Must-Own DVDs
Overall: Waltz With Bashir (released June 23)
We could play it safe by picking Slumdog Millionaire; we could play it even safer with Twilight. But literally almost everyone in the world has seen one, or both, of those. Enter Bashir, truly the best movie of 2008 even if it was snubbed by the Academy and pretty much everyone outside of the Angelika. The animated documentary (yes, you read that right), which pieces together the director’s lost memories of the Lebanese War, is uniquely entertaining and even suitable for showing off your home-theater setup. Sadly, though, a great antiwar film is still just what people need to see, and therein lies Bashir's real value.
TV Series: True Blood: Season 1 (released May 19)
Alan Ball’s rookie season of that other beloved vampire-book adaptation wasn’t quite perfect, but it was deliciously twisted fun on a weekly basis and continued (and still continues, in season 2) to get better. Plus, the DVD set has been available on the cheap pretty much ever since its release, giving it the nod over the pricier Lost season 1 Blu-ray set and the unnecessary Shield season 7 DVD (wait for the full series set—unless, of course, it’s the only season you’re missing).
Blu-ray: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (released May 5)
A lot of people seemed to loathe the Brad Pitt-starring Oscar nominee, and yes, it was, at its core, basically Forrest Gump with a slightly different gimmick (same screenwriter, uncoincidentally). But there’s no denying that Button is a sight to behold, which is where the Blu-ray version comes in. It’s so visually and technically dazzling that even the movie’s most ardent detractors might be willing to overlook the flaws once they go Blu. KEEP READING: Best Music So Far