“Contagion”
** Packed with Oscar winners and nominees, “Contagion” recalls one of those 1970s disaster movies. Only the cast — Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and more — isn’t made up of “has-beens” and the global catastrophy comes via the microscopic. Even so, we expected more gripping fare from Steven Soderbergh, who, along with writer Scott Z. Burns.This delivers a confused message about fear, bureaucracies and a viral pandemic. PG-13. 2 hours, 6 minutes. Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post
“I Don’t Know How She Does It”
** Rom-com vets make this familiar babble-of-the-sexes dramedy engaging. Sarah Jessica Parker is an investment fund manager juggling marriage, kids, and a demanding job that becomes more so when she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime. Greg Kinnear plays Kate’s sympathetic husband, and Pierce Brosnan is the money guy who believes Kate has the right stuff. PG-13. 1 hour, 31 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
“The Guard”
***½ Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle make a fine and prickly pair playing an Irish cop and an FBI agent thrown together in Ireland’s wild west to solve a murder and nab three rather erudite drug traffickers. The language is tart. The shenanigans are frisky. And penned and directed by John Michael McDonagh, the lessons are grim and lively. R. 1 hour, 36 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”
**
Story of a couple (Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes) and a young girl (Bailee Madison) menaced by nasty little things that swarm up from beneath the mansion they’re restoring. R. 1 hour, 40 minutes. David St. Germain, The Associated Press
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Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Five
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The Last Lions
Man in a Suitcase, Set 2
Nova: Finding Life Beyond Earth
Puncture
Royal Pains: Season Three, Volume One
Serendipity (Blu-ray debut)
Shark Night
She’s All That (Blu-ray debut)
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The Windsors: From George to Kate
