This is a pretty big week for new dvd releases. We have a driver who just wants to drive, a man who needs more time, robot wars on the moon, a defrosted alien, dark secrets emerging while Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz fall in love on camera, a ne’er-do-well dad with a talented daughter, cops looking for a serial killer, three bozos bird watching and the CIA and the FBI working together to bring down a Soviet assassin.

Drive: Ryan Gosling stars as a Hollywood stunt driver for movies and mechanic by day who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals by night. Though a loner by nature, “Driver” can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband (Oscar Isaac). After a heist goes wrong, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). Soon he realizes the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash and is forced to shift gears and go on the offense.

Drive also stars Bryan Cranston and Christina Hendricks.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-I Drive

-Under The Hood

-Driver and Irene

-Cut To The Chase

-Drive Without A Driver: Interview With Nicolas Winding Refn

Includes UltraViolet

In Time stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried and takes place in a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year. Time has become currency; having the means to buy “time” is a shot at eternal youth and immortality. Will Salas (Timberlake) finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage (Seyfried) – a connection that becomes an important part of the way against the system.

In Time also stars Olivia Wilde, Cillian Murphy and Johnny Galecki

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack presents the film in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. This disc also has a number of bonus supplements, such as:
 

• The Minutes behind-the-scenes featurette
• Deleted/extended scenes
• Access to In Time: The Game app

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third film in the franchise, finds the Autobots (Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and Sideswipe led by Optimus Prime) back in action taking on the evil Decepticons, who are eager to avenge their recent defeat. The Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a perilous space race between the United States and Russia, to reach a hidden Cybertronian spacecraft on the moon and learn its secrets, and once again Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) has to come to the aid of his robot friends. The new villain, Shockwave, who rules Cybertron, is on the scene while the Autobots and Decepticons continue to battle it out on Earth.

TDotM also stars Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Josh Duhamel, Patrick Dempsey, Tyrese Gibson and Frances McDormand (?!)

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Feature Film — Blu-Ray

-Special Features — Blu-Ray

Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon 
- Rising from the Fallen: Development and Design 
- Ready for Prime Time: Filming Across America 
- Battle in the Heartland: Shooting in Chicago 
- Attack of the Birdmen: Aerial Stunts 
- Shadow of the Sentinel: Post-Production and Release 
- Uncharted Territory: NASA's Future Then and Now

Deconstructing Chicago: Multi-Angle Sequences 
- Previsualizations with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto 
- Previsualizations/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto 
- Visual Effects with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler 
- Visual Effects/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler

The Art of Cybertron 
- Autobots 
- Decepticons 
- Environments 
- Weapons and Gear 
- Ships

The Dark of the Moon Archive 
- 3D: A Transforming Visual Art 
- Moscow World Premiere 
- Birdmen Featurette 
- Cody's iPad 
- The Sound of Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The Matrix of Marketing 
- Trailers 
- Marketing Gallery

The Thing is a remake (even though they call it a prequel) of the 1982 John Carpenter classic, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen. From the producers of Dawn of the Dead comes the chilling prelude to John Carpenter's cult classic film.  When paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) travels to an isolated outpost in Antarctica for the expedition of a lifetime, she joins an international team that unearths a remarkable discovery.  Their elation quickly turns to fear as they realize that their experiment has freed a mysterious being from its frozen prison.  Paranoia spreads like an epidemic as a creature that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish in this spine-tingling thriller.

The Thing also stars Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ulrich Thomsen and Eric Christian Olsen

Blu-ray highlights (NO special features on the single disc dvd):

-Fire and Ice (5 min.; HD): focuses on the pyrotechnics

-The Thing Evolves (14 min.; HD making-of featurette

-Deleted and Extended Scenes (9 min.; HD

-Audio Commentary. Director Matthijs van Heijningen is joined by producer Eric Newman (and producer Mark Abraham, kind of

The second disc in the set is an anamorphic widescreen DVD. The Thing comes packaged in an embossed slipcase, and a code for an UltraViolet digital copy is tucked inside. 

Dream House stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz and despite the fact that director Jim Sheridan was not happy with the finished product (any more than the public was) it will forever be known as the film in which you can watch Craig and Weisz  fall in love.

Some say that all houses have memories. For one man, his home is the place he would kill to forget. A family unknowingly moves into a home where several grisly murders were committed…only to find themselves the killer's next target. Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a job in New York City to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from Ann Paterson (Naomi Watts), a neighbor who was close to the family that died. As Will and Ann piece together the disturbing puzzle, they discover that the story of the last man to leave Will's dream house will be just as horrifying to the one who came next.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Burning Down The House: is a four minute look at the special effects work

-Building The Dream House:  five minutes with the set designer on how he tried to make the house as much a character in the movie as the humans that populate it.

-Dream Cast: clips showing of the primary cast members

-A Look Inside: a two minute promo spot

-Theatrical Trailer 

All of the extras are in high definition, the disc is Blu-ray Live and D-Box motion control enabled. As this is a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, a DVD disc is also included with the same extras on it.

Janie Jones is a little indie we told you about that never really got much of a theatrical release. It stars Abigail Breslin as a young girl who has been abandoned by her former-groupie mother (Elizabeth Shue), after she informs a fading rock star (Alessandro Nivola) that the girl is his daughter.

Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola, Junebug, Face/Off) and his band are on the comeback trail when a former flame (Academy Award® nominee Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas) drops a bomb in his lap: their 13-year-old daughter, Janie Jones (Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine, Nim’s Island). Ethan refuses to believe Janie is his kid, but when her mom suddenly leaves for rehab, the child has no place to go but into the tour bus and on the road with the band. With no inclination toward fatherhood, Ethan continues his hard-living ways, leaving Janie to fend for herself in dive bars and sleazy motels along the way. As Ethan's self-destructive spiral threatens to destroy his band's future, Janie uses her own surprising musical talents to help guide him down the rocky road to redemption. Featuring original music by Gemma Hayes and Eef Barzelay – sung by Nivola and Breslin, who both give impeccably detailed performances. JANIE JONES is a rock-and-roll road movie that can’t be missed.

Worth a look on dvd or VOD for the cast alone, in my opinion.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Interview with JANIE JONES Team, presented by American Express

-Audio Commentary with Director and Producers

Texas Killing Fields is another indie that got lost in the fall shuffle. It played TIFF and then disappeared from the radar. I was looking forward to it, so I’m happy it made it to dvd. It stars Sam Worthington and perpetual “almost star” Jeffrey Dean Morgan, along with one of the eight Jessica Chastain performances of the year.

Inspired by true events, this tense and haunting thriller follows Detective Souder (Sam Worthington), a homicide detective in a small Texan town, and his partner, transplanted New York City cop Detective Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they track a sadistic serial killer dumping his victims' mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh locals call ''The Killing Fields.'' 

Though the swampland crime scenes are outside their jurisdiction, Detective Heigh is unable to turn his back on solving the gruesome murders. Despite his partner's warnings, he sets out to investigate the crimes. Before long, the killer changes the game and begins hunting the detectives, teasing them with possible clues at the crime scenes while always remaining one step ahead. When familiar local girl Anne (Chloë Grace Moretz) goes missing, the detectives find themselves racing against time to catch the killer and save the young girl's life. 

Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, Produced by Michael Mann and Michael Jaffe, Texas Killing Fields also stars Jessica Chastain (Coriolanus,The Help), Jason Clarke (Public Enemies, FOX's ''Chicago Code'') and Stephen Graham (Snatch, HBO's ''Boardwalk Empire''). Executive Produced by Bill Block, Paul Hanson and Ethan Smith, with music by Dickon Hinchliffe.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Theatrical Trailer

- commentary track from director Mann and writer Donald F. Ferraone. 

The Big Year stars Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson as three avid bird watchers who compete to spot the rarest birds in North America at a prestigious annual event.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Extended Feature Film

-"The Big Migration" featurette

-12 Deleted Scenes

-Gag Reel           

The Double stars Richard Gere and Topher Grace. It begins with the mysterious murder of a senator bearing the marks of a Soviet assassin, who was long thought to be dead. To hunt down the killer, a retired CIA operative, who spent his career going toe-to-toe with his Soviet nemesis, is teamed with a young FBI agent.

The Double also stars Martin Sheen, Odette Yustman, Stana Katic and Stephen Moyer.

Blu-ray and DVD highlights:

-Producer interviews

-Trailer

-Commentary with Michael Brandt (Director/Writer) and Derek Haas (Writer)

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It’s Friday people, are you ready for another dose of your daily Fassbender?

The awards season carnival rolled into London last night, January 19, for a pre-BAFTA tease. Michael Fassbender and his Shame co-star Carey Mulligan (along with other assorted Brits) graced yet another red carpet, this time in front of the BFI Southbank Theater, for the London Critics Circle Film Awards. The group of more than 120 critics, broadcasters and writers from the U.K  moved their awards up a few weeks, from mid-February, to avoid being an irrelevant awards season afterthought.

Fassy was presented with the “British Actor of the Year” Award (for both Shame and A Dangerous Method), British Actress was Olivia Coleman from Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine’s directorial debut that is getting raves, but has yet to hit America, as well as her role as Maggie Thatcher’s daughter Carol in The Iron Lady, while The Artist’s Jean Dujardin won Best Actor of the Year. Film of the Year was The Artist, picked up by Best Director, Michel Havanicius. All of which should make Harvey Weinstein very happy.

While Drive and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy led the nominations going into the prize-giving, TTSS came away with just one, Maria Djurkovic won a technical-achievement award for her production design.

Asghar Farhadi's A Separation earned awards in three categories: Foreign Language Film of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year (Farhadi) and Best Supporting Actress (Sareh Bayat).

Meryl Streep tied with Anna Paquin (Margaret) in the best-actress category for The Iron Lady.

Kenneth Branagh (I have adored that little rubber-faced Irishman since Henry V) earned Best Supporting Actor for his role as Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn. (And yet they went with Anna Paquin over Michelle Williams. Will BAFTA and Oscar look away as well? I think the buzz is gone from Williams’ performance, despite her semi-naked magazine covers)

Here is the complete list of winners:

FILM OF THE YEAR

The Artist

CRITICS' CIRCLE TOP 10 FILMS of 2011

1. The Artist

2. A Separation

3. Drive

4. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

5. The Tree of Life

6. We Need to Talk About Kevin

7. Melancholia

8. Shame

9. Margaret

10. The Descendants

The Attenborough Award: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR

We Need to Talk About Kevin  (over TTSS? That’s a shocker. And I hope Coriolanus was somewhere on the list)

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

A Separation

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Senna

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

Asghar Farhadi – A Separation

The Virgin Atlantic Award: BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER

Andrew Haigh – Weekend

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Jean Dujardin – The Artist

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR (Tied)

Anna Paquin – Margaret

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Sareh Bayat – A Separation

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Michael Fassbender – A Dangerous Method, Shame

The Moët & Chandon Award: BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Olivia Colman – The Iron Lady, Tyrannosaur

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Craig Roberts – Submarine

The Sky 3D Award: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Maria Djurkovic, production design – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Dilys Powell Award: EXCELLENCE IN FILM

Nicolas Roeg 

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Warner Brothers has released the first two official images from Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, which continues to film in his native Australia, in 3D no less.  I will definitely need to be convinced of the value of filming F. Scott Fitzgerald in 3D, but I digress.

These are the first official images, since we’ve been getting periodic reports and pics from the set for the past couple of months. The first one shows us Tobey Maguire as Nick Carroway, Cary Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jay Gatsby and Joel Edgerton’s Tom Buchanan in the background at what appears to be a New Year’s Even soiree.  The second pic is a moment between the lovers Gatsby and Daisy. Of course we don’t know the context, but it looks tender.

The Great Gatsby, with an adaptation by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, who have collaborated previously on Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom, also stars Isla Fisher as Myrtle Wilson, Jason Clarke as George Wilson and Gemma Ward as Myrtle’s sister, Catherine.  The film opens December 25, 2012 in the US.

Source

Here’s the first official look at Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, currently shooting in Sydney Australia.  The pics below also give us new looks at Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby and Tobey Maguire as Nick Carroway as they shoot scenes in Sydney’s Centennial Park. She looks like the quintessential flapper. Perfect Daisy!

Director Baz Luhrmann, with whom DiCaprio made Romeo + Juliet back in 1996 (although my favorite will always be Strictly Ballroom), is shooting the film in 3D which made absolutely no sense to me (yes yes I know you know how I feel about 3D), until DiCaprio gave this explanation to Access Hollywood, “ {the 3D is} being used for drama,” Leo told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, while promoting his latest movie, J. Edgar, in Los Angeles over the weekend.

“Most of the time, you associate 3-D with the spectacle of it, but he really wants to use 3-D to create emotional impact with the characters and almost use it like what it would be like to immerse yourself in a theater production,” Leo explained. “So I’m having a good time with that. Plus, it’s the great American novel.”

Well, I can understand what he means by an immersive theater experience. If Luhrmann’s able to pull this off, I may rethink my stance on this issue. I certainly hope it will enhance the material and not detract from it.

The Great Gatsby costars Joel Edgerton as Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan,  Isla Fisher as his lover Myrtle Wilson and Jason Clarke as her husband George. The film opens in the US on December 25, 2012 but will probably have its premiere in Australia before that. Enjoy the pics!

It's your (seemingly) daily bit of Michael Fassbender in the second US trailer for Steve McQueen's Shame. I literally breathed, "Wow" when it was over. This trailer, coupled with the UK quad sheet we saw a few days ago, is taking us deeper into the tortured soul of the film’s protagonist, Brandon, played by Fassbender. This one features the much talked about version of “New York, New York” as sung by the film's costar, Carey Mulligan. She sings it not as an anthem to one’s own self-reliance and the courage to follow one’s dreams, but as the breathy plea of someone reaching for help. Take a look. What do you think?

I can’t imagine anyone reading this doesn’t know the particulars by now but, humor me. Shame is the story of 30-something New Yorker, to all the world he appears successful but in reality he’s hanging on by his fingernails. His drug of choice: sex. His carefully orchestrated life is disrupted when his sister Cissy (Mulligan) arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.  Having received the infamous NC-17, Fox Searchlight is still giving Shame an awards season push. It opens December 2 in NY & LA (I can’t wait!) before rolling out everywhere else in January.

The new poster for Steve McQueen’s Shame is the best one yet. It shows us Michael Fassbender as Brandon certainly, but it also shows us Carey Mulligan’s Sissy. Just from the use of color and the positioning of the actors’ heads, we can begin to understand the tone of the film and their relationship.  They  are brother and sister, but they live their lives hiding from each other (and everyone else). Despite whatever else you’ve heard, Shame is not about sex, it’s about pain.

I hope you’re not tired of me talking about this film. Since it’s officially rated NC-17, the promotion will primarily be limited to the internet. I’m doing my part.

Last year, Harvey Weinstein was so incensed that Blue Valentine earned a NC-17 that he personally petitioned the Motion Pictures Assn. of America in the hopes they’d change their minds. His fear supposedly was that an NC-17 would harm the film's commercial prospects.  In my estimation the rating as well as Harvey’s “fight” served the film, a small little art house number that probably would have slid under the radar of most people anyway, despite its A-list cast (Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams) and good reviews.

Steve McQueen says he’s not worried about the rating affecting Shame’s potential at the box office. In fact,his star (Fassbender) believes, it may help boost ticket sales.

"I think it can be an alright thing. It can stimulate curiosity for sure," the actor told the LA Times on the red carpet at the AFI Fest premiere of the film in Hollywood on November 9. He added, "I think it's unusual that a lot of violent films seem to pass through the system easily enough. But whenever you sort of try to question or deal with sex, it becomes something that's dirty or not to be watched — so I find that to be confusing." He has a point.

Enjoy the poster and some pics of Fassy at a photocall in San Francisco this past weekend. We’ll talk again I’m sure.