You loved the movie, what about the DVD?

Find out as we examine the extras on this week's best movie DVDs...

“THE GOLDEN COMPASS”
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards
Director: Chris Weitz (“About a Boy”)
Formats: Single-Disc DVD, Two-Disc DVD, Blu-ray
What we said: "[Suffers] from a bad case of kicking-off-a-franchise-itis."

The Extras: Single-disc DVD: Full- and widescreen versions of the movie; sneak peeks at upcoming New Line films.
Two-disc DVD and Blu-ray: Commentary by Weitz; eleven “Making Of” featurettes, many with corresponding galleries; trailers.

Worth watching: “The Novel: Author Philip Pullman and the Consequences of Curiosity,” an interesting featurette on the writer of the original novel.
Worth skipping: The gallery of costumes, since you already get a good look at them in the movie and the featurette about their design.
Worth adding: A featurette on the controversy sparked by Pullman's atheist beliefs and interviews with those who led the outcry.

Buy, rent, or ignore: Rent


“ALL MONSTERS ATTACK” and “TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA”
Stars: “Attack”: Godzilla, Minilla, Ebirah, Kamacuras, Kumonga, Gabara, Tomonori Yazaki; “Terror”: Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, Titanosaurus
Director: Ishirô Honda (“Gojira”)
Formats: DVD

What we say: While 1969's “Attack” (in which a kid dreams his B.F.F. is Godzilla's talking son Minilla) is just silly, things are seriously better in 1975's “Terror” (the sequel to 1974's “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla”) in which the G-man once again squares off against his metallic doppelganger.

The Extras: “Attack”: Both the original Japanese and dubbed English versions of the movie; audio commentary by SciFi Japan website writer Richard Pusateri; image gallery and poster slide show; a director bio; original Japanese trailer.
“Terror”: Both the original Japanese and dubbed English versions of the movie, the latter of which includes a prelude recapping Godzilla's life; audio commentary by SciFi Japan co-editors Keith Aiken and Bob Johnson; gallery of original movie posters; original Japanese trailer.

Worth watching: Honda's bio on “Attack,” chronicling his long career with the “Godzilla” franchise.
Worth skipping: The badly dubbed English versions of these movies…unless you're looking for unintentional laughs.
Worth adding: Intentional laughs, courtesy of "Robot Chicken's" Godzilla sketch from the “Celebrity Rocket” episode. It calls Minilla's parentage into question while giving “Terror” some added subtext.

Buy, rent, or ignore: Ignore “Attack”; Buy “Terror.”


Other DVDs out this week:
- Katherine Heigl looks for love in all the wrong outfits in “27 Dresses” (also on Blu-ray)
- Learn how to blink out your life story in the Oscar-nominated “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
- Watch people you don't know do dance moves you can't do in “How She Move”
- If you liked "Fast Food Nation" you'll want to check out the doc “King Corn”
- One of history's great tragedies is examined in "Nanking"
- Clooney and Pitt look better than ever in the Blu-ray versions of “Ocean's Eleven” and “Ocean's Twelve”

Other titles:
“Angelique, The Complete 5-Film Collection”
“The Beast in Space”
“The Fall of the Roman Empire, Two-Disc Deluxe Edition: The Miramar Collection”
“First Knight” (Blu-ray)
“Hero Wanted"
“In the Blood”
"The Living End: Remixed and Remastered"
“Paddle to the Sea”
“The Red Balloon”
“White Mane”

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