Editor's Note: Mark Bourne joins the Film.com contributor ranks, fully qualified as a DVD expert after six years writing for the late, esteemed DVD Journal.

If the TV commercial deluge were all you had to go on, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this week's DVD releases begin and end with Spider-Man 3. But Spidey's isn't the only shiny disc hitting the shelves this week. In fact, he's one of more than 300 titles newly angling for our ka-ching today. They range from some of our favorite TV series to the latest collection of Looney Tunes classics, from an outstanding documentary on the Iraq war to Yoga for Golfers: Level 1 and 2 (what, you think I'm kidding?).

Here's a select few that caught our attention:

THE "UBIQUITOUS BLOCKBUSTER BLITZ" DISC OF THE WEEK

Spider-Man 3
Hit franchises tend to get cocky and full of themselves, and this one's no exception. After two terrifically successful films, perhaps it was too much to hope that director Sam Raimi's third feature to showcase our favorite arach-nerd could keep the quality curve shooting upward. General reaction to Spider-Man 3 wasn't as favorable as for the previous two outings, with common complaints that it was overlong, too bulk-loaded, and -- a lesson Hollywood should have learned years ago with the Batman series -- its Too Many Villains syndrome spread the story too thinly among all its participants. It's an impressive-looking, at times extraordinary, over-reaching Wagnerian mess.

Still, it was by no means a critical, commercial, or even cinematic failure, and it deserves cred for aiming big and not simply sitting back on the laurels of the earlier films. Besides, Tobey Maguire remains an inspired choice for Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst is a winsome and lovely Mary Jane, and James Franco gets to put in toothsome screen time when Harry Osborn finally receives a surprising bend in his character arc. Plus, now we get Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom, and Thomas Haden Church as Flint Marko/Sandman, both with some extensive and expensive CGI assist, naturally.

As we would expect, the DVD edition(s) are well-produced and loaded. Just in terms of purchase options, we can choose from single-disc or two-disc editions, in Standard-Def or Blu-ray High-Def, and a PSP (PlayStation Portable) edition. The widescreen 2.40:1 image is vivid and pristine, really superb, demo-quality. Justify your home-theater sound system expense with the high-wow!-factor Dolby True HD 5.1 or PCM 5.1 (uncompressed) audio options. Further options are DD 5.1 French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Thai, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Thai, Chinese Mandarin, and Chinese Cantonese. Spider-Man obviously gets around.

All editions include two audio commentaries. The first delivers director Sam Raimi and cast members Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, and Bryce Dallas Howard. The second brings us producers Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad and Grant Curtis, editor Bob Murawski and special effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk.

The extended editions include more than six hours of extras. We get nearly a dozen behind-the-scenes production featurettes on the design and creation of all three villains; you-are-there looks at the film's extravagant stunt work hosted by the stunt coordinators; location shooting in New York and Cleveland; interviews on the score, sound design and audio engineers; info on the editing; a brief collection of bloopers; a Snow Patrol music video; TV spots from around the world; and other friendly neighborhood Spidey stuff. It's enough to make Aunt May swoon.

THE "UNDER THE RADAR YET WORTH LOOKING FOR" DISCS OF THE WEEK

Day Watch
Imagine The Matrix blended with Sin City and served with the kind of vodka you can get only in Moscow. Modern-day Russian fantasy of a high order. As Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday put it, "The movie is a joyous celebration of extravagant pulp and post-Soviet kitsch, joyously trafficking in gore, loud cars, ladies' stilettos and excess for its own sake." It's the sequel to Night Watch, and both are now available on DVD individually and as a two-pack. Extras include a commentary from director Timur Bekmambetov. A gotta-see for genre fans still wondering if Japan holds the monopoly on the New Weird.

Journey from the Fall
Writer/director Ham Tran won critical acclaim and more than a dozen awards for this harrowing story centered on the Vietnamese reeducation camp and boat people experience following the fall of Saigon in 1975. A brutal and undervalued slice of our history is dramatized through one anti-communist family’s efforts to reunite and find freedom, in America and elsewhere, when their homeland is brought to ruin.

More than three hours of bonus material includes a making-of feature (38 min.), a round-table discussion with cast and crew (135 min.), a deleted scene, an alternate ending, cast and crew bios, and more. Two discs. Widescreen 1.85:1.

MORE NEW DVD RELEASES:

THE "WE LIKE TO WATCH" DISCS OF THE WEEK
THE "UNDER THE RADAR YET WORTH LOOKING FOR" DISCS OF THE WEEK
DOCUMENTARIES, CONCERTS, AND THE "SATURDAY NIGHT WITHOUT A DATE" RENTAL DISCS OF THE WEEK

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