Movies on DVD

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is a remake of the classic 1974 thriller about armed men who hijack a subway car and demand ransom for its passengers. The original film starred Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw and Martin Balsam. The updated flick stars Denzel Washington, John Travolta and Luis Guzman.

Special Features: No Time to Lose: The Making of Pelham 123 featurette, The Third Rail: New York Underground, from the top down: giving style to character, commentary with director Tony Scott, and commentary with writer Brian Helgeland and producer Todd Black, plus marketing Pelham.

If you love the dolls, you’ll love G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra; a big screen adaptation about a unit of hardcore special operatives, who fight an evil crime ring led by an arms dealer.

Special Features: Commentary by Director Stephen Sommers (one of the most enthusiastic filmmakers around) and Producer Bob Ducsay.

What’s a nerdy valedictorian to do when he’s smitten with the hottest girl in the school? How about proclaim his love during the graduation speech. That’s what Denis Coverman (Paul Rust) does in I Love You Beth Cooper, also starring Hayden Panettiere.

Special Features: A hysterical alternate ending, plus deleted scenes.

North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book) Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece of espionage surrounding a New York advertising exec who is mistaken for a government agent by foreign spies. Great chemistry and sexual tension between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, as well as a thriller of an ending on the faces of Mount Rushmore.

Special Features: Disc 1: commentary by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, music-only audio track, Disc 2: 2009 documentary, The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style, feature-length career profile on Cary Grant: A Class Apart, the movie’s innovations and influences in the new North by Northwest mini doc: One for the Ages, vintage 2000 documentary Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest, a cool stills gallery, plus theatrical trailers and TV spot.

A group of kids must protect their vacation home from invading aliens in Aliens in the Attic, starring High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale, Carter Jenkins and Doris Roberts.  A great combination of live-action and animation.

Special Features: Introduction to the film and special features with Ashley Tisdale, alternate ending, deleted scenes, gag reel, the animated short behind the Zirkonians, Meet the Zirkonians interactive featurette, the Ashley Encounters featurette, Kung Fu grandma featurette.

TV on DVD

Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One is an animated collection of TV episodes revolving around the Grand Army of the Republic. Yoda and the gang fights the New Droid Army of the Separatists.

Special Features: Twenty-two behind-the-scenes featurettes complete with director and cast interviews, exclusive 68-page production journal with original sketches and artist notes, sneak peek at season two all in a four disc set.

Before the movies there was the TV series, Mission: Impossible - The Final TV Season contains six discs worth of stories involving an elite covert operations unit that carries out highly-sensitive missions on the downlow. You’re gonna love a serious Peter Graves long before the Airplane movies.

Special Features: Nothing except the way cool disintegrating tape recorder at the beginning.

Walt Disney Treasures: Zorro - The Complete First Season & Second Season follows Don Diego de la Vegas as he opposes the corrupt tyrants of Spanish California wearing a mask that hides nothing, but carrying one heck of a big sword.

Special Features: Who wouldn’t call sexy Guy Williams (pre-Lost in Space) strutting his stuff special? The two separate box sets contain six discs each.