The Avengers
After years as a cult favorite, Joss Whedon finally scored his first mainstream hit with The Avengers, the culmination of the first phase of Marvel Comics' cinematic universe. When that pesky Asgardian trickster Loki teams up with an alien army to conquer Earth, Nick Fury brings together Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and The Hulk (now played by Mark Ruffalo) -- with an unexpected, but welcome assist by Thor -- to save the world. Although The Avengers lacks the grandeur of Christopher Nolan's Batman movies and the inventive storytelling of Whedon's personal projects, it's a fine piece of blockbuster entertainment that packs the frame with heroes, yet never feels overcrowded. And that final, 45-minute battle on the streets of New York (well... Cleveland actually) is worth the price of admission alone; no wonder audiences went back to experience it again and again, allowing Whedon to join the rarefied $600 million club previously only occupied by James Cameron. (Not bad for a guy whose TV shows were lucky to attract a million viewers.) With Whedon confirmed as the writer/director of the sequel, we look forward to seeing the Avengers reassemble in 2015... hopefully this time facing a more formidable villain than Loki.
Extras: The highlight of the bonus features is a typically lively and witty commentary track from Whedon. And when you're done listening to that, check out the slew of deleted scenes, a gag reel, a Soundgarden music video and a number of making-of featurettes.
Click here to read our original review
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Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
On the same day that Marvel drops The Avengers, DC counters by releasing its long-planned and much-dreaded (in some quarters at least) animated version of Frank Miller's seminal 1986 graphic novel which -- and this isn't hyperbole -- radically changed the comics industry. There was no way that the cartoon would fully capture what was so groundbreaking about the original comic, but the creative team has done a surprisingly solid job translating it between mediums, definitely improving on their disappointing adaptation of Miller's Year One. One bold, but ultimately smart, decision was to eliminate the Batman's gritty voiceover, which worked on the page, but almost certainly would have fallen flat in the film, even with Peter Weller behind the mic. (Of course, this does force the writers to work some of the more necessary bits of voiceover into the film as dialogue, which doesn't always come off smoothly.) The storyline has generally been kept intact as well; Part 1 covers the Two Face and Mutant sagas while the yet-to-be-released Part 2 will deal with a revitalized Joker (voiced by Michael Emerson, which should be fun) and a misguided Superman. And although the violence has been toned down overall, Batman's two battles with the Mutant leader are pretty brutal, especially compared to typical cartoon superhero fare. While watching this cartoon is no substitute for reading the comic, DC's animated division could -- and already has, remember Superman: Doomsday? -- done much worse bringing a classic comic-book storyline to life.
Extras: A preview of the second installment, two featurettes -- one about Robin and the other covering the life of Batman creator Bob Kane -- and a pair of classic Two-Face episodes from Batman: The Animated Series.

Damsels in Distress
Whit Stillman's prolonged absence from the big screen didn't quite approach Terrence Malick levels of exile, but it was still nice to know that the Metropolitan writer/director would be releasing his first film since 1998's The Last Days of Disco this past spring. Unfortunately, Damsels in Distress isn't the triumphant return we were hoping for. An intermittently amusing collegiate comedy about a crew of campus know-it-all do-gooders -- led by Greta Gerwig whose main mission in life is to create the perfect dance craze -- the movie feels like a ten-minute sketch dragged out to feature length. Part of the problem is that the cast never seems completely comfortable delivering Stillman's stylized dialogue and their mannered performances put a wet blanket on top of the script's witty wordplay. But Stillman is also at fault for his lackluster direction, which lacks the sense of place he brought to his previous movies, especially Disco and Barcelona. We're willing to chalk this misstep up to being out of practice; here's hoping that Stillman has more scripts in his arsenal that are more fully developed than Damsels.
Extras: Stillman and his cast anchor a commentary track and appear in a separate Q&A. There's also a behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes and a collection of outtakes. Sadly, nobody thought to include a montage of the cast performing past dance crazes like the Macarena and the Lambada.
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Bond 50
Just like diamonds, James Bond appears to be forever. Ian Flemings super spy celebrates his 50th year of big-screen adventures with an all-new blockbuster (November's Skyfall) and this massive Blu-ray box set, which offers new high-def versions of 007's 22 in-canon features. (Off-brand outings like 1967's Casino Royale and 1983's Never Say Never Again are, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be found.) Everyone has their own favorite Bond movies of course, but any working list would have to include From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (our pick for the single best Bond film ever, even if it doesn't star Sean Connery), The Spy Who Loved Me, GoldenEye and Casino Royale. Most underrated entries? Gotta go with Tomorrow Never Dies, The Man with the Golden Gun and License to Kill. The Bond movies we never need to see again? Die Another Day, A View to a Kill and The World is Not Enough easily top that list. But don't take our word for it; watch (or re-watch) the movies again and pick your own favorites. Whether you're a newbie to the franchise or a longtime Bond lover, this set is the best way to experience all 50 years of this character's enduring legend.
Extras: Every disc comes with a mix of commentary tracks, deleted scenes and featurettes, which have been ported over from previous editions. The new bonus material is all included on a separate disc and features two freshly-made documentaries -- one exploring the world of Bond and the other interviewing the six men to have ordered 007's signature martini to date -- as well videoblogs from the set of Skyfall.

Also on DVD:
A personal childhood favorite of ours, the Steven Spielberg-produced spider-themed horror movie Arachnaphobia gets a Blu-ray release this week. It almost certainly won't be as scary as we remember, but we still expect to jump when that giant eight-legged monster leaps out of the pipe at Jeff Daniels's face. Speaking of Jeff Daniels, he must be kicking himself that he's working with the Aaron Sorkin who wrote The Newsroom as opposed to the Aaron Sorkin who wrote The American President, a funny marriage of political and romantic comedy made before Sorkin's head vanished into his own navel. The other great '90s presidential comedy Dave is also appearing on high-def this week, leading us to ask once again, whatever happened to Kevin Kline?

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