Sure, you could get your favourite film buff tickets to sit in a sticky theatre for some overcrowded holiday release. But for those who prefer to watch films in the comfort of their own homes, here are some sure-fire DVD suggestions.

Hollywood
Potterheads can get their full fix, not only with the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince but also with Harry Potter Years 1-6, which compiles the first six movies in one boxed set.

New to Blu-ray this year is The Mel Brooks Collection, an eight-disc compendium of the funny man’s greatest comedies, stretching from his lesser-known films like 1970’s The Twelve Chairs to over-the-top classics like Blazing Saddles, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Spaceballs, and Young Frankenstein. Director Quentin Tarantino also gets into the boxed-set act with The Quentin Tarantino Collection, featuring Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, and Death Proof. Extras include deleted footage, behind-the-scenes documentaries about Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, and interviews with Reservoir Dogs cast members. To round out the complete Tarantino experience, Inglourious Basterds will be available on December 15.

Canadian
Okay, so it’s not a Canucks retrospective, but it’s hard to go wrong with 100 Years of the Montreal Canadiens. The four-disc standard edition takes an extensive look at one of the Original Six hockey franchises with six hours of content, including documentaries about the history of the team, a look at its greatest players, and legendary Canadiens games and plays. The five-hour special edition includes limited-edition trading cards, a centennial pin, and a piece of a hockey stick, jersey, or net used during the Canadiens’ 100th season.

There’s always that other pillar of Canadiana, the Trailer Park Boys. On December 22, the TV franchise’s two films—2006’s Trailer Park Boys: The Movie and this year’s Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day—will be released on Blu-ray. The plots are pretty much interchangeable, but there’s no denying the appeal of these mockumentaries chock-full of unruly mobile-home denizens with the crudest vocabularies imaginable.

Documentary/art house
The four-disc epic Battle of Chile chronicles revolution and counterrevolution in that South American country in the 1970s. This three-part documentary was shot by Patricio Guzmán in the months leading up to dictator Augusto Pinochet’s brutal September 1973 military coup over Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government. A bonus disc includes other Guzmán films as well as an interview with the director.

A couple of sports-themed documentaries also make an appearance this month: The First Saturday in May, a film following six jockeys in the run-up to the 2006 Kentucky Derby, and Facing Ali (December 29), a tribute from 10 rivals who took on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, by Vancouver director Pete McCormack.

International
For the budding film critic on your list, consider Criterion’s AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa. Spanning the full length of Kurosawa’s 50-year career, this collection includes all of his classics, from samurai sagas (Yojimbo, Sanjuro) to his spin on Shakespeare (1957’s Macbeth-inspired Throne of Blood) to film-studies staples like 1950’s Rashí´mon. The 25-disc collection also includes Kurosawa’s 1943 debut film, Sanshiro Sugata—a story of martial-arts rivalry—and his final film, 1993’s Madadayo, a tribute to writer Hyakken Uchida.