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Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 4
Aaron Eckhart owns the screen as tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor in Jason Reitman’s Thank You for Smoking, an acerbic and wickedly funny view of spin control in the modern age. A star-studded cast fills out this comedy, but it’s Eckhart who commands your attention as Naylor tries to soften the image of tobacco in this health-conscious day and age. Whether convincing Hollywood to embrace smoking again, raising his young son, or going up against the U.S. Senate, Eckhart keeps the film together in a delicious performance.

Super Hero
Christopher Reeve flies again. Perhaps never before in the history of home video has a studio crafted months of releases upon a single theme, as Warner has in 2006, “the year Superman returns.” No doubt tying into that new feature film, all manner of Super movies and TV shows have been issued on DVD, some for the first time—new seasons of Smallville, the classic Adventures of Superman, Lois & Clark, Superboy, The Animated Series, and even the cartoon adventures of the Dog of Steel, Krypto. But we can never give enough credit to Christopher Reeve and his dual role as the impossibly awkward Clark Kent and a gentlemanly savior in a red cape. Reeve’s electric screen presence was born of classical acting training, an understanding of how to fly under his own power—from his experience as a glider pilot—and a willingness to bulk up his lean frame under the tutelage of Darth Vader himself, trainer David Prowse. The later of Reeve’s four franchise films were not an ideal stage for his inspired thespian stylings, but his characterization was a high-water mark for the timeless hero, as celebrated in Warner’s new boxed set, The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection.

High-def disc devotees can now put aside their worries about camping on the wrong side of the format war. According to LG Electronics, the LG BH100 - the first, and so far, only player on the market capable of playing both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD format disc - can now be yours.

Which would you prefer: To buy a new PC with Windows Vista, or go on using your iPod? You can't have both unless you're extremely careful. Apple Computer--oops! sorry! Apple Inc.--has issued an advisory with a couple of warnings. First, when ejecting your iPod from a Vista-loaded PC, use the eject command in iTunes, not the one in the Vista system tray. Otherwise the PC "may corrupt your iPod," Apple says. Other potential problems: Songs purchased on iTunes may not play in the iTunes software, and since the DRM-wrapped tracks won't play in any other software, that means they won't play, period. Contacts and calendars won't sync. And adjustments can't be made to some settings. Apple explains and offers a patch, but you might want to wait for the next full version of iTunes ("available in the next few weeks") before letting iTunes and Vista butt heads.