As befits the BBC’s reputation for producing some of the world’s best nature documentaries, <em>Planet Earth</em> is an epic travelogue, focussing on different ecologies and the unique animals that inhabit them. Once again, Sir David Attenborough provides the narration, as the cameras fly across the surface of the earth, zooming in to give us a bug’s eye view one minute, zooming out to give us an eagle’s perspective the next. The BBC’s cameramen filmed more than 200 locations, resulting in some truly spectacular footage, much of which has never before been seen--such as the rare sight of an endangered snow leopard hunting in the Himalayas, or great white sharks leaping from the water as they hunt. The creators of Planet Earth endured some of the world’s most hostile environments, from the deepest ocean depths to an Antarctic blizzard to a fetid, cockroach- and bat-infested cave, just to grab a few moments of film. --Ted Kord

Some would put forward an argument that Beauty and the Beast is the finest Disney animated movie to date. And, in truth, it’s a tricky one to fight. Not only was this the first animated film to be rewarded with a Best Picture Oscar nomination, it remains a quite brilliant piece of filmmaking, that’s utterly endured the test of time.

There’s plenty that sets Beauty and the Beast apart from most, too. Take the exquisite characterisation, the ultra-tight script or the confident direction, for starters. Then throw in some astounding strong songs and music, from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, and put at the heart of it all a love story utterly worth rooting for from start to finish. It’s a mesmeric film at best, not least in the rightly-famed ballroom sequence, and it’s very much Disney at the absolute height of its powers.

Fortunately, the Blu-ray is a flat-out love letter to the film. Packed with fascinating extra features, offering something for viewers of all ages, it’s a insightful look behind the film, and offers the kind of quality supplements you can’t help but wish all films could match. Add in the 1080p picture presentation, and Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray adds up to an unmissable family treat. An outstanding package. -- Jon Foster

Yellowstone is no ordinary wilderness. It has the distinction of being the worlds' first national park and is a lost world of vast plains, lush meadows and endless forests defended on all sides by towering mountains.

In fine (and bloody) style, HBO's <em>Boardwalk Empire</em> returns to 1920 when the ban on booze led to a syndicate of bootleggers and smugglers. Created by <em>Sopranos</em> scribe Terence Winter and coproduced by director Martin Scorsese, the story centers on Atlantic City treasurer Enoch"Nucky" Thompson (Steve Buscemi), who schemes in private while preaching temperance in public (Mark Wahlberg and Tim Van Patten also serve as producers). Jimmy (Michael Pitt, Buscemi's <em>Delirious</em> costar), a war veteran, acts as his right-hand man, while zealous Agent Van Alden (Michael Shannon) and refined mobster Arnold Rothstein (<em>A Serious Man</em>'s Michael Stuhlbarg) represent significant threats to his enterprise.

Nucky's other associates include his sheriff brother Eli (Shea Whigham), sexpot girlfriend Lucy (Paz de la Huerta), and distributor Chalky (<em>The Wire</em>'s Michael K. Williams). If Nucky has little regard for law and order, his soft side emerges in his dealings with Irish immigrant Margaret (Kelly Macdonald, excellent), who segues from abused wife to kept woman. As Nucky puts it,"I try to be good. I really do." After he sends Jimmy away a spell, his sidekick joins forces with Al Capone (Stephen Graham, <em>Public Enemies</em>) and disfigured vet Richard Harrow (Jack Huston), abandoning his son, common-law wife Angela (Aleksa Palladino), and mother Gillian (Gretchen Mol), who has a fling with Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza).



Inspired by Nelson Johnson's book, <em>Boardwalk Empire</em> takes a <em>Deadwood</em>-like approach to history by combining characters both factual and fictional with blue language and ladies without brassieres. Winter, who won an Emmy for <em>The Sopranos</em> episode <em>Pine Barrens</em>, takes liberties with the historical record, but the series never claims to represent the truth and nothing but--which is only fitting when everyone's hiding secrets. If the entire ensemble deserves praise, Buscemi rules the show as thoroughly as Nucky rules the city. <em>--Kathleen C. Fennessy</em>

Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Cillian MurphyDirector: Christopher Nolan

<strong>Please note this is a region B Blu-ray and will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play.</strong>



&



&

To call this cut of Blade Runner `long awaited' would be a heavy, heavy understatement. It's taken 25 years since the first release of one of the science-fiction genre's flagship films to get this far, and understandably, Blade Runner: The Final Cut has proved to be one of the most eagerly awaited DVD releases of all time.

And it's been well worth the wait. Director Ridley Scott's decision to head back to the edit suite and cut together one last version of his flat-out classic film has been heavily rewarded, with a genuinely definitive version of an iconic, visually stunning and downright intelligent piece of cinema. Make no mistake: this is by distance the best version of Blade Runner . And it's never looked better, either.

The core of Blade Runner , of course, remains the same, with Harrison Ford's Deckard (the Blade Runner of the title) on the trail of four `replicants', cloned humans that are now illegal. And he does so across an amazing cityscape that's proven to be well ahead of its time, with astounding visuals that defied the supposed limits of special effects back in 1982.

Backed up with a staggering extra features package that varies depending on which version of this Blade Runner release you opt for (two-, four- and five-disc versions are available), the highlight nonetheless remains the stunning film itself. Remastered and restored, it remains a testament to a number of creative people whose thinking was simply a country mile in advance of that of their contemporaries. An unmissable purchase. -- Jon Foster

When The Shawshank Redemption was released in 1994, some critics complained that this popular prison drama was too long to sustain its plot. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace.

Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who is sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we soon realise his claims of innocence are credible. We also realise that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemption builds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film (which movie lovers count among their all-time favourites) that signalled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker.

On the DVD: The Shawshank Redemption limited-edition release contains the complete 48-minute documentary"Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature", including interviews with all the principal cast and crew; plus more interview material and the theatrical trailer. -- Jeff Shannon

Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards in 1959 and, unlike some later rivals to this record-breaking win, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before, and is unlikely ever to be seen again. It cost a staggering 15 million dollars and was one of the largest film productions ever undertaken: the Circus Maximus set alone covered 18 acres and was filled with 40,000 tons of Mediterranean sand. But it's not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, it's the subject-matter that counts and in Ben-Hur the subject is rich, detailed and sensitively handled. Despite both the original novel's and the film's subtitle,"A Tale of the Christ", this is really a parallel life, that of Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd). The eponymous character's journey of self-discovery through bitterness and hate to eventual redemption has many deliberate echoes of Christ's life (at one point, Judah is mistaken for Jesus, much as Brian would be later in Monty Python's masterful satire), and the multi-layered script from (uncredited) literary titans Gore Vidal and Christopher Fry wrings out every nuance and every possible shade of meaning.

Director William Wyler, who had been a junior assistant on MGM's original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favour of spectacle (he had the good sense to leave the great chariot race to second-unit director and experienced stuntman Yakima Canutt), and it is his concentration on human drama and fully rounded characters that gives Wyler's epic its heart. In this he is aided immeasurably by Miklós Rózsa's majestic musical score, arguably the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture, in which the development of character-driven leitmotifs produces the effect of grand opera. The Christian theme concentrates on the central character's love and compassion for his family (evoked by the discovery of their leprosy) rather than any heavy-handed sermonising (the figure of Christ is seen but never heard--his presence signalled by a serene musical motif instead).

On the DVD : this long-awaited release presents the film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.76:1 in a glorious anamorphic print, complete with remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The music sounds fresher than ever, and both the theatrical"Overture" and"Entracte" are included (civilised times the 1950s: they had specially composed intermission music to enjoy while topping up on ice cream and popcorn!). There's an extensive and enjoyable documentary tracing the history of the story from Lew Wallace through stage productions to the first MGM version in 1925 and then to the 1959 production. Charlton Heston provides an intermittent commentary, evidently enjoying the experience of watching the film again, and his comments are usefully indexed so you can skip to the next bit without having to sit through chunks of silence (during the chariot race he voiced his concern to second-unit director Yakima Canutt that the stuntmen were better drivers. Replied Canutt:"Chuck, just drive the damn chariot and I guarantee that you'll win"). There's also a couple of screen tests, one with Leslie Nielsen in pre- Naked Gun days as Messala and a photo gallery and theatrical trailers complete an epic DVD package. -- Mark Walker

Liam Neeson, Olivier Rabourdin, Gerard Watkins, Arben Bajraktaraj, Nathan RippyDirector: Pierre Morel

Stanley Kubrick was one of the great filmmakers of our time and his profound influence on motion pictures continues to this day. His 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell, portrayed an oppressive lawless society where man was reduced to little more than a machine. This was a powerful film made by a director at the height of his artistry and its impact generated worldwide controversy.<br /><br /> The Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection on Blu-ray is an unprecedented 7-film, 8-disc collection. The collection includes bonus content. Elegantly boxed in new book-style premium packaging the collection include a 36-page hard-cover book that explores the breadth of genres and themes in Kubrick's work.<br /><br /> Titles Comprise:<br /><br /> A Clockwork Orange: 40th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray<br /> Causing major controversy when first released, the film garnered four Academy Award nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay - and is #4 on AFI's Top 10 List of Best Science Fiction films of All Time.<br /><br /> Lolita: (1962) NEW ON BLU-RAY!<br /> Humbert, a divorced British professor of French literature, travels to small-town America for a teaching position. He allows himself to be swept into a relationship with Charlotte Haze, his widowed and sexually famished landlady, whom he marries in order that he might pursue the woman's 14-year-old flirtatious daughter, Lolita, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love.<br /><br /> 2001: A Space Odyssey: (1968)<br /> Stanley Kubrick's dazzling, Academy Award-winning achievement (Special Visual Effects) is an allegorical puzzle on the evolution of man and a compelling drama of man vs. machine. Featuring a stunning meld of music and motion, the film was also Oscar-nominated for Best Director, Art Direction and Writing. Kubrick (who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur C. Clarke) first visits the prehistoric age-anc

Arguably the biggest hit of the US 2010 television season, the apocalypse drama <em>The Walking Dead</em> pulls the zombie subgenre out of its overexposed doldrums and finds, ironically enough, the humanity and emotion beneath its rotting shell. Produced by Frank Darabont (<em>The Shawshank Redemption</em>) and Gale Anne Hurd (<em>Aliens</em>) and based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Robert Kirkman, <em>The Walking Dead</em> follows a band of Atlanta-based survivors of a viral outbreak that has caused the dead to rise up and consume the living. The group's nominal leader is a sheriff's deputy (Andrew Lincoln) who wakes from a gunshot-induced coma to find the world in disarray and his wife (Sarah Wayne Callies, <em>Prison Break</em>) and son missing. His search for his family and the survivors' attempts to make sense of their lives in the wake of the outbreak is handled with intelligence and sensitivity, which helps to elevate the show beyond the grindhouse take on zombies, which favours spilled guts over character development. That's not to say that the blood doesn't flow plentifully here: the special effects are on par with zombie-movie mayhem, but again, they aren't the show's raison d'être. Solid performances, including Jon Bernthal as Lincoln's partner, Jeffrey DeMunn as the group's leading rationalist, and Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus as a pair of trouble-making rednecks, and gripping suspense make each of the first season's six episodes compelling from start to finish for both horror fans and those who dislike the genre as a whole. <br /><br />The two-disc set of <em>The Walking Dead's</em> first season includes all six episodes, as well as a number of making-of extras, including the show's conception and production, a talk with Robert Kirkman (he's a fan), a look at the makeup by KNB Studios, and the show's panel at the 2010 ComicCon. All of the principal players on both sides of the camera are given adequate screen time to discuss their vision for the show, its influences (George Romero, naturally), and the challenges of depicting the end of civilisation on a budget. --Paul Gaita