CHECK IT OUT

If a DVD player is on your holiday list, Newport Beach Public

Libraries may be among your best sources for cutting-edge home

entertainment.

Slated to debut at Central and branch libraries on Monday, the new DVD

collection includes more than 400 titles from genres ranging from

classics to dramas to comedies and documentaries. Many selections for

both adults and children can be checked out for seven days for no charge.

A smaller number of new releases will circulate overnight for a rental

fee of $1.

In the latter category are such popular hits as “Knight’s Tale,” a

feel-good period piece about a medieval jousting champion who rises to

the hallowed status of knighthood. Fans of action-packed cinema also

should enjoy “Traffic,” director Steven Soderbergh’s tapestry of stories

about the war on drugs.

More romantic fare is in “Return to Me,” a comedy about two lovelorn

souls who finally get together after a series of almost-meetings. Equally

wistful is “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” starring a zaftig Renee Zellweger as

a 30-something “singleton” compulsive about weight fluctuations, nicotine

and alcohol intake and finding Mr. Right.

For more gritty entertainment, fans of war sagas will find such

classics as “Bridge on the River Kwai” in the seven-day collection.

There’s also timeless fare the likes of “Citizen Kane,” “Casablanca,”

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “Gone With the Wind” -- all more enjoyable

than ever, with the outstanding picture quality of new technology.

Numerous titles include multiple discs. In Ken Burn’s acclaimed

“Baseball,” there are 10 discs, offering 25 hours of hard-hitting viewing

pleasure about one of America’s favorite sports. Stanley Kubrick fans

can’t miss with “Kubrick Collection,” with eight of the world-class

filmmaker’s works, from “Lolita” to “Eyes Wide Shut.”

There are titles for the whole family. All can gather ‘round the

holiday hearth to watch “Little Women,” with winsome Winona Ryder as the

feisty Jo. Children of all ages, as well as adults, can enjoy the zany

computer animation of “Shrek,” a two-disc DVD that includes a

behind-the-scenes featurette and over 15 interactive games.

You can get the clan in the festive spirit with “How the Grinch Stole

Christmas,” a live-action movie of Dr. Seuss’s holiday classic starring

goofy Jim Carrey. Or settle down for more serious enlightenment with

“Jesus of Nazareth,” Franco Zefferilli’s reverent depiction of the life

of Christ using Gospel accounts.

There’s hardly anything that captures the reason for the season better

than “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Jimmy Stewart as the troubled dreamer

finally able to put life’s disappointments into perspective. If you’ve

never seen Frank Capra’s cinematic affirmation of the values of

friendship, give family and friends a true gift by popping this 1947

classic into the DVD player.