Blu-ray 3rd January Release

Contagion (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Overall Grade Recommended

Genres: Thriller, drama
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Plot Synopsis: Steven Soderbergh alternates between films about individuals, like Erin Brockovich, and multi-character thrillers, like Contagion, which takes a Traffic-style approach to a deadly pandemic. It also represents a reunion for three actors from The Talented Mr. Ripley as Gwyneth Paltrow and Matt Damon play a suburban Minneapolis couple, while Jude Law (with unflattering dentures) plays a muckraking Bay Area blogger. When Beth (Paltrow) returns from a business trip to Hong Kong, she brings a virus with her that spreads across the world, attracting the attention of people at the Centers for Disease Control (Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, and Jennifer Ehle) and the World Health Organization (Marion Cotillard). Just as virologists frantically try to track down the origins of the pathogen and to find a cure, it starts to mutate, foiling every move they make. Soderbergh, who serves as his own cinematographer, captures every development: false rumors, looting in the streets, and mass graves. Whenever he focuses on emptied-out offices and supermarkets, chillers like I Am Legend spring to mind, even if Contagion avoids most sci-fi/horror tropes, except for a stomach-churning autopsy sequence--one of his few real missteps. Mostly, he concentrates on cool heads dealing with life-and-death issues the best they can. The end result registers as more realistic than Outbreak, if less pulse pounding than Traffic, though the final sequence proves Soderbergh can find the grace notes even amidst an unbearable tragedy.

Disc Features:

• 'Contagion': How a Virus Changes the World (HD, 2 min.) – A PSA about what you can do to help prevent the spread of viruses.

 

• False Comfort Zone: The Reality of 'Contagion (HD, 11 min.) – This is a fact-based discussion on how real a threat a virus like this actually is. What could be done to combat it, and the overwhelming logistics of trying to vaccinate entire populations.
• The 'Contagion' Detectives (HD, 5 min.) – The cast talks about discussions they had with real-life scientists before the movie began.

 

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Sony / 2011 / 99 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Suspense, thriller, horror
Starring: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison and Bruce Gleeson
Director: Troy Nixey

Plot Synopsis: Fondly remembered for scaring the Tab out of impressionable viewers, 1973's television movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark stands today as a minor classic of irrational dream-logic horror, with an ending that goes straight for the worst-case scenario. Despite (or perhaps because of) its wonky effects, minimalist character development, and snicker-worthy Freudisms, it knows how to linger into the wee small hours. Cowriter-producer Guillermo del Toro's mash note of a remake is a superior movie in virtually all aspects, really, yet it somehow fails to ping the same whimpering neurons. Director Troy Nixey's film follows the same basic blueprint as the source material--a fractured family (Guy Pearce​, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison​) moves into a dark old house, only to be tormented by a gaggle of tiny chatterbox demons--but with a much greater emphasis on the mythology and back story of the creatures. Del Toro has long proclaimed his love for the original movie, and it's rather fascinating to see the filmmaker attempt to shoehorn his own trademark obsessions (grim fairy-tale origins, spooky little girls, odd Lovecraftian angles, etc.) into the existing material. Still, such Gothic curlicues, however nifty, ultimately end up diluting the solid-state nightmare fuel of the premise. Aside from a few solid shocks and a strong performance by Holmes, this heartfelt redo is unlikely to have the same lasting effect on audiences as the much cruder original. Instead of focusing on the hows and whys, that one just wanted to freak the viewer out.

Shark Night [Blu-ray]

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 91 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Action, shark

Starring: Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan


Plot Synopsis: A weekend at a lake house in the louisiana gulf turns into a nightmare for seven vacationers as they are subjected to shark attacks.

Disc Features:

• Shark Attack! Kill Machine! (HD, 6 min.) – A montage of all the kills in the movie.
• Shark Night's Survival Guide (HD, 4 min.) – Trivia about sharks using clips from the movie.
• Fake Sharks, Real Scares (HD, 5 min.) – A featurette about the film's CGI sharks.
• Ellis' Island (HD, 4 min.) – A very short making of featurette with standard promo interviews.
• Trailer (HD, 2 min.) – There's a theatrical trailer included.

 

Justified: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray]

Sony / 2011 / 546 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: January 03, 2012 

 

 

 

 

 

Genres: TV series, thriller, action

Starring: Timothy Olyphant and Nick Searcy

Plot Synopsis: In the aftermath of the deadly showdown that freed Harlan County from the Crowder family crime reign, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens must now take on even greater criminal forces looking to seize power - including hellbent nemesis Boyd Crowder and the arrival of brutal, new adversary Mags Bennett (Emmy® Winner Margo Martindale). Filled with treacherous twists at every turn... the second season of "Justified" proves "spectacularly entertaining" (TV Guide) and has established itself as a show for the ages.