Easy week for recommendations, as there is a plainly obvious one for both new theatrical releases and DVD releases, despite both actually offering up some decent content after several weeks of crapitude.

My DVD pick for next Tuesday is The Rape of Europa, a documentary on World War II that is quite unlike any other documentary on World War II. It focuses on the priceless artworks and artifacts that the Nazi’s stole during the course of WWII and how the Allied powers attempted to reclaim them. It also offers an interesting perspective on how the Allied forces attempted to fight battles in cities that were literally priceless works of art themselves. It is a fascinating documentary, and well worth watching even for those who hate “war films”.

My recommendation for theatrical releases today is also an easy pick, the Coen brothers newest comedic offering, Burn After Reading. I had the pleasure of seeing a screening of it last week and I enjoyed the hell out of the movie. It is a fairly dark comedy, and word of warning it has several moments of graphic violence, and it fits in perfectly well with the Coen’s other comedy films. It’s not quite The Big Lebowski, but it isn’t far off either.

As always trailers are after the break!

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My advice to anyone who isn’t a middle aged woman this week? Stay out of the multiplex. And if you happen to be a middle aged woman, please, try and limit the Cosmos to under a half dozen per screening of Sex and the City. Think of the rest of us who have to deal with you in the really real world.

That all being said their is finally a slate of good movies coming out this weekend. The Rape of Europa looks like a fascinating documentary on how the Nazi’s stole priceless works of art during World War II, and depending on how Hitler viewed the creator of the works, either hid them or destroyed them.

But my big recommendation goes to Tarsem’s The Fall. It is a relatively simple tale of a man and a young girl who are trying to find ways to waste time in a hospital while recuperating from injuries they have suffered. The visuals are spectacular, and the story has surprising depth. I don’t want to say too much, and hopefully I will have my review up over at Cinema Fusion sometime this weekend.

DVD selections are a bit more sparse. Semi-Pro is the big release, and its nice to see proof that release windows are shrinking even further with the Flawless DVD clocking in at around 2 months after its theatrical release. If only they would push good films through that quickly. But my DVD recommendation this week is a little known Japanese action film that looks both utterly ridiculous and completely stupid, Machine Girl. It’s kind of like Planet Terror but with a Japanese school girl and ninjas rather then zombies and Rose McGowan. It just screams guilty pleasure.

As always trailers are after the break!

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