By Jeremy Kinser

As seemingly the only person in North America (or in my circle of friends, at least) who didn't plan Wednesday evenings around the Lost time slot, I often wondered what the fuss was about. Gilligan's Island meets Survivor? Pass. Now with Lost - The Complete First Season on DVD in a seven-disc boxed set, I've discovered that the series is, if you'll pardon the pun, a find. The series depicts 48 plane crash survivors stranded on an island with no signs of civilization and a constant threat of imminent danger. The show's narrative storytelling, mixing action, suspense, and even sci-fi, is certainly as vivid as any theatrical film released this year. The hunky (and often shirtless) cast, including Naveen Andrews, Matthew Fox, Ian Somerhalder, Daniel Dae Kim, and Josh Holloway, is icing. While it may take the length of an entire television season to watch the generous bounty of bonus features (deleted scenes, bloopers, numerous audio commentaries, audition tapes, and even the art of star Fox), one standout is a featurette called "The Genesis of Lost." This interview with the writers and producers offers a fascinating glimpse into the creative process and reveals that the show was conceived during a pitch meeting held at Disney's California Adventure.

Director Jennie Livingston's fascinating 1991 drag ball documentary Paris is Burning garnered a lot of attention upon its release as it had the good timing to follow Madonna's landmark "Vogue" video, which popularized the late '80s dance craze. The film can stand on its own merit as a compassionate and intelligent document of some of the fierce and proud fashion-obsessed New Yorkers who created voguing. Livingston wisely avoids sensationalism to focus on the personalities. This re-released DVD offers new bonus features including never-before-seen outtakes and an audio commentary by two of the doc's subjects, Willi Ninja and Freddie Pendavis, and Livingston, who discusses the difficulties she encountered financing the film due to its subject matter and how the film camera might have manipulated the reality of the drag ball scene.

Although Scary Movie 3, the silly spoof of horror movies as well as The Matrix and 8 Mile, basically peaks with the opening scene of Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy spoofing The Ring, the rest of the film featuring cameos by Queen Latifah, Camryn Manheim, George Carlin, and others, manages a few genuine laughs. Scary Movie 3.5 is an exclusive, unrated version with new never-before-seen special features with commentary from director David Zucker, producer Robert K. Weiss, and writers Craig Mazin and Pat Proft; a few funny deleted scenes (Anna Faris as new reporter heroine Cindy uncovers an oil spill -- a baby oil spill over barely-clad cheerleaders) and two making-of featurettes.

Danger and intrigue are something many Angelenos can relate to on a daily basis, but if you need even more excitement in your life, they're also omnipresent in three films being released on DVD for the first time. In The House on 92nd Street (1945) a double-agent daringly infiltrates a Nazi spy ring. Noir stalwart Lloyd Nolan stars in this film that broke new ground with its use of authentic FBI surveillance footage, real off-duty FBI agents, and access to the latest spying technology. All About Eve's writer/director Joe Mankiewicz helmed Somewhere in the Night (1945), a taut tale of a wounded amnesiac veteran ... searching for his past in post-WWII Los Angeles only to stumble upon a murder case and two million dollars. Film noir historian Eddie Muller offers an informative audio commentary. Whirlpool (1949) reunited notoriously tempermental director Otto Preminger with gorgeous Gene Tierney, star of his classic Laura, in the gripping story of the wife of a psychoanalyst caught in a web of deceit, blackmail, and murder by a devious hypnotist. A commentary by Time magazine's movie critic and film historian Richard Schickel offers fascinating insight. The three films are the newest lineup of restored and remastered suspense classics in Fox Entertainment's Film Noir DVD series.