DVD: a common man’s story of life in the White House

Forest Whitaker in “The Butler”

The Butler  | PG 13

Loosely based on a true story about Eugene Allen, this movie tells how a black man who served seven presidents during his tenure as a butler in the White House, giving him a rare viewpoint of some of the most important events in U.S. history. An amazing cast includes Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, Robin Williams, Vanessa Redgrave, Lenny Kravitz and Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Also new and notable:

Riddick, in which Vin Diesel returns for his third go-round as Riddick. This time our hero is left for dead on a sun-scorched planet and forced to defend himself from an alien race of predators.

Carrie is a remake of the Brian De Palma shocker that brings Stephen King’s tale of a misfit teenage girl with telekinetic powers into the present.