Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol
For the fourth installment in his Mission: Impossible franchise (and his latest comeback vehicle), Tom Cruise put himself in the hands of Pixar guru Brad Bird, which would have been a brilliant choice if M:I was going the animated route, but a riskier one considering that the series was staying in the live action realm. After all, even though Bird has repeatedly proven himself an animation master with such films as The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, making the leap to live action can be problematic. But Bird mostly pulls it off with aplomb, crafting a wholly entertaining -- if disappointingly impersonal -- studio blockbuster. Don't sweat the implausible details of the script (the writers sure don't); instead, revel in the scale and precision of the set-pieces, particularly the sequence in which Cruise scales the side of Dubai's Burj Khalifa tower -- one of the single best stunts this franchise has ever put on film. (Granted, this scene was a little more impressive in IMAX, where it induced vertigo for many of us sitting in the audience.) If this does prove to be Cruise's swan song with the M:I series, at least he went out on an... um, high note.
Extras: Deleted scenes, an alternate beginning (with commentary from Bird) and a host of behind-the-scenes featurettes exploring how the action sequences were conceived and executed.
Click here to read our original review

Shame
After gaining international attention with their first collaboration, Hunger, director Steve McQueen and star Michael Fassbender teamed up again for this richer, more provocative sophomore effort. Fassbender plays a single white male who appears to be living the dream. He's got a good, high-paying job, a centrally located bachelor pad and his devastating good looks makes picking up women a breeze. Beneath his handsome, placid exterior rages a host of internal demons, which are exacerbated by the sudden and entirely unwelcome arrival of his younger sister (Carey Mulligan), who is as open and honest about her many, many emotional problems as her brother is cold and closed-off. It's disappointing, but not entirely surprising, that both actors were overlooked by the Academy for their committed performances considering that the movie lacks the easy uplift that Oscar voters typically like to see cap off tales of dark woe. Shame isn't an easy movie to necessarily like, but it's difficult to stop thinking about.
Extras: Interviews with Fassbender and McQueen and two behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Click here to read our original review

Also on DVD:
After originally teaming up in the '30, comedy team Bud Abbott and Lou Costello went supernova following the release of 1941's Buck Privates, their first star vehicle and the launching point for such subsequent comedy classics as In the Navy and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. After famously losing out on wearing Indiana Jones's fedora due to his Magnum P.I. commitments, Tom Selleck tried to launch his own period adventure franchise with High Road to China, which casts him as dashing pilot Patrick O'Malley. Based on the movie, let's just say there's a reason why Dr. Jones went on to headline three more movies, while Mr. O'Malley vanished into obscurity. Although best known for his creature features, Roger Corman wasn't above dabbling in the lucrative skin trade to bring in some cash. The Nurses Collection offers four vintage '70s softcore thrillers featuring some particularly randy nurses.

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