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Action and Suspense
The Taking of Pelham 123 is the newest action film from director Tony Scott (Domino, Deja Vu), pitting a man who hijacks a New York subway train (John Travolta: Wild Hogs, Swordfish) against the dispatcher on the other side of the radio (Denzel Washington: American Gangster, Training Day). As hostages lives hang in the balance, the mayor (James Gandolfini: The Sopranos, The Mexican) and a hostage negotiator (John Turturro: Transformers 2, Cradle Will Rock) try and intervene, the hijacker only wants to talk to the dispatcher... and the two men engage in a battle of wits over the radio, with a heavy body count hanging in the balance. On DVD and Blu-Ray.
Hasbro's (Transformers 2) second offering in a month's time is G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, by action director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing). When special-ops soldiers Duke (Channing Tatum: Fighting, Battle in Seattle) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans: Dance Flick, The Ladykillers) are ambushed, they're saved by a super secret military group called The Joes. Now working for the Joes' General (Dennis Quaid: Vantage Point, In Good Company), the two men find themselves fighting against a high tech weapons dealer (Christopher Eccleston: The Others, Shallow Grave) and the beautiful Baroness (Sienna Miller: The Edge of Love, Interview), as they try to save the world through gunfights, swordfights, and underwater battles. With Rachel Nichols (P2, The Woods), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Stop-Loss, Manic), Ray Park (X-Men, The Phantom Menace), and Arnold Vosloo (Blood Diamond, Hard Target), on DVD and Blu-Ray.
With a meteor approaching, there are three days left before the end of life on earth in the Spanish language Before the Fall, and handyman Alejandro intends to spend his remaining time drinking and listening to music... but when a killer comes for his family, he suddenly finds himself fighting to keep them alive, at least until the world ends.
Simon Baker (The Mentalist, Sex and Death 101) is a husband and father in Not Forgotten, who journeys into the underworld of Mexico to retrieve his kidnapped 11 year-old daughter. 
Hunting the people who took his daughter and fighting with his own conscience, he must uncover dark secrets he may not want to face. With Paz Vega (10 Items or Less, Spanglish).
Off-Beat
After writing the inspirational "Me and God" and being put on a pedestal by throngs of adoring readers, Arlen Faber (Jeff Daniels: The Lookout, The Squid and the Whale) retreats completely in The Answer Man. Still miserable after spending his days reading books on spirituality, he winds up making unexpected connections with a used bookstore owner (Lou Taylor Pucci: Thumbsucker, The Go-Getter) in the middle of a crisis and a beautiful single mother (Lauren Graham: Flash of Genius, Bad Santa) who makes him wish he were a better person, and admit that maybe he doesn't have all the answers.
The award winning Lemon Tree tells the story of a Palestinian widow who spends her days tending to her lemon grove on the border of the West Bank. When the wife of the Israeli Defense Minister moves in next door, they see the grove as a security risk, and want to destroy it. The two women, though they have never met, form a bond over the struggle, and the story of the lemon grove captures the attention of both cultures.
Living on his own and recently divorced, Achilles Pumpkinseed receives an unexpected inheritance in The Watermelon-- his stepfather left him a camper painted to look like a giant watermelon. Unsure what to do with it, he leaves the camper parked in front of his house... but a giant watermelon is bound to attract 
attention, and Achilles starts getting strange and unexpected visitors.
Comedies
When the unpopular and nerdy valedictorian (Paul Rust: Semi-Pro) gives an unconventional speech, he ruffles a lot of feathers, but impresses his dream girl (Hayden Panettiere: Bring It On: All or Nothing, Heroes) in I Love You, Beth Cooper. When she accepts his invitation to a party, he's set for a memorable night... but not the one he expects, as their night is fraught with wild misadventures, and doesn't sit well with Beth's violent boyfriend (Shawn Roberts: Diary of the Dead, Skinwalkers).
On the night of his big show, high school senior Marc Pease (Jason Schwartzman: The Darjeeling Limited, Shopgirl) runs away crying in The Marc Pease Experience. Years later, he's still working to get an a demo recorded of his acapella group, made up of his former classmates, and produced by his old music teacher (Ben Stiller: The Heartbreak Kid, Tropic Thunder)... but Marc hasn't aged well, clinging to high school like a security blanket, and needs to make some real changes if he's ever going to move forward. With Anna Kendrick (Twilight, Rocket Science).
Stan (Steve Howey: Bride Wars), Nadine (Diora Baird: Y.P.F, My Best Friend's Girl), and Teddy (Kenan Thompson: Snakes on a Plane, Fat Albert) end up stranded in a strange town on Halloween in Stan Helsing-- they're stranded in a town filled with monsters (all parodies of popular horror franchises)... but they have a chance to survive the night, because Stan might be a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing. With Leslie Nielsen (Music Within, Police Squad!)
The family-friendly Aliens in the Attic stars Carter Jenkins (Keeping Up with the Steins, Bad News Bears) and Ashley Tisdale (Picture This, High School Musical) at a lake house during their summer vacation. The kids are bored... until they discover little green aliens have crash landed in the attic, and they have to stop the invaders, save the earth, and keep the whole adventure a secret from their parents.
The two new stand-up DVDs this week are the newest live performance by Eddie Izzard (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Across the Universe), Live from Wembley, and Will Ferrell's (Blades of Glory, Land of the Lost) first HBO special, You're Welcome America, where he lampoons the last eight years with his impression of The Decider.
Documentaries
A documentary about large-scale food production in America, Food, Inc. explores the industrialized meat producing industry, as well as the production of grains and the impact of corn subsidies and the different legal situations surrounding the controversial industry.
Note By Note is a look into the building of a Steinway concert grand piano over the course of a full year. The instrument is composed of 12,000 parts and built by 450 craftsman, and the film follows the process from inception to the concert hall.
New this week to Reckless Video's TV New Releases are the BBC miniseries Edge of Darkness, where a policeman tries to understand the murder of his daughter, and the newest Wolverine & The X-Men DVD Beginning of the End, in which Xavier is captured by the Sentinels.
