15 Perfect DVD Gifts

DVDS UNDER $10

BATMAN COLLECTION: 4 FILM FAVORITES
Michael Keaton, George Clooney

WHO IT'S FOR Your kid brother who's still too scared to sit through The Dark Knight.

WHY HE'LL LOVE IT In 1989, Tim Burton rescued the Caped Crusader from Adam West camp, kicking off a four-film cycle that eventually went full-circle back to cheese. This is a fun (and recession-friendly) way to witness that arc.

BEST THING ABOUT IT Easy: Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

DVDS UNDER $10

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: ''THOSE AREN'T PILLOWS!'' EDITION
Steve Martin, John Candy

WHO IT'S FOR Anyone who's ever sat next to a fat guy on a Greyhound.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT John Hughes' hilarious and heartwarming 1987 road comedy is a holiday classic, tracing the unlikely friendship between an uptight family man (Martin) and a traveling-salesman slob (Candy). It has humor, heart, and one of the greatest homoerotic gags ever written (check out this special edition's title for a hint).

BEST THING ABOUT IT A moving tribute to the late, great John Candy given by Steve Martin and other cast members.

DVDS UNDER $10

V: THE ORIGINAL TV MINISERIES
Marc Singer, Jane Badler

WHO IT'S FOR Fans of ABC's glossy reboot starring Elizabeth Mitchell, or anyone with a weakness for reptilian aliens.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT Combine fascist extraterrestrials bent on taking over Earth with interspecies sex and awesomely bad '80s fashion (Marc Singer, can you breathe in those jeans?), and you've got the most creepily addictive miniseries of the Reagan era.

BEST THING ABOUT IT The ridiculously lo-fi special effects. Look for the scene in which Badler's evil lizard queen swallows an entire guinea pig in one disgusting, neck-bulging gulp.

DVDS UNDER $25

PUBLIC ENEMIES: 2-DISC SPECIAL EDITION
Johnny Depp, Christian Bale

WHO IT'S FOR Guys who've seen Scarface too many times...and the women who love them.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT We've always believed that Johnny Depp could do anything. But legendary stickup man John Dillinger is the character he was born to play — a deadly, dashing Depression-era outlaw.

BEST THING ABOUT IT The nicely priced two-disc special edition is a steal, loaded with extras including a commentary from director Michael Mann.

DVDS UNDER $25

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson

WHO IT'S FOR People who list their favorite sport as Quidditch.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT The all-important Lord Voldemort backstory is finally revealed! And the locket-retrieval scene with the Inferi is among the franchise's best. Plus, it's nice to know the Chosen One has girl problems just like the rest of us.

BEST THING ABOUT IT A second disc featuring additional scenes not seen in theaters.

DVDS UNDER $25

MONTY PYTHON: ALMOST THE TRUTH
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin

WHO IT'S FOR Folks who love classic slapstick and literate wordplay. And British people.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT This six-hour documentary proves that the Pythons created comedy in the 1970s that is timelessly hilarious, silly, and witty. Chunks of all their best work, from the dead-parrot sketch to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, are shown and placed in context via interviews with the cast and their collaborators.

BEST THING ABOUT IT This is Python, warts and all. The intragroup tensions, the competitiveness, the tough love that these men experienced are dealt with in great, refreshingly frank detail.

DVDS UNDER $50

WOODSTOCK: 40th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION
Jimi Hendrix, The Who

WHO IT'S FOR Your hippie uncle who's always talking about sticking it to the Man.

WHY HE'LL LOVE IT Because it's the greatest rock doc ever made. The three-disc boxed set is upholstered in groovy suede fringe and comes with an entire bonus disc full of never-seen performances (including bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Grateful Dead who never appeared in the original film). The only thing missing is a roach clip.

BEST THING ABOUT IT A toss-up between the Who's ''We're Not Gonna Take It'' and Jimi Hendrix's ''The Star-Spangled Banner.''

DVDS UNDER $50

GONE WITH THE WIND: 70th ANNIVERSARY
Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh

WHO IT'S FOR Your Southern-belle aunt.

WHY SHE'LL LOVE IT Because it's impossible not to love it! Victor Fleming's 1939 Best Picture winner chronicling the romance between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara is the three-hankie epic to end all three-hankie epics.

BEST THING ABOUT IT You'll give a damn about a gift set that is loaded with collectibles, tchotchkes, and eight hours (!) of extras.

DVDS UNDER $50

LOST: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON
Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Evangeline Lilly, Elizabeth Mitchell

WHO IT'S FOR People who already seem like they're living in a parallel dimension.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT Season 5 was the trippiest yet (which is saying something for a show with tropical polar bears), with castaways stuck in two time lines: 2007 and the '70s. The explosive (we think) finale featured Juliet triggering an H-bomb to reset the time line — or blast them into something else entirely.

BEST THING ABOUT IT What's this? A featurette titled ''A Day With Josh Holloway''? Yeah, we'll sign up for that.

DVDS UNDER $100

PAUL NEWMAN: THE TRIBUTE COLLECTION
Paul Newman

WHO IT'S FOR Hardcore fans of Turner Classic Movies.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT Because it assembles 13 gems from one of Hollywood's greatest leading men (and greatest men, period), including such blue-eyed classics as The Long Hot Summer, The Hustler, and The Verdict.

BEST THING ABOUT IT Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: proof that every now and then, Hollywood manages to get it 100 percent right.

DVDS UNDER $100

DAWSON'S CREEK: THE COMPLETE SERIES
James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams

WHO IT'S FOR Your twentysomething sister, or anyone who can't get enough teen angst.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT The pitch-perfect first season, in particular, plays like a time capsule from the late '90s. But more important, it holds up as a transport back to teendom, when the lead-up to a mere kiss takes an epic three episodes. Completists will love the six-season set, with its clip-driven trivia game, deleted pilot scenes, bonus soundtrack CD (Paula Cole and Shawn Mullins, natch), and glossy collectible-book packaging.

BEST THING ABOUT IT The fresh interviews and commentary with creator Kevin Williamson allow the best opportunity to wallow in the picturesque drama of Capeside (and pine for a time when Mrs. Tom Cruise was getting parts by taping auditions with her mom in an Ohio basement).

DVDS UNDER $100

THE PRISONER: THE COMPLETE SERIES MEGASET
Patrick McGoohan

WHO IT'S FOR Cult-TV fans and conspiracy theorists.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT Unlike the new AMC remake, the original 1967 British TV series about an abducted agent (McGoohan) held against his will in a seemingly idyllic village is both a visual and a psychological treat sure to please fans of mind-bending fare like The Twilight Zone and Lost.

BEST THING ABOUT IT The extras — including trivia, trailers, and some alternate footage — are good but not great. But landmark episodes like ''Checkmate'' will hold anyone captive...in front of the TV set, that is.

DVDS OVER $100

TRANSFORMERS: 25th ANNIVERSARY MATRIX OF LEADERSHIP EDITION

WHO IT'S FOR Anyone who hears the word ''transformers'' and doesn't immediately think of Megan Fox.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT Because this was one of the first animated series that didn't pander to kids. The war between the Autobots and the Decepticons was brutal, complicated, and just plain awesome.

BEST THING ABOUT IT There are multiple featurettes, new interviews, and a nifty box that echoes the show's aesthetic. All it's missing is an Optimus Prime action figure as a stocking stuffer.

DVDS OVER $100

ALLY MCBEAL: THE COMPLETE SERIES
Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, Jane Krakowski

WHO IT'S FOR '90s nostalgics, working girls (you know what we mean), and fans of unisex bathrooms.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT Because Ally was ahead of its time with its loopy humor, snappy patter, and audacious sexual politics — which makes it perfectly au courant.

BEST THING ABOUT IT The music was so good, they even included a soundtrack!

DVDS OVER $100

THE SHIELD: THE COMPLETE SERIES COLLECTION
Michael Chiklis, CCH Pounder

WHO IT'S FOR Folks who like their cop dramas gritty and their heroes flawed.

WHY THEY'LL LOVE IT This is the whole arc of Det. Vic Mackey's sordid career in cleaning up the streets with dirty hands. The tale twists down dark alleys with seriously shady characters — none more than Mackey himself, who caps one of his own team in the pilot.

BEST THING ABOUT IT The extras never seem to end, with more than 60 hours of deleted scenes, commentaries, cast interviews, and brand-new featurettes.

Written by: Jennifer Armstrong, Jeff Labrecque, Chris Nashawaty, Dalton Ross, Missy Schwartz, Ken Tucker, Alynda Wheat