This Week's Releases

  • By Mike Honl
  • Arts and Entertainment Editor

Here’s a look at the movies, music, video games and books hitting stores this week.

Movies - Tonight
From the producers of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” comes “The Hitcher,” a remake of the 1986 slasher film. The film will open tonight at the West Acres 14 in Fargo. Music ­ Tuesday

John Mellencamp’s first studio album in three-and-a-half years, Freedom’s Road, will be in stores next week. The album is full of protest songs and political commentary, including the single “Our Country,” which has been featured recently in Chevy truck commercials. Rocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd is releasing 10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads, along with The Shins’ Wincing the Night Away.

Also being released: Bluesman John Hammond, Jr.’s Push Comes to Shove, The Very Best of Echo & The Bunnymen: More Songs to Learn and Sing and Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra 1963-1973, a box set featuring songs from the label’s biggest groups.

DVDs - Tuesday
Chuck Norris takes advantage of his newfound fame by releasing season two of “Walker, Texas Ranger,” full of special features and bad acting. Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher star in “The Guardian,” about a young man trying to make it in the Coast Guard.

Also being released: “Sherry Baby,” starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, along with the documentaries “Cocaine Cowboys” and “This Film is Not Yet Rated.”

Video Games ­ Next Week
Paradox Entertainment is releasing “Europa Universalis III,” the third game in the series that lets players take control of real European countries. The PC game contains 250 countries and spans over three hundred years, from 1453 to 1789. The game was designed to be historically accurate, but allows players to take control and change history.

Also being released: “Sid Meier’s Pirates” for the Playstation Portable, “Alien Shooter: Vengeance” (PC) and “Hotel Dusk: Room 215” for the Nintendo DS.

Books ­ Next Week
British author Bernard Cornwell’s latest novel, “Lords of the North,” hits bookstores Tuesday. The book is the third in Cornwell’s “The Saxon Stories” series. Norman Mailer, author of the successful 1948 novel “The Naked and the Dead,” based on his own World War II experiences, has written his 12th fiction book, “The Castle in the Forest.”

Also being released: Jayne Ann Krentz’s “White Lies” and Paul Auster’s “Travels in the Scriptorium.”