Studios' great releases of 2010

The age of discs - DVDs and Blu-rays alike - is over. So say some of the media's technogeek seers.

Now that iTunes and its siblings rule the market, they counsel, iFilms can't be far behind, so just throw out all your plastic.

These prophecies may explain why the DVD market has been so flooded. Seems the studios want to sell their entire catalogs before the digital revolution.

That's great news for consumers. It's also confusing, given all the choices. Here's a subjective - and incomplete - list of some of 2010's most notable releases.

The Bong Joon-ho Collection Magnolia's box set features three films by the Korean writer-director: Barking Dogs Never Bite, a satire about a student driven to distraction by a yapping dog in his apartment complex; the thrilling creature feature The Host; and Mother, an intense murder mystery. (www.magpictures.com/; $49.98)

Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros. Follow Eastwood's remarkable evolution with these films, which span four decades - from the 1968 World War II curio, Where Eagles Dare, and the epochal cop melodrama, Dirty Harry, to the celebrated revisionary Western, Unforgiven (1992), and Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Gran Torino (2008). (www.warnerbros.com/ or www.wbshop.com/; $179.98)

The Complete Metropolis Kino International's 148-minute edition of Fritz Lang's 1927 expressionist masterpiece incorporates newly discovered footage, making it the most complete version of the film available. (www.kino.com/video/; $29.95 DVD; $39.95 Blu-ray)

The Elia Kazan Collection This 18-disc box set from 20th Century Fox features 15 of Kazan's greatest films, including his 1945 debut, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; the 1947 film noir, Boomerang!; his now-classic collaborations with Marlon Brando, 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire and 1954's On the Waterfront; and his James Dean-starring masterpiece, East of Eden. (www.foxconnect.com; $199.98)

Foyle's War: Series 1-5 - From Dunkirk to V-E Day Michael Kitchen stars in this modern British mystery as a senior detective who polices England's southern coast during World War II. Acorn Media's box set offers 19 feature-length episodes, (www.acornmedia.com/; $124.99)

Heimat/Heimat 2/Heimat 3: Collected Set German New Wave director Edgar Reitz's magisterial 53-hour historical drama aired on German TV as three miniseries in 1984, 1992, and 2004. It captures the history of Germany from 1919 to the end of the millennium with rare intimacy by focusing on the fortunes of one extended family. The first part alone featured 32 leading actors, 159 speaking parts, and 3,683 extras. Facets Multimedia's 17-disc, three-box set includes episode guides and critical essays. (www.facets.org/; $249.95)

Inception Dark Knight helmer Christopher Nolan returns to the elliptical style of storytelling that made Memento and The Machinist such gems in this trippy thriller from Warner Home Video about dreams, desire, and capitalism. (www.warnerbros.com/ or www.wbshop.com/; $28.98 DVD; $35.99 Blu-ray)

Micmacs Jean-Pierre Jeunet's absurdist satire from Sony, about a group of misfits taking on the world's most powerful arms manufacturers, is imbued with an infectious maniacal energy. (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/; $28.95 DVD; $38.96 Blu-ray)

The Night of the Hunter The first - and only - film directed by actor Charles Laughton, this 1955 fable is a stunning slice of Southern Gothic starring a particularly snakelike Robert Mitchum as a self-styled preacher who marries, robs, and kills widows across the Bible belt. Criterion Collection's newly restored edition includes an audio commentary and a booklet of essays. (www.criterion.com/; $39.95 DVD; $49.95 Blu-ray)

A Prophet French filmmaker Jacques Audiard achieves Godfather-level greatness in this violent crime opus from Sony Pictures Classics. It stars Tahar Rahim as a convict inducted into the disturbing world of organized crime that continues to thrive within the French prison system. (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/; $27.96 DVD; $38.96 Blu-ray)

Red Riding Trilogy A grim, unforgiving crime saga from Britain, this five-hour mini-series is based on novelist David Peace's take on the Yorkshire Ripper murders of the '70s, starring Andrew Garfield, David Morrissey, and John Henshaw. It's out in a three-disc box set from IFC. (www.ifcfilms.com/; $29.98 DVD; $34.98 Blu-ray)

The Secret in Their Eyes Argentine director Juan José Campanella's brooding, Oscar-winning crime drama follows a retired criminal investigator who can't escape one of his earliest murder cases. (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/; $28.95 DVD; $38.96 Blu-ray)

Sherlock: Season One BBC-TV's 2009 series, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the detective, is arguably one of the best adaptations of Holmes on the screen. This two-disc set from BBC Warner includes three feature-length mysteries. (www.bbcamericashop.com/dvd/; $34.98 DVD; $39.98 Blu-ray)

24: The Complete Series Kiefer Sutherland's conflicted, terrorist-fighting hero in Fox's 24, Jack Bauer, helped define America in the post-Sept. 11 era. This 57-disc box set includes all eight seasons. (www.foxconnect.com; $349.98)