DVD

Edge of Darkness. The finest thriller ever made for the small screen finally comes to home video. So far ahead of its time that a quarter-century later it’s still on the cutting edge.

Movies

The Damned United. This fourth collaboration between actor Michael Sheen and screenwriter Peter Morgan is so good, it actually got me to care about soccer. Fine, football. Happy now?

The Informant! A tricky tone nailed from the outset in a different kind of whistleblower story.

Julia. A crime drama like no other you’ll see this year. Tilda Swinton gives a titanic performance as a hardcore self-destructive alcoholic making one bad decision after another.

A Serious Man. The Coen Brothers’ latest is part autobiography, part modern retelling of The Book of Job, and the best movie I’ve seen all year.

Vince Keenan is a contributor to the Noir City Sentinel, the journal published by the Film Noir Foundation. He writes about popular culture at his blog, VinceKeenan.com.