Welcome one, welcome all, welcome to the DVD Pick of the Week! This is the place where I play the ever congenial host, helping you dig through the piles of new releases each week. I will spotlight the worthy titles, as well as those you would do best to avoid at all costs, and even a few that seem to be rather curious.

I have something new for you folks with this week's edition. I am going to try and play around with the format a little bit. Generally, I will start off with the week's top pick, followed by a series of other titles of interest. This week I have decided to try out a new format, where I disense with the opening spiel on the week's top pick and perhaps write a little bit more about each of the titles I have plucked from the current list of releases. What do you think? I am nothing if not receptive to your thoughts during this experiment.

American Gangster. I believe this would have to be considered the week's top release, although it is not without a little bit of controversy. It is being released on both standard DVD and Blu-ray; however, the standard DVD will contain the theatrical release as well as a new extended cut that clocks in with eighteen minutes more footage in the film while the Blu-ray will only contain the theatrical release. Needless to say, this is not going over too well with Blu-ray owners, nor should it. I cannot see any reason to hold back the longer cut except for a future hi def double dip.

As for the film itself? I thought it to be a very good, if not great, gangster film. It is sort of like a distilled version of Scorsese or DePalma. It is led by a pair of strong performances from Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. My biggest problem with the film is that it seems to glorify crime and also barely scratches the surface of the story. I feel that there could have been a lot more done with it. Still, it is well worth your time and is good film. Next week Ruby Dee will vie for the supporting actress Oscar for her performance here.

Michael Clayton. Here is another film that I thought was very good although not great. George Clooney does give what may be the finest performance of his career, albeit in a film that does not seem to be completely up to the task of supporting him. It is strange, as the performances, all around, are quote good, but the story does not seem to be terribly strong. Michael Clayton is much more of an actor's piece than a narrative one.