Recently released DVDs

"Star Trek" (PG-13, 122 minutes): Let us pray. Lord of "Star Trek" and all its spinoffs, we thank thee for a movie that, against all odds, has miraculously resurrected a wheezing but beloved franchise. We thank thee for an origin story that, unlike such recent downers featuring the Incredible Hulk and Wolverine, pays affectionate respect to its source material but never falls into the trap of slavish worship. We thank thee for Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock with surprising pathos. We thank thee for a setup that pits James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock against each other, giving the film its fraternal rivalry. But most of all, Lord, we thank thee for director J.J. Abrams, who proves such an able steward of this narrative and these characters. We thank thee for imbuing Abrams with taste and conscience enough to guarantee that the franchise will once again live long and prosper. May he do the same. Amen. Contains sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.

Also on DVD Nov. 17: "Downhill Racer: Criterion Collection," "The Exiles," "Farscape: The Complete Series," "Fight Club: Blu-ray," "Gone With the Wind: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition," "How to Be," "Michael Jackson: The Interviews, Vols. 1 and 2," and "Rome: The Complete Series."

November 10

"Enlighten Up" (Not Rated, 82 minutes): Filmmaker Kate Churchill's idea for a documentary -- following a yoga newbie as he immerses himself in the discipline's physical and spiritual culture for six months -- sounds great on paper. And her gamely agreeable guinea pig, 29-year-old former journalist Nick Rosen, is nothing if not honest about his skepticism that the practice holds no more value for him than any other workout regime. As a movie, however, it doesn't really go anywhere. The climax of the movie eventually comes at the feet of a white-bearded Indian called the Guru of the Blissful Refuge. With his beatific smile, he opines that where Nick is at, doubts and all, is just fine. His wonderfully no-nonsense philosophy seems to be a variation of "wherever you go, there you are." Which seems a long way to travel for an insight that Nick -- and very likely most of his audience -- already has. Contains a brief obscenity or two and sexual references.

"The Ugly Truth" (R, 101 minutes): At a floundering Sacramento TV station, Abby (Katherine Heigl) can't seem to keep her Nielsen ratings or her dating life steady. But what's this? Egad! A fly in the ointment! The TV station picks up a relationship advice spot hosted by the rakish, unshaven, semi-offensive Mike (Gerard Butler). Mike uses dirty words on air, Abby hates Mike, Mike doesn't believe in love, Abby doesn't believe in lust, Abby wants to date some doctor, Mike helps Abby date doctor, unlikely friendship (and something more?) ensues, vibrating lingerie is purchased, etc. The film might be the first film in which a woman's yanking out of her hair extensions signals a true emotional climax. And it's just this sort of off-kilter quality that makes this script more impressive than its fluffier cousins. One senses a gleefully dark, ironic sensibility lurking in the minds of the film's three female screenwriters. Contains sexual content and language.

"Up" (PG, 98 minutes): Pixar has done it again, in every best way possible. The company's first foray into 3-D animation is a soaring, touching, funny and altogether buoyant movie that lives up to its title in spirit and in form. Ed Asner provides the voice behind Carl Fredricksen, a boxily built curmudgeon who decides to fly his house to South America by way of a bunch of balloons. Newcomer Jordan Nagai voices the young Wilderness Explorer Russell, who comes along for the ride, to Carl's initial consternation and eventual comfort. Among "Up's" myriad pleasures is watching this inter-generational friendship bloom, at a time when pop culture seems to be dominated by snarky 'tween-centric sensibilities. Adults will appreciate the finer things in "Up," including a sublime prologue limning the hopes and heartbreaks of Carl's life, a passage worthy of Chaplin in its heartbreaking poignancy. Contains peril and action.

Also on DVD November 10: "The Accidental Husband," "Justice League: The Complete Series," "Monsters, Inc: Four-Disc Edition," "Pray the Devil Back to Hell," "Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days," "Spread," "Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 7."

November 3

"Aliens in the Attic" (PG, 86 minutes): An extended family gathers in a big Victorian rental home in the country. There's Tom, the "Math-lete" (Carter Jenkins), Jake the alpha male (Austin Butler), Tom's dating-a-college-guy sister (Ashley Tisdale), baby sister Hannah (Ashley Boettcher) and the Twins (Henri and Regan Young). They're the ones who stumble across four diminutive aliens (animated) who have landed in the attic at the vanguard of a Zirconian invasion force. The adults (Doris Roberts, Kevin Nealon and Andy Richter among them) are out of the loop. So is the sheriff (Tim Meadows). It's up to the kids -- who can resist the alien mind-and-body control ray that turns select adults into zombie puppets to save the Earth. Stupid movie, right? But kid-friendly, as the children work out weapons to fight with and ways to fend off the beasties (Thomas Haden Church, Josh Peck and J.K. Simmons do voices). Contains action violence, some suggestive humor and language.

"Food, Inc." (PG, 94 minutes): This absorbing look behind the curtain of the cynical and often sickening workings of the modern industrial food system does a superb job of making its case that our current food ways are drastically out of whack. Starting with the chicken and beef industries, the filmmakers trace how fast-food culture created the corporate concentration of agricultural production and the disappearance of the traditional family farm. With damning hidden-camera footage and interviews with such pioneering journalists as Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, the film deftly demonstrates how issues such as illegal immigration, public health and intellectual property law intersect at the largely hidden nexus of Big Meat. See the film after dinner, but see it. Contains thematic material and disturbing images.

"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" (PG-13, 118 minutes): Stephen Sommers's film, based on the line of Hasbro action figures you melted in the microwave during elementary school, is the loudest, flashiest, silliest and longest blockbuster in a summer full of long, silly, flashy, loud blockbusters. As far as plot goes, the crack commando team of G.I. Joes encounter an evil weapons dealer, a mad scientist, nanobots with a taste for 19th-century Parisian landmarks, a funny black guy, a couple of unconvincing romances, and a girl who's been brainwashed into becoming a lethal killing machine. Mixed in with such hard bodies as Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller are real actors, terrific actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Christopher Eccleston. Overall, the film is great at what it does, which is pummel the audience into submission. Contains strong sequences of action violence and mayhem throughout.

"I Love You, Beth Cooper" (PG-13, 101 minutes): The story begins on graduation day at Buffalo Grove High School, where one nerdtastic Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) is delivering the valedictory address. After Denis declares his long-harbored love for blond it-girl Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere), he returns home with his token gay-ish friend (Jack T. Carpenter) for a post-grad soiree. The boys' night of raucous adventuring kicks off when Beth and her two girlfriends show up, with Beth's truly terrifying boyfriend in hot, homicidal pursuit. It's teen-movie business as usual: Girls are never intentionally funny, and the boy will get the hottie if he can (respectfully) convince her that she shouldn't sleep with people who don't respect her. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about this film is that the title is correctly punctuated. Contains crude and sexual content and language, teen drinking and drug references, and brief violence.