By John Corrado

It’s that time of year. A time for giving gifts and making wish lists. To help with this, I’ve compiled a number of entertainment-themed gift ideas, ranging from a number of 4K and Blu-ray releases to several books (which I’ve personally selected), that would make perfect gifts for the movie lovers and physical media collectors on your list.

These are all items that should be relatively easy to find at stores like Indigo and Sunrise Records (even Walmart is still in the physical media business), or on Amazon if you prefer online shopping.

Hollywood Hits:

Warner Bros. celebrated their 100th anniversary this year with the release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (Blu-ray Review), which became the studio’s highest grossing film in history. It’s the biggest movie of the year and also one of the best. The performances by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are already iconic, and the Blu-ray release features a number of nice behind the scenes featurettes.

On a similar note, there’s also the excellent 4K Ultra HD edition of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (4K Review) from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, for the other half of your “Barbenheimer” double bill. The 4K edition of Nolan’s film has become one of the hottest items this year, even selling out many places, in a major win for physical media. The three-disc set is loaded with special features, and presents the best way to watch the film at home.

Speaking of the year’s most popular films, there’s also director Ben Affleck’s Golden Globe-nominated Air, a classic “dad movie” and genuine crowdpleaser about the Nike executive (played by Matt Damon) who courted a young Michael Jordan (Damian Young) and his mom (Viola Davis) for the iconic shoe collaboration. It was released on Prime Video earlier this year, so it’s nice to have this one on physical media, even if the Blu-ray disc arrives sans bonus material.

If superhero films are more your thing, there’s also Warner’s Blu-ray release of the new DCEU flick Blue Beetle, starring Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes, a recent college grad who gains superpowers through an ancient alien scarab that attaches to his body. It feels like watching a kids movie from the 1990s, take that however you want. The disc includes an array of special features that should please fans.

For the physical media collectors on your list, you also can’t go wrong with any of the very nice 4K Steelbook editions that Paramount has released in the last little bit, including the summer favourites Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (4K Review) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (4K Review).

Old Favourites:

In honour of the studio’s 100th anniversary, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment also released a number of new 4K remasters of old classics from their library throughout the year, starting with The Maltese Falcon (1941). Director John Huston’s classic Film Noir stars Humphrey Bogart as a San Francisco private detective who gets caught up in the hunt for a lost treasure, and the black-and-white film looks striking in 4K Ultra HD.

Next up are the 4K remasters of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and East of Eden (1955), the two movies that made James Dean an instant icon, released the same year as his untimely death. Starring Dean as a wayward teen blazing through L.A. (with Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo in Oscar-nominated supporting roles), director Nicholas Ray’s teenaged melodrama Rebel Without a Cause still ranks as a classic of the coming of age genre, and the CinemaScope film looks great in 4K. Meanwhile, Dean received a posthumous Oscar nomination for Best Actor for East of Eden, Elia Kazan’s sweeping adaptation of the classic John Steinbeck novel.

Moving into the 1960s, there’s a new 4K remaster of Cool Hand Luke (1967), director Stuart Rosenberg’s classic anti-establishment prison drama starring Paul Newman as a defiant man serving time in a Florida prison camp, and George Kennedy in an Oscar-winning supporting role as the man who tries to break him.

Speaking of Oscar winners, Tommy Lee Jones won Best Supporting Actor for The Fugitive (1993), which was just released on 4K Ultra HD for the first time last month. Harrison Ford stars as an escaped convict framed for murder, and Jones is the U.S. Marshal tracking him down. Based on the old TV show, the classic ’90s thriller is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and the 4K restoration was overseen by director Andrew Davis, sourced from the original camera negative. The disc also includes a handful of legacy bonus features.

Finally, there’s Elf (2003). What better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of this modern Christmas classic starring Will Ferrell as a human raised by elves who ends up in New York City, than with the new 4K edition released last year. It’s a sparkling presentation (the difference between the 4K edition and the old DVD is night and day, in terms of both colour grading and details on fabrics), and the set comes with a regular Blu-ray containing the legacy bonus features.

From Paramount, there are also brand new 4K releases of James Cameron’s Titanic (4K Review) and a 35th anniversary edition of the Bill Murray holiday favourite Scrooged (4K Review) on the market that would make great gifts for under the tree.

DVD and TV:

The DVD of Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas from Warner Bros. Discovery is a good choice for country music fans or really anyone who has a soft spot for the iconic Dolly Parton. The 2022 TV movie finds Parton trying to stage a live Christmas special on NBC to capture the magic feel of the holidays at Dollywood, including appearances from special guest stars like Jimmy Fallon and Miley Cyrus. It’s Parton doing her version of a variety show, guided along by her “Three Wise Mountain Men,” played by country stars Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus and Zach Willaims. It’s all a little cheesy, but in a good and wholesome family-friendly way, with some nice duets and song numbers.

From Paramount, we also have the first season of the Paramount+ streaming series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies on DVD, which serves as a prequel to the 1978 film Grease, as well as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season Two on 4K Ultra HD, which is available in a great limited edition Steelbook set that includes a poster and magnetic character cards.

Books:

Spielberg: The First Ten Years (Insight Editions) is a very nice new coffee table book that focuses on the first decade of Steven Spielberg’s career. Written by Spielberg’s longtime documentarian Laurent Bouzereau, the book spans from 1971 to 1982 and takes us through the director’s first seven films (Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1941, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial), charting the history of these movies and their impact on popular culture, including the birth of the summer blockbuster. It’s built around a new interview with Spielberg, and we get exclusive images (including French lobby cards from Bouzereau’s own collection), storyboards, and quotes throughout, making it a lot of fun to read through. With a foreword by John Williams and an introduction by George Lucas.

The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium: Books 1+2 (Andrews McMeel Publishing) is a nice new set that bundles together two compact paperback volumes of Bill Watterson’s classic comic strips in a cardboard sleeve. Featuring all of the comics that ran from November 1985 to March 1987, this is the first of a seven-part series. I’ve always had a soft spot for the amusing, imaginative adventures of the hyperactive six-year-old Calvin and his plush tiger Hobbes, and the strips hold up really well. The books are a nice size to hold and flip through, and in addition to being portable, would be a great way to get younger readers into these timeless comics.

Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever (Putnam – Penguin Random House) finds author and film critic Matt Singer offering a comprehensive history of At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Singer charts both the history of the TV show and the love-hate relationship between rivals Siskel and Ebert that made them so enjoyable to watch, and the impact that they had on modern film criticism. I grew up watching the show (including its later iterations with different hosts, all covered here), and Roger Ebert had the single biggest impact on me as a film critic, so this book is a must read. It would make a great gift any movie lovers or film critics out there.

A big thank you to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Insight Editions, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and Penguin Random House for providing the items on this list!