Teri Hatcher

CHICAGO – Disney and ABC Studios are releasing waves of DVDs in the coming weeks that are designed to allow you to catch up before new episodes of your favorite shows premiere or, as is the case with two of the first titles, remember the days when they were still on the air. The most recent seasons of “Brothers & Sisters” and “Off the Map” hit stores this week, August 23rd, 2011, followed by “Cougar Town” and “Desperate Housewives” next week, August 30th, 2011.

CHICAGO – Before you spend your hard-earned cash taking the entire family to see “Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World,” you might as well catch up with the original “trilogy,” the very-popular series of films that most of us assumed were the end of this mediocre franchise. Don’t get me wrong — the first “Spy Kids” is actually a very fun movie and totally worth owning for Blu-ray buyers with kids of the right age but the two sequels are mediocre and annoying, respectively. Still, kids like to have complete collections and all of the films are hitting Blu-ray this week extras-packed HD editions with digital copies. Now you can take these precocious mini-Bonds anywhere.

CHICAGO – With most TV on DVD releases now scheduled for August and September, how does one buyer work through all of the options? We’ve covered a number of the choices in recent weeks (and have a few more planned next week) along reviews of every new series, but it’s easy for some titles to fall through the cracks, especially for shows that might not have the cultural cachet they once did.

CHICAGO – Late summer and early fall always produce a wave of TV programs on DVD, as if you’ll see the latest season on a store shelf at the local Best Buy and remember that a show returns to the air soon. It’s both advertising and a way for viewers to catch up before another weekly iteration of one of their favorite shows.

CHICAGO – Great films refuse to go away. Since I saw Henry Selick’s excellent “Coraline” months ago it has lingered in my memory like a dream and watching it again on the recently-released Blu-Ray (“Coraline” is also available on DVD), I’m reminded of how clever, creative, and captivating this piece of film was in theaters and will be every time I watch it with a perfect home release.

CHICAGO – Henry Selick, the visionary director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “James and the Giant Peach” has masterfully directed a mesmerizing journey into the world of imagination called “Coraline”.

CHICAGO – The limitations of the medium of animation are defined by the people who make it. As Henry Selick, the director of the upcoming and ground-breaking “Coraline” says, “Animation can be so much more than it is usually allowed to be.”

Previous | Image 1 of 21 | Next

Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning) travels through a portal between worlds in the stop-motion animated 3-D adventure Coraline, from LAIKA Entertainment for release by Focus Features.

CHICAGO – This 21-image slideshow contains the official press images for “Coraline”, which was directed by Henry Selick (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”) and features the voice work of Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, John Hodgman and Dakota Fanning. The Focus Features release of the LAIKA Entertainment produced film opens on Friday, February 6th, 2009.