DVD releases include '27 Dresses,' 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,' and 'The Golden Compass'

“27 DRESSES”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2008, PG-13 for language, innuendo and some sexuality

Best extra: The hi-def documentary "You’ll Never Wear That Again."

IF YOU’VE EVER had to pay an arm and a leg for a bridesmaid dress, then "27 Dresses" will make you laugh. If you haven’t, you’ll still enjoy this romantic comedy about Jane (Katherine Heigl), who’s been in way too many weddings as she escapes her real life to live vicariously through other people.

No doubt the dresses play a character, from the theme-wedding dresses, to the frilly and even the hideous ones. Costume designer Catherine Marie Thomas, highlights the struggle during the documentary, making sure Heigl’s dresses fit just right. And as expected, the ex-model looks fabulous in them. A top-notch supporting cast includes: James Marsden (Kevin), Judy Greer (Casey), Edward Burns (George) and Malin Akerman (Tess).

There’s plenty of color, especially in hi-def with the dresses, but surprisingly the DTS HD soundtrack is uninspiring.

Although there isn’t a commentary, the disc extras are just enough to offer insights including: 15-minute making of documentary “The Wedding Party” in hi-def, deleted scenes, and "Running of the Brides" a New Jersey bridal store that offers expensive, designer dresses once a year at bargain-basement prices. It’s a madhouse.

— Toni Guagenti

“THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY”

Enhanced widescreen, 2007, PG-13 for nudity, sexual content and some language

Best extra: "Cinematic Vision" is required viewing for such a unique film, as this 15-minute featurette dives into the director's thought process in presenting the movie from such an odd perspective – literally through the eyes of a paralyzed man.

THE FRENCH FLICK, which you can watch with subtitles or with English (and Spanish) voice-overs, landed scores of honors for its beauty and bizarre point of view.

Thanks to director Julian Schnabel's risky experiment, we see the story (a true one) of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby – left paralyzed in all but his left eye after a stroke – from inside both his physical head and metaphysical mind.

The images are elegant, the story moving. And the extras are just right. Along with "Cinematic Vision," the DVD's other quick-hit extra is the 15-minute making-of featurette. Here, we get a nice snapshot of the director and his methodology, largely from the mouths of cast and crew.

But for the perfect-pitch peek at Schnabel's brilliance, watch the 1-hour Q&A with noted celeb interviewer Charlie Rose. It's insightful, enjoyable. Not so much the director's commentary – which drones on a tad.

Overall, this is a solid pairing of top-notch film and spot-on bonus material. A definite rent, potential buy (if you subtitles don't give you headaches).

— Kyle Tucker

"THE GOLDEN COMPASS: NEW LINE 2-DISC PLATINUM EDITION"

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2007, PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence

Best extra: The second disc of extra features, eleven featurettes and an extensive gallery of production stills and artwork, are all presented in hi-def and runs well over two hours.

NICOLE KIDMAN AND Daniel Craig star in the epic fantasy "The Golden Compass," set in a magical world where people's souls exist outside their bodies in animal form.  Stripped of nearly all the controversial material from Philip Pullman's popular children's books, the film is visually lush and entertaining but lacks the substance and context of Pullman's novels, which were inspired largely by "Paradise Lost."

"Compass" comes to Blu-ray with a strong transfer, noticeably more detailed than it was in the theater.  The film's beautiful cinematography, color palette, and CGI are perfectly displayed in hi-def and audio junkies will eat up the lossless audio track, particularly the surround effects during action scenes like the polar bear battle.

There are two commentary options from writer/director Chris Weitz.  The commentaries are identical but the second is an enhanced picture-in-picture experience that allows you to watch behind-the-scenes footage – matching the action on the screen – while Weitz discusses making the film.  There are over two hours of hi-def featurettes focusing on Pullman and his books, the adaptation process, the long search for the film's star, Dakota Blue Richards, and extensive features on the film's production design and computer effects.

New Line has always boasted exemplary special features on their releases ("The Lord of the Rings") and "Compass" is no slouch.

— Josh Boone

“THE RED BALLOON”

Full-screen, 1956, unrated

Best extra:  There are none

“WHITE MANE”

Full-screen, 1953, unrated

Best extra:  Same here THERE AREN’T more than a few lines of dialogue in “The Red Balloon,” but it won the Oscar for original screenplay. It’s no surprise. Writer-director Albert Lamorisse’s  much-loved children’s classic is storytelling at its purest.

Filmed before anyone heard of CGI, it necessitated some sleight-of-hand to convince audiences le ballon rouge was following a young boy through the streets of Paris. It’s explained in the accompanying booklet, but viewers might want to read it later, lest it take some of the sheen off this magical allegory.

While there are no extras, Criterion has treated this short feature (34 minutes) to a wonderful restoration. The balloon seems almost otherworldly as it traverses the gray streets.

Lamorisse raised similar themes of freedom and camaraderie in “White Mane.” He also established his M.O. The 40-minute feature does have a narration, but it tells its story through images.

And what images. Filmed in the vast plains of the south of France, Lamorisse used his training as a documentarian to spin his tale of a young boy and a wild horse who together escape an oppressive world.

— Craig Shapiro

"THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES: VOLUME THREE, THE YEARS OF CHANGE" Full screen, 1992-1993

Best extra: The collection with "Mystery of the Blues" ONCE AGAIN, LUCASFILM Ltd. has shown that a TV show can be taken to DVD and made into something 10 times better, thanks to extras that were never part of the original show.

"Young Indiana Jones: Volume Three" follows Indy (Sean Patrick Flanery) as World War I comes to an end and he embarks on wartime and archaeological challenges. As with past releases, each episode is accompanied by a set of extras – this time enough so that some episodes and their extras are on separate discs.

Such is the case with "Mystery of the Blues," set in 1920 in Chicago where jazz legend Sidney Bechet gives Indy some lessons on improvising as he plays his saxophone.

Those improvisational skills come in handy later when Indy investigates a murder with Ernest Hemingway. The extras that accompany this double-length episode include historical ties to the 1920s-era Chicago. That means bios of Al Capone and his nemesis, Eliot Ness. The accompanying jazz extras focus on the birth on jazz in America ("Jazz — Rhythms of Freedom") and an examination of Louis Armstrong's life.

Other era-related specials look at prohibition and the Hellfighters, Harlem's Heroes in World War I. This third volume includes episodes that were not aired during the series' original run. One such example is one half of the "Masks of Evil" episode where Indy goes to Transylvania to investigate the disappearance of prisoners from an Austrian POW camp. (The second half of this two-hour feature was considered too violent for the time slot.) In it, Indy stumbles across impaled victims, referencing Vlad the Impaler.

With that, one of the extras looks at "Dracula — Fact and Fiction," and starts with a brief look at Vlad Dracula and how Bram Stoker and Hollywood gave the legend life.

As with past volumes, the time line provides a complete historical look at Young Indy's adventures and surrounding history (an excellent accompaniment) and a treasure-hunting game.

There is also standard fare of historical extras with all the episodes.

— Bill Kelley III

“HOW SHE MOVE”

Enhanced widescreen, 2008, PG-13 for some drug content, suggestive material and language

Best extra: How She Move: From Rehearsal to Film

You've seen one step movie you've seen them all it seems, but it never hurts to add another to the collection. In "How She Move," Rutina Wesley stars as Raya, a young woman who uses step competitions to escape her neighborhood. The film is predictable, but still a good story. Like the film, the DVD release includes all of the expected dance movie footage, including the story behind the story and rehearsal footage.

Writer Annmaire Morais was inspired to put the film together after seeing several step documentaries. Professional and amateur dancers were recruited to make the film happen. Wesley said she immediately fell in love with the script and knew she had to play the "chocolate girl" in the film.

In "How She Move: From Rehearsal to Film," choreographer Hi Hat reveals her winning step formulas. In this film, her mission was to combine stepping with hip hop and break dancing. Wesley and other cast members chat about the rigors of the seven-hour rehearsals. The DVD release also includes vignettes from each leading character.

— DeAnne M. Bradley

“THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON KEYSHIA COLE THE WAY IT IS...”

Full-screen, 2007, not rated

Best extra: "Frankie Reveals"

WHEN KEYSHIA COLE made her R&B debut in 2005 with "The Way It Is," she presented herself as the rough around the edges girl who barely escaped the streets of Oakland, Calif. She named her reality show after her first album. Now, everyone knows how it really is. In the second season of the reality series, Cole's mom, Frankie, comes home from prison, her sister copes with an unexpected pregnancy and a stranger claims to be Keyshia's biological father. As if Cole didn't reveal enough with the series, the DVD release digs deeper.

"Meet Keyshia's Glam Squad" follows her makeup artist and hairstylist and almost seems out of place with all of the family drama going on. After the first special feature, the remaining extras uncover the real issues. "Frankie Reveals" is an interview with Cole's mother about her drug abuse, prison time and strained relationship with Cole. She even takes us back to the block where she got addicted to drugs.

The deleted footage focuses on Cole's sister with scenes that include pleadings with her ex and time spent with her biological father.

— DeAnne M. Bradley

“SUBLIME: UNCUT”

Blu-ray widescreen, 2007, not rated with violence,

Best extra: The unbearably pretentious commentary by director Tony Krantz and writer Erik Jendresen becomes laugh out loud bad when the director admits to his main character representing the United States and being named George Grieves to signify our current President.

WHAT’S ESSENTIALLY A half hour episode of "The Twilight Zone" ("An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge") is stretched to nearly two in this "exploration of fear," which is actually an exploration of terrible acting and ridiculous symbolism.  Tom Cavanagh (TV's "Ed") plays a man in the hospital for his first colonoscopy who finds himself in an increasingly bloody and convoluted nightmare.

The Blu-ray edition offer sub-par video quality (probably a product of the film's 1.5 million budget) that looks more like a bad TV movie than an actual film and the Dolby Digital 5.1 is nothing to write home about.  Aside from the painful commentary there are also two extended scenes from the movie (as if they needed to be any longer) and a music video. Unwatchable. 

— Josh Boone

“NANKING”

Enhanced widescreen, 2007, R for disturbing images and descriptions of atrocities

Best extra: None

LATE IN 1937, after attacking Shanghai, Japanese troops invaded China’s capital of Nanking. A small group of Western missionaries, teachers, doctors, and even a Nazi German businessman, refused to leave when offered the chance. None felt they could desert the city’s poor who, unlike its wealthier inhabitants, had nowhere to go. The Westerners created a “Safety Zone” of two square miles, where tens of thousands took refuge.

A powerful HBO documentary, enhanced by fine actors reading excerpts from actual letters and diaries, as well as testimony of survivors (and some perpetrators) of inconceivable atrocities, are bolstered by newsreels and archival film footage, making “Nanking” a film that will remain with viewers long after it’s seen. Mariel Hemingway, Woody Harrelson, Stephen Dorf, Jurgen Prochnow, and others, do an excellent job of conveying the shock and horror of those who witnessed this terrible series of events, proving both the extent of human beings’ inhumanity to one another, and their capacity for courage and kindness.

Within a few weeks, more than 200,000 women and girls were raped, and some 200,000 murdered in Nanking. But, thanks to those extraordinary people who created the Safety Zone, over 250,000 lives were saved. 

— Peggy Earle

“BERNARD AND DORIS”

Enhanced widescreen, rated TV-14

Best extra:  “Growing Up Rich: The Real Doris Duke” helps you sift the fact from the fiction in the film, and is smartly narrated by the director, Bob Balaban. 

TWO MAGNIFICENT ACTORS, Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes, got stuck like flies in honey to this unsympathetic, somewhat melodramatic film.

Granted, it would be tough to make a masterpiece out of the pathetic tale of poor-little-rich-girl Doris Duke. She’s such a brat, and so mean to her staff, that it’s hard to feel sorry for her. Still, this Home Box Office movie tries to make us care.

The film does clue viewers in on the life of a woman who was once famous as a tobacco heiress with two failed marriages and scandalous affairs. She drank too much, was into Eastern religions and gave away lots of money.

The movie focuses on the relationship between Duke (Sarandon) and her devoted butler from her later years (Fiennes). Little is known of their relationship, but many wondered about it because, in her will, Duke left him in charge of her foundation and gave him $5 million.

The movie presumes that Fiennes’ alcoholic character, Bernard Laffety, was gay and that this was a platonic friendship. The movie also guesses that, in the end, he aided this control-freak of a philanthropist to end her own life (in 1993) on her own terms.

And, frankly, by the time that happened, I was ready to see the old girl go.

— Teresa Annas

“INTELLIGENCE: SEASON 1”

Enhanced widescreen, 2006, not rated

Best extra: The “Behind the Scenes” featurette segment “Directed by Ian Tracey” is a cool, stylized segment that briefly lets you see a snippet of what Tracey — who plays gangster Jimmy Reardon — went through as he directed one of the show’s episodes. Extras also include a biography of series creator Chris Haddock, character descriptions and cast filmographies.

THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DRAMA from the creator of “Da Vinci’s Inquest.” takes you into the world of organized crime and the cops who keep tabs on it with Reardon, who is a businessman, drug smuggler and family man, feeling heat from a rival outlaws trying to muscle in on his territory. The beautiful and ambitious head of Vancouver’s Organized Crime Unit, Mary Spaulding (Klea Scott) fears her rivals at her own agency more than she fears the criminals she watches, so she and Reardon form a tenuous alliance.

The show also stars Matt Frewer (remember Max Headroom?), John Cassini, Bernie Coulson and Camille Sullivan.

“Intelligence,” which has been called “smart … sexy … and edgy” by The Toronto Star, is so full of twists and turns that is can be hard to keep up with who the bad guys and who the good guys are.

Don’t blink, or you’ll be sorry.

— Cliff Redding

“CHEERS: SEASON 9”

Full-screen, 1990-1991, not rated

Best extra: There are no extras to speak of in the five-disc set, but the laughs flow as freely as the beer.

THE GANG at “Cheers,” the Boston bar where everybody knows your name, is up to its old, and uproariously funny tricks in Season Nine of the Emmy Award-winning television show that ran for 11 years on NBC.

There’s the cast of characters: Rebecca (Kirstie Alley); Sam (Ted Danson); Woody (Woody Harrelson); Norm (George Wendt); Cliff (John Ratzenberger); Carla (Rhea Perlman); and Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) going through the paces.

Rebecca feels she will get married. Woody gets addicted to a home shopping show. Carla is disgusted when she finds out Cliff is a judge for the “Miss Boston Barmaid” contest. Norm and Cliff investigate a fight between Sam and Frasier. And these are just a few of the season’s high points.

In “Cheers: Season 9,” the writing is quick and witty, and you’ll be glad you came.

— Cliff Redding

“THE ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS 2001 WORLD SERIES’ COLLECTOR’S EDITION”

Full-screen, 2001, not rated

Best extra: “Inside the Moments: 2001 World Series”

TAKE A STARTING PITCHER, Arizona's Randy Johnson, who is coming back in relief one day after throwing more than 100 pitches. Put him up against Mariano Rivera, the Yankees' ace closer who hadn't blown a save in four years. And in a perfect world, the Yanks walk away with a win.

Add in the fact that 2001 was supposed to be the year the New York Yankees won the World Series just to show America the city's resilience after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. And, hey, since they were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks, with just four years in the majors, what could be easier?

Unfortunately, the Yankees weren't counting on what has come to be called "Destiny in the Desert," a two-run, bottom-of-the-ninth rally by Arizona that sent the Yankees home empty-handed.

"This is a dream come true. You dream about this situation as a little kid," Luis Gonzalez said after hitting the series-winning single. It had started as a not-so-exciting Fall Classic. The D-backs pounded the Yanks in the first two games in the desert.

But when the Series moved to New York, the Yanks eked out three one-run wins, including two in extra-inning games. It was going according to script. The all-star laden Yankees were primed for a come-from-behind Series victory and were set to crown a "Mr. November" since the Fall Classic extended into November for the first time because of game postponements associated with the terrorist attacks.

Instead, fans got a seven-game Series, for only the third time in the previous 14 seasons, and saw the

Diamondbacks flip the tables on the Yanks in the finale.