Top Movies Released on DVD in 2008

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine," laments Rick (Humphrey Bogart) in Casablanca (1942) when he sees his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). The tale of Rick and Ilsa, set against the backdrop of a stream of refugees fleeing the Nazis, is one of cinema's most poignant love stories. The DVD set provides two audio commentaries (one by Roger Ebert), hours of video extras (including a feature-length documentary on studio mogul Jack Warner), plus a 48-page photo booklet, reproductions of archival correspondence, Laszlo's letter of transit and various memorabilia.

Probably the best comic-book superhero movie ever made, The Dark Knight (2008) was directed by Christopher Nolan and stars Christian Bale in the dual roles of Batman and Bruce Wayne. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Bruce Wayne's longtime girlfriend, is now dating Gotham's district attorney. But The Dark Knight is mostly about the battle of wills between Batman and the film's creepy, demonic villain, the Joker (the late Heath Ledger). The DVDs contain about two hours of video extras, and there's a digital copy supporting easy transfer of the feature film to a computer or portable media player.

Directed by Francis Coppola, The Godfather (1972), The Godfather: Part II (1974) and The Godfather: Part III (1990) comprise what is arguably the greatest film trilogy of all time. They chronicle the life of Mafia boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), who accumulates great wealth and power, but fares poorly as a family man. And as his father (Marlon Brando) says, "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." The DVD set contains all three movies (with fully restored versions of the two 1970s films), audio commentary by Coppola that exceeds nine hours and over four hours of other extras.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, No Country for Old Men (2007) was written and directed by the Coen brothers, who won Oscars for both their screenplay and their direction. Javier Bardem portrays one of cinema's most memorable villains, an implacable, relentless psychopath. The story takes place in West Texas in 1980 and is about a welder (Josh Brolin), an aging sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and a hit man (Bardem) getting involved in a heroin deal gone bad. The Coens artfully mix violence and suspense with humor and contemplativeness. The DVD set has 39 minutes of video bonus materials.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) is arguably the best psychological thriller ever made. Anthony Perkins gives a brilliant performance as psychopathic killer Norman Bates. Janet Leigh is memorable as a secretary who steals $40,000, goes on the lam and checks into the isolated Bates Motel, which is run by Norman. The iconic scene where she is stabbed to death in the shower is still horrifying. The film's most famous line is Norman Bates saying, "A boy's best friend is his mother." The DVD set has a scholarly audio commentary, a 94-minute making-of documentary and over an hour of additional video extras.

James Stewart and Grace Kelly supply dazzling star power in Hitchcock's witty, sophisticated entertainment Rear Window (1954). It's a suspenseful murder mystery, but it's also a humorous rumination on the relationships between men and women. Wheelchair-bound photographer L.B. Jefferies (Stewart) must decide what to do about his fashion-model girlfriend (Kelly) as he looks into a possible murder by a neighbor. Jefferies' nurse (Thelma Ritter) tells him, "We've become a race of Peeping Toms." The DVD set provides an outstanding commentary by a Hitchcock expert and over two-and-a-half hours of video extras.

"Older woman who's well-to-do, and a younger man who's not doing too well," says the gigolo (William Holden) about his relationship to the former actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). A mix of dark comedy and film noir co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard (1950) is one of the masterworks of world cinema, and in it Swanson gives one the greatest performances in movie history. She gets the film's unforgettable last line, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." The DVD set contains an audio commentary by a Wilder expert plus about two-and-a-half hours of featurettes.

Daniel Day-Lewis gives a towering performance in There Will Be Blood (2007), winning him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film is an absorbing character study of an American entrepreneur and a maverick insider's view of the petroleum industry in the early 20th century. The movie chronicles three decades in the life of Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), a driven, anti-social oilman who becomes a self-made millionaire. He gets entangled with a charismatic evangelist and roars at him, "I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!" The DVD set has 53 minutes of video extras.

Orson Welles wrote, directed and starred in Touch of Evil (1958), and his mastery of visual artistry, sparkling dialogue, compelling characters and labyrinthine plot make this one of the great all-time movies. Set in a sleazy town straddling the US-Mexico border, the story is about a grossly obese cop (Welles) who plants evidence and young newlyweds (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh) on the honeymoon from hell. The DVD set contains three versions of the film and provides four audio commentaries. There's also a making-of documentary, as well as a lengthy memo Welles wrote to Universal after viewing a studio cut.

Alfred Hitchcock's greatest masterpiece, Vertigo (1958) is an unsettling, twisted love story that involves deception and murder. The protagonist is a retired police detective (James Stewart) who becomes obsessed with the elegant, wealthy, troubled Madeleine (Kim Novak). But he loses her, then meets a shopgirl (Novak again) who he tries to transform into Madeleine. When he realizes he's not the first, he says bitterly, "He made you over just like I made you over, only better." The film has a superb score by Bernard Herrmann. The DVD set provides two commentary tracks plus over two hours of video extras.