Sweet Jesus there are a lot of new releases this week. If there’s one common theme among them it’s that (with only a couple wide release exceptions) all of this week’s titles are smaller films, older films, or foreign films. I’m as much a fan of blockbusters as the next guy, but there’s something to be said for the small joy of discovering a movie that never had a chance at your local multiplex. Unfortunately, there’s a second theme in this week’s releases… specifically in the Avoid section. I love horror films, but most of the ones releasing on DVD today are simply not worth your time. Skip the three in the Avoid section below and instead check out some of the many titles worth Renting or Buying including Live Like A Cop Die Like A Man, Bodyguards and Assassins, Source Code, We Are What We Are, and more. As always, if you see something you like, click on the image to buy it. Trust A young high school student forms an online relationship with someone she believes to be a fellow teenager but who turns out to be a thirty five year old pervert. She quickly becomes the victim of sexual assault, but that’s just the beginning of her family’s nightmare as they all struggle with the truth of what happened. Director David Schwimmer does a fine and non-sensationalist job with a topic that could so easily have become exploitative, and he’s aided by two fantastic performances from Liana

Do you remember Gheorghe Mureşan, the 7’7″ tall basketball player who once starred in the film My Giant? Of course you do. Now keep the memory of that large man and his acting skills in your mind and behold Mengke Bateer, the larger-than-life star of Bodyguards and Assassins, an upcoming release also starring Donnie Yen and a host of other stars. It’s out on DVD July 26th, and this will surely give you reason to check it out. It’s a giant man beating ass with kung-fu. Seriously.

Two more films at this year’s SFIFF… one is a kick-ass martial arts historical epic starring the always lovable Donnie Yen, and the other is a drama about a Japanese woman who can’t speak English trying to understand and communicate in Southern California. Martial arts skills probably would helped.

Rob Hunter loves movies. He also loves eating tofu and protecting exiled Chinese revolutionaries from assassination. This week he visits with bodyguards, assassins, Jews, a notorious British convict, an unbelievably popular JAG-off, a time-traveling librarian, one very unbalanced stepfather, and more.