Another Earth - BD Edition
The Skinny: One of the undervalued cinematic jewels of this past year, the unabashedly sci-fi premise has a mirror earth suddenly approaching our own, which gives one young woman a possible chance at redemption. It also features the break-out performance of star/co-writer Brit Marling, a brainy beauty you will be hearing a lot more of soon enough.
Studio: Fox
Linkage: Another Earth - BD Edition

Branded to Kill - Criterion BD Edition
The Skinny: A 1967 pop confection of failed Tokyo hitmen and boiled rice, Seijun Suzuki's over-the-top presentation and endlessly inventive storytelling ensures the film loses next to none of its luscious effect more than four decades later.
Studio: Criterion
Linkage: Branded to Kill - Criterion BD Edition

Justified: The Second Season
The Skinny: In all ways better and more gripping than the solid first season, FX's series -- based on a short story by Elmore Leonard -- finds the violent life of U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens and the increasingly intertwined criminal doings of Harlan County inexorably linked. A winning combination of good humor, gunfights and twistedly demented villains.
Studio: FX
Linkage: Justified: The Complete Second Season

Mildred Pierce: BD Edition
The Skinny: A brilliantly acerbic dramatic mini-series from HBO, the versatile Todd Haynes (who also directed Velvet Goldmine on this week's list) does yeoman work with the novel by James M. Cain, producing a wrenching portrait of a mother-daughter relationship gone horribly -- incredibly -- bad. Kate Winslet is phenomenal in the title role, and the entire production is first-rate. Just don't watch it on Mother's Day.
Studio: HBO
Linkage: Mildred Pierce: BD Edition

Portlandia: Season One - BD Edition
The Skinny: Believe it or not, Carrie Brownstein, the genius musician from Sleater-Kinney and, more recently, Wild Flag, is also an accomplished sketch writer and comedienne. Along with versatile SNL vet Fred Armisen, the duo skewer the lofty artistic pretensions and hipster aesthetic of their beloved city, while lovingly presenting it in all its diverse, politically progressive glory.
Studio: IFC
Linkage: Portlandia: Season One - BD Edition

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: Season One
The Skinny: If for no other reason than for "Arrested Development" fans a chance to watch Will Arnett and show creator David Cross working together again, the series is must-watch viewing for comedy fans. Cross stars as the titular character, an accomplished liar who weasels his way into a fat job in London, and then slowly creates an ever-more-complicated web falsehoods, gaffes and misplaced romantic intrigue.
Studio: IFC
Linkage: The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: Season One

Tokyo Drifter: Criterion BD Edition
The Skinny: Another in his series of big, colorful Japanese pop culture hitman meditations, Seijun Suzuki's splashy pastiche of crime drama, gang violence, and jazzed up visual kinetics finds yet another hitman on the run from rival gangs intent on taking him out just as he attempts to go straight. Don't bother trying to make head or tail of the hopscotch plot, just breathe deep the farcical madness of one of Japan's most inventively crazed auteurs.
Studio: Criterion
Linkage: Tokyo Drifter: Criterion BD Edition

Velvet Goldmine - BD Edition
The Skinny: Part Citizen Kane, part Ziggy Stardust, Todd Hayne's quasi-fake biopic finds the many cracks and crevices in the psyche of a ambivalently sexual rock and roll star, and turns them into a peculiarly effective portrayal of fame.
Studio: Lionsgate
Linkage: Velvet Goldmine - BD Edition