In The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner stars as the arrogant, cocky leader of a three-man bomb squad deployed in Iraq and assigned to patrol the streets of Baghdad for hidden explosives. Every day the team faces certain death, whether it is from enemy attacks, an IED buried in the road or sniper fire in the desert, or even possibly from their leader's recklessness. Director Kathryn Bigelow effectively delivers not only larger sequences with tense action and stuff blowing up, but also a smaller, more intimate look at how each soldier feels about being stationed in Iraq: it’s a job they’re determined to finish to the end, but still a job that really blows, so to speak.
Thanks to well-characterized performances, a believable script and Bigelow’s documentary-style zoom-ins and shaky-cam, you get a very real sense of what it must be like fighting a war and trying to keep the peace in a place nobody, especially you, wants you to be. Extras (DVD/BD): Commentary by Bigelow and writer Mark Boal, a Q&A taped in London, mini making-of documentary.
Moon Ground control to Major Tom….David Bowie’s son Duncan Jones directs this hard-sci-fi film starring Sam Rockwell, one of our truly underrated actors, as an astronaut nearing the end of his solitary three-year assignment on the moon. When suddenly he’s confronted by another man who appears to be his identical twin, things get stranger and stranger. Kevin Spacey voices Gerty, his Hal-like companion. Extras (DVD/BD): Featurettes on the visual effects, Duncan Jones Q&A, commentary.
Fame This 1980s song-and-dance film lives forever, or at least one more time in this contemporary remake about students at the NYC High School of Performing Arts. Naturi Naughton leads the cast, which includes Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally and original cast member Debbie Allen. Extras (DVD/BD): An extra 15 minutes of dance footage, deleted scenes, music video.
Halloween IIRob Zombie’s follow-up. Word gets out that Michael Myers is Laurie Strode’s brother. Gore ensues.
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself Madea sends a couple of delinquents to live with their aunt, who has no interest in raising them until a good-looking Mexican immigrant moves in.
In the Loop Political satire based on a BBC sitcom.
Blu Debut
Cliffhanger Sylvester Stallone’s adrenaline rush of an action thriller about a botched heist in the Rocky Mountains. Dizzying heights and mountainous scenery benefit from the Blu treatment. Extras: Commentary, making-of, deleted scenes, Renny Harlin special intros, movieIQ.
Last Action Hero Arnold Schwarzenegger is a movie action star whose world is suddenly invaded by a boy with a magic ticket, and a hitman out for the kill. Extras: movieIQ
8 1/2 Fellini's classic, the basis of Rob Marshall's recently released Nine.
