The holiday is over and school has gone back, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to get excited about – there's plenty to see this month at JB.

Given the popularity of UFC, it was only a matter of time before there was a sports film set against the brutal backdrop of Mixed Martial Arts. STACK Rising Star Tom Hardy beats the living daylights out of Aussie Joel Edgerton in Warrior, which is not the meathead movie you might think it is! Like last year's The Fighter, this is a powerful and affecting fight flick where family problems are settled in the ring, and should be on your must-see list this Feb.

Edgerton also faces off against a shapeshifting alien adversary in The Thing, playing the Kurt Russell surrogate in a prequel to the 1982 Carpenter classic. Sci-fi fans will also want to grab In Time, which has more than a whiff of Logan's Run about it. Set in a future world where nobody ages beyond 25, this time it's Justin Timberlake on the run.

STACK caught up with Steve Carell on a recent visit Down Under to chat about his new comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, also starring Hollywood golden boy Ryan Gosling and the wonderful Julianne Moore. And Steven Soderbergh's Contagion does for killer viruses what his movie Traffic did for killer drugs. A chilling and all too real look at how we would deal with a global pandemic, this film will turn you into a germophobe!

In gaming this month, Final Fantasy fans will be in lockdown when Final Fantasy XIII-2 arrives in-store. We talk to Ladyhawke about her love of video games and Nagoshi-San explains the tech behind his latest game, Binary Domain. And the release schedule gets some traction with some big titles heading to the shelves at JB.

We're gearing up for a great 2012 in music, too. There's more to cover star Lana Del Rey than meets the eye. We also make Gemma Ray's acquaintance to discuss her fine new album Island Fire, delve deeply into Leonard Cohen's remarkable catalogue as he releases a new album, and introduce new columns: Music on Screen and Industry Watch.