Nicolas Winding Refn featurette

Ryan Gosling featurette

Carey Mulligan featurette

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn throttles into the Hollywood fast lane with the precision-crafted action caper Drive.

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense.

The movie was written by Oscar nominee Hossein Amini,The Wings of Dove, and adapted from the eponymous novel by James Sallis. The Wings of Dove is such a different movie than Drive. It’s hard to image they both were written by the same person.

Marvel has been rapidly issuing out new movies since their acquisition by Disney, and some of them have been better than others. The folks at Shout Factory sent out a new item from the Marvel Knights subclass called Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers for us to review. This one is going to be substantially different from most you’ve seen from Marvel, and if you like unique like I do, well, then you will be very happy here.

Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers takes us back out to Asgard, where Loki has achieved his dream of seizing the throne of Asgard. But his success has left the trickster god starkly unfulfilled, and he begins to wonder what went wrong. For that, he turns to his past, and gives us perspective on the longstanding rivalry between him and his brother Thor. Thus will a story spin out that provides perspective on the nemeses, and their places in the various plots that surround the land of the Norse pantheon.

This isn’t a typical Marvel animation in the sense you might think. See, it’s a Marvel Knights title, which is a little different from the standard Marvel. And this movie watches more like a comic book than like a movie; it’s a lot like X-Men: Gifted in that sense. There’s a lot of a lot of dialogue in here, and some of it is frankly a little thick. Loki’s weird metaphysical conflict as he wonders how the god of deceit and trickery can actually rule anything is pomposity made film.

But still, it’s a surprisingly literary experience from Marvel, which does a very interesting job of examining predestination, and one’s place in the universe. Trying to portray Loki as a sympathetic character isn’t an easy task–nor a very rational one, in all honesty–and it comes off more than a little whiny sometimes. But still, it’s hard not to look at this guy and think that, at least on some things, he’s got a point. They laugh at the guy’s mother, for crying out loud.

Still though, if you’re looking for a Marvel experience that’s vastly different from, and a little deeper than, the ordinary, well, you’ll get all you can ask for right here. This is some fairly impressive stuff, if still lacking in the more traditional measures. The ending, however, is a bit abrupt and a downright buzzkill, but probably the only ending that could have happened.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives the depressing, wordy, but rather unique Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers a seven out of ten for taking a chance and doing something really new and different with the whole concept.

I’ll bet you didn’t imagine Alaska grew some absolutely massive vegetables. Strange way to kick off a DVD review, I know, but then, this is a strange DVD. The folks out at the Discovery Channel, backed up by their press agent Gaiam, sent out a copy of Alaska: The Edge Of Life for us to review. And it’s a strange one that has a lot more going for it than you might expect.

Alaska: The Edge of Life takes you up to Alaska, the biggest state in the United States, and one of the most otherworldly. And we’ll be going around all over to see a variety of impressive sights, the kind of which you can literally only find in Alaska. You’ll go from the water to the landscape and everywhere in between, as the folks at Discovery show you things you probably never would have seen had you never reached the far north.

And you will, rest assured, see some thoroughly amazing stuff. You’ll go up Mount McKinley, you’ll watch the Northern Lights, you’ll follow bears and go crab fishing just like the Deadliest Catch guys do. You’ll hit the Bering Sea, and check out bears, and see a host of things. But like I said in the opening paragraph, it won’t just be the biggest and wildest stuff–you’ll also see vegetables of enormous size. See, in Alaska, they’re close to the pole. And what this means is that they get a lot more sunlight during the summer months, and virtually none during the winter months. That in turn yields vegetables of unusual size as they’re constantly getting sunlight. The end result is, as you’ll see, a cabbage weighing nearly ninety pounds.

Like much of Discovery Channel’s fare, it’s going to feature a whole lot of strange things and things you probably didn’t already know. Invariably I end up learning something new from their stuff (this time, for example, I got an excellent explanation of hovercraft physics), and chances are you will too.

Between some absolutely breathtaking visuals, a whole lot of bizarre new information, and plenty of surprises, it’s hard not to enjoy Alaska: The Edge of Life. And it’s going to be amply worth your time to check this out. How amply?

The Screenhead Ten Scale believes it’s sufficiently amply worth your time to check this out that it gives Alaska: The Edge of Life an eight out of ten. A bit on the niche side, admittedly, but still having a lot of great parts to it to make it very much worth your time.

I have a DVD copy of Scream 4 to give away.

The horror movie is directed by Wes Craven and stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anthony Anderson, Shenae Grimes and Lucy Hale.

The movie will hit the streets on October 4, 2011. The movie follows Sidney Prescott (Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, who returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (Arquette) and Gale (Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Roberts).

Unfortunately Sidney’s appearance also brings about the return of Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends (Panettiere, Culkin) and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

Here’s what the critics have to say about Scream 4: “Pure genius.” (Richard Roeper, RichardRoeper.com) “The Best ‘Scream’ since the original! Funny, clever and scary as hell.” (Dan Jewel, Life & Style Weekly) “Full of surprises!” (Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald)

To enter, post your name and I will pick the winner October 4, 2011.

He’s done the time, now he might as well do the crime. Acclaimed indie filmmaker Malcolm Venville (44 Inch Chest) directs an all-star cast in the outrageous crime caper, Henry’s Crime, is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

I have picked the two winners for the giveaway. They are Cody and Jennifer Jenkins. They both answered the question correctly and were picked as the winners.

“With a terrific cast led by Keanu Reeves (The Matrix Trilogy), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) and a splendid James Caan (Misery), Henry’s Crime is a fun comedy with irresistible heist and heart” (Boxoffice Magazine). Reeves stars as Henry Torne, a wrongly accused man who winds up behind bars for a bank robbery he didn’t commit. After befriending a charismatic lifer (Caan) in prison, Henry finds his purpose — having done the time, he decides he may as well do the crime. But his outlandish plan to rob the very same bank spins wildly out of control, as he finds himself performing in a stage play and falling in love with the production’s seductive leading lady (Farmiga).

It’s Dawn of the Dead meets High Noon in the bloody, action-packed film The Dead and the Damned, on DVD wherever they are sold.

Hot on the trail of a renegade Apache warrior, gun-slinging bounty hunter Mortimer passes through an 1849 California gold rush town, where local miners direct him into the mountains to track his prey.

Following a ferocious battle, Mortimer triumphantly returns to town with his Indian captive in shackles … only to find themselves surrounded by a ravenous horde of the undead. Now the two enemies must band together if they are to escape the horrors of The Dead and the Damned!

The movie sounds like the perfect feature to be watching during the Halloween season. I just hope it is not too scary.

To enter the giveaway, post your name and we will pick the winner September 30, 2011.

We’ve seen a lot of movies involving costumed serial killers over the years, but one that’s going to take a real run at the brass ring as far as that standard goes is Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf. The folks out at Anchor Bay sent a copy for me to review, and it’s going to certainly be something. The something in question is

Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf follows a serial killer known as The Wolf due to his propensity to wear a spiked helmet that looks like nothing so much as a wolf’s jaws. His murderous ways caught up with him, though, and The Wolf was sentenced to life in a maximum security asylum in the grandest Arkham tradition. A massive power failure strikes the prison, and unlocks all the cell doors. Now the inmates are running the asylum, out for blood and vengeance on their keepers, while The Wolf once again prowls.

Sound interesting? Sure it does. We’ve read Batman comics that start like this. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that Parker’s Asylum, the place where the movie is set, looks every inch like an Arkham simulacrum, right down to the aging construction, the manor-house resemblance, and the ultra-secure levels containing some really homicidal characters. For crying out loud, one guy looks almost exactly like Bane, only without the Venom implants.

But sadly, it doesn’t exactly live up to its promises, at least not in the early going. See, this movie has a run time of about two hours. And the first hour or so is going to be almost painfully slow. They’re clearly taking their time about things, setting up for a real Sunday punch, or so you hope. And while there is an absolutely terrific moment toward the end of the first hour, the second hour doesn’t quite have the punch you’d expect of a movie that’s supposed to be about a building full of homicidal sociopaths. Sure, there are some interesting segments, like a cannibal lovingly describing her craft to her psychologist, whom she’s holding hostage at knifepoint. But still, this is surprisingly dull stuff for a movie that should be an absolute horror-action frenzy of a film.

It’s hard to completely revile this one, though, because there are all these lovely bits in it, like silver coins strewn across a great sandy beach, that improve the whole nicely. A twist here, a joke there, all the best stuff. But they’re interspersed in a largely talentless and wholly lacking presentation that leaves me a bit cold.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Medium Raw: Night of the Wolf a medium-good six out of ten. The whole is significantly worse than the sum of its parts, and while there are some little bits of good in here, they can’t overwhelm the overall shoddiness of the presentation.

Jane Lynch has revved up her megaphone to tout the benefits of arts education is schools, starring in a public service announcement that debut tonight on the Fox Network’s “GLEE” program. It’s the centerpiece of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s campaign to donate $1 million to arts education around the country and Lynch is the featured spokesperson as the harsh and witty cheer coach, Sue Sylvester. Beyond “GLEE,” the PSA is expected to air on television and cable stations across the country.

I love the name of the campaign, “GLEE Give a Note,” which will donate $1 million to school arts programs across the country. Eligible high schools are invited to submit videos about why their school deserves a grant at www.GleeGiveANote.com. In December 2011, after two rounds of voting, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will name the 73 schools that will receive grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.

Big, BIG news for you retro television buffs today, because the folks out at A&E sent out a copy of Mike Hammer: The Complete Series for me to review for you today. It won’t even hit stores until this Tuesday, so you’ve got plenty of time to get excited, because for retro television fans, detective show fans, and folks who can’t get enough of Darren McGavin, you’re absolutely going to go wild over this.

Mike Hammer: The Complete Series follows the title character, an ace private eye, as he pursues a variety of cases all over the general vicinity of New York City. He’ll find himself pursuing cases, but also pursuing criminals, and even occasionally killing a few of them. He’ll chase blackmailers, murderers, bank robbers, and most anybody else that commits crime in his city.

This is very much a shot of fifties era television–it even feels like fifties era stuff–and if you liked things like The Twilight Zone you’ll definitely get a thrill here. Darren McGavin is a scenery chewer of such excellence that the set designers must have to lace their paint with jalapenos to keep McGavin from wrecking up the joint. And even better, most every episode of McGavin’s Hammer is a meager half-hour (more like twenty-odd minutes), so the mysteries will come very much bite sized and simple to digest. You’ll get dozens of little mysteries here, convenient to break out at most any time of day. They’ll be fast and simple to process, just like most any other sitcom, plus you get the added bonus of them having that retro television spirit that’s extra fun.

And even better, some of the episodes will also pack some humor in. You often don’t see it coming, like when Mike Hammer finds himself abruptly playing secretary / bodyguard for an elderly neighbor who found himself falling into a substantial windfall. Several portions of the episode are surprisingly laugh-inducing, but they’ll quickly turn around into a full-on mystery. Plus, Hammer himself is something of a flirt, and encountering an attractive woman–which he will do with some regularity–often causes him to abruptly, and visibly, switch gears.

Mike Hammer The Complete Series is a rapid and highly engaging affair, giving you the option of taking it a little at a time or in big chunks, and that kind of variety is every bit as helpful as the series is fun and entertaining.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Mike Hammer The Complete Series an eight out of ten for being a slice of delight from the fifties brought forward almost fifty years to a whole new audience. And you should have a great time with it to boot.

Chalet Girl, the new British comedy starring Felicity Jones and Ed Westwick, is now available on SundanceNOW.com and cable VOD via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House before it is available in theaters!

Screenhead is holding a giveaway to view the movie at SundanceNOW. To enter the giveaway post your name and we will pick the winner September 19, 2011.

Pretty tomboy Kim (Felicity Jones) used to be a champion skateboarder, but now she flips burgers to support herself and her dad. Opportunity comes knocking when she flukes a winter-long catering job in one of the plushest ski chalets in the Alps. At first, Kim is baffled by this bizarre new world of posh people, vintage champagne, epic mountains and waist deep powder.

Then Kim discovers snowboarding, and her natural talent soon sees her training for the end-of-season competition, with a chance to win major prize money. But before she can become a champion again, Kim needs to overcome her deepest fears – and figure out what’s going on with Jonny (Ed Westwick), her boss’ handsome but apparently unavailable son.

SundanceNOW.com is a place for anyone interested in independent films both American and worldwide – from the die-hard fans, who we hope will become active members of our community, to those interested in browsing our extensive list of different genres and sampling something new.