If you could put down Metal Gear Solid 4 long enough to glance at your Best Buy circular, you'll see that it's kind of a light week on the DVD market. 10,000 BC, Definitely Maybe, and The Spiderwick Chronicles are the biggest releases of the week. It's not exactly a primetime for blockbusters. And there's no television releasing this week that's of any significance at all. Even the crack team behind our weekly column, Play All, couldn't scrape together any television seasons this week. Where are The Mod Squad or The Untouchables when you need them? Instead we have a trio of films that either barely played in US theaters or not at all. When the biggest title on the new releases shelf is a piece of junk like 10,000 BC, even the back shelf gets less crowded. But there are definitely still titles in here worth your time. Skip the new releases this week altogether and go right to Play All.

Charlie Bartlett
Studio: Fox
Starring: Anton Yelchin, Tyler Hilton, Hope Davis, Kat Dennings, and Robert Downey Jr.
Features: Audio Commentary with Director Jon Poll & Actors Anton Yelchin & Kat Dennings, Music Video: "Voodoo" by Spiral Beach

How do make friends in a clique-driven world like high school? How do you do it when you're very different from the bullies and the Hills-watching popular kids? Drugs help. And modern kids aren't bothering with weed any more. Oh no, these drugs require a prescription. Charlie Bartlett is the film John Hughes might have made if he was born twenty years later. Charlie may not be as cool as Ferris Bueller, but he finds a way to speak to his peers in much the same way as Broderick's classic character - by not treating them like children. He is a unique cinematic creation, a kid who makes fake driver's licenses and tries out for a play by doing a monologue written for a woman. Anton Yelchin does good work as the title character while Robert Downey Jr. and Hope Davis shine (as they always do) in small roles. Relative newcomer Kat Dennings (she also played Catherine Keener's daughter in 40-Year-Old Virgin) has enough screen charisma to merit "one to watch" status. The idea that kids have to go to unusual means (like selling Ritalin and befriending the kids on the short bus) to make it through high school nowadays isn't a new one and the storytelling in the final act gets really muddled, but Charlie Bartlett has an interesting enough blend of Hughes-esque nostalgia and the strange world of teenagers (and the adults that watch them) in the '00s to recommend it.

The Wig
Studio: Genius Products
Starring: Chae Min-Seo and Yu Sun
Features: Making-of Documentary, Special Effects Featurette, Behind the Scenes Featurette

If you're looking for more traditional Asian horror flick, The Wig is for you. Of course, like a lot of these movies, The Wig is a bit TOO traditional. These movies all started to look alike a few years ago but this is getting ridiculous. Long, black, creepy flowing hair is arguably the most identifiable visual image from the world of Ringu and Ju-On that it just seems too easy to make a horror flick about a killer wig. Too easy and too ridiculous. What's next? "The Pale Screaming Kid"? You won't find too many DVDs with the words "vengeful hairpiece" in the plot description on the back. That's a limited audience. You know if you're in it or not. You don't need our help.

The Eye 3
Studio: Lionsgate
Starring: Kris Gu, Bongkoth Kongmalai, Chen Bo Lin, Isabella Leong, Kate Yeung, and Ray MacDonald
Features: "10 Ways to See Ghosts", "The Making of The Eye 3"

What the hell is The Eye 3? Even its name is unclear. Known in some markets as The Eye 10 or The Eye Infinity, it was renamed the incredibly boring The Eye 3 for its stateside straight-to-DVD release. It's somehow appropriate that the Pang Brothers second follow-up to their incredible The Eye (and its not so good first sequel) would have an identity crisis because so does the damn movie. If you like your Asian horror with a heavy does of weird, check out The Eye 3. But be warned - it's not what you think it's going to be. The cover is a total cheat, making the film look like a typical horror movie. It's not. Believe it or not, it's a comedy. From the very beginning, when a ghost slaps someone with her tongue, Three Stooges-style, Danny and Oxide Pang are trying to send up the genre that they've been such a crucial part of in the last few years. The Pangs know horror. They don't know comedy. The Eye 2 was bad. The Eye 3 is worse. It may not look anything like the other straight-to-DVD Asian ghost stories, but that doesn't necessarily make it good. Only the most hardcore Asian horror fans need apply. With the Jessica Alba remake falling completely flat as well, we've been reduced to one-for-four status in the world of The Eye. That's a pretty dismal batting average.