With rotting jack-o-lanterns awaiting the weekly garbage pickup, it’s time to turn our eyes to the next big national holiday: the day after Thanksgiving, when Americans will (our leaders hope) flood the malls to start buying Christmas presents. And while they’re shopping, if they should happen to need a DVD or Blu-ray to get them in the Christmas spirit, they’ll find plenty of movies and holiday specials already waiting for them. This week sees a huge haul, including stuff for the kiddies (courtesy of Fraggle Rock and The House Of Mouse), stuff for TV addicts (such as the collection Merry Sitcom!), and stuff for people who don’t want to see any movie made before 1985. (Those folks can cozy up to new Blu-ray editions of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Love, Actually). But this week is especially kind to fans of classic Hollywood yuletide fare, who can dig into the quartet of films on the budget-priced TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Holiday, or can enjoy new Blu-ray editions of It’s A Wonderful Life and the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. Though it arrives just after Halloween, there’s more of gravy than grave about this week’s list.
Aliens In The Attic
20th Century Fox, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99
All About My Mother
Sony, $19.94
The Answer Man
Magnolia, $26.98; Blu-ray, $34.98
The Botany Of Desire
PBS, $24.99; Blu-ray, $29.99
Charles Darwin And The Tree Of Life
BBC Warner, $14.98
A Christmas Carol (1951)
VCI Blu-ray, $29.99
Christmas Town
Phase 4, $19.99
The Claudette Colbert Collection (Three-Cornered Moon/Maid of Salem/I Met Him in Paris/Bluebeard's Eighth Wife/No Time for Love/The Egg and I)
Universal, $49.98
Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics I (5 Against The House/The Big Heat/The Lineup/Murder By Contract/The Sniper)
Sony, $59.95
Command Performance
First Look, $28.98; Blu-ray, $29.98
The Dead
Lionsgate, $14.98
The Donna Reed Show: Season Three
Virgil, $39.95
Eddie Izzard: Live From Wembley
Vivendi, $19.99
Edge Of Darkness: The Complete Series
BBC Warner, $34.98
Food, Inc.
Magnolia, $26.98; Blu-ray, $34.98
Forrest Gump
Paramount Blu-ray, $39.99
Fraggle Rock: The Complete Final Season
Lionsgate, $29.98
Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series Collection
Lionsgate, $99.98
Fraggle Rock: A Very Merry Holiday
Lionsgate, $14.98
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
Paramount, $29.98/$34.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
Here’s Lucy: Season Two
MPI, $29.98
Home For Christmas
VCI, $14.99
Howards End
Criterion Blu-ray, $39.95
I Love You, Beth Cooper
20th Century Fox, $27.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
It’s A Wonderful Life
Paramount Blu-ray, $29.99
Law Of Desire
Sony, $19.94
Lemon Tree
MPI, $19.98
Love, Actually
Universal Blu-ray, $26.98
Matador (1986)
Sony, $19.94
The Men
Republic, $14.98
Merry Sitcom! Christmas Classic From TV’s Golden Age
Shout! Factory, $12.99
Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed In At The House Of Mouse
Walt Disney, $26.99
Mission: Impossible – The Final TV Season
Paramount, $49.99
A Mother’s Prayer
Image, $14.98
The Narrows
Image, $27.98; Blu-ray, $35.98
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Warner, $39.92; Blu-ray, $49.99
Nirvana: Live At Reading
Geffen, $19.99
North By Northwest
Warner, $24.82; Blu-ray, $34.99
Not Forgotten
Starz/Anchor Bay, $26.97
The Rockford Files: Movie Collection, Vol. 1
Universal, $26.98
Rocky: The Undisputed Collection
MGM Blu-ray, $99.98
Ruby-Spears Superman
Warner, $26.98
Sand Serpents
Rhi, $14.95
Say Anything…
20th Century Fox Blu-ray, $34.99
The Shield: The Complete Series
Sony, $159.95
Spin City: Season Three
Shout! Factory, $39.99
Star Wars – The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One
Warner, $44.98; Blu-ray, $59.99
The Taking Of Pelham 123
Sony, $28.96; Blu-ray, $39.95
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Comedy (Arsenic And Old Lace/A Night At The Opera/The Long Long Trailer/Father Of The Bride)
Warner, $27.98
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Family (Lassie Come Home/Flipper/The Incredible Mr. Limpet/National Velvet)
Warner, $27.98
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Hitchcock Thrillers (Suspicion/Strangers On A Train/The Wrong Man/I Confess)
Warner, $27.98
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Holiday (Christmas in Connecticut 1945 / A Christmas Carol 1938 / The Shop Around the Corner / It Happened on 5th Avenue)
Warner, $27.98
Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series
Warner, $12.98
Two Girls And A Guy
20th Century Fox Blu-ray, $29.99
Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut
Warner, $43.98; Blu-ray, $59.99
Where God Left His Shoes
MPI, $19.98
Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome, America. A Final Night With George W. Bush
HBO, $19.97
Wings Of Desire
Criterion, $39.95; Blu-ray, $39.95
Witchblade: The Complete Series
Funimation Blu-ray, $79.98
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
Sony, $19.94
Zorro: The Complete First Season
Walt Disney, $59.99
Zorro: The Complete Second Season
Walt Disney, $59.99