr. (A Scanner Darkly, Wonder Boys) stars as Tony Stark, a genius weapons designer who has a change of heart about his legacy when he sees the impact his weapons have on war-torn countries. Pulling away from 
his partner (Jeff Bridges: The Big Lebowski, Tron) and his company, Stark designs an armored, flying suit, and begins to right the wrongs he feels responsible for... but the repercussions of turning against the weapons industry might be more than Stark to handle, even wearing the Iron Man armor. Available in DVD and Blu-Ray.
The other big name movie this week is Apatow Productions' (Superbad, The 40 Year Old Virgin) Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where Jason Segel (Slackers, Knocked Up) plays the Apatow-standard affable schlub whose life falls apart when his beautiful girlfriend, TV star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell: Pulse, Veronica Mars), leaves him for an oversexed pop star (Russell Brand: Penelope). Trying to get away for a while, he takes a vacation in Hawaii, only to find Sarah Marshall vacationing at the same hotel, making it very hard for him to get over her... though meeting Mila Kunis (Get Over It, Moving McAllister) might help.
Top-Name Non-Fiction
The Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side is one of our new documentaries this week, the story of an Afghani taxi driver tortured and killed while being held by Bagram Air Base. The film provides rarely seen footage of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons, and investigates the Bush administration's war on terror and the policy of extrajudicial detention.
A personal story of three brothers, two of whom use steroids to stay competitive in their bodybuilding and wrestling careers, Bigger Stronger Faster is an investigation into sports and competition by the one brother who doesn't use steroids. The documentary focuses on icons such as Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and their embodiment of "the American Dream," and weather or not performance enhancing drugs are "fair."
Documenting the founder of Hustler magazine's lifelong fight for freedom of speech, Larry Flynt: The Right To Be Left Alone focuses on a man's right to be proudly offensive. Covering Flynt's court battles and jail time, the film offers perspective on rulings that made a pornographer a pivotal figure in the battle against censorship and maintaining the First Amendment.
The environmental documentary The Unforeseen covers the battle between a land developer and the environmentalists that both want to control a piece of land in Austin, Texas. Bolstered by comments and narration by Austin native Robert Redford, the balance between neighborhoods, home-ownership, and the environment is examined.
Imports
The Japanese-language Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea is a dramatic epic covering the entire life of the Mongol conqueror who ruled the largest empire in history. Beginning at the time of his birth, and following his development as a leader and continuing until the end of his life, the historical film, shot in Mongolia, fleshes out the story as an immense, sweeping epic.
Academy Award nominee Beaufort is a war film, set in the year 2000, about the Israeli withdrawal from the security zone in southern Lebanon after eighteen years of occupation. As the soldiers receive orders to withdraw, they have to try to keep their exodus from turning into a bloodbath, and to stay alive without compromising their morals.
The French The Exterminating Angels follows a filmmaker as he attempts to document female eroticism, hiring three women to perform "demonstrations" for him, but when he starts to become aware of what's in the women's heads instead of focusing on their bodies, his project (and his life) becomes much more complicated.
New to Reckless Video's TV New Release section this week are the third season of the popular comedy My Name Is Earl, and the fourth season of the math/procedural Numbers.
