Join us each week as Rob Hunter takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs. And remember, these listings and category placements are meant as informational conversation starters only. But you can still tell Hunter how wrong he is in the comment section below. This week sees new releases from the Roger Corman Cult Classics line (Humanoids From the Deep and Piranha), an absolutely brilliant French crime drama (A Prophet), the latest from Roman “Oui, dans le cul” Polanski (The Ghost Writer), a hot Bangle (The AllNighter), a pint-sized crime fighter (Kick-Ass) and more! See all of this week’s relevant DVD releases after the jump…

So here we are, Week Three of Alice in Wonderland at theaters, and the big question right now is still whether any of the movies rolling out this weekend have a chance to stop it – even ones starring Jennifer Aniston.

With The Ghost Writer, Polanski manifests dense atmosphere, brooding tension, and complex political corruption in a way similar to the best paranoid thrillers of the 1970s (a category which included some of the director’s greatest cinematic achievements), and the adaptation of this format to the 21st century filmic and political landscape proves largely successful, even if it occasionally flirts with being middling and awkward.

Earlier this evening I was reading an excellent piece over at Cinematical by Jenni Miller. In a meditation about the state of affairs of director Roman Polanski, she asks a few interesting questions. Can we separate the artist from their personal life? It’s an interesting discussion to be had — and the situation surrounding Polanski is the perfect catalyst for such a discussion. It seems as though the jury in Berlin had that discussion, and we now have their answer.

For me to have walked away from the last two films I’ve screened — Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer — thinking that both were heavily influenced by the work of Hitchcock isn’t a shock. Nor does it make either movie less interesting or take anything away from the two great directors behind them. In fact, it makes them both more interesting.

What you may not also know is that while intoxicated, I tend to buy a lot of movie posters. So you see, I am a very credible source on what posters are awesome and which ones aren’t. So sit back, grab a drink with me and let’s look at some damn posters.