This week: Ryan Gosling is a new kind of action hero in "Drive," Justin Timberlake brings sci-fi back in "In Time," Mary Elizabeth Winstead channels Ripley in "The Thing," Daniel Craig's "Dream House" is full of horrors, and "To Kill a Mockingbird" is beautifully restored for its Blu-ray debut.
'Drive'
Box Office: $35 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% Fresh
Storyline: Ryan Gosling plays the mysterious "Driver" -- a guy who works as a Hollywood stuntman by day and moonlights as a getaway driver at night. We know little about this man of few words except that he won't wait longer than five minutes for you during a heist, and he develops a soft spot for his married neighbor (Carey Mulligan).
Extras! Don't let the DVD/Blu-ray featurette title "Drive Without a Driver: Entretien Avec Nicolas Winding Refn" scare you away. It's not in subtitles and has director Refn explaining the laborious six-year process it took to bring "Drive" to the silver screen.
We Say: "Drive" is one of the best movies of 2011, so don't let the Academy's Oscar snub suggest otherwise. "Drive" could spark the next generation of action films, complete with memorable performances and a cutting-edge electro soundtrack as well as quiet, dramatic moments that other films in the genre fill with tiresome guns and bombast.
Also Check Out: GALLERY: The "Ides" of Ryan Gosling Are Upon Us
'In Time'
Box Office: $37 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 37% Rotten
Storyline: In a dystopian future where the aging gene has been switched off, time is the currency traded to extend one's life beyond the allotted 25 years. Justin Timberlake plays a working stiff who comes across a fortune of time, Olivia Wilde plays his dying mother, and Amanda Seyfried plays the futuristic Bonnie to Timberlake's Clyde.
Extras! "The Minutes" featurette on the DVD and Blu-ray is time well spent for a behind-the-scenes peek.
We Say: Although "In Time" often feels heavy-handed, the intriguing premise mirrors our current dismal economic climate and will be of interest to sci-fi and Timberlake buffs.
Also Check Out: 6 Clips From "In Time"
'The Thing'
Box Office: $17 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 35% Rotten
Storyline: This prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 "The Thing" follows the Norwegian and American scientists -- including Mary Elizabeth Winstead -- as they discover an alien buried in the Antarctic ice. The shape-shifting monster thaws out and wreaks havoc on the terrified, paranoid travelers that fear any one of them could be the creature.
Extras! The Blu-ray feature "'The Thing' Evolves" shows the process of reverse-engineering the story based Carpenter's blueprint.
We Say: If you loved Carpenter's film, this tense prequel meshes perfectly with it and features an impressive combination of practical and CGI creature effects as well as a welcome Ripley-like performance by Winstead.
Also Check Out: The 9 Best Alien Invasion Movies
'Dream House'
Box Office: $21 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 7% Rotten
Storyline: A successful publisher (Daniel Craig) moves his wife (Rachel Weisz) and their two daughters to a quaint New England town only to discover that their idyllic home was a family murder scene, and that a neighbor (Naomi Watts) knows what really happened.
Extras! "The Dream Cast" has Craig, Weisz and Watts -- all of whom we love in other roles -- explain their inexplicable attraction to this project.
We Say: Although you can feel the chemistry between Craig and Weisz that the couple took off-screen, this preposterous mystery with a snicker-worthy M. Night Shyamalan twist collapses like a house of cards.
Also Check Out: Top 9 Signs Your New House Is Haunted
'To Kill a Mockingbird' (Blu-ray)
Box Office: $13 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh
Storyline: Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his turn as courageous Southern lawyer Atticus Finch -- a character the American Film Institute calls "The Greatest Movie Hero of All Time" -- who comes to the defense of a black man wrongly accused of rape.
Extras! This 50th anniversary edition is packed with in-depth bonus features like a feature-length documentary on Peck, and it comes cased in a 44-page book with Peck's script pages, personal letters, storyboards and more.
We Say: Digitally remastered and fully restored in high definition from the original 35-mm film elements, this is how classic Hollywood treasures should be treated for film collectors.
Also New This Week:
"The English Patient" (Blu-ray)
"The Piano" (Blu-ray)
"Malcolm X" (Blu-ray)
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (Blu-ray 3-D)
"Shakespeare in Love" (Blu-ray)