There were a lot of big movie releases on DVD this week — most of them rated “R.” Here’s a roundup of some of the best.
Cadillac Records
(R, 109 minutes)
This flick about Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), the founder of Chess Records, also is about the big names in the music biz. Jeffrey Wright, Beyonce Knowles, Columbus Short, Eamonn Walker and Mos Def co-star.
Rachel Getting Married
(R, 113 minutes)
Director Jonathan Demme’s handling of an upscale wedding — with the title character’s high-maintenance sister Kym (Anne Hathaway) arriving — harks back to the darkness and emotional complexity of “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Role Models
(R, 99 minutes)
Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) tool around L.A., in a monster truck that snorts fire, peddling an energy drink called Minotaur to school kids, before they are ordered to complete 150 hours of community service mentoring troubled teens — or go to jail.
Synecdoche, New York
(R, 124 minutes)
Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is the emotional void at the center of this astonishingly good film. Cotard, a theater director wasting his talents in Schenectady, N.Y., is given a “genius grant” that enables him to do something big, something grand and honest.
Milk
(R, 128 minutes)
Gus Van Sant has painted a vivid, affecting portrait of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), who in 1978 joined the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States.
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FOCUS FEATURES
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SONG
Never Ever
Ciara
The video for Ciara’s new single, “Never Ever,” is filled with Janet Jackson references, fitting for this breathy Jacksonesque ballad that twists together the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes classic
“If You Don’t Know Me by Now”
and rhymes from Young Jeezy.
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The sweetness of Ciara’s voice and the freshness of the approach make the whole package work.
Glenn Gamboa, Newsday
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TV
You’re Welcome, America: A Final Night with George W. Bush
8 p.m. Saturday, HBO
Will Ferrell brought his famous and funny “Saturday Night Live” impersonation of George W. Bush to Broadway about a month ago. On Saturday, the night before the show closes after breaking box-office records at New York’s Cort Theatre, HBO is beaming it live in a 90-minute special. From most accounts I’ve read, the show delivers exactly what you’d expect from Ferrell: an all-out skewering of the 43rd president.
Curt Wagner, RedEye
TV
Kings
7 p.m. Sunday, NBC
NBC might surprise you with this ambitious soap opera set in the royal court of a fantasyland not unlike America. It should come as no surprise, though, that “Deadwood’s” Ian McShane rules. He hones his Al Swearengen persona into devious King Silas, who simultaneously exploits, embraces and fears war hero David Shepherd (Chris Egan). All David wants is to serve his leader. “Kings” gets a little self-serious, but with so much juicy intrigue, that’s easy to overlook.
CURT WAGNER, REDEYE
WEB CLIP
‘American Idol’s’
Anoop Desai rapping
youtube.com
Before he was an “American Idol” contestant, Anoop Desai was in a college a cappella group called The Clef Hangers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (which happens to be my alma mater). Despite the incredible nerdiness of a cappella music — and the name “Clef Hangers” in general — Desai and company dropped a surprisingly entertaining performance of rap tunes once. Search “Anoop” and “Kiss Kiss” to see what I’m talking about.
Jim Walsh, RedEye
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ALBUM
Scream
Chris Cornell
Combining the talents of former Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell and super hit-maker Timbaland could have been a pretty good idea. Unfortunately, the resulting “Scream” makes it sound like it was the last good one either of them had during their sessions. The oddness of “Sweet Revenge,” which sounds like the duo re-creating “Bad”-era Michael Jackson, is passable.
Glenn Gamboa, Newsday