The Top Gun3D Blu-Ray arrived on Movie Fanatic's doorstep and we could not have been more excited. Surprisingly, the film has aged quite well since its release in the late 1980s. After witnessing the film in stunning Blu-Ray, it was immediately clear that the film did Take My Breath Away.

For those who missed the theatrical re-release of Top Gun in 3D, the home video release of it is a terrific treat. Tom Cruise became a blockbuster star in this film and witnessing it again reminds us why it has resonated for decades. Even though it is set in the era of Reagan fighting communists, it is still a tale that feels timeless.

One does not have to have a 3D television to enjoy the Top Gun 3D combo pack. Paramount also is releasing the 2D version of the film as part of the package. Since the conversion of the film to three dimensions was overseen by the film's director, Tony Scott, and was one of his last efforts before he perished, at some point... you must fill your need for speed and upgrade to 3D TV to appreciate a visionary director's final pieces of work.

The film is remastered from its original print and those action scenes have never looked so good as the Top Gun quotes have also never sounded so good. Of particular note is the sonic boom of fighter jets that has been brought to a new level of excellence by those charged with bringing the movie into the 21st century.

Given that the commentary track by Scott is one of the final times we'll hear his voice extolling the power of his work, that bonus feature on the Blu-Ray is one to treasure. To hear his thoughts, along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, is also bittersweet as Hollywood lost a true master with Scott's passing. Another star of the film talked to us recently, check out our Tom Skerritt exclusive Top Gun interview.

Also a powerhouse is the six-part documentary series on the making of Top Gun. How could a viewer's interest in the real guys who fly these jets after witnessing the blockbuster not be peaked? Thankfully, there's a featurette called Best of the Best: Inside the Real Top Gun that illustrates the true bravery of our greatest fighter pilots.

And given that Top Gun was one of the first films to focus so much of its effort on creating a killer soundtrack, the inclusion of the music videos for Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone, Berlin's Take My Breath Away and Heaven in Your Eyes by Loverboy on this set is one terrific bonus.

Finally, the Cruise interview features allow the star to use the perspective of time to reflect on the experience that was Top Gun. To say he still has a fond place in his heart for the actioner is a gross understatement! Then again, so do we.

A batch of new stills, plus a set photo, have dropped for Olympus Has Fallencourtesy ofComing Soon.

Aaron Eckhart stars as the President of the United States, who is captured in a terrorist takeover of the White House. Gerard Butler plays a former Secret Service Agent who is trapped within the building, and may be the President's only hope.

Morgan Freeman (who starred with Eckhart in The Dark Knight), Angela Bassett, Ashley Judd, Dylan McDermott (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Melissa Leo, Rick Yune, Robert Forster, Tory Kittles, Cole Hauser, and Radha Mitchell also star.

Antoine Fuqua directs the action film, which premieres March 22. Watch the Olympus Has Fallen trailer for more.

With Star Wars Episode VII still a ways away, most of what we have to go on so far revolving plot and characters is based on conjecture. That said, Showbiz 411is reporting a rumor that original cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford will all be returning for the first film in the sequel series.

The rumor states that the story will center around the children of the three original protagonists, taking place some time after Return of the Jedi. A previous rumor also claims that the main protagonist will be female.

Michael Arndt is currently writing the script, with J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness) set to direct. We likely won't have any official confirmation of plot details at least until the script is finished.

In addition to the rumored involvement of all three original actors, the Star Wars franchise will be getting stand-alone movies about Han Solo and Boba Fett. The question still remains: Who will play young Han Solo? And who should play the children of Luke, Leia and Han? Give us your thoughts in the comments section!

The Coen Brothers' latest venture, Inside Llewyn Davis, was screened privately for some industry people just before the Grammy's, and it looks like the screening paid off.

CBS Films announced today that they have acquired the distribution rights to the movie, which centers on the New York folk music scene of the 1960s.

Oscar Isaac stars as the main character, who is loosely based on singer Dave Von Ronk. Carey Mulligan (The Great Gatsby), Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, John Goodman (Argo), and F. Murray Abraham also star.

There is no release date yet, but rumors are circling that it will premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Check out the Inside Llewyn Davis trailer for a look.

Argo has arrived, fresh off of its continuing awards season sweep, on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download. Movie Fanatic received the combo pack that features both formats and there are a bevy of extras that are sure to astound.

Ben Affleck directed this true story of six Americans who escaped the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. They would be turned away by the British Embassy and the New Zealand Embassy before finding refuge at the Canadian Ambassador's home. As teased in the Argo trailer, Affleck's film tells the real life efforts of a gifted CIA agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) who hatched a plan to use a fake movie as a guise to have the six Americans pose as a Canadian film crew scouting locations for a sci-fi film called... Argo.

As we stated in our Argo review, this is by far Affleck's best work as a filmmaker and he crafts tension that is palpable, even in a scene with people just standing around. Also, given Iran and its still-in-the-headlines ways, the film has a timely feel to it that is inescapable. According to our recent Oscar Watch: Predicting Best Picture, the true story is on its way to winning Best Picture. And now, you can own what the Academy will call the year's most outstanding film as it is released February 19.

The Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack that we received contains over four hours of bonus material. And it is all worthy of the powerful film it documents.

Among the highlights for Movie Fanatic is the picture-in-picture feature that runs the entire movie if the viewer so chooses that features eyewitness accounts of the harrowing ordeal. And the Rescued from Tehran: We Were There further showcases the real people who lived under the shadow of getting caught and killed.

Argo: Declassified

Perhaps it's the fact that we are Movie Fanatic, but the most enjoyable of all the featurettes are Argo: The CIA & Hollywood Connection and Escape from Iran: The Hollywood Option. One of the reasons we feel Argo will take Best Picture at this year's Oscars is because Tinseltown would like to pat itself on the back for its patriotic duty, conducted in silence in the late 1970s.

Those two previously mentioned documentaries show how it was a truly natural fit for the land of make-believe and the clandestine agency that lives between the black and white and color worlds of real life to work so well together.

Argo is already a front-runner for DVD and Blu-Ray of the year... even though the calendar is still young.

The Tournament of Movie Fanatic Franchises Bracket has almost reached the end of the first round! The polls remain open for all the matchups until the end of the round, so you can still vote on James Bond vs. Blood and Ice Cream, Ghostbusters vs. Bourne, Harry Potter vs. Star Trek, Batman vs. Superman, Star Wars vs. Scream, and Toy Story vs. Back to the Future.

Today's matchup pits two titans against each other. The classic gangster series The Godfather takes on Indiana Jones in a battle of two brilliant directors: Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg. Vote below, then scroll down to read about each franchise, and take a look at the full bracket at the bottom of the page.

The Godfather Franchise:

It's hard to argue with a franchise that contains what is widely considered to be one of the best movies ever (we named it #7 on our Top 100 Movies of all time list), along with one of the best sequels ever.

Not only is acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola at the helm of this quintessential crime series, but he has a cast of A-list actors that is unrivaled. It's hard to argue with Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro playing different-aged versions of the main character Vito Corleon. Add to that Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, and the father of method acting Lee Strasberg, and what you get is a cinematic triumph.

Between the three Godfather films, the series earned a whopping 25 Oscar nominations, including the first ever sequel to win Best Picture. There is no doubt that The Godfather is indeed the Godfather of all Gangster movies. Head to our Godfather franchise quotes page for more.

Indiana Jones Franchise:

When Raiders of the Lost Ark landed on screens in 1981, it came from the minds of two of the greatest filmmakers working during that time: George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The idea that the Close Encounters and Jaws filmmaker was joining forces with the Star Wars guy had fans intrigued. Then, when it arrived and became a global blockbuster, something else truly special emerged -- The spot-on casting of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.

Much of the success for the Indiana Jones franchise has to do with who plays the adventurer-archeologist who firmly believes that artifacts “belong in a museum.” Ford is uncanny and born to play the hero. It’s hard to believe that he was the second choice after Tom Selleck passed on the role, due to his commitments with TV’s Magnum, P.I.

Indiana Jones would go on to three more adventures, the thrilling Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We can forgive that fourth film because the previous three are pop culture icons of thrills.

The $100 million question is now: Will there be a fifth Indiana Jones movie? Check out some Indiana Jones franchise quotes for more.

As he told us in our Ethan Hawke exclusive interview, the actor had never done a horror movie before Sinister. But, there was something about this terrifying tale that had him at the get-go. Now that the film is out on DVD, Blu-Ray, Video on Demand and Digital Download, even more audiences can check out the scares from this uniquely horrifying horror movie.

Just check out the Sinister trailer and tell us you are not completely creeped out. Filmmakers behind the film have crafted a haunting entity at the heart of the scares that is one of the more fear-inducing we've seen onscreen in quite a while.

Hawke is Ellison Oswald, a true crime writer who has had blockbuster success in his past... but little recently. He moves his family to a house in a small town where a horrible mass murder of a family took place. He is seeking to write his next book with the hopes it will be another smash. Oswald needs a hit; he is running out of money to support his wife and family.

What he doesn't tell his wife is that the house they are renting in this small town is the exact locale where the crime took place. Soon enough as weird things start happening to their kids, the truth comes out. There is a demon of some kind at work here, and he has a documented history. Oswald learns of that past through 8mm films he mysteriously finds in the house's attic.

As we stated in our Sinister review when the film hit theaters, the movie is a refreshing take within a horror genre that can be more often stale than stellar. Hawke is brilliant and sinks his teeth into his best role in years.

The best of the bonus features is the commentary track laid down by writers Scott Derrickson (who is also director) and C. Robert Cargill. It's always, if done right, a fascinating experience to add to the cinematic experience by hearing those who crafted the tale in the first place.

Also, given the premise of the story and how much of the scares arrive from the fact that our family at the center of the drama lives in the house where the horror took place, the documentary Living in a House of Death is a nice addition to the Sinister movie experience.

Finally, given that Hawke plays a true crime novelist and that genre within the publishing world is as popular as ever, the featurette True Crime Authors gives those who appreciate that storytelling format an inside look at how they get to the bottom of their stories and bring the terrible crimes to life on their pages.

The first clip for Stoker has hit the internet, and it features some pretty intense sound design for such a quiet scene. Take a look below, and prepare to want to drink wine with Mia Wasikowska afterward:

Stoker Clip

Wasikowska (Lawless) stars as India Stoker, a girl whose mother begins to melt down after the death of India's father. When her mysterious Uncle moves in to help them, India finds herself drawn to him.

Nicole Kidman plays the mother, Evelyn, with Matthew Goode as the Uncle, Charlie. Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), and Alden Ehrenreich (Beautiful Creatures).

Oldboy director Park Chan-Wook directs. The film hits theaters March 1.

The new TV Spot for The Incredible Burt Wonderstone cut out Steve Buscemi almost entirely, to focus on a rivalry between Steve Carell and Jim Carrey's characters. Take a look:

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone TV Spot

Carell (who had some of the best Anchorman quotes) stars as Wonderstone, a famous Vegas magician whose partner, played by Buscemi (Hotel Transylvania), left the show following an on-stage injury. When a flashy street magician, played by Carrey, threatens Wonderstone's career, he has to try to get the old team back together.

Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, and James Gandolfini (Zero Dark Thirty) also star. Don Scardino directs the film, which will hit theaters March 15.

Director Marc Webb tweeted a photo from the set of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, featuring two agents holding out their FBI badges. Take a look:

Does the picture mean that the FBI is coming after Peter Parker? Or maybe that they're investigating Oscorp? Webb didn't specify how they fit into the plot of the superhero sequel.

Andrew Garfield returns as Parker, with Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Joining the cast are Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained) as Electro, Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn, Shailene Woodley (Divergent) as Mary Jane Watson, and Paul Giamatti as the Rhino.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will hit theaters May 2, 2014.

Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield are super excited about their mushy-looking futuristic cafeteria lunch in this new still from Ender's Game:

Butterfield stars as Ender, a young prodigy who is sent to special military training with other children in preparation for an alien invasion. The film is based on the sci-fi novel by Orson Scott Card.

Harrison Ford (who may be returning as Han Solo in Star Wars Episode VII) also stars as the trainer Colonel Graff, with Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3) as Mazer Rackham, a legendary Commander who saved the world from a previous attack. Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis (Beautiful Creatures), Moises Arias, Aramas Knight, Jimmy Pinchak, and Brandon Soo Hoo also star.

Ender's Game is set for a November 1 release date.

Production has begun on the film Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve.

The film stars Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover, a father whose daughter has gone missing, along with her best friend. When the only suspect is arrested and released, Dover decides to take the investigation into his own hands.

Jack Gyllenhaal place the detective leading the case, with Paul Dano as the innocent suspect. Maria Bello, Terrence Howard (Movie 43), Viola Davis (Beautiful Creatures), and Melissa Leo also star.

Prisoners is scheduled for a September 20 release.

Michelle Williams and James Franco travel by bubble in the new clip from Oz the Great and Powerful. Take a look:

Oz The Great and Powerful TV Spot Bubble Clip

Franco (Spring Breakers) stars as Oscar Diggs, a sleazy circus magician who is magically transported to the land of Oz. There, the inhabitants mistake his brand of magic for actual wizardry, and think he is the fabled Wizard of Oz.

Williams, Mila Kunis, and Rachel Weisz play the witches. Zach Braff, Joey King, and Abigail Spencer also star.

Sam Raimi directs the film, which premieres March 8. Watch the Oz the Great and Powerful trailer for another look.

While Jack the Giant Slayer looks cool, I'm really more excited about the companion film Jim the Giant Bummer about that guy Jim who just shows up to parties and talks about how his cat is dying.

But, until then, we'll have to make due with what we have. With that in mind, check out three new Jack the Giant Slayer character posters:

Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies) stars as Jack, a young farmer who accidentally opens a gateway to a world of giants, who then kidnap the princess, played by Eleanor Tomlinson. Jack must fight to save his life, rescue the princess, and save the kingdom.

Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Ian McShane, Bill Nighy, and Eddie Marsan also star. The film hits theaters March 1. Watch the Jack the Giant Slayer trailer for more.

The first round of the Tournament of Movie Fanatic Franchises Bracket comes to an end today, with a cult horror classic facing a beloved fantasy series. Before we look at today's matchup, remember to vote in all the previous first-round matchups: The Godfather vs. Indiana Jones, James Bond vs. Blood and Ice Cream, Ghostbusters vs. Bourne, Harry Potter vs. Star Trek, Batman vs. Superman, Star Wars vs. Scream, and Toy Story vs. Back to the Future.

The final matchup in the first round is the four-seed Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit vs. the five-seed Evil Dead. Vote for which franchise you think should advance to the second round below, then scroll down to read about each series and view the entire bracket.

First round polls will close tomorrow! So get your votes in quick!

The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit Franchise:

When J.R.R. Tolkien published his children’s fantasy The Hobbit in 1937, he never could have imagined it would become one of the biggest movie franchises in history. Tolkien would add his Lord of the Rings trilogy in following years, further expanding his Middle Earth world.

In a stroke of irony, The Lord of the Rings arrived first in 2001, with The Hobbit finally landing on the silver screen just last year. But after the billion-dollar success of the first trilogy, it seemed inevitable that director Peter Jackson would return to the world that gave him an Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit franchise is far from finished with two more The Hobbit sequels due in 2013 and 2014. Check out some The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit quotes for more.

Evil Dead Franchise:

The king of all cult horror franchises, Evil Dead launched the careers of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and terrified audiences throughout the 80's and 90's. Playing off the fear of isolation, Evil Dead helped to codify the "cabin in the woods" genre of horror film, as well as take the classic idea of the "zombie" and turn it on its head.

Not only did the first movie break new ground, but the subsequent films were met with equal enthusiasm, each one earning more at the box office than the last. Classic camp is something that has always belonged with horror, but Evil Dead added a level of wry humor and winking self-awareness that has never been done better. The third film in the series, Army of Darkness, went so far as to send the main character Ash back in time to 14th-Century England in an absurdist action-packed battle with the undead.

Along with the three cherished films in the franchise, a remake of the original Evil Dead is on its way, starring Jane Levy and Shiloh Fernandez. Head to our Evil Dead franchise quotes for more.

Check out the first trailer for the political thriller The Reluctant Fundamentalist:

The Reluctant Fundamentalist Trailer

Riz Ahmed stars as Changez Khan, a Pakistani professor and successful business analyst dealing with racial backlash after the events of 9/11. As he goes back home to Pakistan, he finds himself in a clash between his American dream and his homeland.

The entire film his framed by an interview with a reported played by Liev Schreiber (Movie 43). Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), Kiefer Sutherland, Om Puri, Meesha Shafi, and Martin Donovan also star.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist comes from director Mira Nair, and will premiere April 26.

Snitch director Ric Roman Waugh is about as primed to become a big action movie director as anyone. We sat down with the helmer of the Dwayne Johnson actioner, teased in this Snitch trailer, and got the exclusive inside scoop as to how he went from the child of a stunt man legend to tackling the vocation himself and then evolving into a Hollywood director behind our era’s biggest action star.

Movie Fanatic: You grew up on film sets with your parents as stunt legends. Was there ever any other idea you would do anything else?

Ric Roman Waugh: It was the world I knew. My father just passed away and he was one of the biggest legends in the stunt business. I grew up on sets. I was a baby on the set of Paint Your Wagon with Clint Eastwood. My father was the original Spider-Man on the TV series. What was interesting was I never saw myself writing and directing, I always thought I’d be a stunt person. The reason was that I grew up with all these huge movie stars around, including John Wayne, but to me, the stunt people were the real heroes.

Movie Fanatic: You became one of the youngest stunt coordinators of all time, guess it was unavoidable.

Ric Roman Waugh: Yeah! I started working with Mel Gibson and Tony Scott for his movies. I started seeing what the director did and how much I liked it. I never liked being in front of a camera. Stunt people, in a way, have to play parts… and I was the worst at it [laughs]. But what stunts did for me is it let me work hand in hand with so many movie stars and also seeing what the director does. When you've got a guy like Tony Scott who can pick up the phone and put Brad Pitt in a movie (True Romance), he comes because there’s that chemistry and level of respect. I learned from the right people. I call myself a blue collar director. I came up from the crew and I’ll always have that mentality.

Movie Fanatic: Your journey kind of mirrors the evolution of Snitch star Dwayne Johnson. Did you take inspiration from his movie evolution?

Ric Roman Waugh: Yes, exactly! To go from football and a national champion, and not having a legitimate shot at the NFL, and instead of seeing that as a limitation, he forged ahead and moved into wrestling, and then became a huge unbelievable star in wrestling and used that to become a movie star -- and to continue to use that knowledge and tools as a positive. That’s what I started doing. I can use all my experience to my advantage… now I just had to understand story a little bit more.

Movie Fanatic: How did writing your own screenplays come about?

Ric Roman Waugh: I was so naive, and thankfully so. I moved into directing commercials and the movie scripts that I was getting sucked, so I thought, “I’ll just write my own!” I knew some great screenwriters that I had worked with over the years and had them read my work and hoped they’d mentor me. I wanted to have someone who could tell me if it sucks, and why it sucks. I wrote movies all the time. I just absorbed everything. I got to understand the story process. But, most importantly, I got to understand what my voice was.

Movie Fanatic: What was it about the world of snitches that compelled you?

Ric Roman Waugh: I’m very choosy about what I want to do. I try to focus on the stories that I want to tell. This script came along that they offered me called Snitch. It was based on a Frontline special on PBS. It centered on these laws called mandatory minimums, federal laws, designed in the late 1980s in the drug war, to ensnare high level drug traffickers. They would say, "Guess what? You’re going to do 10 years in prison, mandatory. The only way we can reduce your sentence is if you snitch on other people."

Movie Fanatic: And this one is unique in how a father of a person put in jail steps forward to be the snitch...

Ric Roman Waugh: Yes, this story blew my mind that it was real. The father of an 18-year-old son who is wrongly accused of dealing drugs, his own friend set him up. He went in front of the judge and says that he doesn’t know any drug traffickers, so he was serving the mandatory minimum. Now, he’s in jail with real hardcore criminals. His father sees him through the glass with what he’s going through and he’ll do anything to get him out. So he went to the U.S. Attorney, saying, “My son doesn't know anyone selling drugs. But, what if I go undercover and get you some people dealing drugs?” This is the real story of a real father who goes into the drug world to free his son.

Movie Fanatic: How did you put your own stamp on it?

Ric Roman Waugh: I took over the script and infused what I had learned on my film Felon and built out that tapestry. When it came time to cast the movie, we talked about the usual suspects. I was fortunate that Dwayne Johnson had seen Felon and was a big fan of it and I’m a huge fan of his. We started talking with things we wanted to work on.

Movie Fanatic: How did having Dwayne alter things?

Ric Roman Waugh: By putting Dwayne Johnson in the movie, we show that it’s not about size or power, it’s about heart. It’s about how much integrity and our own morality we risk to save our kids. We would move heaven and earth for our kids and this is a true story about a father who does that. His character is a blue collar guy who built up a successful construction business. He thinks he has it all, great family, great house, great life -- except he has a son from a divorce, who he’s estranged from. Then when the son gets arrested, it all gets turned upside down. The film is about him and this son coming back together while these unbelievable odds are being thrown at them. I thought that was a compelling story to tell.

Movie Fanatic: How is this a different turn for Dwayne Johnson?

Ric Roman Waugh: What’s great about this is Dwayne has never been a father like this on camera. This is a father with real peril and real struggle that has to protect his kid.

Movie Fanatic: And Benjamin Bratt portrays a drug lord who is unlike any we’ve seen before, as so eloquently shown in that awesome Snitch Super Bowl trailer. How was crafting that character a challenge?

Ric Roman Waugh: He’s the top of the food chain. He’s very much like the guys who do that right now. They don’t have Ray-Ban sunglasses and 5 o’clock shadows. They’re wearing expensive clothes, here in America. They come from oligarch money and have paramilitary backgrounds -- they’re sophisticated and educated.

Ever wonder what Hugh Jackman would look like if he were leaving a room and you yelled after him "I made you a suit out of fish parts, for our fancy wedding!" Something like this, I'd assume:

Jackman (Les Miserables) stars as Logan in this still from The Wolverine, which marks the sixth film in the X-Men franchise. The second film to focus on the character finds Logan travels to Japan to face a foe from his past.

Hiroyuki Sanada, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee, and Svetlana Khodchenkova also star.

James Mangold directs the film, which will premiere July 26. Check out The Wolverine posters for more.

Warner Bros. has announced the release dates for two of its most ambitious films from last year, Cloud Atlas and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Both landed in 2012 with each possessing its own huge appeal. Cloud Atlas had one of the best casts of the year and the first chapter of The Hobbit finds Peter Jackson returning to Middle Earth for the first time since he won an Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture for The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Look for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey first as it arrives March 19 on DVD and Blu-Ray and a week early on HD digital download! The first chapter of Jackson's three-part Hobbit journey introduces us to Bilbo as a young man and showcases the first glimpse of what would prove to be a lifelong friendship with Gandalf the wizard.

The adventure focuses on a group of dwarves who are seeking to reclaim their homeland and how Jackson intertwines his action with charming laughs is exquisite, as we stated in our The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey review.

The DVD and Blu-Ray extras are highlighted by the video journals that Jackson made while filming the movie. Movie Fanatic has published many of them and to watch them all as a precursor to witnessing the film itself would be quite fascinating. Check out The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey trailer to get an idea of the scope of the film as it also shows that fans of The Lord of the Rings are in for an unexpected treat.

Speaking of treats, those who purchase the Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack will get a special sneak peak at the next film in the series, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Then, on May 14 a superstar cast including Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Susan Sarandon, Tom Hanks and Halle Berry tackle multiple roles in the film from the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. As teased in the Cloud Atlas trailer, the film covers centuries of time and millions of galaxy miles to tell a tale of how we are all connected. Some adored the work and others were left confused by it (check out our Cloud Atlas explained and fill in those blanks!).

The DVD and Blu-Ray arrival will provide a fascinating look into the making of a film that was certainly one of the most ambitiously made in recent memory. Special features on the package DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack include featurettes: A Film Like No Other, Everything is Connected, The Impossible Adaptation, The Essence of Acting, Spaceships, Slaves and Sextets, The Bold Science Fiction of Cloud Atlas and Eternal Recurrence: Love, Life and Longing in Cloud Atlas.

Cloud Atlas will also be available on digital download platforms including iTunes, PlayStation and XBox.

When it comes to the 2013 Academy Award nominations, predicting the winners is not as cut and dry as in past years. A true race has emerged since the nods were announced. But we have gone through the categories that will be awarded Oscar gold February 24 and give you our best bet for who is going to win. It's been a fascinating Oscar race as several categories, including Best Picture, saw the momentum change and a new favorite emerge as we knock on the door of the 85th Academy Awards.

Without further ado... here are the 2013 Movie Fanatic Oscar predictions:

Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Winner: Argo
Why: It's been an Oscar race for the ages. And the operative word in that sentence is "race." When it's said that movie journalists like a horse race for awards, Academy Awards 2013 saw a near-the-top film (Argo) gather a head of steam and eclipse the previous front-runner (Lincoln). Guess the lesson here is don't snub Ben Affleck for Best Director!

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Winner: Daniel Day Lewis for Lincoln
Why: Have you seen the film or even the Lincoln trailer? That is a once in a lifetime performance the likes of which we may never see again.

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Winner: Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook.
Why: Movie Fanatic adored Lawrence in the Bradley Cooper co-starring film, but never truly felt that she was a front-runner for Best Actress. In fact, we thought she belonged in the Best Supporting Actress category. But, the change in perception has everything to do with Harvey Weinstein and his uncanny ability to woo Oscar voters to his way of thinking. We think our exclusive video interview subject for Zero Dark Thirty, Jessica Chastain, deserves it, but this will be Lawrence's night.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Winner: Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook
Why: The same thing that goes for Lawrence's Best Actress victory will spell Oscar gold for De Niro on February 24 at the Dolby Theater. De Niro has leap-frogged Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln to walk the champion's shuffle to the podium to accept his third Oscar. Weinstein has mounted one of his classic award-winning campaigns and managed to turn the tide in several of the biggest races. Our Oscar Watch: Predicting Best Supporting Actor column shows how quickly this race has changed. This category is the night's tightest.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Winner: Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables
Why:  The Best Supporting Actress category has not really altered much in terms of who will win since nominations were announced -- as we predicted in our Les Miserables review. This was always Hathaway's to lose and it will also serve as the Academy's way of paying tribute to the stage-to-screen effort.

Best Director
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Winner: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Why: Because Ben Affleck's not nominated! The love this year will be spread around and Lincoln will not have to settle solely for a Best Actor victory. Spielberg will take home another Oscar and a well-deserved one. As told to us in our Steven Spielberg Lincoln interview, this was a film decades in the making. It was so worth the wait.

Best Original Screenplay
Flight, John Gatins
Amour, Michael Hanake
Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino
Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Winner: Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained
Why: The "meat" in the dialogue for Django Unchained is like a gift from heaven. Particularly for Christoph Waltz, who again excels at emitting Tarantino verbal candy -- as evidenced in our Django Unchained quotes.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Argo, Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi, David Magee
Lincoln, Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

Winner:Tony Kushner for Lincoln
Why: Yes, Spielberg and Lewis will not be alone in the Lincoln victory lap. The screenplay Kushner has written is like the best operatic material. His words move us beyond emotion and capture the spirit and relevance of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals... the biography that spawned the film.

Best Animated Feature
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

Winner:Wreck-It Ralph
Why: Momentum! And it is frankly the Best Animated Feature. The surprising emotional ebbs and flows of the Disney film was enhanced by stellar performances by John C. Reilly as the title character and Sarah Silverman as his trusty sidekick.

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour
A Royal Affair
No
Kon-Tiki
War Witch

Winner: Amour
Why: One does not earn the kind of nominations that the Austrian-German film received and not take something home. The easiest, and most appropriate, way to reward this instant classic is in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Best Cinematography
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Winner:Life of Pi
Why: Even though so much of Ang Lee's film is computer-generated, it still takes the magician behind the camera to maximize the power of the visuals. You would be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful motion picture released in 2012.

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Winner:Anna Karenina
Why: Simply watch the Anna Karenina trailer and see how this film deserves the most prestigious award in movie costuming.

Best Original Score
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Lincoln

Winner:Life of Pi
Why: The story is powerful. The direction is impeccable. The acting is otherworldly and the cinematography is beyond brilliant. But it would all feel a little more hollow if not for Mychael Danna's musical powerhouse of a score.

Best Original Song
Before My Time from Chasing Ice
Everybody Needs a Best Friend from Ted
Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi
Skyfall from Skyfall
Suddenly from Les Miserables

Winner:Skyfall from Skyfall
Why: Adele's Skyfall theme deserves this for managing to craft a James Bond theme song that frankly sounds like James Bond himself. It is smooth, debonair, powerful and fiercely accurate in its mission.

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit
Life of Pi
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman

Winner: Life of Pi
Why: The visual landscape created by the special effects team working on Life of Pi had an extraordinary challenge. Bring the visuals from the iconic book to life on screen. To say it's brilliantly beautiful is too tame of a description for this miracle of movie magic.

Best Sound Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Winner:Life of Pi
Why: The sound editing on Life of Pi is the embodiment of a true aural experience as it is meant to be at the cinemas. From the streets of India to the desolation of the ocean where the only soundtrack is the wind, waves and that pesky tiger, Lee's film crackles with a life provided for it miraculously by stellar sound editing.

Best Sound Mixing
Argo
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Winner:Life of Pi
Why: Life of Pi brought the world of being shipwrecked with a wild tiger to life in a manner that was breathtaking. And that is largely due to the reality of the sound provided by the sound mixing team.

Best Documentary Feature
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Winner: Searching for Sugar Man
Why: Although the Academy loves to put the spotlight on films that showcase the cost the AIDS virus has taken on society, like How to Survive a Plague, Movie Fanatic believes they want to reward the feel good fun of Searching for Sugar Man.