Best of the Month: Editor Favorites in DVD

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Looking for something great to watch? Check out our Best of the Month, brought to you by our editors. In it we feature our Significant Seven: the newest must-watch DVDs of the season, and seven more picks on the side (since we always have more DVDs we want to share). What makes it "significant"? Well, depends who you ask. Whether it's a box-office smash, a controversial indie flick, terrific television, or an indelible documentary, discover the DVDs that will be making news tomorrow.

Eastbound and Down: The Complete First Season

Spotlight Title: Grey Gardens

Why It's Significant: People were skeptical this HBO movie would live up to the original, but Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore did an impeccable job with their portrayals of these two quirky characters. They have the ability to make the viewer feel like they are not acting at all. In addition, the costumes, sets, makeup, music, and cinematography are all spot on. This is a moving story that is not to be missed. --Brooke

Defiance

Why it's significant: Based on the book The Bielski Partisans, Defiance is a story of survival against all odds. It explores parts of World War II and the Holocaust that have up until now, not been depicted in film, and seemed to be skipped over in my grade school lessons. The fact that the Bielski brothers' resistance movement was not wiped out by the Nazis was really extraordinary. The film shows the incredible measures that the Nazis took to keep the Jews from escaping which only accentuates the strength of this resistance. Defiance boasts a strong cast, starring Daniel Craig, who stepped away from the glamorous life of James Bond briefly to show us an even deeper side. He even received some Oscar buzz for this film, and many felt that he should have deserved at the very least a nod for it. -- Meredith
• Read more about Defiance
• Buy the DVD
• Buy the Blu-ray

Waltz With Bashir

Why It's Significant: Considered a shoo-in for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar® (but upset by Japan's Departures), Waltz With Bashir was also ignored by the Animated and Documentary categories. And why wouldn't it? After all, it's such a rare feat that a film can integrate all three genres in such a seamless way that the masses might be confounded at how to categorize it. Folman's surrealist way of portraying the soldier's dreams and memories displays not only the horrors of war but some moments of beauty as well. --Ellen
• Read more about Waltz With Bashir
• Buy on DVD or Blu-ray

Mad Men: Season 2

Why it's significant: Mad Men: Season Two makes you want a martini. Not only does it encompass dramatic flair, it’s sexy for some and nostalgic for others. The Emmy winning series has received positive critical response since its premiere and season two does not disappoint. Taking place two years into the Kennedy administration viewers receive a deeper glimpse into the lives of the complex characters. From the urge to escape the perfect life, sexual frustrations, unwanted pregnancy to the scare of the Cuban Missile Crisis, season two is the reason to own a television. --Meredith
• Read more about Mad Men: Season Two
• Buy it on DVD and Blu-ray

Dollhouse: Season 1

Why it's significant: Dollhouse represents the return of Joss Whedon to television. For some of us, this is a highly anticipated event since the untimely (and unjust) cancellation of Firefly. Not only do we see some of our favorite Joss alumns on screen (Eliza Dushku, Amy Acker, Alan Tudyk) but we get to enjoy the humor and drama only Joss can bring to the small screen. As with Firefly, the show was slow to find a fan base and rumors of cancellation swirled. Luckily for loyal fans Dollhouse will be back for its sophomore year. Until then we'll have to make do with buying the first season when it releases next month!--Lesley
• Read more about Dollhouse: Season 1
• Pre-order on DVD or Blu-ray

The State: The Complete Series

Why it's significant: Simply, it's hysterical. It's sketch comedy that is weird and subversive and silly and sarcastic and unbelievably funny. The State launched the careers of many people with names you may not recognize, but faces you absolutely would - Reno 911, Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, Role Models, I Love the 70's, 80's, 90's...the list goes on. This long-overdue DVD release has been held up due to music rights issues, so we might not get all those early 90's alt-rock gems that accompanied each sketch, but I'm confident the hilarity won't suffer.
• Read more about The State
• Buy the DVD

Eastbound and Down: The Complete First Season

Why it's significant: HBO's Eastbound and Down: The Complete First Season is the hilarious, crude, inappropriate comedy starring Danny McBride as the former major league phenom, Kenny Powers. After burning every bridge and wafting away his millions, Powers is forced to return back to his hometown and teach PE. While prepping for his major league comeback, Powers moves in with his brother's family and with mullet in tow makes a play for his former high school sweetheart, April. Danny McBride is dead on as the delusional, political incorrect Kenny Powers, who you regretfully just want to be around and hear what he'll say next. Despite the offensive, cocky, substance-abusing, foul mouthed Powers, there is a lot of underlying heart, just watch closely. Don't miss the no holds barred, one of kind, prepare to be offended, show of the season. - Sara

• Read more about Eastbound and Down: The Complete First Season
• Buy it on DVD

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Our favorite DVDs this year chronicled a President and had us cheering on a serial killer; they filled our small screens with smoke and upholstery and our glasses with cosmopolitans. We saw actors who thundered through fearsome performances, made successful forays into directing, and believably fall in love with a blow-up doll. And let's not forget, it was a year of singing and dancing, falling in love, and... Cylons. Check out our entire list of the 100 Best DVDs of the year and save up to 45%. Plus, find out what little film beat all the superheroes to claim the No. 1 spot.

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Best Bergman in Blu

Starring: Max Von Sydow. Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

Long considered an essential art-house classic, The Seventh Seal follows a crusader’s return through plague stricken Europe and his epic chess match with death. The high-definition digital transfer will make this beautiful black-and-white film really pop on Blu-ray. No serious film library will be complete without this Blu-ray Criterion Collection edition, loaded with extras including Bergman Island, an 83-minute documentary about the director. --Mike

The Seventh Seal [Blu-ray]

Best Follow-up to Planet Earth

Narrated by: David Attenborough

I don't expect anything to match the Planet Earth phenomenon, but Nature's Most Amazing Events is looking like the closest thing yet. A big plus is that it's also from the BBC and also narrated by fan favorite David Attenborough, and the footage I've seen so far is pretty incredible. --David

Nature's Most Amazing Events

Best Movie You Might See for the Wrong Reasons

Starring: Jessica Biel, Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker, and Eddie Redmayne

Better known as the Jessica Biel Stripper Movie, Powder Blue is newcomer Timothy Linh Bui's latest film and one that proves that everyone has their problems. With an all-star cast and Crashesque themes, the L.A. based drama is an artistic look at four desperate people looking for redemption and love. --Amanda

Powder Blue

Best U.K. Detective Series Turned Into an Unsuccessful U.S. Detective Series

Starring: John Simm, Philip Glenister

Unlike the American adaptation that lasted just one season, Britain's highly acclaimed drama had enough time to wrap up its central mystery--how does a present-day cop hit his head and end up in 1973, and how does he get back home?--on its own terms, and even launch a spin-off, Ashes to Ashes. --Ellen

Life On Mars: Series 1 (UK)

Best Classic-Rock Documentary in a Brand-New Package

Starring Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and others. Directed by: Michael Wadleigh

To celebrate the festival's 40th anniversary, the documentary is in a brand-new Ultimate Collector's Edition with three hours of extras. Plus, the Amazon-exclusive edition has a bonus disc with additional never-before-seen performance footage. --David

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Director's Cut (40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition with Amazon Exclusive Bonus Disc)

Best Scary Movie Where the Blonde Doesn't Die in the First Five Minutes

Starring: Catherine Deneuve Directed By: Roman Polanski

Polish director Roman Polanski's first film in English, Repulsion is a chilling tale of a young woman's journey into paranoia and psychosis as she is left alone for the weekend. This psychological thriller will join the Criterion Collection on Blu-ray with tons of special features including audio commentary, a documentary on the making of the film, and much more. A huge upgrade from previously released DVD versions; the new, restored high definition digital transfer promises to allow viewers to experience this controversial, shocking, and intense horror film like never before. --Amanda

Repulsion [Blu-ray]

Best Political Satire Ever

Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott. Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

Classic lines, iconic images (does anyone ever forget Slim Pickens riding the bomb like a bull?), Peter Sellers in three(!) genius performances... Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is one of the greatest movies ever made, compulsively rewatchable and (unfortunately) pretty timeless. Don't miss it for the first time on Blu-ray. --Kira

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [Blu-ray]