With Halloween out of the way it’s no surprise that DVDs and Blu-Rays for the home market are concentrating on Christmas.  This week, new releases include a big screen blockbuster, a classic Hollywood musical and, you guessed it, Christmas.

The Amazing Spider-Man was a great surprise.  It was basically a re-boot of the series which went back to the beginning, only this time instead of starring Tobey Maguire it gave Andrew Garfield a shot at the lead, and by all accounts he did a great job.  The film also stars local Paradise Valley talent Emma Stone, and like Garfield she rises to the occasion.  The film comes in all formats with a ton of extras that should keep Spider-Man fans glued to the set for hours including deleted scenes.

The musical Guys and Dolls remains one of the bright spots of Broadway, and the 1955 film version cast several players from the original show, including Stubby Kaye, Vivian Blaine and Johnny Silver. The main players, however, were Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and the man who earned the nickname Mumbles during production because of his style of speech, Marlon Brando.  The film cut some key moments from the show and replaced them with scenes of its own that never worked as well, yet Guys & Dolls the movie remains a terrific musical, and in Blu-Ray it’s like seeing it for the first time.  For fans of musicals who have never seen Guys & Dolls, I envy you.  You’re in for a treat.

Arthur Christmas is an animated feature that hit the big screens around this time last year.  It came from Britain’s Aardman Animation who teamed up with Sony Pictures, and while the film is in no way a Christmas classic it is a lot of seasonal fun.  On the big screen, Arthur Christmas was released in 3D, and if this format is to your liking and you happen to have a 3D TV, you’re in luck; the feature is available in all formats, DVD, Blu-Ray and Blu-Ray 3D.  The good news is that in any format the animation is superb.

And finally, a Muppet movie that is more popular today than it was when first released.  It was 20 years ago when The Muppet Christmas Carol was first released to lukewarm reviews and box-office, yet each year its popularity has grown to the point where today many consider it a bona-fide classic.  Loosely based on the Dickens novella, The Muppet Christmas Carol feaures Kermit as Bob Cratchit and Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge.  Caine’s Scrooge is so good he gives a performance worthy of any regular live-action feature.  Extras are non-existent, but at least the visuals in hi-def are outstanding, and let’s face it, anything with the Muppets is going to work,especially when the subject is Christmas.

 Look for more DVD and Blu-Ray releases next week.