Japan Sumo: New DVD Releases: April 12

Filed under: Movies & TV

Point your wand at this week's magical New DVD Releases! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Signals that the end is coming for Harry Potter, this the first part of the thrilling two-part climax to the film adaptations. Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw star in Country Strong, a rather depressing story of how love and fame combust in the world of country music. Best Actor Oscar winner Colin Firth stars in A Summer in Genoa, a haunting film about a father trying to help his young daughters cope with the death of their mother in the seaside Italian city of Genoa. Finally, French director Claire Denis teams with powerful actress Isabelle Huppert in White Material, a gripping tale about a French woman irrationally clinging to her family farm in a civil war-torn African nation. See you again next Tuesday for more awesome New DVD Releases!

Daniel Radcliffe Emma Watson Rupert Grint Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One DVD Prepare for the final chapter of the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter with the DVD releases of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One (Starting at $14.99: Up to 47% in Savings). Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) know their desperate mission: to find and destroy the five Horcruxes that yield immortality for the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). But an already daunting task is made more so because now the three lack any guidance from their Hogwarts mentors, meaning they will have to turn to one another even more than before. That grows increasingly difficult as the burden of a magical locket brings darkness into their midst--and threatens to destroy them from within. Voldemort, meanwhile, has dispatched his vile Death Eaters to hunt down Harry and his friends, and has infiltrated them into the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts, arresting anyone who will stand in the way of their one obsession: capture the Chosen One and bring him to Voldemort. While searching for the Horcruxes, Harry discovers an ancient legend, that of the Deathly Hallows and of an all-powerful wand that has left a lengthy trail of destruction in its wake. This power could spell his doom if it falls into the hands of his enemy, yet it may also prove to be his only chance at salvation. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.

The Gwyneth Paltrow musical experiment is in full effect now, with its highs ("Forget You" on Glee) and its lows (that Oscar fiasco). However, it's not the music that's an issue in her film Country Strong (Starting at $15.99: Up to 45% in Savings), but rather the bummer of a story it tells. Six-time Grammy-winning country singer Kelly Canter (Paltrow) has seen her career take a nosedive thanks to her alcoholism, for which she's recovering in a rehab clinic. There she meets Beau (Garrett Hedlund), a singing orderly who has taken a shine to Kelly. They sneak around behind the back of Kelly's husband and manager James (Tim McGraw), even as he's attempting to get Kelly back on her feet for a redemptive three-city tour. She agrees, but only on the condition that Beau be her opener. James, however, has his eyes set on young former beauty queen Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester), with whom Beau is already acquainted. James suggests the two of them team up, but Beau doesn't care for Chiles' "barbie" style. But as the two begin to warm to each other, becoming a successful duo on and off stage, Kelly finds herself descending back into the morass of fame's excesses. Can love and fame co-exist? Get it Now on Aol Shopping.

Oscar winner Colin Firth stars in a heartfelt film by director Michael Winterbottom about a father raising his two young daughters in Italy after the tragic death of his wife. A Summer in Genoa (Starting at $10.99: Up to 56% in Savings) begins with daughters Kelly (Willa Holland) and Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) playing an innocent travel game with their mother Marianne (Hope Davis) that suddenly turns fatal when the young Mary covers her mothers eyes. In the aftermath, their father Joe (Firth)--a college professor--follows the advice of former lover and colleague Barbara (Catherine Keener) and accepts a teaching position in Genoa, Italy, believing the change of scenery will help his daughters cope. But as Mary reels from guilty nightmares, seeing visions of her mother standing at her bedside, Kelly abandons her young sister, rebelliously and dangerously flaunting her sexuality with the local Italian boys. Firth entertains relationships with both Barbara and a brash young student, but ultimately struggles simply to keep his daughters safe in the claustrophobic maze of the Italian beach city--a visual metaphor for the emotional maze he must somehow help his girls (and himself) negotiate. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.

Director Claire Denis (Chocolat) directs Isabelle Huppert in a magnificent French film about a white woman defying reality and hanging on to her coffee plantation in an African country on the verge of collapse. White Material (Starting at $19.99: Up to 33% in Savings) is a phrase oft-repeated by rebel forces and radio agitators in an unnamed African nation and former French colony. It is intended to incite brutal violent reprisal on anything representing the white European colonial legacy, which is the primary aim of rebel forces who are overrunning the country after the departure of French forces. But even as the rebels close in, coffee plantation owner Maria Vial (Huppert) defies warnings and refuses extraction from the retreating French forces and continues to bring in the coffee harvest, even despite abandonment by her workers and duplicitous behavior from her husband Andre (Christophe Lambert). Maria's iracisbility is matched only ber her quiet ferocity, leaving some to question her sanity. The film non-chronologically details the terrifying consequences of her refusal to surrender, leaving the viewer to draw their own conclusions about the rights and wrongs, the ethics, the blame and the real victims of racial madness. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.