If it's Tuesday, it's DVD/Blu-ray release day! Which new releases should you spend your hard earned disposable income on? Find out after the jump in DVDerby, Movieline's compact guide to the hyper-competitive home-video field.
· Win: Party Down, Season One
In a few years are people going to talk about Party Down in the same reverent tones that they use to discuss Ricky Gervais's version of The Office? Perhaps. Either way, considering that the Starz comedy continues to lose cast members to network television paychecks (Jane Lynch, Adam Scott, Ryan Hansen), the two shows will certainly have one thing in common: the brevity of their life spans. Catch up on the 10-episode season before diving into season two, which returns on April 23.
· Place: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
A drug-addled Nicolas Cage, a bloated Val Kilmer and some iguanas. Yes, you should pick up Werner Herzog's sequel/reimagining of Bad Lieutenant immediately. Here's hoping the first question asked of the cast and crew in the interview portion of the disc is, "What were you thinking?"
· Show: The Unusuals, Complete Series
The long-canceled ABC cop dramedy (part NYPD Blue, part The Office, part Wonderfalls), makes its way to DVD and can be officially viewed as a failed but noble experiment. After all, any show that features Jeremy Renner, Adam Goldberg, Amber Tamblyn and Harold Perrineau (Walt!) is at least worth your time as background fodder while you clean around the house.
And coming up in last, as Glue: Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy
Nerds beware! Though your precious Lord of the Rings gets released on Blu-ray today for the first time, it's only the theatrical versions. That means you shouldn't throw out those Peter Jackson nine-hour director's cut editions just yet.
Also arriving: The musical documentary, Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love; Andrew Bujalski's mumblecore opus, Beeswax; some horror movie called The Collector; and Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami.