The Matrix ($18.99) Still the best, the original Matrix DVD essentially cemented the format’s success. From documentaries on “bullet time”—the effects used to suspend the characters in mid air—to hidden features and an immaculate video transfer, this disc set a benchmark for DVDs that few have surpassed.

Men In Black Limited Edition ($35.99) Of the many releases laying claim to the “Limited Edition” nametag, MIB deserves it the most. An amusing little doodle of a movie in its own right, the DVD version affords the opportunity to show that you know better than director Barry Sonnenfeld. Don’t like his version? The answer is simple: Re-edit certain scenes yourself and compare it with the original. It’s cheaper than film school.

Coming Soon

From here, the DVD medium can only get better. Here are a group of promising DVDs scheduled to arrive well in time for the holiday season.

Almost Famous: The Bootleg Cut, Dec. 4 ($26.99) Cameron Crowe’s sweet, semi-autobiographical fable about a teenage writer covering a band for Rolling Stone, features a separate DVD for the extras as well—as a stand alone CD with six Stillwater songs. The original film was already wholly engrossing; the director’s cut—36 minutes longer—will only make burgeoning writers more jealous of Crowe’s life.

Moulin Rouge, Dec. 18 ($22.49) This is the perfect chance to get inside Baz Lurhman’s head. His dizzying post-modern pastiche presents so many cultural allusions and pop-culture homages, that to comprehend them all requires multiple sittings. Now, Lurhman offers two audio commentaries to encompass the full scope of his sumptuous vision, and the second disc allows the viewer to manipulate multiple-camera angle views of the dance sequences.