If you haven't seen it, it is basically a monster movie that's cleverly told through a single-hand-held camera of a partygoing guy who captures the chaos of an attack on New York on a personal level. With only glimpses of the dinosaur-like creature, it has a real sense of terror of the unknown. Is the first rumble an earthquake, a terrorist attack, an explosion? Then one terrified and dusty Lizzy Caplan (who was just so awesome in Mean Girls), who got separated from the group, says she saw something horrible eating everyone. Then, well, then it really starts to get good.

The extras are sort of as chaotic as the film. Some of them are beautifully produced, but if you watch enough of them they all start to repeat themselves... insofar as they use the same interview footage with the flicks producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves. But more on that later. First, can someone explain to me why, in this day and age of the High-def TV's and home theater systems, we really still need our DVDs to come with a warning that says "this film is in widescreen? The black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal." Who is still out there who isn't aware of widescreen? I totally digress.

The film has an audio commentary, a nice bonus, but it is director Matt Reeves and it starts out with him telling the same story -- about how J.J. was in a toy store with his son and saw Godzilla and bam, a movie was born -- that I heard on several of the other extras. Then he goes into lengthy discussion of the use of hand held cameras and lighting and well, let's just say that it was a little too techie for my taste. But if you are into that kind of detailed moviemaking stuff, give it a listen. I had already gotten more than my fill watching some of the other extras and had to stop part of the way in.

First up in the special features is "Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield." This is a slick little behind the scenes making-of segment. Nicely done, sort of goes through the day to day on the set. I totally want to be friends with T.J. Miller (who plays the guy who is "filming" the movie) and Lizzy Caplan. I learned a lot about rats and that rumors fly fast on the internet (shocking, I know). Lots of buzz about Cheese was spread for a while (one of the codenames they used during production.)

Another professionally produced segment called "Cloverfield Visual Effects" follows. It shows how they basically shot on a super small set and with the help of gridlines made movie magic. Has some overlap with the making of doc and the "I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge" segment is basically more of the same, but with a bit more info on how they came up with this ugly looking beast.

Then there's "Clover Fun," the bloopers and outtakes. Always my favorite. I especially like the lamppost that just won't cooperate. And they say actors are tough to work with. There are a handful of "Deleted Scenes," complete with director commentary, but they offer nothing especially earthshattering, seems like they used almost everything in the film, with very few leftovers. The two "Alternate Endings" are remarkably similar to what actually aired, though Reeves is quite up on explaining the small nuances between them and what made the final cut.

Some cool stuff is hidden in Easter Egg format. Before I get into that, I've just got to get this out there. J.J. Abrams and company have taken up way too much of my life, getting me to try and figure out the symbolism of the bolded letters in the Alias location title cards, to examining every little detail of Lost until my eyes are exhausted and I've spent three hours on a wild goose chase to figure out what the hell six numbers mean. And damn it, I still want to know what was in Megan's box. Phew. Now that I've gotten that out of my system, Abrams' Bad Robot team wasted more of my Xbox playing time having me hunt down these bonus features.

Thanks to the internet, I was able to find most of them, though a few require standing on your head, rubbing your stomach, reciting the alphabet backwards and giving planting scenese under the first full moon of the year in order to find them. I don't have the energy to explain how to get to them, but these nice people (who clearly had way too much time on their hands) already figured it out. I really recommend the news footage of the earlier collapse on an oil ring off the coast of Connecticut a few weeks prior to the NYC attack. My favorite is the rack 'em and pack 'em montage of the cast being silly. Though I did enjoy finding a scene that showed what the parasite attack looked like without the parasites. Kind of like a commercial for Girls Gone Wild in the way that all the good stuff is blurred out. The scariest thing ever, the ad for SLUSHO beverages. That gave me nightmares.

Oh, and poking around on the internet (which the film encourages by including the official website) lead down a long and winding rabbit hole, where people found screen shots of a King Kong frame that has been inserted in the film, and footage of something crashing into the water at Coney Island. I have a feeling that the extras on this are never ending, which will likely keep me busy until the next Abrams project hits theaters. Beam me up, Scotty.

The second big reason to love this film is Ryan Gosling. I can't imagine another actor of his generation making me feel so strongly about a big, plastic doll. He brings so much genuine human emotion to the role, and if you can watch some of his more intensely emotional scenes without shedding a tear or two, you must be heartless ... or at least a stronger person than I am.

The special features here are few, precious few.

There's one deleted scene, which includes a written introduction from director Craig Gillespie. He explains that the scene comes after Lars goes bowling with Margo in the film. It's a short little moment between Lars and Bianca, which Gillespie tells us shows how conflicted Lars is over his relationship with Bianca. Ultimately, it was cut and not really missed, except by Gillespie, apparently.

Next up is a 10-minute featurette called "The Real Story of Lars and the Real Girl." It includes interviews with all of the major plays: actors, director, writer, and producers. Turns out screenwriter Nancy Oliver actually visited the website of Real Dolls; that's what inspired her to write this lovely tale of a man who can't interact with real humans, but finds a way to connect because of this doll. We learn some juicy tidbits here about Gosling choosing to really immerse himself in this role, to the point that he was living with Bianca (the doll) in his mom's basement and then staying in Lars's house on set.

Another featurette, "A Real Leading Lady," is about Bianca and what she's like on the set. The cast and crew play along hilariously as they explain how nice Bianca was to work with. Turns out she's not a diva, though she did have a lot of her own ideas. Gosling tells us that she learned all of the lines phonetically. We learn she had specifics to go through each day in terms of putting her face on (intercut with scenes of the doll literally being put together in the morning. Heh.) She's a vegetarian, someone tells craft services. She and Gosling formed a real bond and had "real chemistry," according to producer John Cameron. Bianca tells us, through Gosling, natch, that working with him is what drew her to this film. This featurette takes us inside the stars' relationship, all the way to when the honeymoon is over and Gosling and Bianca are arguing like the demanding movie stars they clearly are. For a DVD with so few special features, this is very much a highlight, and worth the price of the DVD rental, even if you've already seen the movie. It's cute and quirky and really helps bring the movie to life.

Finally, we have the trailer.

No commentary or anything interactive here, but this is such a quaint film that it's perfectly suitable for the DVD to contain just a few simple, delightful extras -- and that's exactly what this DVD delivers.

If you haven't seen the flick before, Lindsay Lohan (before the meltdown) plays a sweet teenager who has lived her whole life in Africa and been homeschooled, and now is entering the wild world of high school where she's introduced to cliques and the general awfulness that is the normal part of matriculating. Because Cady (Catie, but everyone calls her Caddy) is remotely attractive, she suddenly falls in with the most popular cult in school. The Plastics are hot chicks who know that it is better to keep the other hot chicks close in order to damage their self-esteem and make them less attractive. Cady tries to be all subversive with her cool art freak friends and take down the leader of The Plastics, the supreme being Regina George. Oh, and Cady discovers that boys are hot. She's a little emotionally stunted, but catches on really quick with the help of some lipgloss and stilettos. Then there's this burn book (a precursor to the Gossip Girl blog) that gets out and turns the school and chick cliques upside down. It's totally better than the She's All That knock-off that I'm making it out to be, but my bitterness from watching the extras is starting to taint my adoration of the movie.

First up on the Mean Girls "Special Collector's Edition" is a commentary track with director Mark "Hey, I remade Freaky Friday with Lindsay too" Waters, the brilliant writer Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels who produced the flick. Well, it sort of has commentary by Lorne -- who I imagine sitting there petting a hairless cat, closing his eyes and getting a massage or something -- because he only says maybe ten things in the hour and a half. To his credit, his few quips are kind of funny, but usually involve how he's going to make big bucks (like $1 million dollars?) from the hotness that is Lindsay Lohan (he grouses that they didn't let her get hot fast enough) and using Tina Fey's brain.

Lots of the rambling comes from Mark Waters who gives lots of tedious and unfunny details about the actual process of making the movie. "Look at the pretty colors," "Amy Poehler isn't really that old," "Hey, these chicks are hot and the camera crew was happy to work late when we dressed them as whores." There's a random conversation between him and Tina about vag odor, apparently a line that was cut or added to the movie (hard to tell). And apparently Mark's obsessed with filming scenes in bathrooms. Really? Can the three people who saw Head Over Heels verify this fact? Most of Tina's comments are, "There's me! I'm in the movie again." I wish I could say I was just paraphrasing, but that's a direct quote. Then she laments in her self-deprecating way that her future is in Lifetime movies. Well, that was clearly before 30 Rock took off.

Then there are featurettes:
Only the Strong Survive: Interviews with the cast and crew about what high school is really like, and talking about how mean girls really are. Well, duh. Bitches, man. Amy Poehler spends some time touching/flaunting her fake breasts. And then the highlight of the whole shebang is Lindsay Lohan talk about how she originally auditioned for Regina (the most popular bitch in school) but then decided that maybe people would think she was evil in real life. She decided to stick with her good girl image (remember this was right after The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday so she was still a bit of a Disney princess). The kicker is that her big reason for swapping parts was so that her sister would think she was still a nice person, she wanted to be a good role model. Um, have you seen Lindsay's little mini-me Ali? She's got Lindsay's bright orange tint, dressing in slutty hand-me-downs and doomed to wander down the same rehab ridden road as her big sister, as soon as her reality show crashes and burns. Wait, I should be saving this stuff for my own burn book.
Politics of Girl World: Rosalind Wiseman, the woman who wrote the non-fiction self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes about cliques and teenagers. While her book was interesting, this segment is not.
Plastic Fashion: Totally misleading. I thought we were going to get some sort of spinning closet scene like Cher has in Clueless. Instead, there's a frightening, badly dressed woman talking about how the clothes have meaning and a lot of designing went into them. I'm so sure she just went to the nearest Forever 21 and bought out the place.
Word Vomit: Another freakin' misleading title. It's just a overly clever name for the blooper reel.

Lastly, the deleted scenes (what, no cutesy name for this?). I'm so over it at this point, but there's a remotely entertaining little nugget hiding among the interstitials (aka commercials) which ran for the movie. The hot chicks did a faux PSA where Claudia from Party of Five is talking to Rachel McAdams and the dead chick from Veronica Mars about how seven out of 10 girls in America have a negative body image. McAdams, in her full-on Regina mode, says, "Who cares? Six of those girls are right." Genius. Love it. Love her. Sadly, the rest of the axed segments are pretty forgettable and were right to be nixed from the flick. I did, however, learn that "knobby" is not the new fetch.

It's quirky, cute, lighthearted, and often trying too hard to be clever. And, really, the reason to watch it is for the performances -- and not just Oscar nominee Ellen Page's. Really, the ensemble of supporting characters here are what really makes it. There's Arrested Development and Superbad favorite Michael Cera, who'll make you smile every time he's on screen; Jennifer Garner, who sort of steals the movie with her earnest longing for a child; J.K. Simmons, who actually manages to erase the memory of Schillinger that's been seared into my brain for eternity with his loving father; and Allison Janney, who's typically magical. I would comment on Jason Bateman, but I feel that anything I say will give away the movie for those who haven't seen it yet.

If you enjoyed the quirk and fun of the movie, then, the DVD offers some extras that are just as fun:

There's an informative, conversational commentary on the film with director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody. It's a nice balance to have the two of them there, because Jason, like many directors, tends to get really directory with many bits about the technical stuff in the movie, and Diablo keeps it more light and breezy and about the writing -- how she came up with certain stuff, what things are somewhat autobiographical, etc. Commentaries are almost always better when there are at least two people, so that it's more of a conversation than a narration, and this is no exception. Especially since it's clear these two enjoy talking to each other, so they're never at a loss for things to say about the film and the filmmaking process.

There are 11 deleted scenes -- some that are really more of alternate scenes that deleted scenes -- that don't add all that much to the movie in the way of plot. They are fun, though, and give a bit more insight into the characters. There's one highlight, especially, when Juno sings at an open-mic night, apparently, a song she wrote about her best guy friend getting her pregnant. It's very funny, and ends with a cute interchange between Juno and Bleeker (those names! So overly clever!). There's commentary with director Reitman and screenwriter Cody on the deleted scenes, which is pretty fun, actually, because we find out which scenes Diablo was upset were cut, and which scenes she's actually never seen before (Liberty Bell in her Hulk underwear for one). We also learn that in the open-mic scene, Diablo wrote the lyrics, but Ellen Page herself actually wrote the music. Some people really are entirely too talented, aren't they?

There's a gag reel, which is not really as funny as you'd think given how fun it had to be making this movie. There are a couple of hilarious moments -- including a scene that Ellen cannot make it through without laughing, and it does certainly show the cast's more colorful language, particularly Jason Bateman's (I have to admit I liked him more here than I did in most of the movie; he was definitely funnier). There's also a gag take, which is one extended fake outtake, in which Rainn Wilson and Jason Reitman can't agree on how to lift the bags in a convenience store scene.

The "Cast & Crew Jam" is an all-inclusive music video that seems to feature everyone who was involved in the movie in any way. It's actually entertaining for basically consisting of people just dancing/sitting/jamming/jumping around/acting in front of shimmery, silver streamers. And don't give up if you're not hooked. It's only a few minutes long, and it gets funnier as it goes along.

The best extra here, though, are the screen tests, which demonstrate how organic the chemistry really was between Ellen Page and Michael Cera, because -- other than the fact that she's wearing less makeup -- their interactions together are exactly the same as they are in the movie. They had to know they had gold on their hands with these two. There are screen tests between Ellen and most of the other major players, and they're all gems (mostly because studios usually don't dare to let us see this stuff), but none are as good as Page + Cera. That right there is magic.

After full-fledge slacker, Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) drunkenly meets and engages in sexual activity with career-driven Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), the two wind up becoming hopeless parents-to-be without any inkling on what to do. Not wanting to bring the child into a broken family, the two decide to attempt at a relationship, which becomes more than a handful. With the trials and tribulations already intact, Ben's stoner roommates (Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and hippie Jesus-looking Martin Starr) and Allison's white-picket-fence-short-of-perfection sister (Leslie Mann) and brother-in-law (Paul Rudd) become the drive and enthusiasm that the two need to sustain any sort of success (or else the baby is pretty much screwed).

There are a total of 14 deleted scenes on the first disc that feature the likes of Eva Mendes, Mo Collins(of MadTV fame), Jonah Hill (watching a child birth on television and talking about his appreciation for Brokeback Mountain), Paul Rudd (making farting look sexy), Katherine Heigl, and for all of you Jason Segel fans, lots and lots of Segel at his finest. There is one scene in particular (that I loved) where Ben (Rogen) wakes up to a bright-eyed Segel just lying in bed with him anxiously waiting to share his future plan to hook up with his unborn child when she turns 18 (granted it's a female and she's hot). "I'll only be 40 when she's 18," is his reasoning for this, which doesn't go over too well. (Oh Jason, I can be your 18-year-old whenever, wherever).

Judd Apatow is a director who loves to give his actors the freedom to ad lib and improvise as much as possible, and with the "Line-O-Rama" feature, most of these off the cuff material and alternative lines can be seen in their entirety. And just like in Superbad's "Line-O-Rama," Jonah Hill outshines everyone (especially in the ping-pong scene where he comes up with different made-up celebrity baby names off the top of his head). But besides the deleted and extended scenes on the first disc, there are even more on the second, which provide additional footage of my favorite OB-GYN, Dr Kuni (can somebody give this man his own show already?!).

Jay Baruchel had made it abundantly clear in the beginning of filming that he was not going to do the rollercoaster scene due to his anxiety attacks, but when time came to shoot the scene (which can be seen in the beginning of the movie), Apatow was not going to let Baruchel off without a meager push and shove, which resulted in Baruchel caving in and going on the rollercoaster once (and never again). This entire moment was caught on tape that became a short documentary for all to see on the first disc. It was painful for me to watch Baruchel struggle with trying to decide whether he should risk disappointing Apatow and the cast by not going on the ride, or risk having a major panic attack in result. I was barely able to enjoy this entire short because I was too busy worrying for Jay's safety and feeling extremely sorry for him (wow, when did I grow such a heart?), but I'm a big pansy who can't handle seeing guys on the verge of tears, so perhaps you will be braver while watching this part (particularly when the cast starts vomiting after seven continuous rides on the coaster).

However, another documentary-like short on the first disc did entertain me, and that was the "Directing the Director" segment. Designed as a mocumentary, this part follows Capote director, Bennet Miller as he oversees Judd Apatow's directing (as requested by Universal Studios to make sure the production of Knocked Up does not get sidetracked). All hell obviously breaks loose, and although the acting is quite unconvincing, the confrontation between Miller and Apatow is hilarious.

"Finding Ben Stone" was by far my favorite feature (and will definitely be yours too, since I have immaculate taste), which is why I saved this one for last. It is yet another mockumentary designed as "raw footage" of the various auditions for the role of Ben Stone before Seth Rogen snagged it. I don't even know where to begin with this one! First of all, Michael Cera, Justin Long, Bill Hader, James Franco and Orlando Bloom are just some of the steamy men (wait, is Cera even eligible to be a considered a man? Or steamy, for that matter?) vying for the role, and second of all, they all get into some form of dispute with Judd Apatow, which is ten times more convincing than the confrontation he had with Bennett Miller (no offense, Ben). Just seeing little Michael Cera sitting across the table from Katherine Heigl as she tells him that she is pregnant with his child is exactly what babies are made of. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful... And I can already feel my baby kicking.

But it's smart and weird in all of the right ways. Not that that justifies two DVD editions, but it seems more and more DVDs are being released this way these days. You can get the bare-bones single-disc set, which consists of absolutely nothing but the film in a standard DVD case. Or you can splurge (it's around $5 more) on the two-disc collector's edition, with the feature on one disc and a handful of extras on another. There was no reason for this to be broken up into two discs, but who's going to quibble with an edition that comes in this slim, sleek cardboard case? It's the perfect packaging for a P.T. Anderson period piece (if there is such a thing), and it even includes a page from what looks like an original edition of Upton Sinclair's Oil, on which the movie was based.

The two discs have the same menu background: just a picture of the back of Day-Lewis's Plainview in front of the oil rig -- nothing noisy, obnoxious, or animated. You can actually load this DVD and do something else for five minutes without wanting to throw things at your TV. Trust me: What some might deem as a lack of creativity is actually a blessing.

It's a paltry smattering of extras, but what's here is worth the extra money.

You've got your traditional teaser and trailer -- standard extras, as this point. They're finely made, but nothing you'll watch again once you've seen the movie.

"15 Minutes," which is around 15 minutes of course, is a collection of the photos and video that went into researching for the making of this film. This feature actually will serve to enhance your love for the film, because you'll realize how much attention was paid to the details here -- from the clothing and sets to the oil rigs.

There are a few deleted/alternate scenes that are interesting, but don't really add anything to the film. They were better off not in the movie, considering it was already more than 2 1/2 hours long. Seeing them here is plenty.

The longest extra is the short film (around 25 minutes long), "The Story of Petroleum," a 1923 silent film about the oil business in that era. It has a cool score just like the main feature and it's a pretty illuminating look at the 1920s oil industry in this country. Like "15 Minutes," it helps to highlight how true Anderson & Co. tried to be to the original era of this film.

So, now that we've covered the extras, let's ponder the bonus feature that is sorely missing from this set, shall we? A collection of Day-Lewis's acceptance speeches from all of the awards he won for this role. It's an excellent performance, sure, but that's not why we want to see those speeches again. It's those quirky Day-Lewis-isms, that sincerity and eccentricity, and that real humility that is never expected from someone with such a native talent. Well, I'm here to give you that missing extra (you can thank me later). Someone put this compilation of his first several speeches together (which, really, why couldn't the DVD makers have done that for us instead?). If you stop watching before the end you'll miss Day-Lewis honoring French actress Marion Cottillard "for sheer balls alone."

Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to find an Oscar speech online, but you can watch him on the official Oscar thank-you cam, thanking the people he forgot to thank on stage.

With that one additional extra, then, the DVD would have been complete.

Rogen and Goldberg began their Superbad voyage when they were just 15-years-old (basing the main characters on themselves), and featured on the DVD is the original table read of the movie from 2002, where Seth Rogen reads for the character of Seth (naturally) while another Freaks and Geeks alum by the name of Jason Segel (you might have heard of him), reads for the role of Evan. It is an interesting load of footage that I think über film buffs will appreciate, but it gets tedious quite fast. Better to briefly skim through this to see how young and pre-pubescent Rogen and Segel look, but don't spend too much time on it, for there are tons of other material just waiting for you to laugh at (I just hope you're wearing adult diapers for this).

Besides the conventional directorial commentary, gag reel and deleted and extended scenes (which are all hilarious and entertaining), the DVD features an array of other laugh-out-loud and shrewd material that will serve as your companion for a couple of hours (yes, a couple of hours).

The must-see content is the behind-the-scenes footage. The "Dancing Title Sequence" is one of my favorites, because it shows the making of the funky opening credits of the film (originally intended to be used for the DVD menu). It was amusing to see Cera and Hill whip-out casual dance moves that were reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite (only more sedated), and if you're anything like me (and god bless your soul if you are), you can practice on your own Superbad-esque dance moves with the help of the "The Music of Superbad" portion about the musicians who provided the cool '70s-inspired soundtrack.

The on-set video diaries from the cast and crew may be over 17-minutes long, but if you sit through all of it, you will be treated to a nice look at the filming of Superbad through the eyes of the people in it. Plus, you'll get a chance to see Naathan Phan (the kid who is Evan's home-ec partner) do a random Christopher Walken impression, which made me love him even more (Phan, not Walken, although I love Walken, too).

Speaking of people I love, there are two comical features with Michael Cera on the DVD that cannot go unnoticed: "Everyone Hates Michael Cera," depicting the always peppy, endearing and lovable Cera as a nuisance (it is shot as a mockumentary where cast and crew discuss all that is ghastly about him), and "Michael's Voicemails from Jonah," which is a compilation of the various romantic innuendo voice messages Michael received from Jonah (oh, what I would give to be in between that sandwich of boy and blubber).

With such an incredible line-up of class-A comedians making up the Superbad cast, the DVD is bound to be crammed with practical jokes and impromptu acting galore, and it most certainly is (I told you this will take a couple of hours).

"Snakes on Jonah" is a five-minute clip of snake-phobic Jonah Hill getting tortured by, well, snakes (would have been cooler if it was Samuel L. Jackson though, huh?). Just watching the big guy freak out like a little school girl is worth every penny and minute spent on this DVD (that's the schadenfreude in me).

Then there is "Line-O-Rama," a segment that shows a collection of several alternate lines for some of the more eminent scenes in the movie, all of which were most likely makeshift. Jonah Hill is especially great in this, because he reminds me a lot of a young Vince Vaughn with the fast-paced jabbering and perverse one-liners that are so perfectly timed that you forget that it's all improvised.

But the best impromptu segment, as well as best bonus feature, is "Cop Car Confessions" -- hands down. This is where Seth Rogen and Bill Hader drive around in their police car while random comedians and actors sit in the backseat after their respective arrests. Being that this is over a half an hour long, it is not only the longest bonus feature, but also the funniest. There are 13 victims (the most notable being Chris Kattan, Ian Roberts, Jane Lynch, Kristen Wiig, Justin Long and Judd Apatow), who all have humorous reasons for being hand-cuffed by the two lunatic and arbitrary cops. Plus, Chris Kattan in a squirrel suit while Seth Rogen cracks a bunch of nut jokes = Amazing.

Once you finish with the 10+ bonus features, you can click over to the first look at Pineapple Express (starring Seth Rogen and yet another Freaks and Geeks alum, James Franco), which comes out in theaters this summer. I can only hope its DVD is as awesome as this one.

Superbad, thank you for keeping me company this Friday night... If you weren't an inanimate object, I'd totally marry you.

One thing's for sure, though: Tim Burton just loves to play dress-up with his muse and domestic partner, Helena Bonham Carter (though it is a little weird how much he likes to pair her with Johnny Depp, don't you think?).

As usual, though, it all works well here and feels fresh even if the cast and crew are familiar. You might find yourself wondering if it's a tragedy or a comedy, so I'll fill you in: a little of both. Burton's worldview seems to be that the tragic and the comic are intertwined. You can't help laughing at Sacha Baron Cohen's Italian accent, after all; or Bonham Carter and Depp singing about all the different types of people to bake into a pie. But there's a darker (I know...a dark Burton-Depp project? Shocking!) underlying theme: Life and love can hurt us to the point where our only defense is to put up a guard and shut off. Sweeney Todd takes it to a bit of an extreme, but still. Same old story, isn't it?

Another thing that's strange about this film is it's the first DVD I've seen that has the nerve to include just ONE special feature, and to actually admit that, right on the box and in the DVD menu. Usually DVDs with one special feature would throw in some trailers or a photo gallery so they could label them "Special Features." Not so here. The DVD menu says "Special Feature." No need to lie to us by pluralizing it. You've got to respect that kind of honesty.

That special feature is a featurette called--and I am not making this up--Burton + Depp + Carter = Todd (they left out a little someone named Sondheim, but I digress). It's a 25-minute documentary about the making of the film, from the beginning of Bonham Carter and Burton's relationship (Sweeney Todd was one of the first things they had in common; after this, there's nothing left for them, she jokes, except for that small matter of a child).

It's interesting to learn that Stephen Sondheim (who's interviewed all too briefly in the doc) approved all casting choices, because when you hear Tim Burton cast these two again, you assume it was his sole decision. Helena explains that she had to train to sing for three months and audition for the part, and Tim was uncertain that she'd get it. Johnny, of course, didn't have to audition. In fact, no one had ever heard him sing, even Sondheim, until millions of dollars were being spent on the picture. Johnny says when he first sang, "My Friends," it was probably the first song he'd sung in his life.

There are some touching and intimate comments in this doc: Johnny Depp describes his relationship with Tim Burton as "it's family"; Helena talks about how Tim Burton is not remotely a narcissist, but that all of these pale characters with deep, dark eyes are sort of him, the insomniac; she says Tim thinks their son's going to be gay because she's bringing him up on musicals; and more.

For offering just the one featurette, there's a lot of good stuff here. One warning: Don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie or the musical because it definitely gives away the ending. -- DeAnn Welker

Well, I will tell you: HD DVD is a fantastic product, superior in almost every way to Blu-ray (I say this with experience, because I have both players; own and have watched many, many discs in both formats), but it lost the competition, because most studios decided to go exclusively with Blu-ray. (I have a conspiracy theory that Blu-ray backers Sony and/or Disney paid companies off; I'm looking at you, Netflix! -- but that could just be my own anger at the loss of my favorite format.)

When I first bought my HD DVD and Blu-ray players, I received 10 free discs in each format, so I had plenty of time to see which format I liked better. I chose HD DVD for a few reasons:

1. The machine works better. This might just be the Samsung Blu-ray player I bought, but I have had to call Samsung more than once and have to reset my Blu-ray player all the time, because it gets stuck in the "LOAD" mode when I turn it on. (Resetting is a pain; it requires holding down the fast-forward for 11 seconds, turning off the player, unplugging it for a couple minutes, plugging back in, and trying again.)

2. The discs look better. In a side-by-side comparison, HD DVDs just look better -- at least on my TV. I've taken a couple discs that are available on both formats and compared them, and every time, the HD DVD version has been crisper, clearer and more vibrant.

3. Upconversion. Put a standard, old-school DVD into your HD DVD player and it's automatically converted to a higher-definition format. It's not as high-definition as an HD DVD or a Blu-ray, obviously, but it's so much prettier than in standard definition. I can't even watch a DVD on a regular, old DVD player anymore. It hurts my eyes to look at such a bland, colorless format. (I know, I know... some Blu-ray players also upconvert, but for my money, Toshiba's HD DVD players do it better. Again with the side-by-side comparisons.)

4. More and better special features. One aspect of HD DVD that has, without a doubt, surpassed Blu-ray are DVD extras. Many HD DVD and Blu-ray discs offer exclusive features not available on the standard-definition DVD. However, only HD DVD has been offering the "In Movie Experience" and picture-in-picture commentaries since nearly the inception of the format. These extras, which are available on discs too numerous to list here, offer something more than you can get on Blu-ray and DVD, because they let you watch the movie with not just a commentary, but a commentary that can also show you how a scene was shot, or that can break dissect a movie in the corner while the movie's playing.

If you watch a special-effects-filled movie such as Beowulf, for example, with the picture-in-picture commentary on, you are going to see what was actually shot in the picture-in-picture window while you'll see what it looks like in its final movie form in the big window. Beowulf isn't exactly a great film, but it's pretty astonishing to see how greatly what the actors wore and did differs from the finished product. HD DVD makes this possible. Even in a movie with very few effects, such as Knocked Up, the picture-in-picture offers something special: You get to watch the filming as it actually happened, with goof-ups, ad-libs, outtakes, interviews with cast and crew, and more.

So, feeling the way I did about the two formats, I've long believed HD DVD would have to win out. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The good news is that this has made it possible for me to snatch up more HD DVDs than I care to admit (OK, I'll admit it; since the announcement that the format would come to an end and the price-cutting started, I've bought around 60 HD DVDs -- as many or more that I haven't seen as that I have) at a price of somewhere around $10 a disc. Compare that to Blu-ray prices (the most inexpensive ones I can find are more than $15, and they go way up from there), though, and I've saved boatloads of money.

The weird thing is that right now, I'm not even alone. HD DVDs have been topping the HD -- and sometimes even overall -- sales charts since the announcement. Surely this is because other folks have been trying to get their hands on as many titles as they can before there are no more. Lately, retailers have even started raising prices on the discs and the players again, a sign they know they can get more than bargain-basement prices out of them.

Still, I realize that eventually I could end up being a lone wolf in the HD DVD wilderness when everyone else relents and embraces Blu-ray, but I'm sticking with it: HD DVD is the best format, the winner in my eyes, and I'll keep buying the discs as long as I can. -- DeAnn Welker

They needed someone kind of innately uptight for the role of Dave. Someone like a David Hyde Pierce, who just looks like the kind of guy who'd lose his shit when a bunch of poop-eating, pop-singing, smartassy rodents disobey him. Someone who's really too high maintenance to be sharing his house with a trio of hantavirus carriers, but who'd be just frustrated and stubborn enough stake his entire career and livelihood on them. Jason Lee, who I've loved since his first turn as Kevin Smith's Brodie, just doesn't scream "uptight" to me. I know it's acting, of course, but the association Lee brings to mind is that of a skateboarding, easygoing messenger of karma. He'd be the guy stumbling into an Alvin and the Chipmunks concert, thinking he was on a helluva trip and enjoying the ride. Casting Lee for the role is like casting squirrels for the chipmunks. They're both great! But not quite the right fit.

Actually, you know who would have been perfect for the role of Dave Seville? Tom Cruise. No, seriously. I mean, there's no way he would have touched this movie with a ten foot pole (if only for the fear of the inevitable Leno/Letterman jokes about being cast as one of the chipmunks himself) but otherwise? Who better to bring that certain high-strung need for order to a role? Can't you see him working himself into a froth over Alvin's irrepressible singing? It wouldn't have been the first time a Big Movie Star made the transition to kiddie pics, either, especially with "well, I have kids now" as a convenient explanation.

Save Jason Lee for movies you can bring your grown-up friends to see, or TV shows about miscreants-gone-good. Leave the CGI rodent nostalgia for the other guys.

Anti-Recommendation of the Week: Alvin and the Chipmunks, unless you don't care about your ability to enjoy Jason Lee in the future. Then, hell, go for it. But with the NBC Thursday comedy lineup due to return with new episodes, do you really want to suddenly be unable to enjoy the rustic pleasures of My Name Is Earl? Don't do that to yourselves.

TV on DVD: Murder She Wrote: Season 8 is now available for those of you for whom seven seasons of the very same episode clearly aren't enough. Why none of these murderers never thought to send Jessica Fletcher off on a day trip to the casino while they performed their nefarious deeds I'll never know. Law & Order: SVU puts their sixth season onto DVD, as they continue to find new and guest-star-friendly ways for people to get molested. Martin: Season 4 is yours for the buying, just in time for you to win that bet about whether Martin lasted four seasons.

Gag Gift of the Week: The Osmonds: Live In Las Vegas 50th Reunion. For that friend who used to have a poster of Donny in their bedroom or admitted to enjoying Marie on Dancing With the Stars last season.

Gag Gift That You Should Really Keep For Yourself: The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream. Because every condescendingly arched eyebrow shot your way when guests see this in your DVD rack will be worth it the first time someone busts out with a "toe pick" joke.

Local Interest Pick of the Week: "Local," that is, if you happen to hail from Buffalo, NY, like I do. Wing Chun once told me Buffalo was " the Canada of the U.S." on account of how I was always rushing to claim various notable figures (Jeff Fahey, Rick James, Millard Fillmore) as Buffalo's own. All of this makes Ani DiFranco's Live at Babeville DVD way more interesting to me than it normally would be. DiFranco, another Buffalo native, recorded this concert at a converted church in downtown B-lo that was once set to be demolished but instead was transformed into a concert hall/recording studio/HQ for her Righteous Babe record label. See everything you can learn on this blog?