New on DVD: ‘Contagion,’ ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’ and more
Contagion
Warner Bros., $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99
Director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns take a novel approach to the medical-crisis thriller, mixing a spooky post-apocalyptic look with flat docu-realism. The film falls halfway between “Dawn of the Dead” and the old TV series “Emergency,” with more than a little “Towering Inferno” thrown in — what with an all-star cast that includes Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet and Jude Law. Soderbergh and Burns relay in chilling detail how a deadly epidemic could spread across the world within weeks, then speculate on how society might change in its wake, as medical professionals race to find a vaccine. The result is a suspenseful movie that minimizes emotion but provides ample food for thought. The DVD and Blu-ray add a trio of featurettes, further exploring the facts behind the fiction.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $35.99
Based on a well-remembered, superscary 1973 TV movie, this stars Bailee Madison as a girl who discovers demonic activity in the mansion her father and his new girlfriend are restoring. Though not as white-knuckle petrifying as the original, this Guillermo del Toro-produced remake is reliably shocking, as any movie about malicious tooth fairies that pop out of the shadows and beckon young children would be. The DVD and Blu-ray contain making-of featurettes, but not enough about the ’73 version, perhaps because the new one pales in comparison.
The Guard
Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $35.99
Of all the potential comic pairings in thespiandom, who’d have guessed that Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle would be such a winning combination? Gleeson plays a semi-corrupt small-town Irish police sergeant, while Cheadle plays an FBI agent in pursuit of international drug lords. First-time feature director John Michael McDonagh doesn’t have much of an idea about where to put the camera, but his script is funny and well plotted, and his stars play off each other superbly as they try to protect their respective territories. McDonagh creates a strikingly exhausted world in which even the bad guys play out their roles with a sense of begrudging obligation. The DVD and Blu-ray come with a McDonagh-Gleeson-Cheadle commentary, plus deleted scenes and featurettes.
I Don’t Know How She Does It
Starz/Anchor Bay, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
Sarah Jessica Parker stars in this domestic comedy as a successful money manager who tries to keep her husband and their two youngsters happy while fending off judgmental stares from her family, neighbors and colleagues. Treacly and trifling, the film deserves credit for at least trying to engage with the problems of balancing career and family, but director Douglas McGrath and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna’s adaptation of Allison Pearson’s bestselling novel traffics in overblown sitcom contrivances, not real issues, which makes the whole movie come off as condescending. The DVD and Blu-ray add featurettes.
And…
Justified: The Complete Second Season
Sony, $39.95; Blu-ray, $49.95
The Last Lions
Virgil, $19.99; Blu-ray, $29.99
Shark Night
20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
