Check out 'Hellboy II' and Joss Whedon's short-lived TV series 'Firefly' new on Blu-ray and DVD

Blu-ray and widescreen, 2008, PG for sequences of martial arts action

Best extra: There are so many, and in hi-def, that’s it’s too hard to choose – have fun with ‘em all

YOU’D HAVE TO be brain-dead not to get a kick (pun intended) out of Jack Black playing Po in DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda.” He’s righteous, with a bit of Dewey Finn (“School of Rock”) and a lot of martial-arts mammal!

Follow Po and the Furious Five (Monkey, Mantis, Tigress, Viper, Crane) as they try to whip one bad snow leopard coming after China.

The picture and sound quality are top-notch for Blu-ray and DVD – one of the best of the year.

Although the DVD doesn’t include half of the features contained on the Blu-ray, both provide awesome entertainment, including commentary from directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson. Both give minute-by-minute details of the movie’s making, including that this is DreamWorks’ first CG film to be shot in super widescreen.

The Blu-ray includes an exclusive picture-in-picture commentary with behind-the-scenes footage, concept drawings and process computer animation; all match the action on the screen. It also features Black’s audio recordings with the directors’ commentary. A pop-up trivia track holds your attention for another viewing with literally thousands of tidbits about the production and Chinese folklore. (When you’re done watching the movie, you won’t be able to get the song, “Kung Fu Fighting,” out of your head.)

If you feel like spending a couple extra bucks, you can buy “Kung Fu Panda” as a two-pack with “Secrets of the Furious Five,” a 30-minute animated show with Black returning as Po and Dustin Hoffman as Kung Fu Master Shifu. The bonus features, of which there are many, are included on the Blu-ray edition, including learning to draw the characters, a dumpling-shuffle game, learning the panda dance and figuring out the Chinese zodiac.

The discs also include other games and DVD-ROM features for your personal computer.

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, language

Best extra: “Professor Broom’s Puppet Theatre,” a feature tracing the evolution of the opening sequence

LET’S SEE: An exiled elf prince returns to raise an invincible army and take out mankind. Hellboy stands in his way.

Some critics sniffed that the FX for “HB II” swamped the story. But even if they did, it begs the question: So what?

Guillermo del Toro’s vision is so fantastically realized, you won’t notice. In his commentary, the writer/director says the first film (2004) depended on a storyline from the comic book.

This time, he had free rein to tell the tale with colors and textures and cameras – and he wanted to make the kind of fantasy movie pioneered by Ray Harryhausen. Visually, he adds, the film is much more personal.

The payoff isn’t unlike that for “Pan’s Labyrinth,” and like the extras for his memorable 2006 Oscar winner, the best here detail the creative process.

If there were any doubts about this being a Guillermo del Toro film, the extras put them to rest. He leads a tour through the troll market. He provides commentary for the deleted scenes. His wonderful, elaborate notebook (one of the best bonuses on “Pan”) are front and center in the picture-in-picture U-Control feature.

And he introduces and does the commentary for a feature about the puppet sequence that opens the flick. Del Toro originally planned an epic, “Lord of the Rings” style flashback with real actors to recount the wars between the elves and mankind that were settled with the creation of the Golden Army.

The budget, however, wouldn’t allow it, and he hit on the idea of puppets. Mike Mignola, who created the “Hellboy” comic, did the designs. As it turns out, the decision was serendipitous.

“With a lot of people,” del Toro says, “it would be a boring sequence.”

Which also goes a long way toward explaining why “Hellboy II” rocks.

“JFK: DIRECTOR’S CUT”

Blu-ray widescreen, 1991, R for language

Best extra: Oliver Stone's thoughtful and passionate commentary is worth a listen.

TO CALL "JFK" CONTROVERSIAL would be an understatement. It was both critically acclaimed (Roger Ebert considers it one of cinema's "Great Films”) and reviled (Motion Picture Association of America late Prez. Jack Valenti compared it to the Nazi propaganda film "Triumph of the Will"). Nominated for eight Academy Awards and winning two, the director calls it a "counter-myth."

This week, “JFK: Director’s Cut” arrives on Blu-ray in the handsome Warner Bros. mini-coffee table book packaging with photographs and drawings. The hi-def disc is a definite upgrade from the previous DVD editions, with improved sharpness and colors. The uncompressed soundtrack is even better.

Although there are no new extras, Stone’s carryover 2003 commentary is worth mentioning. He keeps things moving, even with a nearly three-and-a-half-hour running time. He delves into the massive amount of research and gives a nearly scene by scene breakdown of what’s fact and what’s conjecture.  

Additional extras include an hour of deleted and extended scenes, multimedia essays, and a 90-minute 1992 documentary "Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy" that examines the impact and the endurance of the conspiracy theories. Highly recommended. One of Warner Bros. most important catalog titles from the 90s.

— Josh Boone

“STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2008, PG for sci-fi action violence throughout, brief language and momentary smoking

Best extra: “The Untold Stories,” a hi-def featurette which gives a pretty detailed explanation of the computer-animated 3-D process.

“IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY … (and in plenty of time for Christmas, too) the “Star Wars” story lives on. Legendary producer/director George Lucas continues his popular franchise's legacy that takes place between Star Wars: Episode II and III.

The first-ever animated feature from Lucasfilm Animation, this action-packed space adventure follows the heroic Jedi Knights as they attempt to maintain order and restore peace during a time of monumental galactic strife.

The two-disc Blu-ray or DVD set is packed with plenty of bonus material: trailers, four deleted scenes (my favorite was “Platform Droid Fight”); six “Webisodes” (making-of featurettes); a gallery of production and concept art; a feature, “A New Score” — where composer Kevin Kiner talks about how he came up with new sounds to the serialized version of a familiar story; and a featurette, “The Voices of Clone Wars,” which is pretty cool in that there is a split-screen presentation of several of the film’s actors doing what they do.

The Blu-ray features the first-ever video commentary not in hi-def. How could Mr. Lucas and company get this wrong?

Actually it’s a clone to the audio commentary featured on the DVD with director Dave Filoni, producer Catherine Winder, writer Henry Gilory and editor Jason Tucker. Who wants to watch talking heads for 90 minutes with a few art gallery images here and there?

For the rest of the extras, Warner Bros. and Lucas get it right. The documentaries and featurettes (nearly two hours’ worth) are all in hi-def. Overall the hi-def imagery is fine, but the animation just doesn't hold your attention like DreamWorks' “Kung Fu Panda” or Disney/Pixar "WALL- E."

The set also features a digital copy for your computer or iPod.

For fans of “Star Wars,” the Blu-ray or DVD is still a keeper. No “re-gifting” with this one.

— Cliff Redding

“FIREFLY: THE COMPLETE SERIES”

Blu-ray widescreen, 2002, not rated

Best extra: "Firefly Reunion," a hi-def retrospective discussion of the series with its creator and cast.

JOSS WHEDON’S ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") short-lived but critically acclaimed sci-fi western has now arrived on Blu-ray. Set 500 years in the future, the show presents outer space as the untamed frontier. Sharp writing, lovable characters, and lots of action will keep you glued to your seat for all fourteen episodes, which are spread over three discs.

The hi-def image looks uniformly excellent, though it does show the limitations of the TV's CGI effects, which are generally good but not in the same league as feature film effects. The uncompressed audio is surprisingly good for TV, with a lot of depth and surround activity.

The exclusive 25-minute "Firefly Reunion," a lunch between Whedon and cast members Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, and Alan Tudyk, is mostly a lot of joking around and laughing. Aside from this and an HD promo for Whedon's new show "Dollhouse," the remainder of the extras, all excellent, are identical to the previous DVD release from 2003. Eight audio commentaries, each with different cast and crew members, deleted scenes, a half-hour making-of doc, and a gag reel should provide plenty of bang for your buck.

The theatrical film, "Serenity," written and directed by Whedon, which resolves all the loose threads left dangling at the end of the series, will debut on Blu-ray in late December. It's an excellent adventure that complements the show perfectly.

— Josh Boone

“GREGORY PECK FILM COLLECTION”

Full-screen and enhanced widescreen, 1952, 1962, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, not rated

Best extra: A 90-minute original documentary “Fearful Symmetry: The Making of To Kill a Mockingbird,” with interviews from the cast and residents of Monroeville, Ala., birthplace of author Harper Lee.

AS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS of the American Film Institute, legendary actor Gregory Peck was bound to receive the coveted AFI Life Achievement Award, especially after an enduring 46--year career that included his heroic Oscar-winning performance as Atticus Finch, the Southern lawyer in the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“To Kill a Mockingbird,” presented here in a marvelous recycled two-disc set (its third appearance on DVD), features Peck’s 1989 AFI acceptance speech, where he details how his career began. Originally a pre-med student, Peck trained two years at a prestigious New York City drama school. He then received his first call, a small role in “The Doctor’s Dilemma” co-starring Katherine Cornell. Within a couple years, Peck was under contract with four studios during World War II. Hollywood was desperate for young leading men and Peck was exempt from military service because of a spinal injury.

Peck’s daughter Cecilia provides personal stories during the Academy’s tribute to her father. She describes how he had scribbled four words -- fairness, courage, stubbornness and love -- on the last page of his “To Kill a Mockingbird” script. She says it was impossible to separate her dad from the Atticus Finch character. She also recalls how producer Alan J. Pakula and director Robert Mulligan sent her father the novel and how author Harper Lee became a lifelong friend of the family. Cecilia named her son after the author.

Bonus extras include: Peck’s Academy Awards acceptance speech, commentary with Pakula and Mulligan and a documentary by Cecilia Peck, which takes you inside Peck’s personal life and features interviews from co-stars and former President Bill Clinton.

“The World in His Arms” is the oldest movie in the collection but features the finest imagery. Universal Studios uses a wonderfully restored Technicolor transfer with no out-of-alignment issues, a common problem with the three color process.

Set in 1850, Peck plays a daring sea captain, Jonathan Clark, who anchors his ship in San Francisco and romances a Russian countess (Ann Blyth) who’s fleeing her engagement to a Russian Prince (Carl Esmond). The Russian prince kidnaps the countess and Peck sets sail during gale force winds to rescue his lady.

“Cape Fear” reunites Peck and director J. Lee Thompson after “The Guns of Navarone,” an adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s novel “The Executioners.” Not satisfied with the title, Peck wanted a geographic name. Scanning a U.S. map, he found it: Cape Fear, N.C.

Robert Mitchum plays the menacing, vengeful ex-con Max Cady, who terrorizes Peck, cast again as a Southern lawyer, and his family in the nightmare classic. During his teenage years, Mitchum, the “bad boy” of Hollywood and no stranger to the penal system himself, worked on a chain gang near Savannah, Ga., where “Cape” was filmed decades later. It may have helped his performance. “Mitchum was always in a rage during the production,” Thompson says during the DVD’s 30-minute documentary.

“Captain Newman, M.D.” is a provocative look into the world of post-traumatic stress disorder as Peck supervises a stateside military psychiatric ward during World War II. Filled with comedy/drama, its well acted with an all-star cast including Tony Curtis as Peck’s right hand man, Angie Dickinson as the nurse and love interest, Bobby Darin playing Little Jimmy, a troubled corporal in an Oscar-nominated performance; Robert Duvall and Eddie Albert.

“Mirage” is a Hitchcockian thriller with plenty of twists to keep you guessing until the very end. Peck plays a dazed man, David Stillwell, who is trying to piece his life together after suffering from amnesia. He enlists Walter Matthau, cast as a low rent private-eye who ends up dead. Flashbacks are a key, as Peck unravels a past that links him to the possible death of wealthy philanthropist Charles Calvin, who fell 27 floors to a Manhattan street.

The black and white picture suffers from excess film grain throughout -- a disappointment.

“Arabesque” is full of international espionage as Peck plays a kidnapped American hieroglyphics professor who is then paid to decipher a secret message. Sophia Loren sizzles as the co-star and the duo are charming, especially during a shared shower scene. The dialog is witty and smart. Director Stanley Donen tries to duplicate the onscreen magic of his previous hit “Charade,” which starred Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Both films include a score from Henry Mancini. Unfortunately, “Arabesque” suffers from too many gimmicks.

The film makes its first appearance on DVD and is presented in super widescreen; it deserves to be on Blu-ray. 

This collection could a great holiday gift for your parents or grandparents to celebrate the work of one Hollywood’s great men, both on and off screen.

— Bill Kelley III

“CHUCK: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON”

Blu-ray widescreen, 2007-2008, not rated, contains action violence

Best extra: Series creators Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz (“Gossip Girl,” “The O.C.”) and series stars Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski and more discuss the series in a featurette, “Chuck on Chuck.”

CHUCK (LEVI) IS more than a computer nerd. He has heart and soul to go with those smarts. He also has a head full of top secret information needed by top level government agencies, thanks to a former college pal turned super secret agent. Now Chuck must blend his everyday life – living with his sister and working at a Best Buy/Circuit City type store – with super spy protectors and saving the world, or at least the U.S., once a week.

In less capable hands, this routine could get old fast. It doesn’t. And on Blu-ray, this NBC series takes on a cable-like shine with outstanding video and audio. It’s a great blend of action, spy story and comedy. And it’s something you can share with most of the family. How rare is that?

Additional first season extras include “Chuck’s World,” a look at character development, and “Chuck vs. the Chuckles,” the gag reel.

Blu-ray widescreen, 2007-2008, not rated, contains scary images and action violence

Best extra: “Supernatural Impala” gives viewers and car fanatics a look inside the Winchester brothers’ classic 1967 Chevrolet.

WHEN THINGS GO BUMP in the night – or start chasing you during the day – better call those trusty Winchester boys, Dean and Sam (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki). They got the smarts, the equipment and the great one liners to chase those demons back to Hades.

“Supernatural’s” third season is a nonstop thrill ride from the first episode to the finale. It opens with “The Magnificent Seven,” not cowboys but incarnations of the Seven Deadly Sins plaguing (almost) upstanding citizens. Dean and Sam also deal with the results of the Hell Gate opening from Season Two and the bargain Dean made to save Sam’s life throughout the season. What bargain? Well, the one where Dean has one year to live before he dies and heads to Hell himself.

Creator and co-writer Eric Kripke and his team of writers and directors wield their own magic in this fast-paced action thriller, always bringing in the right touch of comedy when needed. Some episodes, such as “The Kids are Alright,” are laugh-out-loud funny. You’ll want to share it with your friends.

Third-season extras feature the fan favorite gag reel and more on the show’s fantastic effects. “Supernatural” is a total beauty in Blu-ray, each episode moving seamlessly into the next. Color and resolution is perfect. The detail is shivery good and the sound is movie quality. When folks work this hard on snappy dialogue, you want to be sure to catch every word.

Full-screen, 1971/'72, not rated

Best extra: If you are a fan of "Night Gallery," then Tom Wright's artwork is instantly recognizable. Kudos to Universal for including a gallery of the man's work. Wright, who provided an enormous contribution to Rod Serling's creepy series, provides a running commentary as you view 33 of the show's surviving paintings.

"NIGHT GALLERY” FANS will be thrilled with the new 5-disc release of the show's finest season. Balancing between Serling originals and adaptations of classic chillers by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft and Conrad Aiken, "Gallery" is a another stellar effort by the man behind "The Twilight Zone."

Guillermo Del Toro, the director of "Pan's Labyrinth," is a knowledgeable fan and informs the viewer on one of his commentaries that Serling not only wrote a third of "Night Gallery's" episodes but also every single introductory monologue for the show's entire run. Del Toro conrtibutes three commentaries (including one on "The Cattepillar," which is arguably the show's finest episode) and three more commentaries are provided by Scott Skelton and Jim Benson who co-authored "Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour."

Along with the featurette about Tom Wright, whose work is presented by Serling before each episode, there is a very nice retrospective documentary, "Revisiting the Gallery: A Look Back," that includes interviews with cast and crew members who discuss the writing and production of the show. Last but not least are some vintage TV promos.

Two of the season's episodes are not included. "Witches Feast" could not be found in time for the release nor could portions of "Satisfaction Guaranteed." These two episodes, if located, will be included in the forthcoming third season set.

Best extra: “ACT ONE: The Play” is a documentary about the conception and production of “Boys in the Band.”

THIS GROUNDBREAKING FILM, still affecting and very funny after 38 years, was directed by William Friedkin (“French Connection,” “Exorcist”). It was considered the first of its kind, including its incarnation as an off-Broadway play, because it so sensitively features a group of very individual gay men. The plot involves one day in the life of man named Michael, whose group of friends have gathered for a birthday party at his apartment. Things get complicated when an intruder arrives, an old (heterosexual – or is he?) college friend of Michael’s, who didn’t know of Michael’s sexual preferences and is appalled by the company he keeps.

The documentary on the play contains interviews with Mart Crowley, who wrote it and the screenplay. He describes the nine characters of the drama as each representing an aspect of his personality, but the one he most resembles is Michael. Dominic Dunne, who produced the play and the film, says he thought Crowley was “nuts” to deal with the subject matter at that time, and actors Laurence Luckinbill and Peter White look back on their experiences making the play and the film, including that they lost their agents because they accepted the roles. Playwright Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”) praises Crowley’s courage for tackling the subject matter the way he did.

Other features include documentaries on the film and a look back at the play/film phenomenon, which sadly notes that six of the actors have died since the film, five of them of AIDS. A commentary by Friedkin and Crowley add some information to the interviews, but there is a lot of repetition.

“STUDIO ONE: ANTHOLOGY”

Full-screen, 1948-1956, unrated

Best extra: “Studio One Seminar” gives behind-the-scenes first person accounts of the joys and challenges of live television dramas.

THIS IS A 6-disc set containing 17 restored made-for-TV plays taken from original kinescope recordings. It’s a great treat for anyone interested in getting a glimpse of television’s “golden age” or for those who want to see some of our greatest actors at the very beginning of their careers. Also contained are many original commercials for Westinghouse, the main sponsor of the show. Adapted material, like “Twelve Angry Men,” “Julius Caesar,” “Wuthering Heights,” and originals written by such talents as Gore Vidal or directed by Yul Brynner, feature the (then unlined) faces of Charlton Heston, Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Eva Marie Saint, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Theodore Bikel, Elizabeth Montgomery and Miriam Hopkins, among many others. The sound and picture quality is uneven and there are times when you can see the boom microphone or hear actors stumble over their lines… it was live TV!

Several entertaining extras include recent interviews with some of the actors and directors (John Frankenheimer, Heston, Jack Klugman, Cloris Leachman) looking back on all the fun and hard work, but most insightful is the seminar at the Paley Center for Media. Writers, directors, behind-the-scenes folks and Betty Furness, who starred in most of the Westinghouse ads, reminisce about the 10 years of what they called the “flowering” of television. Their often amusing stories, interspersed with clips of shows, are fascinating.

“ROBERTO ROSSELLINI: TWO RARE FILMS FROM THE FATHER OF ITALIAN NEOREALISM”

Full screen and enhanced widescreen, 1954 and 1960, unrated

Best extra: None

THERE ARE TWO unknown, and very entertaining, Rossellini films in this 2-disc set. One, called “Dov’e` la liberta?” (Where is freedom?) is a dark comedy starring the beloved Italian comic actor Toto`, (who bears an strong resemblance to Buster Keaton), a master of physical comedy and facial expressions. He plays Salvatore, who is in court because after serving 22 years in prison because he murdered his wife and her lover in a crime of passion. He is released on parole, but breaks back into jail. His testimony, told in a series of flashbacks, is often hilarious and shows why the inside of prison seemed so preferable to life on the outside.

The other film, “Era Notte a Roma” is an appealing but serious look at life in Rome during the Nazi occupation and what happens to some good people who try to help escaped POWs.

Enhanced widescreen, 2002-2006, unrated but contains graphic crime images and nudity

Best extra: An interview with the series creator, Lynda LaPlante (“Prime Suspect”) provides background regarding her motivation for writing it.

THERE ARE FOUR EPISODES in this 4-disc set, starring Amanda Burton as Clare Blake, the highest ranking woman in New Scotland Yard’s “Serious Crime Group” and leader of the Murder Review Team. The series’ writing doesn’t reach the heights of “Prime Suspect,” and Blake’s all too frequent lapses in judgment and professional ethics can get tiresome. But there is enough good acting and mystery to keep viewers interested. Extras include an interview with Burton, a featurette with interviews of the other regular characters and text features, such as bio information on Burton and LaPlante. In her interview, LaPlante discusses the existence of gender discrimination in the police force, albeit less now than before, and being inspired by actual crime scenarios for her scripts.

“GEORGE GENTLY: SERIES 1”

Enhanced widescreen, 2007-2008, unrated

Best extra: In a text interview, writer/producer Peter Flannery tells how he discovered Gently’s character and why he focused on the 1960s for his series.

THE THREE EPISODES on three discs star Martin Shaw as Commander George Gently, a dour, highly principled, still-grieving widower who is sent from Scotland Yard to northeastern England to head a police unit there. The shows are well-written and performed and the relationship between Gently and a young sergeant develops nicely as the two investigate murders and other serious crimes. Special features are text only, and include interviews with stars Shaw and Lee Ingleby, as well as with Flannery. He discusses finding the original written Gently series in an “old bookshop” as well as his decision to adapt it for television. Although the books covered years from 1960s through the 80s, Flannery felt that the ’60s provided a more interesting backdrop to the stories, and also made Gently’s character seem more unique in light of the drastic ways society was changing.