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Recent DVD releases:

Apollo 18 (PG-13, 86 minutes) — The real reason we never went back to the moon, presented in

Blair Witch “found footage” style. The result is underwhelming, although the bit about the moon rocks disappearing is essentially true. Grade: 76

Brighton Rock (R, 111 minutes) — A new adaptation of Graham Greene’s 1938 novel, rather than a remake of the 1947 John Boulting film, this visually arresting story (set in 1964) of amoral punk Pinkie (Sam Riley), who marries a naive young waitress (Andrea Riseborough) to prevent her from testifying

against him in a murder case, misses some of the philosophical nuance of the novel, but succeeds on its own terms as a brooding, 21st-century noir. But that’s all it really is — an excellent genre piece with some good actors — Helen Mirren, John Hurt, Andy Serkis — attached. Grade: 86

Circumstance (R, 106 minutes) — Maryam Keshavarz emerges as one the new stars of Iranian cinema with this wonderfully wellobserved look at life in modern Tehran (the film was actually shot in Beirut, on a budget of less than $1 million) through the prism of two high school girls who become lovers in a dangerous time. Grade:

Contagion (PG-13, 106 minutes) — Steven Soderbergh’s thinking person’s horror movie draws much of its power from its plausibility but curiously surrenders a little of that potency through the sheer wow factor of its A-list cast — bigface actors like Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Elliott Gould show up to race around, spit out ominous medical terms and, most shockingly, die. It’s tense, scary and commendably unsensationalistic, although it will probably cause you to stock up on antibacterial soaps and avoid unnecessary contact with just about everything. Grade: 86

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark ( R, 99 minutes) — While Guillermo del Toro’s name appears prominently in the marketing materials for this rather engaging retro horror movie (a quasi-remake of the 1973 TV movie of the same name), consumers should be aware that del Toro is just one of the co-writers, and that first-timer Troy Nixey actually directed. And he does a good job of anchoring the movie in the real world, employing just enough CGI to suggest the supernatural. Basically a solid, if modest, frightener with good performances from Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes, as a couple renovating a scary old mansion, and Bailee Madison as the little girl who discovers its secrets. Grade: 85

The Guard (R, 96 minutes) — A black-hearted and bitter Irish comedy, starring the wonderfully burly Brendan Gleeson, about the circumscribed lives of cops and robbers that only hints at the possibility of redemption for us pitiable human animals. It posits a stark and lonely universe probably devoid of any meaning beyond what we invest in it. It is wonderfully rueful and crisply cynical, and while there are parts of it that might repel anyone who considers himself a fundamentally good person, others will receive it as a bracing tonic — a minor-key story about a flawed man who does what he deems necessary. Needless to say, I loved it. With Don Cheadle, Mark Strong and Fionnula Flanagan. Grade: 88

I Don’t Know How She Does

It (PG-13, 89 minutes) — A contender for the worst Hollywood movie of the year ( not quite as bad as The Change-up in my book, but a puzzlingly inert movie), as bland and bloodless a film as I’ve seen in a long time. With a carefully photographed Pierce Brosnan, a charismafree Greg Kinnear, and Olivia Munn, who probably won’t acknowledge this one on her resume. Grade: 67 E-mail: pmartin@arkansasonline.com

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