Latest DVDs, CDs, books – Jan. 18, 2011 | Movies

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

DVDS

"Stone" (R): Together again for the first time since 2001's "The Score," Robert De Niro and Edward Norton headline this offbeat drama about a calculating convict (Norton) trying to manipulate his world-weary parole officer (De Niro) into recommending his release -- with more than a little help from his semislutty, seminutty wife (a cartoonish Milla Jovovich).

Elsewhere on the recent-release front: smooth criminals (Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen, Paul Walker, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown) pull off an L.A. bank heist, prompting a dogged cop (Matt Dillon) to give chase in "Takers" (PG-13); in 2006 Iraq, a kidnapped American trucker (Ryan Reynolds) is trapped somewhere in the desert inside a wooden coffin "Buried" (R); a sad-sack limo driver (Philip Seymour Hoffman, who also directed) and a funeral home employee (Amy Ryan) pursue a relationship while the couple who introduced them (John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega) confront unresolved issues in "Jack Goes Boating" (R); an Australian teen (James Frecheville) is trapped between his small-time crime family and the detective (Guy Pearce) who thinks he can save him in the award-winning thriller "Animal Kingdom" (R); and a lone tank searches a hostile town during the 1982 Lebanon war in the award-winning Israeli drama "Lebanon" (R).

Also in stores: the documentary "Freakonomics" (PG-13); Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Daniels, Emma Stone and Lisa Kudrow in the comedy "Paper Man" (R); the British gangster saga "Down Terrace" (R), the Criterion Collection's "Shock Corridor" (not rated); and the TV titles (all unrated) "Justified: The Complete First Season," "Merlin: The Complete Second Season," "21 Jump Street: The Complete Fourth Season," "Dallas: The Complete 14th Season," "Stingray: The Complete Series" and "Dark Skies: The Declassified Complete Series."

CDS

James Blunt, "Some Kind of Trouble": Your girlfriend is pretty happy right about now. And it has nothing to do with you, obviously.

You leave the toilet seat up and fart in your sleep.

But alas, a new album from starry-eyed Brit piano balladeer James Blunt is here, and he makes the ladies melt like a Hershey bar left on your car's dashboard in July.

Buy this one for your gal, and all will be forgiven.

Also in stores: Gregg Allman, "Low Country Blues"; Blackmore's Night, "Autumn Sky"; Braids, "Native Speaker"; The Decemberists, "The King Is Dead"; Kidz Bop Kids, "Kidz Bop 19"; Social Distortion, "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes"; Times of Grace, "The Hymn of a Broken Man"; and White Lies, "Ritual."

BOOKS

"Shadowfever" by Karen Marie Moning: In the fifth in the Fever Series, MacKayla Lane, still grieving for her sister, continues her search for the Sinsar Dubh -- a book of forbidden magic that ultimately turns against her in the battle between humans and Fae.

On the romance front, Susan Elizabeth Phillips' "Call Me Irresistible" features Ted Beaudine, who's about to marry Lucy Jorik until she's convinced to call it off by her best friend, causing an uproar.

Also in stores: "Andrew Johnson" by Annette Gordon-Reed and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.; "Chinaberry Sidewalks" by Rodney Crowell; "Heartstone" by C.J. Sansom; "Home Fires" by Gene Wolfe; "The Invasion Year: An Alan Lewrie Naval Adventure" by Dewey Lambdin; "Love Letters" by Katie Fforde; "My Father at 100" by Ron Reagan; "The Nomination: A Novel of Suspense" by William G. Tapply; "Playdate" by Thelma Adams; "Strategic Moves" by Stuart Woods; "Surviving a Shark Attack (On Land): Overcoming Betrayal and Dealing with Revenge" by Laura Schlessinger; "The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human" by V.S. Ramachandran; and "The Weird Sisters" by Eleanor Brown.