This week: Tom Cruise is back as IMF agent Ethan Hunt for the fourth and most high-stakes assignment yet in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," which takes the intense action from Moscow to Dubai.
Also out on DVD this week are Michael Fassbender and his penis in "Shame," the harrowing post-apocalyptic character study "The Divide" starring Michael Biehn and Milo Ventimiglia, and the haunted house horror film "7 Below" with Val Kilmer and Ving Rhames.
'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'
Box Office: $209 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% Fresh
Storyline: Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Paula Patton) go underground after the Kremlin is bombed and the IMF is thought to harbor international terrorists. While trying to clear the agency's name, the rogue group discovers a plot to start a nuclear war and must use all the high-tech gadgets at their disposal to avert global catastrophe.
Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain 51 minutes of "Impossible Missions," which can be watched either as individual making-of featurettes ("The Sandstorm," "Dubai Car Crash") or as one long documentary.
We Say: This "Mission" -- if you choose to accept it -- is one of the most dizzyingly exciting action films in recent history, especially when Cruise scales the outside of Dubai's Buri Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Another impossible bonus is that this "Mission" stands on its own -- you don't need to watch the previous three movies in the series to enjoy the action.
'Shame'
Box Office: $4 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 80% Fresh
Storyline: Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a Manhattan sex addict who shuns intimate relationships with people. He is forced to confront some painful memories when his wayward sister (Carey Mulligan) moves in with him and his insular life becomes exposed.
Extras! The "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with Michael Fassbender" talks in-depth about Brandon's inability to form meaningful relationships.
We Say: This fascinating NC-17 drama by director Steve McQueen got a lot of attention for showcasing Fassbender's penis, which deserves its own screen credit and dressing room; but the film most notably features a brave performance by Fassbender as it explores the dark side of extreme sexual addiction.
'The Divide'
Box Office: $22,000
Rotten Tomatoes: 22% Rotten
Storyline: A group of nine tenants (including Michael Biehn, Rosanna Arquette, Milo Ventimiglia and Lauren German) in a New York high-rise barricade themselves in the basement to survive a nuclear attack, slowly descending into madness when help never comes.
Extras! Both the unrated DVD and Blu-ray contain commentary by the director and actors Biehn, Ventimiglia and Michael Eklund.
We Say: Although it's difficult to watch the tenants physically and psycho-sexually torment each other, the movie features a chillingly believable portrayal of what people become when stress erodes the thin mask of sanity we all wear.
'7 Below'
Box Office: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Storyline: A group of strangers (including Val Kilmer and Luke Goss) stranded after a tour bus accident must ride out a storm in a Ving Rhames' creepy house, where a little boy murdered his family a century ago.
Extras! There are no bonus features of note on either the DVD or Blu-ray.
We Say: Rhames chews into his chance to play a creepy loner, but this straight-to-video ghost tale is creaky like his haunted house.
Also New This Week:
"Frozen Planet: The Complete Series"
"High Road to China"
"Born to Be Wild"
"Buck Privates" Blu-ray
