How much do you know about John Adams? Unless you’re a middle school history teacher, I’m guessing not all that much. Sure, he was the second president of the United States, but what else do you know? Nothing. But there’s hope: you can delve into his life and times without feeling like you’re back in the classroom thanks to HBO’s epic miniseries John Adams, out now on DVD.

Featuring an all star case with such names as Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, and Tom Wilkinson and produced by Tom Hanks, the miniseries takes you deep inside the incredible life of one of history’s greatest names. Based on the acclaimed book by historian David McCullough, it gives you a college course worth of history while delivering the kind of entertaining, satisfying television that you generally only find on HBO. It’ll keep you glued to your seat, interested and excited in history for the first time in ages. If that’s not the sign of arresting television, I don’t know what is.

Why is it that some of the best shows on TV are inevitably some of the ones with the worst ratings and the ones to come under the axe first? While dreck like Deal or No Deal will be on the air for the next decade, smart, good shows such as Jericho only survive two short seasons before being led to the pasture. It’s criminal.

At least we have DVDs. If you have never seen Jericho, the new Jericho - The Complete Series DVD set is a great way to get into it. If you’re a fan, you already know you’re getting it.

Jericho is about a group of Kansas residents dealing with what’s essentially the apocalypse after a nuclear explosion isolates them from the rest of the country. It’s a brilliant, tense, timely show with excellent writing and acting, one that’s up there with the shows on HBO in terms of quality. Of course, because it’s difficult and complicated it never caught on the way it should, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy what did come out of it.

One of the most famous cops in movie history is Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, a brutal, cold cop who has nothing to live for but tormenting both his superior officers and the lowlife scum that he takes on every day on the streets. The original Dirty Harry movie is a classic, and it spawned another four movies with the same character that live up to that first film.

Now, for the first time, all five Dirty Harry films have been completely digitally restored and remastered to make them look and sound better than the day they were originally released. You can get them all as a set on either DVD or high definition Blu-ray with The Dirty Harry Series. It includes all five movies: Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool. They’re the types of movies you’ll want ot put on again and again, classic cop flicks that have been often imitated but never bested. And now, with them looking better than ever, there’s never been a better time to bring Dirty Harry home.

It seems that these days anyone could come up with a premise for a Will Ferrell comedy. You take a sport, invent a blundering superstar (played by Ferrell, of course), create an evil opponent that threatens him in some way, and have a hilarious series of competitions that ends up with Ferrell retaining his glory. It’s a formula, really.

That’s not to say the formula doesn’t work. Semi-Pro lives up to the hilarious past comedies staring the former SNL mainstay, providing all the ridiculous situations, hilarious jokes, and outrageous moments you’ve come to expect. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the star, owner and coach of the Flint, Michigan Tropics, an American Basketball Association team in the 70s. His league and team are about to be put out of business by the NBA, but if they can somehow become one of the top teams in the league, his team will survive and become an NBA team. The requisite wackiness follows, but Ferrell manages to make the whole thing seem somehow fresh. It’s a gift, I guess.

With it being summertime and baseball season, the memories of the Giants historic upset of the undefeated New England Patroits in the Super Bowl earlier this year might be fading from your memory. Which is really too bad, isn’t it? I mean, let’s be honest here: you’re not going to see a much more exciting season or game from a New York sports team anytime soon unless something really crazy happens. You’ve got to soak in the glory for as long as possible as to not waste it.

What better way to do so than by having the complete Super Bowl and run up to the big game on DVD? That’s just what you get with NFL Road to Super Bowl XLII. It’s the ultimate DVD for the die hard Giants fan, allowing you to relive every moment of the historic game whenever you want. And hey, it’s not like the Knicks are going to be providing any sports-related glory anytime soon, so you might as well take what you can get with this, eh?

In case you’ve been living under a rock as of late, let me inform you that there’s a brand new Indiana Jones movie coming in mere weeks. Yes, starring Harrison Ford and everything, old age be damned! Now that you know that, it’s time to get properly prepared for this monumental summer movie event. And that means catching up with the original trilogy so you can properly complain about how much better the original movies are than the new one.

And there’s no better way to do that than with the forthcoming “Adventure Collection” of the Adventures of Indiana Jones Trilogy. Featuring all three of the classic adventure films, the set also has tons of bonus features that’ll keep you loaded up with movie trivia. And while sure, if you didn’t know about the new movie before now, you’re probably not the biggest fan in the world, it’s never too late to hop on board the bandwagon.

Todd Haynes plus music equals heartache. His cult classic Superstar (1987), a Karen Carpenter biopic reenacted with Barbie dolls, is only available on grainy bootlegs because surviving brother Richard refused to grant rights to his sister’s songs. Ditto for Velvet Goldmine (1998), a lush glam rock fantasy from which spoilsport David Bowie withheld his own catalog. So when Haynes decided to direct I’m Not There, an audacious and free-form meditation on the many faces of Bob Dylan (played variously by Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw and African-American child actor Marcus Carl Franklin), you could almost smell the legal battle brewing. Thankfully, Dylan miraculously granted rights to this not-always-flattering interpretation of his life and work—good news for Haynes and audiences alike.

It’s really extraordinary that Dylan granted you rights, especially since you’ve had such struggles with artists before.

Haynes: Well, it was just like, easy, which is so crazy about the whole thing. [Producer] Christine Vachon and I went and visited Jesse Dylan—Dylan’s oldest son, who’s a filmmaker in L.A. So we described the concept to Jesse and [Dylan’s manager] Jeff Rosen, and Jeff said, “It’s interesting; why don’t you write it down on one sheet and we’ll send it to Bob?” So I wrote it out as simply as I could, and a couple months later we got a call from Jeff saying that Bob said, “OK, let’s give the guy the rights.” It’s really incredible.

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Fantasy movies have made a definite comeback since the insane success of the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy. No longer just for kids and nerds, fantasy movies are now a socially-acceptable form of escapism, featuring magical characters and creatures brought to life by incredible state of the art special effects.

The latest fantasy epic hitting Blu-ray and DVD is The Golden Compass. Based on the celebrated fantasy novel of the same name and starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig (as well as Gandalf himself, Sir Ian McKellan, as a giant talking polar bear), it’s a sweeping story set in a world where people’s souls exist outside their bodies in animal form. Featuring absolutely stunning effects and visuals, it’ll sweep you up and take you to a fantastic world that is, we promise, completely different than the one you inhabit every day. And isn’t that the point?

Referred to as the “anti-Narnia,” The Golden Compass—based on British novelist Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series—drew plenty of criticism in late 2007 for its anti-Christian slant, and was banned by many religious organizations. Despite the controversy the film caused, it did mediocre business at the box office; regardless, that controversy is the mother’s milk of sales. Compass did very well overseas—where it has more of a following—grossing a total of $335 million, triple from what it made in the United States.

Compass takes place on an alternate Earth dominated by the Magisterium, a religious organization (reminiscent of the Catholic Church) seeking to control all humanity. The greatest threat it faces is the last remaining Golden Compass—a mystical talisman—in the possession of a girl named Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards). She’s accompanied by her daemon, Pantalaimon (voiced by Freddie Highmore), a small, shape-shifting animal serving as her companion.

Lyra’s uncle, Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig), seeks to find the source of the Dust, a mysterious vapor flowing into the world through a hole in the Arctic sky. It’s unclear if the Dust is the cause of sin or not. Nonetheless, the Magisterium will stop at nothing to kill Asriel. Meanwhile, Magisterium agent Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) is kidnapping children and robbing them of their free will. Once Lyra’s friend Roger (Ben Walker) is captured, she stops at nothing to save him, teaming up with gun-slinging Texas aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Sam Elliott) and Iorek, a rogue polar bear (voiced by Ian McKellen).

Scoresby was based on English arctic explorer William Scoresby and actor Lee Van Cleef, Pullman had Elliott—the veteran actor with the distinctive gruff voice best known for Westerns—in mind to portray his character.

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Cloverfield carries on the tradition of classic monster movies like Godzilla and King Kong, but it brings a modern twist to the genre. Filmed from the perspective of a hand held camcorder, it makes the viewer a voyeur to the action and destruction, with shaky, unprofessional footage and a lack of polish that makes it all feel more real.

That’s not to say the movie isn’t full of amazing special effects and Hollywood-caliber thrills. It’s a top notch monster movie despite its gimmick, one that keeps you on the edge of your seat for its entire running time. And yes, you do get a nice view of the elusive monster at some point in the movie, so don’t worry about all those teasing trailers that didn’t offer up so much as a glimpse. But you’ve gotta see the whole thing if you want to see the goods. So what are you waiting for?