DVDs, CDs and Books – Aug. 9, 2011

A look at some of the DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores this week:

DVDS

“Paul” (R): On an RV trip to Area 51, two British comic book geeks (“Hot Fuzz” partners Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) come across the title alien (voiced by Seth Rogen), who joins them on their road trip in a meet-the-alien farce (filmed in Las Vegas — the one in New Mexico) featuring Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner and Sigourney Weaver.

Elsewhere on the recent-release front, “Your Highness” (R) reunites “Pineapple Express” co-stars Danny McBride and James Franco and director David Gordon Green for a medieval high times spoof featuring Oscar winner Natalie Portman as a fellow warrior and Zooey Deschanel as the title princess. A youngster gains a new appreciation for good ol’ Mom — after Martians arrive to abduct her and take her back to their home planet — in the Disney cartoon “Mars Needs Moms” (PG), based on Berkeley Breathed’s book. And uptown/downtown conflict sparks the wedding comedy “Jumping the Broom” (PG-13), featuring Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine and Julie Bowen.

Turning to movies that never played local theaters, a sad-sack loser (“The Office’s” Rainn Wilson) transforms himself into a costumed crimefighter in the dark comedy “Super” (R), featuring Liv Tyler, Ellen Page and Kevin Bacon. Harvey Keitel takes on the title role in the indie comedy “The Last Godfather” (PG-13), while Eric Close, Samantha Mathis, Madchen Amick and Patty Duke headline “Unanswered Prayers” (not rated), inspired by Strip headliner Garth Brooks’ song of the same name.

On the documentary front, “Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff” (not rated) profiles the Oscar-winning cinematographer behind the lens of such classics as “The African Queen,” “The Red Shoes” and “Rambo.” Speaking of vintage titles, the week’s Blu-ray Disc debuts range from Johnny Depp in the offbeat Western “Dead Man” (R) to the high school favorites “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (R) and “Dazed and Confused” (R), plus the Disney cartoon “The Fox and the Hound” (G) and the Criterion Collection edition of the political classic “The Battle of Algiers” (not rated). Leading the TV-to-DVD transfers (all unrated): “Webster: Season Three,” “Top Gear: The Complete Season 16” and multiple volumes of “Forensic Files.”

CDS

Ace Hood, “Blood, Sweat & Tears”: He’s still on the hip-hop B team, a back-up MC for the most part, but Ace Hood definitely rubs shoulders with plenty of all-stars on his third disc, where such big names as Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, T-Pain, Rick Ross and others drop by.

Will Ace graduate to starter status with this one?

Well, if his CD sales are half as big as his guest list on his latest, that’s pretty much a given.

Also in stores: The Birthday Massacre, “Imaginary Monsters”; Luke Bryan, “Tailgates & Tanlines”; DOM, “Family of Love”; The Horrors, “Skying”; Indestructible Noise Command, “Heaven Sent, Hellbound”; Trivium, “In Waves”; and Various Artists, “NOW That’s What I Call Music! 39.”

BOOKS

“The Ideal Man” by Julie Garwood: Dr. Ellie Sullivan becomes a star witness after the shooting of an FBI agent. With Ellie under threat from the suspects, agent Max Daniels vows to protect her until she testifies. Sparks fly between the two as he tries to keep her safe from an assassin sent to silence her.

W.E.B. Griffin picks up where his “Honor of Spies” novel left off with “Victory and Honor,” in which Cletus Frade conducts a secret operation against Joseph Stalin.

Also hitting shelves this week: “Acceptable Loss” by Anne Perry; “The Accident” by Linwood Barclay; “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon” by Mark Steyn; “All the Pretty Hearses” by Mary Daheim; “City of Promise: A Novel of New York’s Gilded Age” by Beverly Swerling; “Darkness, My Old Friend” by Lisa Unger; “Ingenue” by Jillian Larkin; “Juliet Immortal” by Stacey Jay; “The Magician King” by Lev Grossman; “Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25” by Richard Paul Evans; “Prime Time: Love, Health, Sex, Fitness, Friendship, Spirit — Making the Most of All of Your Life” by Jane Fonda; and “The Twelfth Enchantment” by David Liss.