COUCH THEATER [ DVD PREVIEWS ]

PICK OF THE WEEK

. "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" - Ron Perlman returns as the demon-spawn Hellboy, a creature who leads a team of heroes who secretly fight "the things that go bump in the night." There are a couple versions of this awesome comic-book blockbuster: The single disc has two commentary tracks, a featurette on the puppetry used in the film and deleted scenes w/optional commentary by director Guillermo del Toro. The threedisc set has everything in the single-disc edition, plus a digital copy of the film (for portable devices), a two-hour documentary on the making of the film, DVD-ROM features and many more making-of featurettes. There also will be a limited edition three-disc set that will include a book, poster and Golden Army warrior figurine. Guess what just made my Amazon wish list?

KIDS & FAMILY

. "Kung-Fu Panda" - This is one of my favorite animated films of the year. Jack Black, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Angelina Jolie and other A-listers lend their vocal talents to this story of a hapless, out-ofshape, dumpling-loving panda who dreams of becoming a member of The Furious Five, a crack unit of martial-arts heroes — and much to his chagrin, gets what he wishes for.

DOG OF THE WEEK

."Star Wars: The Clone Wars" - No, this isn't Episode II; nor is it the outstanding 2003 animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky. This is the groan-inducing 2008 CGI'd mess that was released to theaters in advance of the equally awful television series. In this movie, Anakin Skywalker takes on a girl apprentice and they are supposed to rescue Jabba the Hutt's kidnapped child. The animation is so horrible, you'll think you were watching a cut scene from an old Nintendo NES video game. The dialogue and plotting are on a less-than-12- year-old level. And for some reason, George Lucas demanded that Jabba the Hutt have a gay relative who lisps his lines like Truman Capote on Xanax. Seriously, if you need a Star Wars fix and don't already own the two-volume Tartakovsky series, grab those instead of this pile of Bantha poo. TV "The Sopranos: The Complete Series" "Scrubs: Season 7" "Firefly: The Complete Series" (Blu-Ray) "Chuck: The Complete First Season" (Blu-Ray) "Dragon Ball Z: Season 7" "7th Heaven: The 7th Season" "Night Gallery: Season 2" "Father Knows Best: Season 2"