on DVD

New Releases

Go home with Mr. Woodcock, Good Luck Chuck or Sunshine

Spotlight

3:10 TO YUMA

January 8, $30

Just when you thought it was safe to stop liking Russell Crowe, the tempestuous thespian comes out with this intriguing western, all hardscrabble, rough and complicated.

Crowe plays bad guy Ben Wade, a gang leader wanted for multiple murders and robberies.

Wade’s foil in this second cinematic adaptation of the Elmore Leonard short story is Dan Evans, played by Christian Bale. (The first version came out in 1957, and starred Glenn Ford as Evans and Van Heflin as Wade.)

Evans is having a rough time making it as a rancher, so agrees to join a posse that’s escorting the recently apprehended Wade to the city of Contention, where a train will take him to Yuma. There, it’s assumed, he will be tried and hanged.

This is director James Mangold’s first feature film since 2005’s Walk the Line earned five Oscar nominations, including a win for Reese Witherspoon. Look for nice performances by some of 3:10 to Yuma’s supporting cast as well, including Peter Fonda as a bounty hunter and Ben Foster (X-Men’s Angel) as Charlie Prince, Wade’s devoted underling.

The DVD’s bonus material includes Mangold’s audio commentary, a making-of documentary called “Destination Yuma,” deleted scenes, and a couple of featurettes — “Outlaws, Gangs and Posses” and “Mythology of the Western.”

January 1

RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION

Stars: Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr
Director: Russell Mulcahy (Resurrection)
Story: In this third movie to spring from the Resident Evil videogames, zombie hunter Alice (Jovovich), one of the few humans still unaffected by the T-virus, tries to lead a convoy of other survivors to safety in Alaska. But first they’ll have to get through Vegas, baby, where — in this dystopian future — the dangers are far worse than hookers and 25-cent shrimp cocktails.
DVD Extras: “Alice Vision: Preproduction,” “Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The Undead Evolve,” “Vegas Visual Effects: Miniatures”

January 2

SHOOT ’EM UP

Stars: Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci
Director: Michael Davis (Monster Man)
Story: Ach, who needs a story when you have 86 minutes of Clive Owen being chased by men with guns? If we must. Owen plays Mr. Smith, who witnesses a gang of thugs trying to kill a pregnant woman. He delivers the baby, only to have mom die. So he takes said baby and enlists a lactating prostitute (Bellucci) to help him take care of it, all the while trying to figure out who those baddies chasing him with guns are and why they want that baby dead.

January 8

EAGLE VS SHARK

Stars: Loren Horsley, Jemaine Clement
Director: Taika Waititi (Futile Attraction)
Story: Two geeky oddballs — waitress Lily (Horsley) and video store clerk Jarrod (Clement) — get together at a “dress as your favourite animal” party and seem destined to find nerd love. But Jarrod’s 10-year obsession with getting revenge on a high school bully may get in the way. DVD Extras: deleted scenes, commentary track, outtakes, “Gone Fishing” music video

SUNSHINE

Stars: Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh
Director: Danny Boyle (Trainspotting)
Story: The sun is dying and the only way to save our solar system is for a crew of astronauts (Murphy, Yeoh, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne) to travel to our big star and reignite it with a nuclear bomb. Problem is, one crew has already tried…and that didn’t work out too well. Will crew number two fare any better?
DVD Extras: director commentary, alternate ending, deleted scenes

January 15

GOOD LUCK CHUCK

Stars: Jessica Alba, Dane Cook
Director: Mark Helfrich (debut)
Story: When he was 11 years old, Charlie (Cook) rebuffed the advances of a Goth girl. So, she put a hex on him: Every woman he slept with would leave him and immediately find the man of her dreams. Years later, word of Charlie’s unusual power has spread and women are lining up to sleep with him. But when he meets a woman he actually likes (Alba) he’s terrified to become intimate, fearing she too will leave him as soon as the deed is done.

MR. WOODCOCK

Stars: Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton
Director: Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl)
Story: It took years for John Farley (Scott) to recover from the torture and teasing he suffered at the hands of his high school gym teacher Mr. Woodcock (Thornton). But recover he did, to the point where he’s now a successful self-help author. But all of that newfound self-esteem is put to the test when Farley discovers his mother (Susan Sarandon) is about to marry that sadistic Mr. Woodcock.

January 29

SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL

Stars: Roy Dupuis, James Gallanders
Director: Roger Spottiswoode (Ripley Under Ground)
Story: Dupuis stars as Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire, the Canadian commander of UN forces in Rwanda circa 1994, when a civil war led to genocide. Based on Dallaire’s own autobiography, the film traces his largely futile attempts to stop the killing as he’s bound by endless red tape and bureaucracy.
DVD Extras: commentary track featuring Spottiswoode and Dallaire, photo gallery, autographed photo of Dupuis and Dallaire