“Drive”
Bold Productions
1 hour, 40 minutes

"Moneyball"
Film Rites
2 hours, 13 minutes

"Brad Pitt is a better actor than Robert Redford."

I made this statement upon leaving this week's baseball drama "Moneyball," a movie I was certainly impressed with. This assertion honestly doesn't feel all that controversial to me, though I'll admit that I only said it to get the goat of my moviegoing companions.

‘Contagion’
Warner Bros. Pictures
1 hour, 45 minutes

Steven Soderbergh is not a lightweight, second-tier director. He’s a major talent in Hollywood. He was nominated as Best Director for two movies in the same year (“Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic”) — the first and only other time that had happened since 1938. He’s done thrillers, action movies, historical dramas, science fiction, and steamy character studies. He’s even done documentaries, for goodness sakes.

“Winter’s Bone”
Winter’s Bone Productions
1 hour, 40 minutes

With fall upon us, and the silly, albeit fun, season behind, I decided, this week, to check out an intensely serious film I missed when it made the Awards Season rounds last year. “Winter’s Bone,” is a dark drama that hits home and leaves you a little shaken, though unlike other gritty independent films I’ve seen, not disturbed.