Top Movies Released on DVD in 2009

Written and directed by Atom Egoyan, the English-language drama Adoration (2008) takes on terrorism, cultural identity, Internet video chat rooms and other challenging issues. The story is told employing a jigsaw-puzzle narrative and deliberately contrived to unfold as a mystery. But the film is nonetheless a moody, haunting rumination on life in the post-9/11 world. The Adoration DVD supplies over an hour and a half of video extras.

DVD Release Date: October 13, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes and an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, The Class (2008) has received nearly universal critical acclaim. It's a fictional French movie that feels so authentic it plays more like a documentary. It is one of the best movies ever made about a teacher and his students. The Class DVD provides an enjoyable  making-of documentary and commentary by director Laurent Cantet and novelist/teacher/actor François Bégaudeau on two of the movie's key sequences.

DVD Release Date: August 11, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Based on a true story, The Soloist (2009) is a showcase for the acting of Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. The film also brilliantly captures Los Angeles as a city of striking contrasts, where within walking distance of the graceful stainless steel curves of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall is the hellish Skid Row teeming with the homeless. The feature-length audio commentary by director Joe Wright substantially enhanced my appreciation of The Soloist.

DVD Release Date:  August 4, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

A masterpiece of world cinema, Ashes and Diamonds was initially released in 1958. The movie was co-written and directed by Andrzej Wajda, who in the year 2000 was given an Academy Award for "five decades of extraordinary film direction." Ashes and Diamonds tells its story with a rare combination of strong narrative and poetic lyricism. The film's star is the charismatic and intense Zbigniew Cybulski, who has been dubbed the Polish James Dean. This release is a single-disc barebones DVD containing only the feature film. The movie is also available as part of the DVD set Andrzej Wajda — Three War Films.

DVD Release Date: June 16, 2009
Available on DVD Only

Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957) was arguably the seminal film in what became a wave of subtitled foreign movies that large numbers of Americans went to see in specialty theaters known as art houses. Later, Bergman's masterpiece was seen at home by many more on television, videotape, laserdisc and the 1999 Criterion Collection single-disc DVD. On June 16, 2009, Criterion released a new two-disc DVD version of The Seventh Seal that is superior to the 1999 edition in every way and includes an audio commentary by film scholar Peter Cowie.

DVD Release Date: June 16, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

The year 1989 saw the theatrical release of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, arguably the best film ever made about race relations in America. In 2001 Criterion Collection put out an excellent two-disc DVD set containing the movie and a generous selection of bonus materials. On June 30, 2009, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released a 20th Anniversary Edition two-disc DVD set that carries over all the major extras from the 2001 version and provides 50 minutes of additional video supplementary material, along with a new audio commentary by director Spike Lee.

DVD Release Date: June 30, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio give superb performances as a troubled married couple with children in Revolutionary Road (2008), a cautionary tale of conformity and alienation directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty). The story has half a dozen memorable minor characters, well played by actors with roots in the New York stage world. Beautifully shot by noted cinematographer Roger Deakins, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards. The DVD contains a reasonably good documentary, deleted scenes and an audio commentary.

DVD Release Date: June 2, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Adapted from Elizabeth von Arnim's novel, this 1992 film is extremely pleasant and exquisitely done. In about 1921 four discontented Englishwomen "who appreciate wisteria and sunshine" leave their humdrum lives behind to spend a month at a castle on the Italian coast. After a series of small incidents, the ladies' attitudes improve, and they are joined by three men. By the end of their sojourn at the castle, all the major characters are enjoying a feeling of well-being. The DVD's only extra is a feature-length audio commentary by director Mike Newell and producer Ann Scott.

DVD Release Date: May 5, 2009
Available on DVD Only

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett give fine performances in this 2008 film, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Pitt) and Best Supporting Actress (Taraji P. Henson). The movie was inspired by a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, but the filmmakers kept almost nothing of Fitzgerald's except his title and his premise: Benjamin Button ages backward, that is, he is born an old man, and gradually gets younger as the years go by. The two-disc DVD set provides three-and-a-quarter hours of video extras plus four stills galleries.

DVD Release Date: May 5, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Winner of eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dazzles the viewer with exotic locations, exuberant filmmaking, Bollywood music and a rags-to-riches story with a feel-good ending. The movie won Oscars for its cinematography, film editing, sound mixing and musical score. It also earned a Best Director Academy Award for Danny Boyle. The Slumdog Millionaire DVD provides two separate feature-length audio commentaries. The better of the pair is the one by director Danny Boyle and lead actor Dev Patel.

DVD Release Date: March 31, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall are actors who are easy on the eyes, and writer-director Woody Allen uses them well in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), a highly entertaining rumination on the theme of romantic attraction. The setting is Barcelona, and the city, famed for its spectacular Gaudí architecture, is lovingly photographed. The mood is enhanced by sprightly, listenable Spanish music. The Vicky Cristina Barcelona DVD provides no bonus materials.

DVD Release Date: January 27, 2009
Available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc