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Five discs gather the first eight movies in the Friday the 13th series, plus a batch of behind-the-scenes featurettes. You can track the rise, fall, and endless resurrections of Jason Voorhees, from the original 1980 film to Jason's self-kidding trip to the Big Apple. Horror fans eat up packages such as this, but there's something odd about the deluxe treatment for a series that spotlighted atrocious acting, pitiful production values, and inane storytelling.

You'll spot a few future "name" actors in various installments: Kevin Bacon is morbidly dispatched in the first one. But in general, the dominant focus is how to kill horny teenagers, most of whom have gathered at Camp Crystal Lake in the misguided belief that the curse of the impossible-to-kill Jason has worn off. The first movie has a certain raw, crummy ability to shock, Part 2 is a dismal retread, and Part 3 actually features interesting use of 3-D, which doesn't translate to its flat DVD version. The fourth is boldly subtitled The Final Chapter, and we all know where that went, but it does have Crispin Glover doing a funky dance. A New Beginning and Jason Lives continue Jason's bad mood, maybe because the hockey mask doesn't fit right. The seventh chapter, The New Blood, stakes Jason against a worthy opponent (Crystal Lake's answer to telekinetic Carrie), but the result is the same. Part 8's subtitle, Jason Takes Manhattan, is wittier than the movie itself, as Jason menaces an unlucky cruise ship of high-schoolers bound for New York--where Mr. J fits right in.

Some of the films come with commentaries from directors or cast members, including heralded Jason performer Kane Hodder. Brief documentaries (ranging from five to 15 minutes) cover separate installments with amusing anecdotes, including interviews with Sean S. Cunningham, Tom Savini, and various actors. In another doc, actors speak of the fraternity of young actors who've been slaughtered by Jason over the years. A deleted-scenes section is skimpy and not very interesting, while the tricks of special-effects gore merit a film to themselves. It's a customer-savvy DVD box, even if the effect of watching a bunch of this stuff together is a little dispiriting. --Robert Horton

DVD:  Anamorphic, Box set, Color, Dolby, NTSC
Company: Paramount  (2004-10-05)
ISBN: 0792198883
List Price: $79.99
Amazon Price: $35.71
Used Price: $33.00

After six acclaimed seasons, DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN delighted fans by revisiting Colorado Springs and its beloved characters with two feature-length television movies.

DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN: THE MOVIE finds Dr. Mike, Sully, and a posse of townsfolk traveling down to Mexico to rescue a kidnapped Katie. In DR. QUINN: THE HEART WITHIN, Mike and Sully travel to Boston to celebrate Colleen's graduation from Harvard Medical School--only to find Dr. Mike's mother terminally ill and Sully targeted for assassination by a corrupt government official.

A pioneering television Western, DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN brought a fresh approach to America's westward expansion with a combination of historical authenticity and modern sensibilities. Now, travel back to the 19th century American frontier with more tales of courage, conviction, and romance

System Requirements:

Running Time 180 Mins.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Director:  James Keach, Jerry London
DVD:  Color, NTSC
Company: A&E Home Video  (2006-06-27)
List Price: $19.95
Amazon Price: $9.45
Used Price: $13.41

Thora Birch (American Beauty) is Liz Murray: homeless at 15, Harvard undergrad at 19. Based on a true story, the Lifetime movie begins when her mother, Jean (Kelly Lynch), a schizophrenic with a substance abuse problem, is placed in a mental institution. Liz and her sister are left with their father, Peter, who is also a drug addict. When Jean returns two years later, she's clean, but has AIDS (and will soon start drinking again). When Peter falls behind on the rent, they lose their apartment. He moves into a shelter, the rest move in with Jean's abusive father. Liz hits the streets soon afterwards. Once on her own, she gets serious about her studies and her hard work eventually pays off. Homeless to Harvard earned three Emmy nominations, including one for Birch, while Lynch (Drugstore Cowboy) is just as believable as her kindhearted mess of a mother. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Director:  Peter Levin
DVD:  Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, NTSC
Company: Lifetime  (2004-09-07)
ISBN: 0790798433
List Price: $14.98
Amazon Price: $7.95
Used Price: $7.49

Charlie Chaplin is in glorious form in this legendary satire of the mechanized world. As a factory worker driven bonkers by the soulless momentum of work, Chaplin executes a series of slapstick routines around machines, including a memorable encounter with an automatic feeding apparatus. The pantomime is triumphant, but Chaplin also draws a lively relationship between the Tramp and a street gamine. She's played by Paulette Goddard, then Chaplin's wife and probably his best leading lady (here and in The Great Dictator). The film's theme gave the increasingly ambitious writer-director a chance to speak out about social issues, as well as indulging in the bittersweet quality of pathos that critics were already calling "Chaplinesque." In 1936, Chaplin was still holding out against spoken dialogue in films, but he did use a synchronized soundtrack of sound effects and his own music, a score that includes one of his most famous melodies, "Smile." And late in the film, Chaplin actually does speak--albeit in a garbled gibberish song, a rebuke to modern times in talking pictures. --Robert Horton

DVD:  Black & White, Dolby, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
Company: Warner Home Video  (2003-07-01)
ISBN: 0790771683
List Price: $29.98
Amazon Price: $16.67
Used Price: $22.67

A suburban mom is stunned to find her 14-year-old daughter is part of a group where casual sex is the norm... and shocked even more to discover the town's indifference to the problem. But this is a fight she - and no parent - can afford to lose.

DVD Features:
Interviews:Cast and Crew Interviews
TV Spot:More titles from Lifetime

Director:  Tom McLoughlin
DVD:  Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, NTSC
Company: Lifetime  (2005-02-22)
ISBN: 1419801392
List Price: $14.98
Amazon Price: $5.76
Used Price: $7.95

Home Movies: Season Four represents, sadly, the final episodes of a wonderful animated series, and those 13 shows are indeed a comic triumph. Somewhat reminiscent of Seinfeld, Home Movies gradually mastered the art of interwoven, multiple storylines that build toward brilliant entanglements. That would be enough to recommend the show, but Home Movies, besides being frequently hilarious, also has a soul. The continuing misadventures of 8-year-old, neurotic Brendon Small (voiced by, yes, series co-creator Brendon Small) are a treat to watch, but they also reveal the pain of a good kid's outsized ambitions chafing against natural innocence and the frustrations of childhood.

Many of the episodes concern Brendon's relentless desire to direct films and, at least in one case, theatre. His off-and-on ambivalence about collaborating in these endeavors with best friends Jason (H. Jon Benjamin) and Melissa (Melissa Bardin Galsky) creates some marvelous tensions, such as a very funny story in which Brendon reluctantly acquiesces to his pals' enthusiasm to produce an obviously doomed movie called "Wizird's Baker" (the misspelling is Jason's fault). While Melissa and Jason pound the pavement to raise funds for the production, Brendon dodges the project by immersing himself in a half-baked, outdoors-y outfit called the Skunk Scouts. His sudden embrace of boyhood pleasures--carving wood, earning merit badges--is painfully sweet in light of his guilt over sabotaging his friends' dream. In another superb episode, Brendon mounts a disastrous, 1950s-themed musical called "Bye, Bye Greasy" at school, pressing the increasingly degenerate Coach McGuirk (Benjamin again) into playing a teen rebel and nudging a disillusioned Jason and Melissa toward bland, supporting roles. On the other hand, the trio of friends sometimes cooperate beautifully: organizing, for instance, a special revenge against sadistic camp counselors in the season premiere. (Meanwhile, McGuirk is in hiding from a touchy-feely men's group called "Crywalkers.") There are some fabulous special features in this set, including a bonus music CD with 52 songs from all four seasons, 22 commentaries from the cast, crew, and special guests (including the Shins and Modest Mouse), and an "Audio Outtakes Jukebox." --Tom Keogh

DVD:  Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Company: Shout Factory  (2006-05-16)
List Price: $34.98
Amazon Price: $20.71
Used Price: $18.99

Home Movies: Season One is a television treasure that almost wasn't. After five episodes in 1999, the bright and sometimes brilliant animated satire was yanked from UPN's schedule and was rescued by Cartoon Network's late-evening "Adult Swim" programming, where it thrived for a few more seasons. Created by Loren Bouchard and Brendon Small (who provides the autobiographical voice of the show's 8-year-old hero, Brendon Small), Home Movies concerns the angst-ridden adventures of a fatherless boy who can't quite handle typical childhood challenges (school, sports) but, in his stumbling way, is advancing toward his dream of becoming a filmmaker and actor. With a manner and voice suggesting a cross between David Spade and Woody Allen, Brendon struggles--sometimes with sardonic wit, sometimes with heartbreaking candor--to protect his shaky sense of personal security while also trying to be taken seriously as an artist.

Brendon lives with his single mom, Paula (wonderfully played by Paula Poundstone until episode 6, when she was replaced by the equally effective Janine Ditullio), whose own neuroses peak during some very funny moments. Among these is a school meeting that finds her removing her sweater and spouting a string of obscenities, a writing class that ends repeatedly in make-out sessions with a nameless slinger of sexy doggerel, and a disastrous date with Brendon's soccer coach, a hefty bully and all-around loser, John McGuirk (H. Jon Benjamin). McGuirk is Brendon's foil throughout the series, a drunk with rage problems and dubious ethics who often leans on the young hero as a confidante when he isn't making the poor kid run extra laps. The show's dialogue comes fast, biting, and painfully honest, characters frequently talk at the same time, and some of the best material is in the short dramas that Brendon tapes with friends Melissa (Melissa Bardin Galsky) and Jason (also H. Jon Benjamin). Home Movies is not to be missed by anyone who enjoys urbane comedy, animated or otherwise. --Tom Keogh

DVD:  Box set, Color, NTSC
Company: Shout! Factory  (2004-11-16)
ISBN: 0738930709
List Price: $34.98
Amazon Price: $21.49
Used Price: $14.00

"I can only talk about what has moved me or intrigued me," says filmmaker Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull) at the beginning of this four-hour documentary about his passion for U.S. cinema. "I can't really be objective here." Hallelujah! A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies is the perfect antidote to the forced and artificial doctrine of the American Film Institute's so-called 100 best films. The AFI's English cousin, the British Film Institute, did a brilliant thing in enlisting Scorsese--probably the most famous student of cinema in the U.S.--to open up and speak at length for this project about the history of artistic survival among Hollywood directors. Working with cowriter and codirector Michael Henry Wilson, Scorsese takes a highly intuitive and heartfelt approach in describing how a number of filmmakers--some famous and some forgotten--carefully layered their visions into their work, often against the great resistance or eccentric whims of powerful producers. Film clips are plentiful, but they are also more than window dressing for nostalgia buffs. For instance, it's not unusual for Scorsese to return repeatedly to the same film (such as Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful) in order to make a series of connecting, deepening points. In the end, this work is truly one of Scorsese's most direct bridges to his imagination and personality, and it has the sort of restorative properties that can make a cinephile wearied by today's junk culture fall in love with movies again. A companion book is also available. --Tom Keogh

Director:  Martin Scorsese
DVD:  Black & White, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Company: Miramax  (2000-09-12)
ISBN: 0788823477
List Price: $19.99
Amazon Price: $13.70
Used Price: $12.00

Gracie Thompson hasn't been so much brought up as dragged through life by her manipulative, drug-addled mother. Missing meals, dodging cops and landlords, changing schools the way most kids change socks, Gracie and her sister and brothers, each the product of a different dead-beat dad, seem to have hit the skids. Then Gracie makes a choice to get a job, succeed in school, find stability. And her choice isn't just for herself. At the age of 17, she decides to be the mother, emotionally and legally, her siblings never had.

Director:  Peter Werner (III)
DVD:  Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, NTSC
Company: Lifetime  (2005-01-18)
ISBN: 1419801368
List Price: $14.98
Amazon Price: $8.48
Used Price: $6.98

Available just a few months after the arrival of Home Movies Season One, Season Two features 13 more episodes of the irreverent animated series seen on Cartoon Network's [adult swim]. Squigglevision is gone, replaced by Flash animation and the characters developed in Season One — an alcoholic soccer coach, a single mother who swears at parent/teacher conferences and an eight-year-old who makes art films and documentaries in his basement with his friends — are in situations even more humorous than before. Great bonus features round out this must-have set!

Program Listing:

Disc One
Episode #201: "Politics"
Episode #202: "Identifying A Body"
Episode #203: "Hiatus"
Episode #204:"Business & Pleasure"

Special Features
Winning entry of "Small Shorts" Film Competition
Brendon Small interviews Melissa Galsky
Memories Featurette: Guest stars remember Home Movies
Animatics - "Politics"
Commentaries with Brendon Small, Melissa Galsky and Loren Bouchard

Disc Two
Episode #205: "The Party"
Episode #206: "Impressions"
Episode #207: "Dad"
Episode #208: "Therapy"

Special Features
Audio Anatomy Of A Scene
Animatics - "Party"
Interview with Brendon Small, Melissa Galsky and Loren Bouchard
Commentaries with Brendon Small, Melissa Galsky and Loren Bouchard

Disc Three
Episode #209: "Class Trip"
Episode #210: "History"
Episode #211: "Writer's Block"
Episode #212: "Pizza Club"
Episode #213: "The Wedding"

Special Features
Animatics with crew commentary - "History"
Home Movies music - extended songs and music lesson
Home Movies writer Bill Braudis speaks!
Commentaries with Brendon Small, Melissa Galsky and Loren Bouchard

DVD:  Box set, Color, Animated, NTSC
Company: Shout Factory  (2005-05-31)
ISBN: 0738931845
List Price: $34.98
Amazon Price: $19.99
Used Price: $16.99