Source Code
British filmmaker (and offspring of none other than rock legend David Bowie) Duncan Jones avoids the dreaded sophomore slump with this tricky, twist-filled follow-up to his acclaimed debut Moon. In his strongest performance to date, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a downed military pilot, who awakens from a crash landing to find himself in another man's body on a commuter train bound for downtown Chicago. How did he get there? And what exactly is he supposed to do? Those are just two of the puzzles that screenwriter Ben Ripley builds into his clever, fast-moving script, which is realized quite wonderfully on the screen by Jones. Even a contrived, illogical happy ending can't entirely ruin the good vibes inspired by the rest of the movie. Rod Serling would be proud.
Extras: A commentary track featuring Gyllenhaal, Jones and Ripley, as well as an additional trivia track, cast interviews and more details about the film's dubious (but very entertaining) science.

American Grindhouse
Learn the history behind the genre that inspired the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature Grinhouse courtesy of this retrospective documentary. Such real-life exploitation movie veterans as Fred Williamson, Larry Cohen and Don Edmonds sit down with director Elijah Drenner to discuss its life, death and recent rebirth, while clips from such old-school grindhouse classics as Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS. And if the film leaves you wanting to learn more about exploitation movies, be sure to check out the hugely entertaining doc Not Quite Hollywood, which covers the Australian grindhouse tradition.
Extras: Extended original and archival interviews, outtakes, and a treasure trove of vintage trailers, TV teasers and radio spots.

High and Low: The Criterion Collection
Originally released in 1963, Akira Kurosawa's High and Low (appearing on Blu-ray for the first time) can be credited with influencing virtually every police thriller made since, both in Hollywood and abroad. A kidnapper has snatched the son of a wealthy businessman, but when the police arrive, it emerges that it was actually the chauffer's child that got nabbed accidentally instead. The film's taut first half takes place entirely within the man's house as the cops wait by the phone for the kidnapper's instructions, while the second follows their desperate search for him through the streets of Tokyo. It's one of the very best movies from a director who already has a number of classics on his résumé.
Extras: A commentary track from Kurosawa expert Stephen Price, an excerpt from a documentary about Kurosawa's career and two archival video interviews with some of the film's stars, including Japanese screen legend Toshiro Mifune.

Also on DVD:
Former Superman Brandon Routh stars in another comic-book movie, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, an adaptation of an Italian horror comic about a paranormal detective. Paul Giamatti is a great actor, but he looks completely out of place as King John in the medieval times siege movie, Ironclad, which offers some bloody battle scenes and not much else. Two late '90s action flicks arrive on Blu-ray as well, the Pierce Brosnan vs. a volcano movie Dante's Peak and the Kurt Russell outer space adventure, Soldier. Don't feel you have to run out to pick them up: they're almost certainly playing in an endless loop on some cable movie channel.

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