In a career filled with unforced, naturalistic performances, Jeff Bridges gives one of his finest in Crazy Heart (and The Dude won a well-deserved Oscar for it). His oft-married, booze-soaked troubadour Bad Blake has just rolled into Santa Fe when he meets Maggie Gyllenhaal’s journalist Jean. “Where do all the songs come from?” she asks during their initial encounter. “Life, unfortunately,” he sighs.

Against Jean’s better judgment, her fling with Blake blooms into a full-fledged relationship. Between gigs, Blake hangs out with the divorcée and her 4-year-old son, with whom he establishes an instant rapport, possibly because the musician is just an overgrown kid himself (and also because he hasn’t seen his own boy in years). While Blake plays juke joints, his protégé, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell, cast against type to fine effect), plays stadiums, but just when director Scott Cooper’s debut seems to be going down the same path as A Star Is Born, Sweet offers his mentor an opportunity that could revive his reputation — at the expense of his still-healthy ego.

BUY THE DVD HERE.

OTHER NEW DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASES:

The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! DVD
Young Victoria DVD
Summer Hours Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray
Reefer Madness DVD
Xena, Warrior Princess Season 1 DVD
Lovely Bones DVD
Vivre sa Vie DVD
Hercules: Legendary Journeys, Season 1 DVD
Pink A Life Less Ordinary Unauthorized DVD
At the Gates Flames of the End DVD

Here at The Record Exchange, in addition to our vast musical knowledge (yeah, yeah, brag, why don’t you), we pride ourselves in selecting a wide range of DVDs and Blu-ray discs that cater to mainstream movie fans and snobbish film geeks alike.

This week’s new release feature is for the geeks: The Essential Art House series. These repackaged and remastered DVDs represent some of the 20th century’s best cinema, including:

8 1/2
Jules & Jim
Kapo
Loves of a Blonde
Brief Encounter
Floating Weeds

You want swag? We got swag. And this week we’ll give you a free 7-inch (“When I Come Home” vocal/instrumental) with purchase of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings‘ I Learned the Hard Way and a free poster with the purchase of John Butler Trio‘s April Uprising!

OTHER RECENT FREEBIES:

• A free poster (choose from two) with the purchase of The White Stripes‘ Under Great White Northern Lights on CD, vinyl, DVD or Blu-ray.

• A free sticker with the purchase of The Dillinger Escape Plan‘s Option Paralysis.

• A Gorillaz postcard set with the purchase of Plastic Beach.

• A free lithograph with the purchase of Flobots‘ Survival Story.

• A free lithograph of original Jimi Hendrix artwork with the purchase of Valleys of Neptune.

• A free lithograph and sticker with the purchase of Johnny Cash‘s American VI.

• A free 7-inch with the purchase of Citizen Cope‘s The RainWater LP.

• A free mixtape CD (choose from two) with the purchase of RDJ2‘s The Colossus.

• A free 7-inch with the purchase of the Where the Wild Things Are DVD, Blu-ray or CD soundtrack.

• A free 7-inch with the purchase of Hot Chip‘s new album One Life Stand.

• A free split 7-inch by The Spits and Dan Melchior, which is free to the first few people who come to the counter and ask for it. No strings attached, no additional purchase required, no nothing. Just a free record.

• A free sticker and lithograph with the purchase of Pearl Jam‘s Backspacer.

• A digital download card for a free bonus EP (“Mistake” remixes) with the purchase of Moby‘s Wait For Me.

• A free comic book with the purchase of Styles P and DJ Green Lantern‘s The Green Ghost Project.

• A free pulp fiction lyric book, Cloak and Dagger, with the purchase of Motion City Soundtrack‘s My Dinosaur Life.

• A download card to redeem a free Manchester Orchestra live EP from ThinkIndie with the purchase of Mean Everything to Nothing.

See Madonna‘s most recent stage extravaganza, the Sticky and Sweet Tour, on Blu-ray! Package includes the full live show from Buenos Aries, as well as exclusive footage filmed behind the scenes during the course of the tour.

The disc includes many of the Material Girl’s hits from her unprecedented career, including “4 Minutes,” “Like a Prayer,” “Hung Up” and “Ray of Light.” Filmed in Buenos Aires over four days to a crowd exceeding 256,000 fans, the concert also includes a show-stopping moment when Madonna performs a historic “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” to a thunderous response from her Argentine fans.

BUY THE BLU-RAY HERE.

OTHER NEW DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASES:

Youssou N’Dour I Bring What I Love DVD
The Secret Life of Bees DVD
Woman on Top DVD
Mystic Pizza DVD
The Dramatics Biggest Hits Live DVD
Kenneth Anger Complete Magick Lantern Cycle

It’s April Fool’s Day, but this is no joke: Visit The Record Exchange today during our April Fool’s Flash Sale and get 12% off performance comedy CDs, DVDs and vinyl records!

You read that right: 12%. Why 12? Well, why not? It’s April Fool’s Day and we’re in a wacky mood. That 12% is good on new and used titles (sale/clearance items excluded) until we close up shop for the day at 9 p.m.

And just so there’s no confusion or surliness at the counter, we’re talking stand-up/performance comedy items, not like, everything in the comedy movie section. Translation: If you bring the Kelsey Grammer motion picture vehicle Down Periscope to the counter expecting 12% off, you’re going to be disappointed.