Page 24 THE VILLADOM TIMES I & III • February 5, 2014 DVD releases (continued from Restaurant page) one of New York’s leading commercial real estate firms. However, Lucy’s job has a major drawback: George Wade (Grant), the eccentric, self-centered head of the firm. The leads are charming, but the film never catches fire. It is overly familiar and predictable as it mixes themes of cor- porate greed, social responsibility, and personal promises. Special features include audio commentary by the stars and director, additional scenes, a making-of featurette, and a gag reel. “City of Angels” stars Nicolas Cage as Seth, an angel who must decide if he will give up immortality and become human on the chance that the woman of his dreams might love him. That woman is Maggie (Meg Ryan), a pragmatic heart surgeon who does not believe in angels until she meets Seth. Cage, who has a long list of movie misfires, is quite good here. Vulnerable, heartsick, and sensitive, his Seth weighs the priorities that will determine his fate. Ryan is delightful as a serious-minded woman who melts under Seth’s spell. Bonuses include two behind-the-scenes docu- mentaries, deleted scenes with commentary, and music videos by the Goo Goo Dolls and U2. “The Starving Games” (Arc Entertainment) is a spoof of “The Hunger Games” from Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the team that created the cinematic parodies “Date Movie,” “Disaster Movie,” and “Vampires Suck.” The directors replicate scenes from the original and then insert references to pop culture as punch lines. These vary from mildly amusing to outright duds. Possibly the best aspect of the film is the renamed heroine. Kantmiss Evershot is played by Maiara Walsh, who has good comic timing and rescues many tepid scenes. Rather than stay with a strict spoof of “The Hunger Games,” the creators take aim at other pop culture targets, including Harry Potter, “Avatar,” and singer Taylor Swift. When they run out of these sub- jects, they resort to potty humor. The overall effect is ama- teurish. The gold standard for movie spoofs -- and the film that started the trend -- is 1980’s “Airplane!” “The Starv- ing Games” tries too hard with witless, infantile stabs at humor and comes off lame. There are no extras on the DVD release, but the end credits are filled with outtakes. “Pride and Perseverance: The Story of the Negro Leagues” (Lionsgate) is a documentary about a little- known part of baseball history. In the pre-Jackie Robin- son era, baseball talent was segregated into the all-black and all-white leagues. There were seven successful Negro Major Leagues, beginning in 1920. The documentary traces the birth of these leagues, illustrates many of the struggles endured and milestones achieved by its players, and fea- tures profiles of superstars Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. After the color line in baseball was broken in 1947, when the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Robinson, the Negro Leagues eventually folded. Dave Winfield, whose base- ball career spanned five Major League teams, narrates. Included on the DVD is rarely seen footage from the 1920s through the 1950s.