The year's best DVDs

It's only one week until Christmas, so if you're after last-minute stocking fillers, or can't stand the thought of watching Moonraker for the 100th time on Boxing Day, here's the best of the year's DVD offerings...

Film

City Of God (Buena Vista, 18). Amazing, exhilarating, visceral, sexy, frightening and gripping from the very first second - you don't get better debuts than this one about life in a shanty town in Rio. Honourable mention: Morvern Callar (Momentum, 15), Lynne Ramsay's cinematically virtuoso Scottish drama.

Action

Choose between Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (Columbia, 12) - what exactly is there not to like? - and Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (Columbia, 12), for the inventive truck chase sequence alone, which makes the much-vaunted freeway chase in The Matrix Reloaded look like snail-racing on Mogadon.

Foreign

Nine Queens (Optimum, 15). Fiendishly complex Argentinian sting movie, with nine German stamps the obscure object of desire. And L'Homme du Train (Pathe, 12) --elegant intelligent two-hander starring Jean Rochefort and Johnny Hallyday.

Documentary

Lost In La Mancha (Optimum, 15) --how Terry Gilliam almost made Don Quixote before rain (and the quixotic Gilliam) stopped play. Or Michael Moore's search for US gun culture's soul, the Oscar-winning Bowling For Columbine (Momentum, 15)

Music

Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live In London (Warner, E). For the tunes, for putting together a really good band and for making the longgone Sixties snap back into focus --and again for the tunes. Or, for sheer bravado, Robbie Williams: What We Did Last Summer (EMI, E), his record-busting Knebworth show.

Classic

Once Upon a Time In The West(Paramount, 12). Superb Sergio Leone film about the passing of the Old West. He didn't want to make it. Be thankful that he did. Lovers of heist movies will love

Rififi (Arrow, 12), Jules Dassin's big daddy of the genre.

Comedy

Undercover Brother (Universal, 12). Retro/Afro 'black Austin Powers'. More jokes in the first 10 minutes than most movies manage in three sequels. Or, if you've not already seen that dance enough - The Office Series 2 (BBC, 15).

TV

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (BBC, PG). Just watching Alec Guinness as George Smiley is reason enough. The plot is as devilish as you like, too. For more modern tastes, Kiefer Sutherland fills the gap in 24 Season 2 (Fox, 15).

Stage(Warner, E) is inventively danced, expressionistically staged, witty, family-friendly and even funny in parts. Alternatively, 'god of movie music' Ennio Morricone: Arena Concerto (Warner, E), more spaghetti Western music than is good for you.

Box Set

The Marx Brothers Collection (Warner, U) - the very funny Animal Crackers, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup and Monkey Business. Or if the lady loves Milk Tray - Cary Grant Collection: Bringing Up Baby, My Favourite Wife, Indiscreet, Operation Petticoat (Universal, PG).

Children

The Lion King Special Edition (Buena Vista, U). First time on DVD for Disney's huge hit from 1994. Comes with a truckload of decent extras. Or, for a seasonal alternative, The Santa Clause 2 (Buena Vista, U) --Tim Allen as Santa delivers lots of ho, ho, ho.