There are a couple of high brow releases as well as a one so low as to be considered “basement” brow in this week’s dvd/blu-ray release round up. Hey, something for everybody!

Downton Abbey, the hugely popular BBC import currently running in its second season on PBS, has already cropped up on dvd. While anyone interested in watching Downton Abbey already knows about the show and is probably religiously watching, you may not know that you can get the complete season 2 in its original, uncut UK edition, not to mention you can get it when there are still two more episodes left to air! (That should make Patton Oswalt deliriously happy!)

The three disc set includes the 2011 Christmas Special!

Try to avoid the stampede to Target to pick up your copy of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – part 1. For all of you longing for dvd in order to sit in the privacy of your darkened living room to witness the marriage of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, tissues at the ready, your wait is over. Actually, this title will be released on Saturday February 11, but I figured you’d want the extra notice to get your track shoes one.

Special Features:

-Go behind the scenes with a captivating 6-PART MAKING-OF DOCUMENTARY; relive the memories with Edward & Bella's personal WEDDING VIDEO; get a glimpse into JACOB'S DESTINY; watch your favorite scenes over and over in EDWARD FAST FORWARD and JACOB FAST FORWARD; plus an AUDIO COMMENTARY with Director Bill Condon

Whether or not you believe its premise, Anonymous makes for a good costume drama. (The costumes have been nominated for an Academy Award.) It also features a rare appearance of both Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter Joely Richardson in the same film. The each play Queen Elizabeth I at different stages of her life.

Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds… who was the author of the plays credited to William Shakespeare? Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when cloak-and-dagger political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles hungry for the power were exposed in the most unlikely of places: the London stage.

Anonymous stars Rhys Ifans, Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, David Thewlis and Xavier Samuel.

Special Features:

-Audio Commentary: Director Roland Emmerich and Writer John Orloff deliver a steady and enlightening commentary, speaking on the importance of the film's modern-day open, the necessity of fiction in the portrayal of supposed historical fact, dramatic licenses in the film, the work of the cast and crew, the specifics behind crafting and shooting various scenes, the purpose of the film's dramatic elements, the costuming, technical details of the digital photography, set design, special effects, and much more. This is a good companion track that fans should enjoy.

-Deleted Scenes (1080p, 2:54): "Use Your Imagination Robert," Ben Visits the Earl of Oxford, and Funeral Scenes.

-Extended Scenes (1080p, 3:29): Tennis Match and The Mermaids Tavern.

-More Than Special Effects (1080p, 13:08): A detailed look at the film's digital and practical recreations of 16th century locations.

-Who is the Real William Shakespeare? (1080p, 10:39): Cast and crew discuss the evidence presented in the movie that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare.

-Speak the Speech… (1080p, 16:14): A detailed look at casting the film's critical roles.

The Rebound is a romantic comedy from Bart Freundlich (The Myth of Fingerprints) that was filmed back in early 2009, but was a victim of The Film Department’s untimely demise. It has already been released theatrically all over the world, but is going straight to dvd and blu-ray in the US. It stars Catherine Zeta Jones as a recent divorce who becomes involved with her kids’ caregiver, the much younger Justin Bartha.

Official Synopsis:

"Upon discovering her husband's infidelity, Sandy (Zeta-Jones) and her two kids move from the suburbs to pursue a new life in the big city. There she meets Aram (Bartha), a local coffee shop employee whose wife only married him as a means to getting her green card. The two strike up a friendship which eventually evolves into something more. But it isn't long before they're faced with the big question – 'Is this real or just a rebound?'"

Special Features:

-Cast and crew interviews

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas 3D stars John Cho and Kal Penn returning for their third outing as the titular Harold and Kumar.

Six years have elapsed since Guantanemo Bay, leaving Harold and Kumar estranged from one another with very different families, friends and lives. But when Kumar arrives on Harold's doorstep during the holiday season with a mysterious package in hand, he inadvertently burns down Harold's father-in-law's beloved Christmas tree. To fix the problem, Harold and Kumar embark on a mission through New York City to find the perfect Christmas tree, once again stumbling into trouble at every single turn.

Special Features:

-Extended Cut: The 3D Blu-ray edition features 3D and 2D presentations of the 90-minute theatrical cut of the film and a 2D presentation of its 96-minute extended cut. The biggest downside? Not only is the extended cut not available in 3D, its 2D presentation doesn't offer a lossless audio option. Just a standard (but serviceable) 448kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track.

-Through the Haze with Tom Lennon (HD, 9 minutes): "World Famous Actor and Comedian" Thomas Lennon hosts … hilarious, uncensored, tongue-in-cheek EPK shorts: "I'm Doing a Puff Piece Over Here," "I Hate Drugs," "F#*@ You, Charles Dickens," "I'm Just Brainstorming Here," "The Marshmallow Man" and "19th Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told." I watched them twice, and I'll probably watch them anytime I revisit A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. Good stuff.

-Title (HD, 4 minutes): Community may have beaten them to the punch bowl by a full year, but Harold & Kumar's Christmas claymation sequence still delivers. Take a brief look at its creation, complete with a PiP comparison between its animated storyboard reel and the final scene. At four minutes, though, it's too short.

-Deleted Scenes (HD, 4 minutes): A small, inconsequential collection of deleted scenes. There are a few laughs to be had, but just a few.

Disney’s Lady and the Tramp is making its first appearance on dvd and blu-ray in a Diamond Edition and as with most classic Disney titles, will only be around for a limited time. Lady and the Tramp is the “love” story of  a cute, classy "Lady" cocker spaniel who escapes from her confining owner and falls for an alley dog, known as the "Tramp", when he rescues her from some mean dogs out on the streets. Surely you’re familiar with the “spaghetti scene”?

Special Features:

-Disc Introduction by Diane Disney Miller (HD, 2 minutes): Walt Disney's daughter briefly touches on her father's work, his love of animals, and his love of Lady and the Tramp; as Miller recalls, one of the legendary filmmaker's personal favorites.

-Audio Commentary: Inside Walt's Story Meetings: Time travel, dear readers. Time travel. "Inside Walt's Story Meetings" is an audio track featuring a talented group of voice actors delivering a dramatic recreation of Walt Disney's story meetings. With archive transcripts in hand and clever editing in tow, it's as close to a filmmakers' audio commentary as you can get on a film like this, and fans and animation enthusiasts will no doubt enjoy listening to Disney and his team develop, write and animate Lady and the Tramp.

-Disney Second Screen, Featuring "Inside Walt's Story Meetings" (HD): Download Disney's Second Screen app to your iPad or PC, sync the Lady and the Tramp Blu-ray with the app, and enjoy an interactive experience complete with behind-the-scenes materials, family activities, art and storyboard galleries, and more. It's a nice addition to the release, even if everyone isn't interested in taking advantage of it.

-Diane Disney Miller: Remembering Dad (HD, 8 minutes): Miller shares memories and stories about her father's life, career and legacy. Honestly, I wish this one was much longer. Every little tidbit that brings Walt Disney to life is appreciated, as it only enriches his contributions to the world of animation.

-Deleted Scenes (HD, 19 minutes): Though presented via storyboards, three deleted scenes — "Introduction of Boris," "Waiting for Baby" and "Dog Show" — are available for the curious completists among you.

-Never Recorded Song: "I'm Free as the Breeze" (HD, 2 minutes): While Lady and the Tramp was released in 1955, development began as early as 1936. "I'm Free as the Breeze," written in 1946 by Ray Gilbert and composed by Eliot Daniel, features Tramp explaining his life philosophy. It was cut when it was decided Tramp wouldn't be a singing dog.

-Classic DVD Bonus Features (SD, 157 minutes): The "Classic DVD" section of the disc includes almost all of the previously released DVD edition's extras, including the seven-part, 53-minute "Lady's Pedigree: The Making of Lady and the Tramp" (much of which is comprised of vintage featurettes with Walt Disney himself), "Finding Lady: The Art of the Storyboard," "Original 1943 Storyboard Version of the Film" (in truth a 12-minute storyboard treatment), "The Siamese Cat Song: Finding a Voice for the Cats," "PuppyPedia: Going to the Dogs" (designed strictly for kids), a "Bella Notte Music Video," three "Theatrical Trailers," four lengthy "Excerpts from Disneyland TV Shows" and two more "Deleted Scenes." In other words, most everything you would have missed if Disney hadn't put it all on the disc. The only downside? It's all presented in standard definition.

-Sneak Peeks (HD, 10:58 minutes): Trailers and previews for Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, Cinderella, Brave, Chimpanzee, The Aristocats, Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3, ABC's The Chew, Disney Channel's Shake It Up and Mary Poppins: The Hit Broadway Musical round out the package.

We've also got a heads up on future release. Roman Polanski's Carnage starring three Oscar winners and a nominee in the form of Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly comes to dvd ad blu-ray on March 20.

The film is based on Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning play, "The God of Carnage" and it's the story of two boys whose playground tussle leads to each child's parents taking on the other in "verbal warfare."

Special Features:

-Actors' Notes

-An Evening with John C. Reilly & Christoph Waltz

-On the Red Carpet

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There’s a new UK poster for Bel Ami, the latest adaptation of the Guy de Maupassant short story about a young man’s rise to power in Paris via his manipulation of the city's most influential and wealthy women.

A great deal of the film's success will hinge on Pattinson's sex appeal, of course.  I like the fact that there is a comparison on the poster to Dangerous Liaisons. Pattinson’s fans, most of them, may be too young to get the reference, but those who do remember that film (as well as the very stylish version known as Valmont, with Colin Firth) will be interested in Bel Ami.  (A costume drama set in fin de sicle Europe will need all of the help it can get).

The cast also includes Kristin Scott Thomas and Uma Thurman (the latter, two beautiful actresses who just happen to be over 40. I’m delighted they’re both being treated as ‘sexual beings’),  Christina Ricci who looks as light and fragile as a porcelain doll, Holliday Grainger (Lucrezia Borge in The Borges), Philip Glennister and Colm Meaney. Bel Ami finally has release dates of March 2 in the US and 9^th March in the UK.

I’m not sure how I feel about the new poster for James McTeigue’s The Raven. (I know I wasn’t happy that the film got pushed back to April.) The psychedelic raven’s wings look like they’ve sprouted from John Cusack’s back and turned him into an angel from hell.  I suppose I just need to go with it, as much as a slight alcoholic consumptive is being played by John Cusack. It is stunning though, as have been the two previous.

The cast of the fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet pursues a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories, also includes Luke Evans, Alice Eve, Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. It opens 9^th March in the UK and April 27 in the US.

Millennium Entertainment has issued a new one-sheet for Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s fright-fest, The Intruders, which blanks out Clive Owen’s lovely face. Although I’m sure that’s meant to be a clue to the plot, I don’t have to like it.

Millennium’s press release:

"From visionary filmmaker JUAN CARLOS FRESNADILLO (28 Weeks Later, the upcoming Highlander reboot), INTRUDERS is the chilling story of two children living in different countries, each visited nightly by a faceless being who wants to take possession of them.
INTRUDERS stars CLIVE OWEN (Children of Men), CARICE VAN HOUTEN (Repo Men), PILAR LÓPEZ DE AYALA (Juana la Loca),DANIEL BRÜHL (Inglorious Bastards), KERRY FOX (Shallow Grave) and HÉCTOR ALTERIO (Son of the Bride)."

The Intruders finally comes out March 30^th.

Red Lights from director Rodrigo Cortes (Buried) was also snapped up for release by Millennium Entertainment, just after its Sundance premiere. Elizabeth Olsen stars alongside Robert De Niro, Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy.

The plot follows De Niro as a famous blind telekinetic who becomes the number one target of a “university- backed team of paranormal skeptics.”

Red Lights hits Fresnadillo’s native Spain in March. No US dates confirmed yet, but we’ll keep you posted.

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Robert Pattinson is so damned gorgeous, sultry and rugged for the February 2012 issue of GQ Russia. If he looked at me with that look on the cover, my clothes would go swoosh (thanks KB) as they dropped to the ground.

I almost don't know what to write because I'm just in such awe of his beauty. Regardless of the fact I can't read a word on the cover or in the pages of the publication, sometimes words don't need to be spoken (or read).

Enjoy the gorgeousness that is Robert Pattinson.

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Okay my little Twi-hards, it’s time to get out your sparkly Twilight pens to mark an important date on your RPattz or Twilight calendars that you got for Christmas.  On Friday February 10, nearly 500 Target stores across America will be holding a Twilight pajama party…no, not really…well, sort of. They’ll be extending their hours to host a DVD-Blu ray launch party for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, which will be available for purchase at midnight. Beginning at 11:00pm, those eager fans attending will be treated to an exclusive look at a scene from the final film in the series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, which doesn’t even hit theaters until November. Target is offering an exclusive limited edition DVD of Part 1 (which will NOT include the world premiere clip). It will include an authentic flower from Bella and Edward’s wedding, with which to commemorate the occasion for now until eternity or Edward loses his sparkle, whichever comes first.

You can find a participating store in your area at Target.com/Twilight, but don’t even think about brow-beating any of the red-vested employees into telling you what scene you’ll see. They’ve been sworn to secrecy upon pain of death…not really. They won’t be told until that night, just to avoid such unpleasantness.

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I should have known, since there was too much activity surrounding Bel Ami, after such a long period of nothing, that a trailer was coming soon! Bel Ami is the latest adaptation of the novel by Guy de Maupassant, starring Robert Pattinson as Georges Duroy, a man of modest means who basically sleeps his way through Parisian high-society during the period known as La Belle Epoque. The women in question are Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci. The costumes and production design are enough to get me into the theater. An international trailer has just dropped today and you can watch it below thanks to MSN.

Bel Ami, directed by Nick Oremerod and Declan Donnellan has been filmed seven times before, dating all the way back to 1919 (although four of those were for French television.) The film also stars Colm Meaney, Holliday Grainger, Philip Glenister, Pip Torrens and James Lance. It finally has a couple of release dates, all in Europe: 2^nd March in the UK, 27^th June in France. Nothing for the US…yet.

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Cosmopolis is the next film from A Dangerous Method director David Cronenberg and stars Robert Pattinson and today we have the first poster. Seems odd that it’s been two months since we’ve heard anything about this and yet, the day after we have pics from Pattinson’s other post-Twilight gig (in his continuing quest to prove he can do more than sparkle and brood), Bel Ami, we have this. Cosmopolis  is Cronenberg’s first film without Viggo Mortensen since 2002’s Spider (with Ralph Fiennes)

Cosmopolis, based on the 2003 novel by Don DeLillo, is the story of a young multi-billionaire named Eric Parker (Pattinson) who journeys across Manhattan in his luxurious, hi-tech stretch limo to get a haircut. The story covers roughly one day in Parker’s life, during which time he meets an odd assortment of characters played by Samantha Morton, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Durand, Jay Baruchel, Mathieu Amalric and Sarah Gadon (Emma Jung in A Dangerous Method), and losing his fortune along the way. 

Still no specific release dates for Cosmopolis yet other than a vague 2012, but there is already whispering about Cannes in May.