The Best 25 DVDs of the Year

#21: MONSTER HOUSE
An animated horrorfest -- too good for just the kiddies -- that marks a striking debut for director Gil Kenan, delivering enough visual goods to justify the faith of producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, who hired him right out of UCLA. The plot? Can twelve-year-old DJ (Mitchel Musso) and his pals save their squeaky-clean suburb from the monster house and its cadaverous owner (Steve Buscemi)? The voice work is exceptional, with a special nod to Maggie Gyllenhaal as an acid-tongued baby sitter and Jason Lee as her raunchy boyfriend.
HOT BONUS A photo gallery with the hubris to bill itself as "The Art of Monster House" really is that good.
KILLER SCENE The house itself, which speaks in the voice of Kathleen Turner (very scary), is a wonder as it sucks up toys, kids and anything else that gets in its way.

#22: A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
How do you make a movie about what it takes for Garrison Keillor and his Minnesota crew to put on his three-decades-running radio show? I don't know, but director Robert Altman has done it, using a pitch-perfect cast, led by Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and Kevin Kline, to make magic.
HOT BONUS The musical numbers are presented uncut and uninterrupted.
KILLER SCENE Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly warbling the cowboy ditty "Bad Jokes" is a comic cure for whatever ails you.

#23: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III
The best of the three Missions so far is still living under the cloud of Tom Cruise's ugly press. Unfair. Director J.J. Abrams is one creative dude, and this two-disc DVD special pulls out all the bells and whistles.What a workout for your home-theater system.
HOT BONUS Now that Cruise is a studio mogul, heading up United Artists, we may never see him as loose and informal as he is here in a dishy yakfest with Abrams.
KILLER SCENE Besides the action, that hypertense opening face-off with Cruise and villain Philip Seymour Hoffman kicks ass.

#24: SLITHER
This horror comedy from director James Gunn never got the appreciation it deserved at the box office. Come on, you slugs, grab this DVD and roll with it. Gunn takes a nothing plot about parasites from outer space invading a small town and has his wicked, gory way with it. You'll love getting slimed.
HOT BONUS "Gorehound Grill: Brewin' the Blood" actually shows you how to create your own gore at home. Thanks much.
KILLER SCENE The bathtub. Say no more.

#25: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Al Gore standing in front of a screen delivering a lecture on global warming -- OK, so you didn't blow your wad on a high-end DVD setup to get down with that. Know what? Watch it anyway. The former veep delivers his message with the ardor of a true activist.
HOT BONUS A thirty-minute update from Gore, plus pertinent commentary from director Davis Guggenheim.
KILLER SCENE They're all killers: the shrinking glaciers, the melting snows, the receding shorelines. You won't find anything scarier in an orgy of Saw flicks.