A whole lotta ‘Hurt’

It’s a little bit more than halfway through the summer movie season, and giant robots are pummeling everything and Johnny Depp’s shooting up screens with a Tommy gun. It’s not the usual time for Oscar bait to show up in multiplexes, though, but “The Hurt Locker” isn’t your average war flick. Opening this weekend at Cinema Arts Theatre and based on the experiences of embedded reporter Mark Boal, the Kathryn Bigelow flick stars Jeremy Renner and follows a trio of Army men whose job it is to sweep the streets of Baghdad for roadside bombs, and dispose of them if found. It’s a hairy gig, naturally, and the movie follows the action as it puts our heroes through the psychological wringer. The other release of note this week is Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Bruno,” starring his flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista. If you were down with “Borat,” you’ll want to revel in more of Cohen’s shock-and-awe antics.

As a newer fan of AMC’s great retro show “Mad Men,” I’ve been anxiously awaiting Tuesday’s DVD release of the second season. Who doesn’t love Jon Hamm’s oh-so-dapper Don Draper? And all the drinking and smoking that you can handle on your flat-screen. Now you’ve got the time to catch up before the third season premieres next month. Those who love sketch comedy and missed it in the ’90s will want to check out the complete series of MTV’s “The State.” Also on store shelves: the debut season of TNT’s “Leverage” with Timothy Hutton; the HBO movie “Grey Gardens” with Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange; the World War II period drama “The Edge of Love,” starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Cillian Murphy; the Virginia Madsen horror flick “The Haunting in Connecticut”; the Dennis Quaid thriller “Horsemen”; and the Blu-ray debut of the 1974 disaster classic “The Towering Inferno.”

What’s your favorite war movie, you guys? Would you put “Platoon” over “Apocalypse Now? “The Dirty Dozen” over “Full Metal Jacket”? Let me know in the comments, and check out your video of the week: