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Starlet Directed by Sean Baker (not rated, 103 minutes)

A 21-year-old aspiring actress, Jane (Dree Hemingway), who has a male Chihuahua named Starlet (Boonee), befriends elderly widowed Sadie (Besedka Johnson) after finding a pile of money in a Thermos she buys at Sadie’s yard sale.

That’s the plot of Starlet. It’s not as heartwarming as it sounds. Jane wants to be a porn star, but doesn’t work too hard at getting anywhere in her chosen field, preferring to spend her time getting high with her low-functioning San Fernando Valley roommates. Sadie is ill-tempered and confrontational, especially when Jane returns to the yard sale with the Thermos in hand. “No refunds!” Sadie says over and over again. Starlet is the most likable of the bunch.

For no apparent reason, Jane is determined to make friends with85-year-old Sadie (although giving the money back is another matter; after all, Starlet needs a jeweled harness!). Despite Sadie’s resistance, the two develop a grudging relationship.

And the only reason anybody would care is that Hemingway (daughter of Mariel and great-granddaughter of Ernest) delivers a low-key, believable performance as a young drifter who doesn’t seem to care that she’s not really going anywhere.

“The plot line is unpromising - young porn actress befriends crochety old lady - and the setup is underwhelming,” says critic Walter Addiego in the San Francisco Chronicle. “But stick with Starlet and you’ll reap unexpected rewards.”

The Howling: Collector’s Edition (R, 91 minutes) This darkly comic 1981 werewolf thriller, considered rather shocking in its day, stars Dee Wallace as Los Angeles TV news reporter Karen White, whose traumatic stalking by a serial killer drives her to spend some time in treatment at a secluded resort. It’s not the best place to seek solace, though, as all sorts of strange things are going on there, including shape shifting (True Blood, anyone?). Be sure to stick around for the ending, which is the best part of the film. With Patrick Macnee; directed by Joe Dante. “A first-rate horror offering,” says our critic Dan Lybarger. The Blu-ray includes audio commentary with director Dante and cast members Wallace, Christopher Stone and Robert Picardo; a multipart making-of documentary, deleted scenes and outtakes, a photo gallery, theatrical trailers, and a look at the film’s locations.

Movie 43 (R, 97 minutes) From producers Peter Farrelly and Charles Wessler comes this barely plotted gross-out ensemble comedy whose primary appeal lies in its star-stocked cast. Among them: Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Bell, Halle Berry, Gerard Butler, Bobby Cannavale, Common, Kieran Culkin, Josh Duhamel, Anna Faris, Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Hugh Jackman, Greg Kinnear, Justin Long, Dennis Quaid, Liev Schreiber, Seann William Scott, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet. Critics were not amused. “It rather boggles the mind how so many micromanaging handlers allowed their A-list talent to participate in a production that looks funded from a frat-house’s loose couch-change collection,” says Kimberley Jones in the Austin Chronicle.

Of Human Bondage: Kino Classics Remaster Edition (not rated, 84 minutes) This 1934 drama, directed by John Cromwell, is considered to be the film that made Bette Davis a star (she had already been in 21 films by this time). The first of three films based on W. Somerset Maugham’s 1915 novel, it concerns club-footed British artist Philip Carey (Leslie Howard), who falls in love with manipulative and ill-tempered tearoom waitress Mildred Rogers with unfortunate results. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times says the Maugham novel “has come through the operation of being transferred to the screen in an unexpectedly healthy fashion. It may not possess any great dramatic strength, but the very lifelike quality of the story and the marked authenticity of its atmosphere cause the spectators to hang on every word uttered by the interesting group of characters.”