For the Sleuth (Acorn Media, Koch Lorber, MPI Home Video)

If you have lovers of British mysteries on your holiday gift list or are one yourself, three studios have many impressive DVD gift boxes to consider. Acorn Media is the most prominent -- there you can find the superlative Belgian Poirot, the medieval Cadfael, the World War II Foyle’s War, and the English-countryside Midsomer Murders, all highly regarded here in my home theater. There are also Inspector Allen, Hetty Wainwright Investigates, Marple, Rosemary & Thyme, and a spiffy new contemporary entry, the highly recommended Murder in Suburbia. Koch Lorber offers the whimsical, old-fashioned-in-a-good-way Maigret, the psychologically charged Wire in the Blood, and the gritty Scottish detective Rebus. MPI has only one Brit mystery show, but it’s the longest-running of all: A Touch of Frost, starring the indefatigable David Jason -- 12 seasons already….Rad Bennett

The ACLU Freedom Files (Disinformation Company)

The rather pedestrian title of this two-DVD set makes one brace for some dry, academic watching, but each of these ten episodes covers an important larger issue in a very entertaining way. Interviews, re-creations, and comedy are mixed to reveal how civil liberties affect our lives every day. Executive producer Robert Greenwald has done extensive e-mail and word-of-mouth marketing for other projects, and his grass-roots approach fits these subjects -- from religious freedom to racial profiling -- very well. He has also been the driving force behind full-length documentaries on Wal-Mart and war profiteering….Marc Mickelson

Forbidden Planet (Warner Home Video)

When was the last time you got a whole movie as an extra? It happens seldom, but this spiffy, colorful new mastering of one of the greatest science-fiction movies has just that: the complete widescreen film The Invisible Boy. And that’s not all. There’s an episode from the TV series The Thin Man, "Robot Client." These two "sequels" are included because they star Robby the Robot, who was introduced to the world in Forbidden Planet. There are also three documentaries, additional scenes, lost footage, and a collection of 1950s sci-fi trailers. The new digital transfer of Forbidden Planet itself is eye-popping. This entire package is available in two different, two-disc, standard-definition versions. The only difference is that one comes in a plain package, the other in a collectible tin with a small replica of Robby. The HD version, with everything on one disc (and many of the extras in HD, including The Invisible Boy), can be bought with or without the tin….Rad Bennett

DVD Music (Mailboat Records, Sony, Palm Pictures)

Here are three choices for the music lover on your video gift list. Live at Wrigley Field Double Header (Mailboat Records) gives Jimmy Buffett fans the realistic experience of attending one of his concerts in 5.1-channel surround. If tastes run to something a little more rockish, then pick up a copy of Pink Floyd’s Pulse (Sony), a two-disc set that contains all the color, pageantry, and music that is a Pink Floyd concert. If you’re looking for a music documentary, try Be Here to Love Me (Palm Pictures), the story of the late Townes Van Zandt, the extraordinary singer-songwriter. It gives one an inside look at how the songs came to be written, and what caused his life to spiral out of control. The documentary portions are interspersed with film clips of Van Zandt in concert….John Crossett

The Vice Guide to Travel (Vice Films)

A book with a companion DVD, The Vice Guide to Travel has a tinge of irony in its title. No one would want to travel to some of the places the youthful Vice magazine correspondents go: Brazilian slums, a Pakistani arms market, Chernobyl, and other danger spots in the world today. The video stories they produce are sometimes a little heavy with MTV-like cheekiness, but even with their short running times, they give a view from the bowels of subjects that traditional journalists wouldn't approach. Hunter S. Thompson would be proud of these guys and girls….Marc Mickelson

Homicide: Life on the Street (Megaset) (A&E)

If size matters, A&E can help. The company has already released the complete episodes of The Saint and The Avengers in deluxe sets. Now they’ve added the complete series of Homicide: Life on the Street -- 122 episodes of what I think is one of the greatest shows ever to appear on TV. The set includes some extras not found in the individual season sets: three Law & Order crossover episodes, as well as Homicide: The Movie, which ties up all the loose ends left when NBC canceled the show at the end of the seventh season. The 35 DVDs, presented in a limited-edition "file cabinet" package, cost $299.95, but Amazon.com lists it for $209.95, and other discount houses are no doubt competitive. Whatever you pay, it’s a huge saving over the individual seasons….Rad Bennett

More Gargantuan Boxes (A&E, HBO Video)

If comedy is your thing, A&E has the complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus on 14 DVDs for only $199.95. That’s all four years of the popular show, plus many extras. And HBO offers, weighing in at five pounds, the complete Six Feet Under, in a box that looks like a burial plot in a modern "memorial park," with fake grass and a little grave plaque. Inside, all five seasons are in individual fold-out packs, and a supplementary booklet includes two CDs of soundtrack music, photos, a family tree, and obituaries of the main characters. All told, the extras comprise 25 audio commentaries, six featurettes, and seven deleted scenes….Rad Bennett

Brideshead Revisited (Acorn Media)

Any bookish baby-boomers on your list? Then here’s the DVD set for them -- the 25th-Anniversary Collector’s Edition of Brideshead Revisited. No doubt they’ll remember this BBC production, based on the novel by British satirist Evelyn Waugh, which was first broadcast in 1981 in 11 spellbinding episodes. It’s handsomely packaged on four discs, with a rich assortment of featurettes and an informative booklet. The remastering may seem a little faded but Jeremy Irons appears quite boyish here in one of his earliest and best roles. Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom, John Gielgud, and many BBC regulars all look good too….Charlotte Meyer

Churchill’s Bodyguard (Acorn Media)

Walter H. Thompson was Winston Churchill’s bodyguard for 18 years, and this 13-episode, four-DVD set chronicles the challenges of Thompson's professional life. Churchill was not an easy man to protect; fiercely independent and loving danger, he was often prepared to fight it out when confronted with dire circumstances or would-be assassins. Each episode mixes historical clips with recurring stock footage that’s rather crude, but the story lines, which are based on Thompson’s detailed memoirs and feature a who’s who of historical figures, command interest….Marc Mickelson

30 Days (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)

Morgan Spurlock is best known for writing, directing, and starring in Super Size Me, a movie built around an experiment he conducted on himself: eating every meal at McDonald’s for 30 days. True his movie, Spurlock participates in the first episode of his spin-off series, 30 Days, in which he and his fiancée attempt to live for a month on minimum wage. Other episodes of this E! Network series document cultural clashes of various kinds, showing the effects of prejudice, misconception, and downright stupidity. Much reality TV is unrelentingly dopey, but 30 Days redeems the entire genre and lifts it to previously unattained heights….Marc Mickelson

Holiday Titles Redux (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Miramax)

Several holiday favorites are being updated and refurbished this year. Bad Santa (Miramax) has been given the "director’s cut" treatment. A Christmas Story and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (both Warner Home Video) are showing up on HD DVD and Blu-ray. But the biggest news of all might be the new "Family Fun Edition" of Home Alone (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), the movie that made Macaulay Culkin a child superstar. It boasts an audio commentary with Culkin and director Chris Columbus, four production featurettes, deleted scenes, alternate takes, a blooper reel, trailers, and three set-top games. Best of all is that it will be widescreen. (Earlier editions were letterboxed, showing up only as a small image on a widescreen TV.) This one will fill the whole screen with Home Alone’s zany fun….Rad Bennett

The Docurama Film Festival II (Docurama)

For documentary fans, the Docurama Film Festivals -- there were two in 2006 -- are important events. They combine interesting documentaries with a website devoted to understanding and discussing them. The Docurama Film Festival II emphasizes social issues and includes films about the immediate effects of 9/11 on the American public (Parallel Lines), sex education among ultraconservative Texans (The Education of Shelby Knox), living on minimum wage (Waging a Living), and upgrading the power grid of a former Soviet republic (Power Trip). Docurama oversees the largest and most distinguished catalog of documentary films on DVD, so all of these movies are well made and thought-provoking. Put the DFF II at the very top of your list for Santa….Marc Mickelson