Best extra: Blu-ray exclusive pop-up trivia track, with dozens of wedding tradition factoids and price tags on every purchase for Emma’s (Anne Hathaway) and Liv’s (Kate Hudson) weddings. The two engagement rings: $5,900 and $28,000 respectively.

AH, A LITTLE GIRL’S dream – the perfect wedding with the dearest friend standing up for you as your maid/matron of honor.

In "Bride Wars," as the name suggests, all that goes to pot when the weddings for Emma and Liv are booked for the same day at their dream nuptial site, the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Get ready for Bridezilla hijinks.

The Blu-ray three-disc set includes a DVD disc and digital copy for your portable player or computer. The disc includes a half-dozen hi-def featurettes including "The Perfect White Dress," "Meet Me at the Plaza" the home of 60-100 weddings each year, improvisation footage, "Maid of Honor," "Man-den" and the ridiculous "Amanda-Cam." Also find two standard-def Fox Movie Channel interviews with Hathaway and Hudson, both in character.

The DVD version has only the short about the perfect wedding dress, homage to designer Vera Wang and three deleted scenes. In addition to loads of extras, the Blu-ray's hi-def imagery is solid with natural film grain, plus more depth and brilliant color than the DVD. More reasons to upgrade to Blu-ray.

— Toni Guagenti

"HOTEL FOR DOGS"

Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2009, PG for brief mild thematic elements, language and some crude humor

Best extra: A commentary with director Thor Freudenthal, producer Ewan "Jack" Leslie and actors Emma Roberts (Andi) and Jake T. Austin (Bruce).

IF YOU’RE ALREADY a sucker for dog stories, then "Hotel for Dogs" from Dreamworks and Nickelodeon Movies is for you and your family.

It’s about a pair of orphans (Andi and Bruce) who harbor a dog named Friday that they got when their parents were still alive. They live with evil foster parents (Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon) and report to a caring social worker (Don Cheadle). They happen upon an abandoned hotel that harbors two other dogs and, eventually, voila!, they turn it into a grand place for stray pups.

For Blu-ray owners, the picture quality and HD extras are a treat – although bonuses are the same on Blu-ray and DVD. They include a rather lengthy making-of feature worth a watch, casting the K-9s, creating the gadgets and devices that are supposedly made by 11-year-old Bruce to help the dogs live in the hotel, getting the dogs to work (and bark) while filming. Other extras are a short commercial from Pedigree about its adoption drive, eight deleted scenes, three photo galleries and the movie’s theatrical trailer.

— Toni Guagenti

“WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU”

Blu-ray widescreen, 2009, R for language, drug use, some violence and brief sexuality

Best extra: Writer/director Brian Goodman is joined by Donnie Wahlberg (Mark Wahlberg’s older brother) on an exceptional commentary that traverses the film's 10-year journey to the screen and the real-life events that inspired it.

BY AGE 12, Brian Goodman was living on the streets of South Boston which led to a life of drug use, crime and prison. Ultimately, he turns his life around and becomes an actor – following a childhood dream inspired by a viewing of "Brian's Song." Now he's taken his criminal past and turned it into an autobiographical directorial debut. Mark Ruffalo, a First Colonial graduate from Virginia Beach, and Ethan Hawke star as two Boston criminals scraping to get by, who do petty jobs for a crime boss played by Goodman himself.

The disc lands on Blu-ray and DVD with a solid transfer with muted, dead-of-winter colors and deep blacks. The uncompressed audio is unexceptional with far less gunfire and effects than dialogue.

Although extras are slim, with a disappointing standard-def featurette and deleted and alternate scenes to accompany the commentary, everything here is worth a watch.

While viewers may find the story familiar (similar to everything from "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" to "Goodfellas"), the performances are strong and knowing much of this really happened to Goodman makes it compelling. Worth a rental, but for Ruffalo fans it’s a keeper.

— Josh Boone

THE UNINVITED"

Blu-ray widescreen and DVD widescreen, 2009, PG-13 for violent and disturbing images, thematic material, sexual content, language and teen drinking

Best extra: “Unlocking The Uninvited,” an enthusiastic and cheery making-of documentary featuring cast and crew.

THERE IS A really great ghost story movie called “The Uninvited” starring Ray Miland, Ruth Hussey and Gail Russell. Based on a book by Dorothy Macardle, it was made back in 1944. Genuinely scary, funny and romantic, it apparently inspired Steven Spielberg when he made “Poltergiest.” Sadly, it’s not available on DVD but you can petition for it over at amazon.com. While you’re there, read the good reviews fans have written about it.

That said – this is not that “Uninvited.” It is a DreamWorks remake of an Asian horror flick that is “very complicated” according to the Guard brothers, Charles and Thomas, who directed this newbie. Writers Craig Rosenberg, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard have simplified Ji-woon Kim’s “A Tale of Two Sisters” and left in a few scares and twists. Unfortunately, despite a good cast, nice budget, effects and the gorgeous scenery of British Columbia, it just doesn’t make it. You just can’t help but feel you’ve seen this before.

Young Anna (Emily Browning) returns home after a stay at a sanitarium – the breakdown due to her mother’s tragic death – to find her dad (David Strathairn) engaged to mom’s nurse (Elizabeth Banks). Big sis Alex (Arielle Kebbel) demonstrates extreme contempt for the adults and pulls little sis into the program. Has dad been duped, they wonder? Did the stepmom-to-be kill mom? And who are those three weird ghost kids who keep popping up? Talk about a bummer summer!

The film looks good on Blu-ray with solid blacks, good contrast and detail. DreamWorks employs the ghost effects we first shivered to in “The Ring” here. They’re still shivery – it just doesn’t seem to tie into the plot onscreen. The camera loves Browning, Kebbel and Banks; fleshtones and silky hair take advantage of Blu-ray’s high-def format. An outstanding Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack provides excellent atmosphere from sneaking through the great outdoors to the music-heavy score. Dialogue and subtle special effects come through beautifully.

All three bonus features are in high-def for Blu-ray and standard DVD presentations. In addition to the making-of, there are deleted scenes and an alternate ending (which isn’t much different from the theatrical release).

If you have low expectations, rent this. If you want something more, catch the 1944 film on TCM or petition for its DVD release. Or maybe some savvy director or producer will remake it.

— Mike Reynolds

“STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – SEASON 1”

Blu-ray full-screen, 1966-67, unrated

Best extra: Six video commentaries with pop-up factoids and dozens of interviews from cast members, historians and visual effects producers.

I’M THE FARTHEST THING from a Trekkie. In fact, sci-fi is my least desired genre, but I do know a good thing when I see it and this seven-disc Blu-ray box set is fascinating with tons of “Star Trek” lore and an eye-popping hi-def picture. It should be enough Trek fun to satisfy any fan until J.J. Abrams’ “Trek” adaptation premieres May 8.

The video commentaries are complete carry-overs from the debunked HD DVD box set from 2007 and are quite good. There are plenty of stories especially during “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” an episode considered the series’ second pilot. NBC rejected the first pilot, “The Cage,” which featured a darker lead character Capt. Pike (Jeffery Hunter) and female first officer played by Majel Barrett. Story/writer D.C. Fontana recalls during one pop-up video clip when creator Gene Roddenberry first pitched an 11-page draft for “Trek.” This “Wagon Train” in space included some interesting names: Starship Yorktown and Capt. Robert April. Obviously, both were dropped. Roddenberry had already locked in on Leonard Nimoy to play Mr. Spock.

CBS/Paramount supervised the hi-def restoration using the original camera negatives for all 29 episodes, removing scratches and dust marks and dialing up contrast for a wonderful color experience. Also, you’ll learn during a hi-def documentary how they commissioned a re-recording of the original theme, using composer Alexander Courage's original arrangements, a 28-piece orchestra, and a soprano – while processing the music for a multi-channel extravaganza.

The box set also touts something completely new – two versions of each episode. Using the remote you can toggle between the ‘60s low-tech special effects or the new wiz-bang CGI produced for the restoration and inserted where campy effects ruled for decades. I’d take the re-do effects any day over the originals.

Also, check out “Billy Blackburn’s Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories” where Blackburn talks about playing Lt. Hadley for 59 episodes from 1966-69. The interviews are inter-cut with his handheld 8mm camera footage, which sports some crazy clips including Nimoy in full Spock gear waiting for some early morning breakfast.

The set includes several more standard-def carry-over documentaries from previous editions: “Reflections on Spock,” as Nimoy shares moments from his career and his autobiography; “Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner,” as he talks at length about his love of horses; “The Birth of a Timeless Legacy” provides details of the series’ genesis and compares the two pilot episodes; and a hi-def interactive tour of the Starship Enterprise.

For you Easter egg hunters, the second disc includes a hidden 3-minute FX reel. Just highlight the red button on the menu. The fifth disc also has an egg, but that one you’ll need to figure out for yourself.

— Bill Kelley III

X-MEN TRILOGY"

Blu-ray widescreen, 2000, 2003, 2006, PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some sexual content, and language

Best extra: "Generation X: Comic Book History" is a fascinating hour-long look at the history of the "X-Men" comic book.

STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY created "X-Men" in 1963 in order to tell stories about racism, bigotry and prejudice. Director Bryan Singer, who is Jewish and openly gay, was the perfect person to translate the comic book to the big screen. He was adopted as well, which only made him feel like more of an outsider growing up in New Jersey. That he related to Lee and Kirby's team of super-powered mutants, who are misunderstood and vilified by society, is no surprise.

Both "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United," two of the better reviewed superhero films of the last decade, arrive on Blu-ray this week for the first time along with a spruced up version of Brett Ratner's lesser third entry in the series (Singer chose to make "Superman Returns" instead).

Video is excellent for all three films, but exceptional on “X2” and “X-Men: The Last Stand” and the powerful uncompressed audio tracks are absolutely reference quality and a great way to show off your sound system.

Extras for the first two "X" films are duplicated from their double disc DVD editions and include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and featurettes, all presented in standard definition. All the new extra material comes with "The Last Stand," which was slim on extras in its earlier Blu-ray incarnation. Though not in the same league as Singer's first two "X" films, Ratner's excels in the extras department with two notable documentaries (both in standard-def, as is all the material on "Stand" save for one featurette).

The first, "Brett Ratner's Production Diary," is an entertaining, fly-on-the-wall documentary about the making of the film. The high energy Ratner keeps things fun for the cast and crew and viewers will see almost all of the film's major set pieces from prep to the actual shoot. Even better is the "Generation X" comic book which traces the history of the comic from the 60s through the present day, utilizing interviews with just about everyone of importance associated with the book and a never ending flow of gorgeous artwork culled from every era.

Also included are digital copies of all three films which can be downloaded onto iTunes and iPods.

Highly recommended. Run, do not walk, to procure your copy.

— Josh Boone

"THE WALTONS: THE FINAL SEASON"

DVD full-screen, 1980-81, unrated

Best extra: None

THE NINTH AND final season of the family friendly series created and narrated by Earl Hamner Jr. as the adult John-Boy Walton begins in 1945. It’s the end of World War II and the young Walton men – Ben (Eric Scott), Jim-Bob (David W. Harper), Jason (Jon Walmsley) and John-Boy (Robert Wightman, who replaced Richard Thomas) – gradually return from the battlefields of Europe and Japan.

This is a genuine wrap-up season with characters such as John Walton Sr. (Ralph Waite) leaving Walton’s Mountain to care for his wife in Arizona. Younger Waltons, their spouses and children, and the characters of Walton’s Mountain, such as Ike Godsey (Joe Conely) and the Baldwin sisters (Mary Jackson and Helen Kleeb), fill the episodes with their stories.

Walton family fans shouldn’t miss it.

— Mike Reynolds

"IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES"

Blu-ray widescreen, DVD widescreen, 1976, unrated, graphic nudity/sexuality, themes – for adults only

Best extra: An engaging, thoughtful commentary by film critic/historian Tony Rayns

“EMPIRE OF PASSION”

DVD widescreen, 1978, unrated, nudity/sexuality, violence

Best extra: “Double Obsession: Seki, Sada, and Oshima,” a video essay comparing “Empire” and “Senses” by film professor Catherine Russell

THERE IS LITTLE argument that Nagisa Oshima’s “In the Realm of the Senses” retains its power to provoke. Taken from real-life headlines, it has never been shown uncensored in Japan.

Most viewers would agree, too, that Eiko Matsuda and Tatsuya Fuji are fearless as the obsessive, doomed lovers.

Other questions are open to discussion: Is it pornography masquerading as art? Is its agenda political?

Kudos to Criterion for serving up a big helping of food for thought, just like it did last year with Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom.” (We only received the DVD version of “Realm” for this review).

In his commentary, Tony Rayns wisely says that he’s not going to attempt to explain the psycho-sexuality in the film, which Oshima considered his simplest. “The story kind of tells itself,” Rayns says. “There is very little that requires elucidation or explication.”

No argument there: In 1936 Tokyo, Sada Abe (Matsuda) a servant and former prostitute begins an affair with her master, Kichizo (Fuji). At first transcendent, it consumes them and becomes sadomasochistic. She asphyxiates then castrates him.

Rather, Rayns says he intends to clarify some of the circumstances surrounding the film. He succeeds admirably, discussing the end-around Oshima employed to get it made, its adherence to Japanese erotic tradition (although the graphic nudity and sex are not titillating) and, yes, its political undertones.

“In the Realm of the Senses” and “Empire of Passion” are often regarded as companion pieces; in fact, says film professor Catherine Russell, Oshima saw them as a diptych. It’s a measure of Criterion’s commitment that it has released both.

A folkloric ghost story set in rural Japan in 1895, “Empire” is about a married woman and her younger lover who murder her husband and dump his body in a well. Despite the films’ different aesthetics, Russell says in her video essay, “They are linked by shared narratives of desire and sexuality as forms of political resistance.”

Intrigued? Dig in. Just don't say you weren't warned.

— Craig Shapiro

“THE HIT”

DVD widescreen, 1984, unrated, language, violence

Best extra: A commentary with director Stephen Frears, stars John Hurt and Tim Roth, writer Peter Prince and editor Mick Audsley.

AS HE RECALLS, Stephen Frears was fed up working in British TV. The director wanted to make the “Big jump. I wanted to be with the grown-ups.”

He got his shot with “The Hit,” ostensibly a gangster film about Willie Parker (Terence Stamp), a henchman-turned-rat who flees to Spain after singing for the court. Ten years later, he’s grabbed by Mr. Braddock (John Hurt) and Myron (Tim Roth). It’s payback.

It didn’t hurt that Frears (“Prick Up Your Ears,” “The Grifters,” “High Fidelity,” “The Queen”) had writer Peter Prince and editor Mick Audsley, both longtime collaborators, in tow. Or that Tim Roth, untrained and acting on instinct, was getting his first serious screen time as Myron, the loosest of loose cannons.

Joined by Hurt, who could pass for David Bowie as the icy Braddock, they share an engaging – if patched-together – commentary that reflects the energy and camaraderie they brought to this engaging road movie 25 years ago.

As it turns out, Roth almost missed the ride. Joe Strummer was set to play Myron, but at the last minute told Frears his band had a problem with that. His band, of course, was The Clash. Anyway, he had seen Roth on TV and suggested that Frears “get that skinhead.”

Stamp gets his say in a lively, wide-ranging interview made for British TV in 1988.

— Craig Shapiro

“PULLING: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON”

DVD widescreen 2006, not rated

Best extra: The funniest extras, in my opinion, are the bookended “Interviews with Cast and Crew” (one if you liked “Pulling.” The other if you didn’t.) In these the show’s stars respond to “interview questions” in like a mock-documentary style. My favorite is the “if you didn’t like ‘Pulling’” — the actors really lay it on thick with their droll, acerbic responses.

THINK A GRITTY, GRIMY “Sex And The City” and you can get a handle on “Pulling,” the BBC’s comedy show about three single women living in blue-collar Southeast London, “living in Zone 3 with Zone 1 aspirations.”

Donna, played by series creator Sharon Horgan, works in an office, is in a relationship and is engaged to be married. Karen (Tanya Franks) is a schoolteacher, a sluttish, heavy-drinking, aggressive woman who is not feeling her job. Louise (Rebekah Staton) works in a café and is promiscuous, drinks a lot and is naïve. Is this beginning to sound more and more like the HBO counterpart?

Well, this show is bawdy and a little more sleazy than “Sex.”

The DVD, which has six episodes, also contains two commentaries in which we hear the show’s principals cut up as they relate what is going on behind the scenes.

Also, in "A Look Behind the Scenes" we get a picture from the show's creators, Horgan and Dennis Kelly, as they talk about the writing, which as been lauded serveral times over.

"Pulling" does the job.

— Cliff Redding

“FALLEN ANGEL”

DVD widescreen, 2007, unrated but contains nudity and violence

Best extra: The only extra is a behind-scenes documentary.

THIS THREE-PART British series tells a story, through flashbacks, of Rosie, a.k.a. Angel, an exceedingly pretty young woman who also happens to be a serial killer. As the plot unfolds and time goes farther backward, the people close to Rosie gradually either reveal or discover her disturbing history. But is there any way to satisfactorily explain the string of murders Rosie commits, beginning when she was just a child? That’s the question this compulsively watchable gothic “whydunit” attempts to answer.

The documentary contains interviews with the show’s stars, director, costume designer and screenwriter, as well as a psychologist and the author of the novels on which the series is based. They discuss the nature/nurture theories of criminal behavior; the disconnect experienced when a physically beautiful person commits terrible deeds; and the role religion plays in the trilogy, since Rosie’s father is a vicar (Charles Dance) and she is obsessed with the apocalyptic writings of an excommunicated fanatical priest.

— Peggy Earle

“HALLELUJAH! THE COMPLETE COLLECTION”

DVD full-screen, not rated

Best extra: As far as extras go, this DVD set is pretty light. There is a “History of the Salvation Army” on disc one and a Christmas bonus (a spoof on Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”). And that’s about it.

“HALLELUJAH!” It’s been quite a while since the business of saving souls has been so funny.

Acorn Media has come up with the ’80s British TV sitcom in a two-disc, 15-episode offering that stars Thora Hird as Emily Ridley, an aging, feisty Salvation Army captain. Ridley refuses to go into retirement. (What else would she do?) As a result, her superiors transfer her and her assistant, Sister Alice, to quiet, working-class towns that Emily envisions as her own versions of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The first series — the British version of “season” — has Ridley in the working-class Yorkshire town of Brigthorpe. With her somewhat dimwitted, "backsliding" niece Alice (Patsy Rowland) helping her out, she quickly makes her first convert, Rosamund Greenwood as Dorothy, a sexy senior who's on the make.

Hird, a well-respected actress in Britain (and former mother-in-law to Mel Torme) is the reason for watching. She brings both bite and a wholesome nature to the show, which for its two seasons was quite popular. Across the Big Pond, that is.

The show ended on a cliffhanger, with the arrival of Ridley’s “beau” from years past and she is forced to decide which way to go: Continuing with her “marriage” to the Salvation Army or rekindling the romance with the man she’d left back when.

The show didn’t make it to a third season, so we will never know what happened. But for a middle-of-the-road kind of comedy show, “Hallelujah!” is divine just the same.

Note: There's a disclaimer about the audio and visual quality of the source material on the box.

— Cliff Redding

“JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN”

DVD widescreen 1971, PG (the original rating was R)

Best extra: Without a doubt, the Metallica music video “One” — which uses footage from the film — is a high point of this DVD, which also includes a making-of featurette and a radio adaptation featuring James Cagney.

“JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN” is a classic 1971 anti-war film that is based on the novel of the same name by Dalton Trumbo, who appears in the film. The DVD, released from Shout! Factory, stars Timothy Bottoms, Donald Sutherland and Jason Robards.

Joe (Bottoms) is a soldier who was hit by an artillery shell on the last day of World War I. He has lost his eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Joe also is a quadruple amputee. Hospital staff members presume Joe is brain-dead and keep him alive for instructional purposes. Through Morse code, however, Joe is able to communicate his wish that he either be put in a freak show (to demonstrate the horrors of war) or that he be allowed to die.

The U.S. Army won’t grant either of these wishes, so he drifts between fantasy and reality.

The film won the Grand Prix Special du Jury at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. The cast also includes Anthony Geary, Larry Fleishman and Kathy Fields.

“Johnny” is well known for distinguishing between Joe’s reality and fantasy with black-and-white for the hospital and color for his dreams. Filmmaker Trumbo, by keeping the post-injury Bottoms under a sheet and a mask, spares viewers the full-on gruesomeness of Joe’s state. But the mental anguish is allowed to show.

This, undoubtedly, is why many have called “Johnny” one of the greatest anti-war films of all time.

I'd have to agree.

— Cliff Redding

"NICKELODEON & THE LAST PICTURE SHOW: DOUBLE FEATURE"

DVD widescreen, 1976, 1971, PG for language, R for language, sexuality and nudity

Best extra: For a scathing indictment of everything the studio did to ruin his film, join Peter Bogdanovich for his commentary on "Nickelodeon."

AVAILABLE FOR THE first time on home video, "Nickelodeon" is Bogdanovich's poorly reviewed and studio compromised tribute to the silent film era. It stars Ryan O'Neal, daughter Tatum O'Neal, and Burt Reynolds – none of whom Bogdanovich was particularly interested in casting.

Orson Welles urged Bogdanovich to shoot the film in black and white but the studio resisted. Now you can see the film as Bogdanovich intended. "Nickelodeon" is available to view in both the theatrical and director's cut. The director's cut is presented in black and white and features several minutes of new footage.

The addition of "The Last Picture Show" to the package is odd considering buyers of the obscure "Nickelodeon" are certainly fans of Mr. Bogdanovich's work and already own the special edition DVD of his greatest film. This is the exact same disc released several years ago which features the director's cut, commentary and several featurettes.

While the special features are worthwhile, there's a reason "Nickelodeon" has never been released before. It's one of his least memorable films. For, Bogdanovich completists only.

— Josh Boone

"SNOOPY'S REUNION"

DVD full-screen, 2009, not rated

Best extra: “Together Again: A Peanuts Voice-Cast Reunion”

POSSIBLY THE MOST interesting part of this disc is the documentary that showcases the voice actors who once gave life to Charles Schulz’s brilliant writing, especially since they literally sound nothing like we have known them to sound.

That’s not to imply this is a gripping documentary, far from it. But it’s better than the other extra, one of Schulz’s more unfortunate specials, “It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown.” Hey, everyone has a weak moment and Schulz had few of them in his 50-year career.

That said, even the main attraction isn’t one of his strongest efforts. “Snoopy’s Reunion” chronicles Snoopy’s reunion with his siblings from the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. There are some amusing moments, such as his first days with Charlie Brown. But overall, this isn’t one of Schulz’s stronger specials.

Perhaps most alarmingly, the show features adults talking on-screen, something never seen in the comic strip. It detracts from their unique world and makes this special somewhat ordinary, something you can’t say about the comic strip.

— Larry Printz

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