film

Stephan Elliott's "Easy Virtue," out this week on DVD (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $28.95/$39.95 Blu-ray), rated PG-13), has a lot going for it: It's based on an early Noel Coward play from the mid-1920s and it's filled with the witty repartee for which Coward was famous.

I've accepted the possibility that HBO may never again create a TV series with either the dramatic depth of "The Sopranos" or the insightful social criticism of "The Wire." But as long as the pay-cable network keeps airing original, first-rate productions like "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," it will remain essential to discerning viewers.

Perhaps the biggest news of the fall film season is about two films that won't open this autumn after all -- one a dramatic thriller, the other a classic horror.

The presence of Latino baseball players in the major leagues is an old story. Latinos were playing professional baseball in the United States as early as the 1870s, though it wasn't until after the breakdown of segregation in the late 1940s that major-league teams began to sign black Latinos.

In summer 2009, Hollywood and moviegoers tossed out the rule book, stomped on it and left it for dead at the side of the red carpet. After all, consider:

-- Ed Asner, on the cusp of turning 80, was one of the biggest stars of summer thanks to "Up."

The late director Stanley Kubrick once passed on to young filmmakers this advice (from his own experience): Get a camera, go out and make a movie, any movie.

Such bravado was easily achieved in early-1950s New York City, especially for a talented lad who, by the time he had made his first movie, was already a staff photographer for a national magazine, Look (RIP).

A guide to movies from a family perspective:

"Adam"

-- Rated: PG-13.

-- Suitable for: Mature high-school students and up.

-- What you should know: Hugh Dancy plays an adult with Asperger's syndrome who loses his father and job but finds possible romance with a new neighbor, played by Rose Byrne.

Two of filmdom's most popular and enduring genres -- the coming-of-age story and the battle-of-the-sexes romantic/suspense thriller -- are on display in this week's DVD releases of Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" and Tony Gilroy's "Duplicity." Both writer-directors demonstrated in their previous work a sure touch in making youth-oriented comedy (Mottola's "Superbad") and adult-oriented drama (Gi

A guide to movies from a family perspective:

"Shorts"

-- Rated: PG.

-- Suitable for: Kindergartners and older.

-- What you should know: This fantasy adventure, conceived in the spirit of "The Little Rascals," is about a magical rock that makes wishes come true. It's told out of order, though, which could puzzle or confuse really young kids.

"THE UNION." (2007. NOT RATED. PEACE ARCH. $29.99.)

Most documentaries aim to challenge or provoke viewers, but "The Union," a long-winded call for the legalization of marijuana, merely lectures.