I spend far too much of my day reading about silly movie projects – this absurd remake, that insulting franchise extension. Sometimes I forget how good film can be – how good it has been. A couple days ago, I sat down to watch Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" – a picture I'd seen several times before but never in its newly restored and remastered DVD form – and came away wishing, surely fruitlessly, that 2009 could deliver a thriller that even approached the twisty coolness of this 1959 masterpiece.

Even at the time of its original release, "Northwest" was ahead if its time, as co-star Martin Landau made clear in an interview with MTV News coinciding with the film's 50th anniversary. The actor played Leonard, a henchman assisting with his boss' criminal enterprise and attempting to eliminate a perceived threat from Madison Avenue exec Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant). Read more...

After weeks of rather lackluster releases ("Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" being a prominent exception), we finally have a Tuesday jam-packed with first-run titles and notable catalog additions. From the on-screen debut of an elite military team to John Cusack's ode to love, we're covering them all in this DVD Report for Tuesday, November 3.

For any child of the '80s, the thought of "G.I. Joe" receiving the theatrical treatment was an intriguing proposition, and one fraught with worry. And for die-hard fans of writer Larry Hama's epic "G.I. Joe" comic book run, it was especially scary. In stark contrast to the campy animated series, Hama infused his 155-issue run with deeply developed character arcs, ever-twisting conspiracies and, to his credit, pulled no punches when it came to violence and death. Which "G.I. Joe" would the film rely on for its story and tone? While producers insisted they'd follow the comics -- and even brought Hama on as a creative consultant -- fans remained skeptical. Read more...