It seems like everything that could be said about Drive probably already has been said. At a 93% Rottentomatoes meter and a 79% Metacritic rating, it's one of the best films of 2011. It's not a huge surprise that it wasn't nominated for many Oscars, as it was quite a bit more violent than anything else that got nominated for Best Picture, aside perhaps from some scenes in War Horse. Still, a lack of awards season recognition isn't going to prevent me from adding it to my very selective Blu-Ray collection.
I suppose that one of the more remarkable things about Drive is how passionate people have been about it, on both sides of the coin; people who love it seem intent on defending it as a work of merit, while those who dislike it seem just as passionate about their feelings. That's a great thing!
As far as the rest of the releases this week go, there are quite a few of them. For the sake of timeliness, I've listed only the films that made over $1 million in the list below. Be sure to check the bottom of the list for films that are being re-issued on Blu-Ray, though, as there are some classics that you might want to pick up!
 | 1. In Time I really wanted to like this movie, and it still feels as though there were some great ideas locked away inside of it. In the end, even those ideas were a bit overwhelmed by immensely convenient and silly plotting. |
 | 2. Drive I think we've said enough about this film by this point, but if you haven't heard: it's pretty great. Of course, it was also last year's The American, in that many people who saw it thought it was absolutely stupid and horrible. Still, this is the first Blu-Ray I've bought on launch day in a while. It doesn't look like there's a commentary track, unfortunately. |
 | 3. Dream House By most accounts one of the least-necessary films of the last year, Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig refused to do any press for the film after its director was removed from the editing room. Maybe there'll be some kind of genius director's cut for it in a few years, but...probably not. |
 | 4. The Thing Of all the films on this list that I haven't seen, this is the one that most intrigues me, even if I haven't heard especially good things about it. Still, ought to be worth a rental, right? ...right? |
 | 5. The Big Year More like The Big Flop, as this $41 million film managed to rake in $7.2 million...worldwide! It's a bit surprising, as the trio of actors certainly have a general amount of goodwill floating around for them, and one would think this would've drawn in older audiences, but I don't think they marketed it hard enough to ensure that anyone actually knew it was coming out. |
 | 6. The Mill & The Cross In addition to The Mill & The Cross, the following movies are coming to DVD after limited theatrical runs: Thunder Soul, The Double, The Other F Word, Outrage, Texas Killing Fields, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery Of The Toynbee Tiles, Janie Jones, Chalet Girl, You And I, Spork, The Chateau Meroux |
 | 7. Adaptation Older films getting new Blu-Ray releases include: Adaptation, Cold Mountain, The English Patient, Frida, Shakespeare In Love, To Kill A Mockingbird 50th Anniversary, Transformers Limited Edition Collector's Trilogy |
Will be picking up Drive for sure.
And I'd say The Thing is definitely worth a rental. Obviously it doesn't reach anywhere near the lofty height of the original, but it has some decent moments before it becomes a derivative slasher flick. The monster designs are pretty good as well, though I still think the animatronics from the original are better than any of the CGI stuff, which says a lot considering they're coming up on thirty years old.
I woke up early today and went and bought Drive. I haven't seen it yet, but I own every other Ryan Gosling movie so I can't wait to watch it later tonight.
"ought to be worth a rental right? ...right?"
Nope.
I'm gonna have to watch Drive again. When I seen it the first time I thought it was pretty good if not great. A lot of you have been praising it as the greatest thing ever made. I got to see the light. I hope i'm not coming off as a dick but Rorie was right you either love or hate it and fight for it to the death. As i'm just kind of sitting in this lonely middle ground. My friend she brought home In Time and The Thing home last week for us to watch and they were very ok movies. In Time for me was on the cusp of being damn good but just had a few major problems to drag it down. Done rambling.
I picked up Drive this morning and currently have it up on the screen. Damn if it's not every bit as great as I remember. Also, I'm now remembering what a bummer In TIme was. It was such a good concept trapped in such a mediocre movie.
Treasure Buddies released today as well, which is the only movie I'm actually buying- because my five year old has been sick the last few days and every time there was an ad for it he excitedly called me into the room. I buy the DVDs of stuff like this because then he can watch it on an older TV we have, in other room, where I don't have to see and/or it.
Gonna go pick up Drive on Blu-ray at the end of the week.
Drive Blu-ray should be waiting for me in my box when I get home, gotta love Amazon. Definitely picking up Adaptation to pair it with Being John Malkovich, had no idea it was hitting blu-ray. Might check out In Time or The Thing remake sometime.
One of the theatres by me is still showing Drive. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about seeing it for a third time.
I bought the digital copy of 'Drive' and watched it last weekend.
It feels exactly like a movie that American film studios are too afraid to make anymore, or it's the film that Michael Mann never could.
You should at least see The Thing once, its not a bad film, its just not the as good as the film from the 1980s. The CGI effects aren't as good as the original's.
I pre ordered Drive and it came on Friday, too early but I aint complaining!
I can't believe @Rorie missed Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level Blu-ray release this week!
Also out: Malcolm X and Poirot - Series 1 & 2 out on Blu-ray and Outrage: Way of the Yakuza from Takeshi Kitano on both DVD and Blu.
...weird... some of the links I create keep dropping off when I actually post... Oh, welll, you guys are smart, you can find 'em.
Will be playing this on repeat on the drive to go but it.
The Thing wasn't horrible on its own, but compared to Carpenter's version it's kinda lame.
The Thing was good. I do really like Mary Elizabeth Winstead though.
I want to get Drive eventually, but tuition cleaned me out this month.
Amazon dropped off Drive yesterday(third time in a row they've delivered the monday of release), and picked up Transformers limited 3D edition. Will probably pick up the Adaption and Mockingbird BDs later on.
the thing=rent
drive=buy
Wait, the Drive blu-ray has no commentary? What's the point?