VIDEO: An indelible impression
Handsomely filmed and impeccably acted, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is at once satisfying and underwhelming, a pristine, coolly atmospheric procedural thriller. A wealthy industrialist named Henrik Vanger hires Stockholm journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) to research a decades-long mystery involving Vanger's niece and her disappearance. Blomkvist is joined by Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), the sullen, leather-clad computer hacker hired by Vanger to vet Blomkvist's record, then hired by Blomkvist to assist in the case. The movie's most unsettling scenes, a brutal rape and an equally torturous act of revenge, are staged for maximum shock value. Even at its most sordid, the film remains watchable largely thanks to Mara's embodiment of Lisbeth's explosive, righteous rage and covert vulnerability. The DVD (Sony, $31) includes commentary by David Fincher, while the Blu-ray ($41) adds several featurettes. -WASHINGTON POST
Also out on DVD Tuesday
Movies:
- Battle Royale"
- "Carnage"
- "The Legend of Awesomest Maximus"
- "A Lonely Place to Die"
- "The Muppets"
- "Roadie"
- "The Sitter"
- "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"
- Out Friday: "Hop"
TV
- "The Adventures of Tintin" (Season 2)
- "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" (Season 2, Part 2)
- "Jane by Design" (Vol. 1)
- "Kojak" (Season 3)
- "My Living Doll" (Vol. 1)
- "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" (Season 3)
Blu-ray
- "Disclosure"
- "Lady for a Day"
- "Letter Never Sent"
- "The Ring"
- "Striptease"
- "The Warroom"
GAME: A trip worth taking
If your jaw isn't on the floor following a trip through "Journey" ($15 download for PS3; rated Everyone), call your doctor, because you probably don't have a jaw. As best a video game can be expected to do, "Journey" replicates the sensation of being lost and alone in a wholly unknown land. It drops you in a vacant desert, offers a few prompts to show you which buttons on your controller are in play, and that's it. The rest of the way, you're left to your own devices, free to venture through the desert, under the sea and up a snowy mountain toward an oasis that waits faintly in the distance. "Journey" offers traditional resistance by way of riddles to solve and secrets to find along the way, but there's no health bar or even enemies in the traditional sense. More than a game to beat, it's a literal journey that wants you simply to explore its staggeringly pretty scenery rather than survive it. But "Journey" truly sparkles when you come upon other players making their own pilgrimages in the same world. Your only means of communication is a single button that emits a musical tone of variable length. With that, you're free to blissfully ignore each other or find a way, like two birds chirping at each other, to share the road and complete the journey together. It's an organic co-op gaming experience that's wholly unlike any you've experienced before. -MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE
