Contagion Stephen Soderbergh turns a cool, clinical eye to what would happen in the case of a worldwide pandemic--corpses litter the streets, children die painful deaths, frantic virologists look for a cure, a scumbag blogger tries to make a buck off it all. We follow the disease to its origins and along the way meet incidental characters (played by an ensemble all-star cast), none of whom is that fleshed out but they don't really need to be--the virus is essentially this movie's star. Playing out more like a procedural drama than a blockbuster thriller, Contagion could have benefited from a little more emphasis on the humanity, but it's compelling nonetheless. Extras: None. Available on Blu-ray Combo Pack with standard/high-def versions with digital copy, iTunes, Amazon and game consoles.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark A little girl is terrorized by tiny critters who want her...teeth...in this remake of a 1973 movie starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce. Extras: Docu on the story, the mansion and the creatures (DVD/BD), the BD adds a conceptual gallery.
I Don't Know How She Does It Nine to Five called, just to remind us that it's a far more enjoyable film about the plight of working moms than this complainy and bland movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker as a finance bigwig struggling to keep it together while bringin' home the bacon. I can tell you how she does it: a high-paying job, a husband with the same, and a nanny. For a better--and more accurate--look at investment bankers, go watch Margin Call instead. Extras: Interview with the book's author (DVD/BD).
Puncture Chris Evans stars as a functioning junkie/lawyer who takes on the case of a medical-industry whistleblower in this based-on-a-true-story legal drama.
Shark Night 3D Throwaway "horror" flick involving redneck hillbillies who stock a lake full of man-eating sharks that procede to take a bite out of a bunch of young people.
