Fox DVD in at the end of 2007 was a mixed bag but a big one and well worth checking into. For one thing they’ve started a line of cheap two disc sets of classic films called the Decades Collection. The first disc looks to be a typically barebones version of the film and the second a CD containing music that is germane to the decade of the films release, kind of an immersive experience if you will. It’s a cool idea. I always want to play music before I screen a film for friends to set the tone and reflecting back on the era of the film often seems to be the way to go especially if I don’t have the soundtrack to the film in question. The films included in the series are an odd mix of musicals, moderns and classics and all of them benefit from having an extra disc thrown in. Films in the series include Carrie, Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang, 12 Angry Men, The Sure Thing, Mad Max, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Some Like It Hot, The Graduate When Harry Met Sally, while I’d still like to see definitive versions of these movies made available (and in some cases that has already happened) they are cheap enough to tempt.

But the truly exciting news from Fox is the arrival of several large box sets covering John Ford’s career at the studio. Boasting a wide variety of titles the sets have been organized thus. You can own the gargantuan Ford At Fox-The Collection 24 disc set for the princely sum of $275 US. This set contains everything all the other sets do and is obviously for the completist. For those who need less of a Ford fix there are the much more affordably priced more selective sets. The Ford At Fox Collection: The Essential John Ford Collection contains The Frontier Marshall, My Darling Clementine, Drums Along the Mohawk, How Green Was My Valley and The Grapes of Wrath as well as the documentary Becoming John Ford. The Ford At Fox Collection: John Ford's Silent Epics has Just Pals, Four Sons, The Iron Horse, Hangman's House and Bad Men. Lastly the Ford At Fox Collection: John Ford's American Comedies contains Steamboat Around the Bend, Judge Priest, Doctor Bull, When Willie Comes Marching Home, Up the River and What Price Glory.

Fords reputation stands the tall here in any of these sets though I would recommend the Essential Collection for those who just want an overview. The Searchers, The Quiet Man, Stagecoach and other legendary Ford films of aren’t include here because they were made at other studios but audio commentaries, and other excellent supplemental material make these a fine choice for anyone exploring classic American cinema.

Bob Hope also got a notable box set this month and all things considered (especially the price) fans should be reasonably happy. Like most comedic performers of the thirties, forties and fifties Hope was a Jack of all trades combining standup, and a little song and dance, with a lucrative if artistically middling film career. The interesting thing is that his movies remain pretty watchable. People forget how funny and charming Hope was in a crowded field. This set is titled the Bob Hope MGM Movie Legends Collection and contains Alias Jesse James, Boy, Did I Get the Wrong Number, The Facts of Life, I'll Take Sweden, The Princess and the Pirate, The Road to Hong Kong, and They've Got Me Covered. Alas no extras but then at a mere $20 the set is very affordable even if not all the films are available in their widescreen presentations.

By all accounts The Simpsons Movie was a success if not the defining moment of a legendary TV series showing if nothing else that Matt Groening and his staff of writers still have a firm handle on what makes us laugh at, laugh with, and love America’s number one animated family. The story never flowers into anything we haven’t seen before but the sight gags and one-liners are easily some of the funniest the show has ever produced making it likely that we’ll continue to see more episodes and quite possibly another movie before all is said and done. Another strength is the way the film makers take advantage of a broader palette. The Simpsons has never looked better. This is indeed a big screen film showcasing sharp images and lots of detail in the animation.

Extras here are pretty unimpressive. First the booklet looks like it will be a fake newspaper with articles by and about the characters and the town of Springfield. This turns out to be only half true as the interior is almost all ads for various Simpson products. Lame. There are two commentaries one with cast and creators other with director and writers, an alternate ending, deleted scenes and a section marked Special Stuff that is actually a mere collection of animated lead ins to other programs like American Idol. Again, except for the commentaries, pretty lame. Is this all we get?

Once. I loved this film. It’s a low key daring approach to the idea of using music to tell a story and is sure to inspire others past the clichés in musical cinema it so neatly avoids. But more than innovation Once offers a stripped down sweetness, extremely likeable characters navigating believable conflict. It’s as if someone crossed a documentary, a musical, a love story and a seventies styled drama. The film tells the story of a street musician’s flirtation and friendship with a young woman he meets on the street. As they begin making music together- some of the most winsome music in recent cinema history- their friendship and their awareness of what they should do about their obvious attraction grows. In the end we the audience are left yearning to follow them beyond the confines of the screen and left in memory of people we’ve known who could easily have stood in for them. This is universal stuff. Two commentaries cover the film and its music, 2 featurettes do the same and an animated webisode of Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker guy

The rest of the Fox releases I went through left an awful lot to be desired. Titled the Director’s Son’s Cut this new version of Erik the Viking is at least thirty minutes shorter than it’s standard theatrical runtime. An audio commentary from Terry Jones, and a few other oddly titled extras don’t really do anything more than make you wish they’d left well enough alone. With DVDs like this it’s always tempting to succumb- DON’T. Erik The Viking deserves better.

And The Rocky Saga is a basic primer in how not to treat a well loved franchise. Baaaaaaad box set. 1. Don’t release a barebones box set twice in a row. 2. Don’t release a bare bones box set twice in a row when you have already released excellent two-disc sets of two of the films in the box set. Fans will just have to wait to see any supplemental material made available at a later date. I didn’t think twice about whether to purchase this or not . The bottom line is with HD and Blueray duking it out for the Horizon the real reason to buy older films on DVD (particularly box sets) are strong extra features or the cheap chance to see something you’ve been waiting for. You get none of that here.

Lastly The Last Man on Earth seems like a missed opportunity. I love this 1964 film. It’s sparse, foreboding, stripped down and gives Vincent Price a bare stage to practice his craft on. Last Man on Earth is a perfect example of low budget ultimately working in the favor of a film project. The sense of despair may be too austere an experience for some but for me it reeked of simple apocalyptic reality. It’s interesting that the parts of Will Smith’s I Am Legend that work well are the parts that are more like last Man On Earth and the parts that don’t work as well are more reminiscent of The Omega Man. It doesn’t help that this is almost barebones which is the only way this film has ever been made available previously. The difference is a too short featurette on Richard Matheson and the history of his novel.