BLACK SNAKE MOAN
Release Date: June 26
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake
Director: Craig Brewer
Length: 115 minutes

Under the surface of “Black Snake Moan”’s exploitative scenario — a bitter bluesman imprisoning a scantily clad woman by chaining her to a radiator — there’s a smart movie. Though, it seems writer/director Craig Brewer (”Hustle and Flow”) wasn’t sure whether to make his film an all-out ode to the trashy movies of the ’70s or a serious drama about redemption. Jackson stars as Lazarus, a former bluesman and current farmer who finds the town hussy, Rae (Christina Ricci), beaten and left unconscious on the road near his home. Tormented by his wife’s recent betrayal, he decides to nurse Rae back to health and exorcise her sexual demons. Ricci spends most of the film crawling and strutting around in her panties. Jackson is his usual mofo-swearing self. But the cast members turn in strong performances, saving “Black Snake Moan” from being a completely ridiculous movie. Despite its flaws, it’s an interesting and unique movie, full of sex and the blues, and if you ever wanted to see Christina Ricci in panties and chains this is the perfect opportunity.

DVD GOODIES
Commentary by writer/director Craig Brewer; deleted scenes; and the featurettes “Conflicted: The Making of Black Snake Moan,” “Rooted in the Blues,” and “The Black Snake Moan,” a look at the title blues song.

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT (Special Edition) “The Manhattan Project” is the story of an overachieving high school student (Christopher Collet) who decides to show just how dangerously easy it is to construct a nuclear device. The bright teenager has high hopes of winning first prize at the science fair. Using his mother’s relationship with a government official (John Lithgow) to sneak into a secret facility and steal plutonium, he winds up creating a fully functional A-Bomb. When the government finds out about the device, they put in motion a series of events that threatens the nuclear annihilation of everyone within a 10-mile radius. This thrilling drama, first released in 1986, is packed with special features — including filmmaker audio commentary, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: The Making of The Manhattan Project” featurette, “Home Made Apocalypse” featurette, interviews with scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratories and an ’80s trivia subtitle track. JUNE 19 | $14.99

RENO 911: MIAMI The wacky TV cops from Comedy Central’s “Reno 911″ hit the big screen, where they must save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in Miami Beach during spring break. JUNE 19 | $16.99

THE BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA Two fifth-graders become friends and create the fantasy world Terabithia. Starring AnnaSophia Robb, Josh Hutcherson, and Zooey Deschanel. Based on the book by Katherine Paterson. JUNE 19 | $15.99

THE ABANDONED An American woman returns to her birthplace in Russia, seeking answers to her mysterious past and finds plenty of ghosts. Read Blogzarro’s review here. JUNE 19 | $26.09