DVD, Blu-ray and TV

Stunningly beautiful and utterly bizarre Japanese fable about a medieval Kabuki actor (Kazuo Hasegawa), renowned as a female impersonator, who carries his on-stage portrayal of a woman out into the world in order to seduce and murder the noblemen responsible for his parents' death. The direction is haphazard, the imagery is amazing. DVD EXTRAS: Director's biography, web link.

American thriller writer Peter Neal (Tony Franciosa) arrives in Rome to publicise his latest novel. Then people start dying in increasingly grisly ways—all copied from Neal's book. Dario Argento's long-banned blood-drenched whodunnit is released in uncut form for the first time... but this hasn't cured the gaping holes in the plot. For gorehounds only.

Delbert Mann's earnest 1955 slice-of-life drama about an ordinary Bronx butcher (Ernest Borgnine) mustering the courage to find a girlfriend earned four Oscars—Best Picture plus one each for Borgnine, Mann and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, who later penned the far superior Network. It's decently acted and well-meaning but very slight, dated and a little condescending.

Years of Ed Harris' life went into realising this biopic of action painter Jackson Pollock. As director, he's workmanlike, though he does catch the exhilaration of the artist at work. As star, he's superb, avoiding clichés to present Pollock as troubled, selfish and unsympathetic. Oscar-winning Marcia Gay Harden and Jennifer Connelly give layered support. DVD EXTRAS: Commentary from Ed Harris, deleted scenes, Making Of... featurette, Ed Harris interview, filmographies and trailer.

As Tom Clancy's square-jawed CIA hero Jack Ryan, Ben Affleck's the only man on earth who can prevent terrorists from sparking nuclear showdown between the US and Russia. Not even solid support from Morgan Freeman and Alan Bates can inject life into this dead-on-arrival Cold War throwback. DVD EXTRAS: Commentaries from director, cinematographer and Clancy, documentaries and trailer.

Action emperor John Woo raises hell in the Pacific for this noisy WWII epic, which is grounded in real events. The grand-canvas battle scenes rule, but Nic Cage's hammy turn as an emotionally scarred hero charged with guarding a Navajo code-talker lets the side down. Still, the battle sequences are up there with Sam Fuller's best. DVD EXTRAS: Several backstage documentaries, commentary by a genuine Navajo code-talker, shared chat between Cage and co-star Christian Slater.

An immaculate, determinedly unsentimental Marc Forster film, with breathtakingly honest performances from Halle Berry and, especially, Billy Bob Thornton. Death Row prison guard Thornton's family are traditionally racist; Berry's husband (Sean "Puffy" Combs) is executed. In a pit of despair, an unlikely, colour-blind love blooms between the two. One of 2002's best. DVD EXTRAS: Extra footage, cast and film-makers commentaries, isolated soundtrack.

Comprising this summer's Hyde Park concert (a rocking preview of the Illumination album that followed) and last year's BBC Later... special of Paul unplugged circa Days Of Speed, this double-header is a timely celebration of the Modfather's continuing success. Both blinding, though the latter set of acoustic Jam and TSC chestnuts (a Noel Gallagher assisted "That's Entertainment" included) is pretty much unbeatable.

Nanni Moretti's Cannes-winner is restrained and moving, with the Italian writer/director forsaking his comic urges to examine how a teenage son's death affects a family. Moretti plays the father, a psychoanalyst who, grieving, loses interest in his patients. Awkward emotions are deftly handled: Hollywood should watch this and learn.

Tight script and fantastic acting from Rob Brydon, but what is the actual point of this much lauded two-hour divorcee monologue? In theory it's a comedy, but with not a single laugh in the entire series there's a very real danger for non-pseuds that its supposed greatness will completely pass you by. They won't be running repeats of this at Christmas next year, that's for sure.