To correspond with Earth Day—and not, as would be just as appropriate, 4/20 Day—the features-free Blu-ray edition of Avatar is coming out on Thursday, not today. So while you wait for what is reportedly a super-extra-high-definition home video version of the biggest moneymaker of all time, why not spend some of your Tuesday Blu-ray budget on one of the original cinematic spectacles, Battleship Potemkin? Or, alternately, you could reenact the consumer patterns of moviegoers earlier this year, and skip the misbegotten awards-bait The Lovely Bones in favor of the highly enjoyable sleeper hit Crazy Heart. (Although The Lovely Bones Blu-ray is worth taking a look at anyway, for reasons outlined here.) Or you could give the gate to all of the above and settle into two finely shaded, artful French films from last year: Claire Denis’ 35 Shots Of Rum and Olivier Assayas’ Summer Hours. Be warned though: there are no CGI aliens in either.
The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
E1, $19.98
American Experience: Earth Days
PBS, $24.99
Avatar
20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
The Basketball Diaries
Palm Pictures Blu-ray, $24.99
Battleship Potemkin
Kino Blu-ray, $34.95
The Blue Tooth Virgin
E1, $24.98
Cheech & Chong’s Hey Watch This
Vivendi, $19.93; Blu-ray, $24.99
Crazy Heart
20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99