Even though there are at least four major releases this week, the multiplexes are still top heavy with screenings of Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3 and Pirates 3.

Knocked Up will score best of the new releases but won’t knock Pirates from its box-office perch.

It could take some searching but if The Page Turner is playing in your area, check it out.

It’s a deliciously sinister French revenge tale about a young girl who is given an opportunity to strike back at the woman she believes ruined her chances of a great music career.

The poor older woman is completely unaware that 10 years earlier she shattered the dreams of this young woman she has invited into her home to care for the family’s son.

It’s an icy thriller that really works.

On DVD this week is Hannibal Rising a thriller without too many thrills.

It sets the stage for Hannibal Lector’s reign as the feared cannibal.

Gaspard Ulliel plays the young Hannibal who takes revenge on the soldiers who killed his younger sister during the Second World War.

Gong Li is his aunt who helps unleash the monster Hannibal was to become.

It’s gruesome but much too plodding.

Still as a rental, it’s worth checking out.

Calgarians looking for some gore Shakespearian style can check out Mob Hit’s Titus Andronicus, one of the Bard’s most blood-drenched dramas.

For some great bloody laughs there’s Front Row Centre’s musical spoof The Little Shop of Horrors.

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With Pirates, Spider-Man and Shrek taking up most of the screens at the multiplexes, you’ll have to look hard if you want to catch Ashley Judd’s new psychological horror flick BUG.

It’s worth the effort because it’s genuinely creepy.

Based on a stage play, Bug is the story of a woman who finds herself occupying a hotel room with a former soldier who is convinced the army is infecting people with bugs that live under a person’s skin.

After a while, you’ll likely be feeling your arms to see if there’s some movement.

On DVD this weekend you can catch Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto which purports to explain why the Mayan Empire disappeared.

It’s a violent, blood chase film but very compelling.

Who really cares if it isn’t historically accurate.

It sure is one heart-pounding ride.

If you want historical accuracy, check out Clint Eastwood’s harrowing war film Letters from Iwo Jima which gives us glimpses from the Japanese viewpoint of that crucial battle.

It is a wrenching story of heroism in the face of certain defeat.

There’s also a new version out of Eastwood’s companion piece Flags of Our Fathers which shows the battle from the American point of view.

Rent both and put away five hours.

It’s really the best way to watch either of these movies which cement Eastwood’s reputation as a master filmmaker and storyteller.

Calgarians in search of some great laughs can check out Vertigo Theatre’s production of the comic whodunit Shear Madness in which the audience gets to play detectives and actually get to decide which of the four possible endings will play out at a given performance.

This is one of the most popular plays ever staged in Calgary so it is advisable to call ahead for availability of seats.

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If you’re looking for some small screen viewing this Victoria Day long weekend check out the DVD of Gullermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth.

It’s a fantasy film for adults and a stunning one at that.

Set in fascist Spain of 1944, it’s the story of a young girl who escapes in to a bizarre and frightening fantasy world.

The thing is, del Toro is rightfully pointing out, her world was no scarier than the real one in which her family, friends and neighbours lived at this point in history.

Incredible visuals and an intoxicating story.

Well worth watching with tons of new extras on the DVD.

The great thing about DVD is that it rescues films from obscurity.

Such is the case with the western Seraphim Falls that didn’t get a major theatrical release despite the star power of Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan.

It’s a chase story set immediately after the Civil War with a mystery built in.

Neeson is pursuing Brosnan but we’re not certain until the end who the real villain is or why.

Beautifully shot, it proved too slow paced for theatrical release but I wager fans of westerns will find it compelling and rewarding.

Calgarians can take a magical mystery tour of Canadian music with Stage West’s show-stopping new musical tribute show Canadian Explosion.

It’s a two-hour trip down memory lane with songs from the 1950s through to the present performed by some of Canada’s hottest young talent.

It’s a great way to spend an evening especially if the rain really does come to Calgary as predicted (or is that threatened)

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One of the real benefits of DVD is that movie which bombed in theatrical release finally have their day on the small screen.

Such is the case with The Painted Veil, a romantic drama based on the novel by Somerset Maugham.

Edward Norton plays a doctor who convinces a British aristocrat (Naomi Watts) to marry him.

She does so to escape her family only to find she can barely stand her obsessive husband and his dedication to research in China.

She has an affair with a real cad (Liev Schreiber) and as penance agrees to accompany her husband to a remote Chinese village that needs his expertise.

It’s a sombre tale but quite engrossing.

It’s intriguing for two reasons.

China welcomed the foreign producers with open arms while Watts did the same with Schreiber who became her real-life lover and father of her child so watch for that on-screen chemistry.

Also out on DVD and worth catching is Breaking and Entering in which Jude Law tries to juggle his strained love for his uptight girlfriend Robin Wright Penn and his passion for his sultry mistress Juliette Binoche.

At the movies, try to catch Away From Her, Sarah Polley’s achingly powerful story of a great love in its final stages.

Gordon Pinset and Julie Christie play a couple struggling with the ravages of her late stage Alzheimer’s disease.

It’s poignant and heartfelt and it will disappear as quickly as if it was never here so if you want a quality film experience this is it.

Calgarians can enjoy a real blast from the past with Stage West Dinner Theatre’s musical tribute show Canadian Explosion.

It’s a journey through some of the most memorable artists and songs of the past 50 years and it features a dynamite cast headlined by Aaron Walpole.

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