New Releases - Week of 10/18/11

New to our shelves this week:


Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The fourth installment for Disney's successful theme-park-ride-inspired franchise, this one steered by Rob Marshall (who directed Chicago and Nine ... sadly, however, Pirates contains no musical numbers - too bad, considering what a great showstopper Jack Sparrow and Keith Richards could've delivered!)

Page One: Inside the New York Times
Andrew Rossi's excellent doc chronicling a year in the life of the newspaper. For other movies about the press, now and before, see our recent blog post here.

Red State
Who knew Kevin Smith was a horror director in hiding? A bloody, tense, button-pushing affair about a Westboro Baptist Church type cult wreaking holy hell on a small town.

Bad Teacher
Cameron Diaz plays the titular teacher in Jake Kasdan's latest comedy. Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel co-star.

A Better Life
Restless filmmaker Chris Weitz (American Pie; About a Boy; Twilight: New Moon) directs this quiet drama about a father and son in East L.A.

Baaria
An autobiographical, generation-spanning epic from Italian filmmaking maestro Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso; Unknown Woman; Malena; A Pure Formality).

Aftershock
A mother is forced to make the hardest choice imaginable during the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976. Thirty years later, she discovers the full ramifications of her decision.

The Last Circus
The latest insanity from director Alex de la Iglesia (Dance With the Devil; Day of the Beast), set inside the sinister and psychedelic world of the circus.

The Shock Doctrine
Michael Winterbottom (The Trip; A Mighty Heart) and Mat Whitecross direct this documentary based on Naomi Klein's vitally important expose of contemporary economic and political machinations.

Attack on Leningrad
Gabriel Byrne, Mira Sorvino, and Armin Mueller-Stahl headline this war drama about the 1941 German siege of the Soviet city.

Craig Ferguson: Does This Need to Be Said?

Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
Profile of the iconic and influential early hip hop group. Wait, where'd you leave your wallet?

The Leningrad Cowboys
Criterion releases both of Aki Kaurismaki's deadpan comedies, Leningrad Cowboys Go America and Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses, about an extremely unlikely rockband from Finland. The set also includes the Total Balalaika Show, a concert film of the Cowboys performing in Helsinki with the Alexandrov Red Army Choir and Ballet.

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