Aeon Flux (Paramount 11818)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

Aeon Flux bombed at the box office, but it’s worth a look. One of Paramount’s first HD DVD titles, it boasts a finely detailed picture so sharp that it mercilessly reveals CGI effects as artificial. Even so, one can’t help but marvel at the overall definition in scenes that are visually complex, if not messy. The audio is not so good. Though the surrounds are used with imagination, both the Dolby Digital Plus and DTS tracks seem lacking in frequency response -- the highs seem pinched and lopped off. However, I think this stems from the original, not the HD transfer. Many extras have been carried over from the SD version and are still in SD. But, as seems true of all of Paramount’s HD DVD releases, the trailer is in hi-def. It’s a step in the right direction.

The Dukes of Hazzard (Unrated Version) (Warner Home Video 80928)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

The Dukes of Hazzard plays like an extended version of the half-hour TV show on which it’s based, which means that, at 107 minutes, it’s too long -- but its appealing cast and amazing car chases and crashes make for some entertaining moments. These can be seen quite clearly in this excellent and sharply focused transfer. Some of the colors looked a bit funky at times -- outdoor greens seemed too green -- but this affects only a few scenes. The sound is full surround, and puts the viewer in the middle of those car chases. The dialogue can be heard clearly in the center channel, and the source music is nicely balanced with the sound effects and dialogue.

This disc has an HD-specific extra that you won’t find on the SD version -- "In Movie Experience," an audio/video running commentary on the film. This IME is more inventive than the one that accompanied Warner’s Constantine. In addition to the usual boxed heads of stars and director commenting on the film, trivia cards fly in and out, and arrows appear over the movie itself to point out certain characters or events. Then there’s the Daisy Meter, a thermometer that lets you know when Jessica Simpson makes her next appearance. Taken all together, the experience is a big party -- an extra feature more entertaining than the film itself. The rest of the special features have been retained from the regular SD release.

Enter the Dragon (Warner Home Video 80929)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

Warner Bros. knows a good title when they own it. This is the fifth DVD version of the 1973 Bruce Lee film that forged the mold for martial-arts action-adventure films. Each new transfer and release of Enter the Dragon has been improved on the one before, and this HD is no exception. It looks incredible. Colors are bright and rich, as they tended to be in 1970s movies, detail is crisp, and depth is quite apparent in many scenes. The final battle, which begins in a martial-arts museum owned by the villain and spills out into a hall of mirrors, is incredible for its detail. This scene should be good demonstration material for video showrooms -- it would sell a lot of HD players. The sound is clean and clear. The surrounds are not often used, and certainly not in the ways they are in today’s martial-arts movies, but what’s happening onscreen is so riveting that you won’t notice. There is a film course’s worth of extras. This and Blazing Saddles make me hope that Warner and others will release more 1960s and 1970s films in high definition.

Friday Night Lights (Universal 30020)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

Billy Bob Thornton gives a letter-perfect performance in this realistic film about high school football. The picture is always sharp, clean, and with good contrast -- amazing, because some of Friday Night Lights was shot with handheld cameras to look deliberately scruffy. The many night scenes are not at all murky, and their shadows have meaning. But if, as I did, you expect the kind of bone-crunching surround sound heard in Remember the Titans, you’ll be disappointed. The sound here is a disappointment, almost all of it in the front channels. I don’t think this is a shortcoming of the Dolby Digital Plus transfer; it seems to have been in the original film. The sound isn’t awful -- the dialogue is clear, and the front-channel sound effects are okay -- it just isn’t what it could have been. All of the extras from the SD DVD appear here, plus two more, "Gridiron Grads" and "Behind the Lights," that I can’t find listed anywhere on the SD jacket. They are, however, presented in SD.

The Italian Job (Paramount 07037)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

This clever heist-revenge caper is a rare case of a remake being better than the original. Though there are big-name actors involved -- Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Edward Norton -- the real stars are three Mini Coopers. The cars are seen in sharply etched video here, whether being filmed close up or from the air. The red one, in particular, seems three-dimensional, with attitude. Add some breathtaking shots of Venice that seem to reveal that city’s every last detail, and you have one heck of a hi-def transfer. The Dolby Digital Plus sound is preferable to the DTS mix, but neither is all that much better than the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the SD DVD -- not a criticism, for that mix was very good. There’s plenty of action in the surrounds, and the music is nicely balanced. All the extras from the SD have been carried over (still in SD); the trailer is presented in HD. One of the most enjoyable HD DVDs so far.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Paramount 07039)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

One can revisit Orson Welles’ The Third Man often and get something different from it each time. But I think I got all there is to get from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider the first time around. The HD video transfer is good but disappointing, and not up to the excellent standard set by Paramount’s other HD DVDs. Some scenes, notably the outdoor location shots, have abundant detail and look three-dimensional. Others seem soft and flat. I imagine this is a fault of the original master, but the flaws are noticeable in 1080i. The 5.1 sound is a typically busy action-adventure mix, with most of the sound up front. The extras from the SD DVD are included here, still in SD. This one should go on your rental list. Enjoy and forget.

The Perfect Storm (Waner Home Video 80939)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

This harrowing account of a fishing boat’s futile effort to combat the combined power of three storms makes a good HD DVD presentation. The picture is not quite as sharp as some out there, especially in the storm scenes, but it’s much more detailed than on the SD DVD. On the other hand, the scenes of the fishing village are quite detailed, so I wonder if the inconsistency is in the original cinematography -- possibly a result of trying to cover up the CGI origins of the ocean waves. The soundtrack is a knockout. At the height of the storm scenes, sound effects, music, and dialogue are all going full tilt and every channel is worked to the max, yet the mix is clean and devoid of distortion. It’s quite a feat. There are plenty of extras, all in SD.

Pitch Black (Unrated Director’s Cut)  (Universal 27787)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

This low-budget science-fiction horror flick still plays well -- and compared to its sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, it looks like a masterpiece. The video is much sharper than on the SD DVD. Once this far-distant planet’s sun has risen, the colors are tweaked mercilessly but don’t break up at all. The night scenes show good detail in the shadows; I could see those weird creatures better than ever, and perhaps too well -- in a few scenes they looked fake. The Dolby Digital Plus sound is well-balanced and clean, with good if not earth-shattering bass. The surrounds make several scenes scary -- the menacing sounds of those creatures come from almost every point in the room. There are three rather lame extras exclusive to the HD disc, though none is actually in HD, and two are unabashed promos for an animated sequel film and a video game. The third, "A View Into the Dark," is a four-minute featurette on the making of the film. But forget the extras -- the movie is the thing here, and it offers nonstop horror-action adventure.

Sahara (Paramount 07041)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Audio: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

Sahara is saved from being just another desert-chase movie by its attractive and appealing cast, which includes Penélope Cruz, Matthew McConaughey, and William H. Macy. The HD transfer is stunning -- this is one of the best HD DVDs so far. The colors are vibrant and true and the details are sharp, even in dark scenes. Contrast is excellent, with no trace of film damage, edge enhancement, or other artifacts. The Dolby Digital Plus sound is, not surprisingly, cleaner and more transparent than the DTS tracks. The center-channel dialogue is clear, even in the noisy scenes, and the surrounds are thoroughly involved in the action sequences. As with its other HD DVD releases, Paramount provides an HD trailer as well as a cornucopia of extras: all the ones from the SD DVD, plus some available previously only on a separate disc from Best Buy. If you’re looking for an HD demo disc, this could fill the bill.

Sleepy Hollow (Paramount 11819)
Video: 1080p, 480i/p
Sound: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

Tim Burton’s bloody version of the famous Washington Irving story plays better for me in hi-def than it did in the theater. I first saw it in a theater with stadium seating; I was virtually thrust up against the screen, and had to turn my head to see the whole picture. When I watched the HD DVD, I sat about 12’ away from a 52" screen. Burton went for a muted color scheme in Sleepy Hollow. The result on this sharply focused HD DVD looks like a series of exquisite watercolors, especially in views of the town of Sleepy Hollow itself, and in interiors involving multiple characters. Close-ups are a bit grainy and snap one back to reality, but there are some incredible details in the opening close-ups of a piece of inked parchment. The contrast is superb; nothing is lost in the shadows, and the video transfer is far superior to the SD version. The Dolby Digital Plus sound has good transparency and placement, but there’s not all that much in the surrounds except for the occasional horse galloping away, and some fight and forest sounds. Overall, this disc provides a most enjoyable viewing experience. All of the SD special features are included in SD, and a trailer and teaser trailer in HD.