By itself, this fine HBO miniseries is a riveting biopic about one of the fathers who founded this country. But when viewed with pop-up text that includes fascinating anecdotes and adds more context to the story, "John Adams" turned into the most entertaining history teacher I ever had.

This is a competitive category, especially considering all the stops the studios pull out during the holidays. (See what I mean in this video.) Still, of all the fancy DVD packages that arrived on my doorstep, "Mad Men: Season One" — with its sleek, lighter-shaped case and set of flame-red discs — was my favorite. A chic, retro and cigarette-heavy series like this one could only live in a house as smart as this one.

The features on this set should have been more robust. But the opportunity to watch and study all three versions of Orson Welles' noir classic, packaged together here for the first time, gives budding directors a delicious and valuable opportunity.

The format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD finally got resolved this year. Blu-ray emerged the winner and so did film lovers, who started to see more of their old favorites arrive in high-definition. "The Godfather" trilogy and several of the James Bond movies got the upgrade. And at year's end, the Criterion Collection launched into Blu-ray orbit with its first slate of high-def releases, including "The Man Who Fell to Earth" and "The Third Man." Let's hope this is a sign of more to come.

After watching almost two hours of material that covers virtually every aspect of this comic book blockbuster's production, you may know more about "Iron Man" than you do about your own relatives.

It's sad when a grown woman can't tear herself away from playing a series of "WALL-E" video games because they remind her of those halcyon, Colecovision days of yore. But it's even sadder when that same woman feels pangs of empathy while listening to fans describe their love for the roller-disco cheesefest that is "Xanadu."

A parody of musical biopics deserves a parody of featurettes that appear on musical biopic DVDs, especially one as star-studded as this one: Sheryl Crow, Jackson Browne and John Mayer are among the musicians who pay "tribute" to John C. Reilly's alleged rock legend.

"I don't drop character 'til I done the DVD commentary," claims Kirk Lazarus, the Australian actor playing an African-American in "Tropic Thunder." Of course, Lazarus is played by Downey and, as it turns out, Downey doesn't even drop character for commentary purposes. That's why you'll hear him still speaking as Lazarus (who still thinks he's a black man) during his DVD commentary with co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black.